I'm convinced that Jesse Q. Sutanto never misses, regardless of what genre or age group she writes for. This delightful rom-com made me very, very hungry with its descriptions of Indonesian food and the country's coffee culture. But since it was 2am and not the best time for a meal, I binged this book in one day instead.

Just like the author's Aunties series, this YA novel had me chortling out loud and was exactly what I needed after a string of heavy, intense reads. I love how it's essentially a love letter to Indonesia and enjoyed learning about the culture.

I was totally onboard with the romance. The two main leads were well-developed and had very satisfying character arcs, though I felt that they sounded a bit childish for teenagers at times. The rest of the cast was just as wonderful. I would love spin-off and sequels centered on the other characters such as Kiki, Eleanor and the mothers!

All in all, an extremely enjoyable book that I flew through!

This book reminds me of why I love Young Adult novels so much. They're so fun, fast, and just the right amount of cheesy. Mentions of things like Instagram feel much more natural than in Adult books and they're just so enjoyable that I usually find myself finishing them in one sitting. This has easily become one of my new favorite YA Romances and I loved learning about Indonesia.

Sutanto brings a sassy and witty voice to Shar and her multicultural adventure in this new YA novel. With themes of healthy sexuality, relationships, internet citizenship, LGBTQ, and coming of age in a world that watches your every move, this novel was refreshing! I felt as if I was in Indonesia with Shar on her travels and the writing was smart and fun. Definitely an easy feel good read!

This is more than a young adult ron-com, this is a travel log, and love letter to Indonesia and Fiji. The closest I have been to Indonesia is Australia, which is nowhere near. Like Sharlot, the main character, I know very little about Indonesia, other than what @jesseqsutanto has posted inher instagram site about Jakarta. LIke Sharlot, I always have the images that the BBC shows, of huts, and shanty towns.

The story is very cute, with mix-ups, and fake dating, and all the fun tropes that romance novels fall into. The characters are both very likable, despite being forced into a romance they didn’t seek. The dialogue of these teenagers is *very* realistic, with the odd-swear word thrown in all over the place, and having living with a teenager, I can tell you, that is how they speak.

So much fun. I didn’t want the book to end, though I also wanted to know how it would all work out.

Highly recommend this, even though you might think you don’t want to know about Indonesia, or teen romance, you really do.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

This book was so fun to read! I read the whole thing within 3 days so that tells you how much I liked it. There were so many funny shenanigans afoot while riding the emotional roller coaster of being a teenager.

Only criticism was I’m not quite sure a teenager would publicly cuss as much as Sharlot does. I remember being that age and yes I cussed around my friends and under my breath but there is no way I would have gotten away with saying any of the stuff she said in front of adults. I didn’t grow up saying yes ma’am/no sir or anything that extreme (which I still find ridiculous and refuse to say). But maybe that’s the difference between California and Midwestern/Midsouth kids? But this didn’t hinder me from enjoying the book.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC.

This was such a cute fun book! Sharlot is caught in a compromising but typical teenage situation by her mother and her mother's reaction is to take her to Jakarta. While in Jakarta, Sharlot's mom creates a profile on the Indonesian version of Instagram in order for her to find some friends. George is also caught in a typical compromising teenage situation by his father and sister and their reaction is to set him up on the Indonesian version of Instagram to find him a girlfriend so he will not be seen as such a loser. Sharlot and George match and the parental catfishing and fake dating ensues.

Jesse Q. Sutanto's writing is hilarious and her characters are extremely loveable. This was a fun YA twist on fake dating where the people in the fake relationship did not agree to the catfishing or fake dating.

Sutanto's hilarious voice, large cast of characters, and rich exploration of Indonesian Chinese culture is present as always in this new YA romance. The absolute most ABSURD inciting incident leads to our main characters fake dating at this beautiful Bali resort. The setting was lush. All of the characters were well fleshed out with poignant background stories and clear motives. In addition, there was sapphic rep, and an incredible mother/daughter storyline.
Im simply obsessed.

Loved this! The author is so witty, the characters are literally so relatable and funny it's hard not to love them! The storyline flows so effortlessly, I enjoyed all the moments that I gasped and didn't expect. Plus all of the humor in between with a few sad moments. Loved that it was set in Indonesia, gave me eye opening views from there as I've never been there but have always dreamed of going there. This novel is such a great, light read! I know it's a young adult novel but me being in my mid-30s still totally enjoyed it. It brought me back to my teenage years and feelings. Definitely read this if you need some laughs and loveable characters in your life!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers to read and review. All statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

Well, that was very expected, if I do say so myself. The premise of this novel promised a large meddlesome family, references to Chinese Indonesian culture, a coming-of-age story, and an adorable fake dating romance, and it delivered on all fronts. I think my favorite aspect of this novel was definitely learning about Indonesian and Chinese Indonesian culture and noting the similarities between South Asian and Southeast Asian foods, traditions, cultures, and language. I also really appreciated how refreshing the characters felt (i.e. they never felt into their typical character achetypes), such as Bradley being a supportive ex instead of a toxic one, Kiki and Eleanor being kind and caring towards Shar instead of being catty snobs, and Shar's mother owning up to her mistakes and actually apologizing as an Asian mother. Shar was by no means a perfect person either, and I really loved watching her grow and recognize her ignorance towards Indonesia. I only wish that the resolution after the climax was a little more drawn out instead of ending so abruptly, but overall, this was ridiculously over-the-top in the best way possible. While I haven't read Jesse Q. Sutanto's other novels, such as Dial A For Aunties, based on what I know of her other novels, I think fans of her previous works will definitely love Well, That Was Unexpected!

I’ve not read anything else by this author but had heard good things. I was excited to receive an arc from NetGalley for review. I dove in immediately.

To give this book a 3.5 stars Is a stretch for me. I’ll admit I was pretty turned off at the start. Neither introduction to 2 leads are favorable or even interesting. Frankly I just found it unnecessary. I however loved the setting and cultural influence. The characters were alright but there was quite a bit to keep up on with all of them. Storyline was predictable with a couple twists (that again, I didn’t care for but that’s personal preference). Overall “cute”, sometimes funny, just could have been more.

This is the second book, but first young adult novel, I’ve read from Jesse Q. Sutanto. And much like her adult novels, this book carries the same charm and humor. There is no denying that Sutanto had genuine fun while writing this story; that joy floats right off the pages of this story.

In many ways, this story was a love letter to Indonesia and everything its culture offers. I haven’t learned much about that island country before (which is a huge shame!), and the reader can absolutely feel the love and pride Sutanto has for her country. From the beauty of the settings to the delicious tastes of the food, the details were trying to peel itself off the page. But, with that being said, it was a love letter that was unafraid to criticize that culture, as well. The story made a point of commenting on the conservative nature of Indonesian culture and how suffocating that can become. Despite there being some cultural criticism, it was all handled tastefully and fit well with the contents of the story.

Sharlot and George were both fantastic main characters. They carried distinct voices, which was only supported by the different environments they were raised in. I truly admired George for being a down-to-earth, nerdy love interest—despite his family being billionaires. Sharlot, on the other hand, was difficult to connect with. Early on, I made many notes/comments about her negative attitude and nastiness toward her mother. Again, this is one way to attempt to capture a teenager’s voice; however, it made it difficult to connect with her because she was so negative and angry all the time. It would have been softened if there were clearer details as to why she acted that way, as it felt like the reasons why were brushed under the rug. Did Sharlot grow from that negativity by the end of the story? Sure. But, her rapid development away from those attitudes was stark in comparison to how much time had passed.

I have to say it: there was insta-love. That is difficult to avoid when the events are unfolding across a few days’ span, but it was frustrating to see nonetheless. I wish we had just a few more chapters to slow down the story’s pacing in order to better capture Sharlot and George’s developing relationship. It did feel like you blinked and missed the two of them “falling” for each other. I do believe the insta-love was tied closely to the speed of which the characters developed. You could see where the different story acts ended and began, which signaled the locations where the characters changed and moved away from their previous headspaces. All in all, I wish the character development and romance development was slower; I can’t help but feel it would have built a stronger story.

As much as I enjoyed aspects of this novel, I can’t ignore the ageist comments that were made in the name of making Sharlot sound “younger.” Can teenagers be judgmental? Absolutely yes. We’ve all been there and there’s no denying what your worldview is as a teenager. However, it’s hard to stomach any ageist comments; in the case of this story, the source of Sharlot’s ire was those in the 27 to 30 range. (Do I need to say that 27-30 isn’t old?) There are other ways to achieve a teenager’s voice in a young adult novel and making ageist comments is not one of them.

This is a much smaller note, but there were 16 uses of “argh.” That was one too many uses of that exclamation for a 300+ paged book.

In the end, this was an enjoyable young adult read. It was another great take on the fake-dating trope, despite how insta-love the romance was in the end. But, I was utterly enchanted by the Indonesian setting and hope to read more books set in this country.

TW: ageism, slut-shaming

Thank you to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Jesse Q. Sutanto absolutely knows how to get excelled in various genres including thriller, cozy mystery, romance, adult fiction! She has amazing sense of humor promises a week long entertainment!

Dial A for Aunties series is one of her brilliant cozy mystery/ humor/ romance works.

After reading the blurb about YA romance story between Sharlot and George Clooney with a loud laugh, I was so excited to read this book!

At first chapters were reminding me of American Pie movies style crass teenage humor. Sharlot gets caught to her mother when her new boyfriend is about to pop her cherry and George Clooney gets caught by his father and 13 years old sister when he is out of his pants, watching an animated soft porn! You fill the blanks! Both of the situations are absolutely embarrassing!

Two parents decide to play a cat fishing game to match their children via dating app. Both Sharlot and George find each other boring, traditional after reading each other’s comments on the dating app. They have no idea written sections are filled by their parents.

George is only male heir of their family dynasty as Sharlot only has her mother as a parent. And her mother ran away from her homeland under suspicious circumstances.

As she travels through Indonesia, exploring the beauty of the city, getting attracted to George, she also finds the truth about her mother’s past.

Overall: I had hard time to get into the story because of immature teenage sense of humor but later when the main story started, I absolutely enjoyed my time!

In near future I plan to visit Indonesia to see those places and try their delicious food! The author’s depictions were mouth watering.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s / Delacorte Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This was my first young adult book of Jesse Q. Sutanto. I fell in love with her writing style and characters after reading Dial A for Aunties and wanted to give this book a try when I saw that I could request an ARC.

It did not disappoint at all! Everything you love about the family dynamics, characters and humor of her Dial A series is fully in this book but through the eyes of a young teen girl named Sharlot, displaced for the summer when her mother takes her back to her home country of Indonesia.

Sharlot goes from having a very cynical, Americanized view of the beautiful country and the bustling city of Jakarta, to a growing fascination and love for her family’s birthplace after she’s thrust into a fake dating relationship with the handsome son of one of Indonesia’s most influential families.

The descriptions of the settings & cultures- specifically within Jakarta & Bali were some of favorite parts of the story. It opened my eyes to how beautiful & interesting the culture of Indonesia is. The love story between the two main characters was sweet and full of typical awkward teenage moments and experiences that brought back so many memories. And as always with Sutanto’s books, the relationship between the main character and her mother really stuck with me.

I really appreciated the discussions of heavier topics (specifically misogyny & LGTBQ+ equality and how it differs in different parts of the world) in such a light fun book because it adds more depth to an already amazing story.

Fantastic story overall and would highly recommend to any YA romance fan!

TW/CW: misogyny, sexism, homophobia

Well, That Was Unexpected takes all of the heart, humor, and meddling family hijinks that I loved from Dial A for Aunties and translates it into such a fun YA coming-of-age story. I loved getting to explore Indonesia through the eyes of these two incredibly awkward teens. I loved how honestly the book addressed topics like sex and sexuality. I loved all the mouth watering descriptions of food. Super fun and highly recommended.

I am definitely older than the target audience, but I had a lot of fun reading this book. Full disclosure--I love reading YA and I especially love discovering new authors, especially POC/BIPOC. There were definitely moments when I thought of Crazy Rich Asians, although our two young people do not meet in school. Rather, their parents set them up in a catfishing situation where neither of them was involved, but they think the other was involved. This resulted in a ridiculous situation where they each think the other one is completely boring and old and uber traditional, which is completely not the case. What is similar to CRA is that George is the sole male heir of his generation to a ridiculously wealthy empire, Shar is the daughter of a single mother who left Indonesia under fraught circumstances and never looked back, and you get to explore Indonesia's beautiful culture (especially the food!). There were definitely moments of implausibility, including the idea that both Shar and George would never guess that the other one did NOT write their end of the conversation on the dating app. As intelligent as they were both supposed to be, it seemed odd that they wouldn't have eventually suspected that the other one was not the writer of the messages.

Still, this wasn't a major issue for me because this is what I would consider a fun summer read and I loved the situations they found themselves in. Her cousin and his sister were hysterical and really added to the story, and I loved what Shar discovered about her mom's past. I also loved how their own family relationships improved as they got to know each other and gained perspective. I didn't realize that Indonesia was such a conservative country, but I thought that the author tackled the subject very well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and will look for other books by this author. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and quick beach read. I suspect that those who enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians would also love this book.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book is being published on September 27, so keep an eye out!

Well, this is unfortunate.

When I saw Jesse Q. Sutanto was writing a fake-dating story set in Indonesia, I immediately added it to my TBR. I had high hopes for Well, That Was Unexpected. loved her Dial A series and was excited to read about one of my favorite tropes while learning about a country I've always been interested in. When I actually read it, it was a bit of a letdown. Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable book; unfortunately, it didn't completely wow me the way I thought it would.

We'll start with the bad news first. Partially because I want to get it out of the way and partially because it reflects my overall impression of Well, That Was Unexpected. I personally found the opening chapters a little bit grating. I don't know what exactly Jesse Sutanto was going for. Like was trying to be sex positive? Trying out some new jokes? Both? Whatever it was, it just felt a lot of crass humor, and that's just not my thing. I get that this is totally a preference thing, but I was three chapters in and already a little turned off by the story. The second thing that threw me off was, of all things, the catfishing. To be fair, this is another personal preference, but I 1) had only read the synopsis on the deal announcement and didn't realize it was a thing and 2) have only read Sutanto's Aunties books. I know she's published like five books in the past two years, and I loved the catfishing scene in Dial A, but seeing the plot used again in Well, That Was Unexpected felt derivative. I don't know if it was my "been there, read that" attitude or if it was the way it was written, but the whole catfishing joke just fell flat for me.

Unfortunately, I have similar sentiments about the story as a whole. I hate to make comparisons, but the book wasn't as lively as the Aunties series. The plot was simplistic, the characters were underdeveloped, and the story as a whole just felt watered down and average. I remember looking down at my reading progress and being shocked that I was already 40% through the book. Everything just happened so quickly. The overall pacing was rushed, and moving through the chapters felt more like jumping from point to point in an outline instead of smoothly progressing though a story. The actual story definitely had promise; I just think it needed to be developed and enhanced more. I'm hoping some of these issues will be addressed before the final publication because I got the sense that the version we got in the e-galley was still in the middle of being edited. There were a lot of moments that felt unnecessarily redundant. Phrases like "maybe I did inherit a dramatic streak" or entire moments like Sharlot and George's conversation about why he froze during the first interview were placed close enough together that gave me a jarring sense of (what I'm assuming was unintentional) deja vu.

The last two issues I had with Well, That Was Unexpected are, again, more on preference end of the spectrum. One is relatively minor, but some of the humor just did not work for me. I don't really know what else to say other than the fact that some of the jokes weren't funny to me. My second complaint is a bit more substantial. In general, it felt like Sutanto was trying so hard to be progressive it got in the way of the storytelling and was a bit off-putting. I'll admit soapbox stories are one of my pet peeves, but I think that even if you were to look at the story objectively, you'd find that too much time is spent moralizing and not enough time is spent developing the story. (Excuse me while I get on my soapbox for a bit, but) it's one thing to have a point you want to get across, but it's an entirely different thing to shove the aforementioned point down your readers throats, and in this case, Sutanto, unfortunately, falls prey to the latter. Her personal agenda is obtrusive and very much in your face. Sutanto takes shots at toxic masculinity, big corporations, and heteronormitive standards, and Idonesia's conversative culture, so it's no surprise there isn't much room left for developing the actual story. Sharlot reads like a total SJW--and not a particularly interesting one at that. Her passion for these issues feels tepid at best, and it almost feels like she's just regurgitating party lines because she's a woke American (albeit an ugly and ignorant one when it comes to her initial bias related to Indonesia.) Look, authors are allowed to have their own opinions and write whatever they want, but if you're going to write a treatise on everything that's wrong in society, at least weave it into your narrative and write an interesting story.

Now for the good parts. When I got past the cringe humor, there were some moments that were ridiculously hilarious. The fictional tour around Indonesia did not disappoint. I also loved the mother-daughter relationship and Sharlot's journey of learning to understand and appreciate her culture. The immigrant parent-child dynamic was definitely the highlight of the story, and I would've loved to see Sutanto delve deeper and explore it even more.

I have been wanting to read this authors other book Dial A for Aunties and now after reading this, I might just pick up that book as well. I enjoyed the writing style and was unable to put the book down. I also love the cover of this book. It is so colorful and fun.

What an adorably fun YA book! I have enjoyed Jesse Q. Sutanto’s previous work but wasn’t sure how her style of writing would translate into the YA genre. Let me just say, IT WORKS! Her usual humorous and charismatic dialogue’s flowed effortlessly and the personalities of each character jumped off the page.

I loved the storyline and felt it was unique and entertaining. The relationship between the two main characters is so sweet and endearing. Also, who doesn’t love a fake relationship trope!

Overall this is a delightful story that is sure to capture the heart of all! Thank you to the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this book!

What a very cute, funny romance. I wouldn’t recommend it for for younger teens as there are some sexy scenes and language. The characters were hilarious. It’s nice to see a view of a culture from a different generation. Easy, beach read for sure.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you've read the "Dial A for Aunties" series then you can expect to enjoy this YA book. Similar to "Dial A for Aunties" you can expect that the MC to be an Asian American, that the MCs will have ridiculous or misspelled names (Sharlot and George Clooney), and the story to revolve around the concept of family (fewer aunties involvement in this one, but still centered around family).

Even though I'm in my twenties and older than the target audience for this YA book, I honestly enjoyed this book even more than the "Dial A for Aunties" series. The book starts out with a hilarious situation where teenage MCs get caught in compromising situations by their parents - Sharlot (American MC) gets taken against her will to Indonesia for the summer because she was caught nearly having sex with her boyfriend and George Clooney (Indonesian Billionare) getting caught masturbating by his dad. To ensure that their children find the right kind of romantic partner, Sharlot's mother and George's father strike up a conversation online, pretending to be their children.

I also really enjoyed the little tibits about the culture, the foods, and the attractions that could be found in Indonesia. It's a really great summer read that's funny and set in a now dream travel destination.