Didn't See That Coming

Kiki is a girl who enjoys video games, but male behavior towards female gamers don't create a safe environment. After receiving countless threats from them, she decides to use a male username and act as a boy online to avoid their harassment. This seems to work really well, and she even ends up making a friend online. He doesn't know she's a girl, but they bond over personal struggles and have a strong connection. She thinks she'll never meet him in real life, but everything changes once her parents decide she needs to transfer schools to learn some manners. When she discovers that her online friend goes to the same school, she decides to discover his identity while protecting her own secret. 

Where do I start? I had hopes for this book. The cover and the plot made me think this was going to be some cute romance novel… and it does have a tiny bit of romance. But for me, I found this book tedious to read. Even when it’s short. I spent three weeks trying to finish it. It's probably me? I was mad at everything the whole time. It’s just unbelievable that everything that could go wrong or bad about the patriarchy will happen at once to one human being. I got tired of the mistreatment; I would’ve dropped out of school. I felt drained reading this. And I guess it wants to criticize society, but I read to escape a trashy life, not to enter another one. Kiki was also annoying and disrespectful (sometimes she had her reasons, but sometimes it was a rage that came out of nowhere). Also, I don’t think I got the humor that comes in the book, maybe it's something cultural that I didn’t understand, and that’s okay. I'm not the audience for this. 

Since I have to share my honest thoughts, I’ll give this book 2/5 stars. Because I really liked the ending

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC.

This book sounded like it would be a quick, cute read and while it was both of those things I was also a little disappointed in it. It was a rather strange mix of cute and quirky but also dealing with some fairly heavy topics, and while I think those two things can work here I'm not sure they ended up doing so. That's not to say that the book was bad, because it wasn't, it just didn't feel like it quite knew what it wanted to be, along with being quite rushed at the end. Surprisingly I think the thing it did best was talk about those hard subjects, such as sexism in the gamer world, and sexism in Asian cultures. I really felt for Kiki and all that she was going though. I also did think that the romance was cute at times, and it truly wasn't a bad one. My main issue was two-fold; first, the ending was WAY too abrupt. Everything got resolved in...two or three chapters, which in the book translated to like...maybe 20 pages? It was too fast for me and made things seem a little cheap. Second, Kiki is forgiven by Sourdawg (I'm going to use his online handle so as to not spoil who he is in real life, although it's not really that big of a surprise). He forgives her for withholding who she really was because she tells everyone about the sexism she experienced as a woman in gaming so OF COURSE she had to pretend to be a guy online, but the fact that she pretended to be a guy (or just failed to correct people when they assumed she was one) wasn't the issue. The issue was that once she knew who her online friend was she not only continued to lie to him both in real life and online, but she asked him as her online persona all about how he felt about the real her. THAT'S NOT OKAY!!! And the fact that that's never addressed is concerning to me. So while I did enjoy aspects of this book, and think it had potential, I'm not sure I would be comfortable hand-selling it to teens (who are the main audience) because some of those big issues aren't addressed. And while in the overarching scheme of the world sexism is more important than a single relationship for those people in the relationship things like that are VERY important and teens need to be shown that. All in all I'm not sure if I'll bother reading Sutanto's other YA contemporary novels, but I am still curious to pick up her adult thriller debut, and her YA thriller that I read was also decent enough based on my recollection.

Cute YA romance. Insights into the gaming world and the patriarchal society of Indo Chinese. Loved the Lil Aunties.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Didn’t See That Coming, Jesse Q. Sutanto’s second foray into the YA contemporary romance genre, is as much of a delight as her first. Set in the same world, although focused on a new set of characters in leading roles (with the leads from the prior book in supporting roles), it’s somewhat more serious than its predecessor in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t lack for moments of humor and levity as well.
Kiki’s story really resonated with me on multiple levels. She faces bullying in school, including name-calling, which makes her experience at her prestigious Indonesian school hell, and like her, I know what it’s like to have male classmates who would just not leave me alone. She’s also dealing with the immense sexism online in the online gaming community, with guys catcalling and making rude jokes about her when she played as a girl, leading to her making the most masculine-sounding player name in an attempt to escape it.
I was intrigued by how the story would bring the two worlds together, and I was glad it wasn’t in a way that redeemed the bully, even openly fighting back against the common real-life trope of “he’s just mean because he likes you” and winking at the absurdity of more extreme forms of the enemies-to-lovers trope. This aspect of the book does involve doxing (on the bully’s part) and blackmail, so I was very worried about Kiki, but I applauded her for being able to stand up for herself after all the obstacles she faced.
And there’s also a cute, wholesome romance with another guy, who is one of the few non-toxic people from her school and in the game. While it was somewhat sidelined by Kiki’s personal arc, the love interest does play a role in providing solutions for the problem. Their dynamic is also quite sweet, even if it was a little instalove-y.
This was an equally emotionally moving and fun read, and I’d recommend it to readers that like YA contemporaries that delve into tough topics with a light touch.

As someone who played a lot of online video games, wanting to disguise yourself as a guy was so relatable. Talk about the online harassment, inappropriate behavior, and more. I was immediately on Kiki's side. Not only that, but she's determined to be herself with no excuses. And you got to love her for it especially in a world which always tries to minimize girls, to have them shrink, and bow to the misogyny.

I really enjoyed reading about these characters because of their personalities. The text message conversations were so fun to read and I loved the friendships that were made. I found this to be a heartwarming read. It also covers the topics of sexism, cyberbullying and school bullying. I thought that these topics were handled well in this book.

thank you to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press and netgalley for allowing me to read Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto. This was such a cute and fun romantic story. The character development was chef kiss.

4 Stars

I love anything and everything Jessie writes and this book just made the teen in my heart so happy. Not only does this book tackle the awkwardness of the social hierarchy of secondary school, it also handles important topics around sexism, harassment, and the toxicity of patriarchal systems that girls find theirselves stuck living in.

Our main character has a secret online gaming identity, DudeBro, to protect herself from online sexual harassment while gaming. She has a best friend online and when she starts at a new school that is more traditional in its education, she realizes she is going to school with and catching feelings for him, all while navigating a school environment designed to punish her into submission.

The romance was cute and the underlying important topics were handled really well, but the star of this book is the setting and how much Jessie throws her culture into her books. It’s set in Indonesia and the food descriptions made me so hungry. She also handles how, despite what media around Southeastern Asian life shows, it is still very much rooted in a submissive patriarchal culture where women and girls still have to fight for equality.

I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it in audio!

This was a fun read, but didn’t really resonate with me as much as any of her other books usually do. I wasn’t connecting to the characters or the situation. I also felt it was a had heavy handed with the message.

I really enjoyed this fun and sweet story about Kiki and Liam, students at an elite Indonesian high school; after switching to a new school, the formerly popular Kiki finds herself facing bullying not only at school but in the online gaming community she loves so much.

Sutanto does a lot of things right: she speaks in a nuanced and sensitive way about the challenges Kiki faces as a female gamer, as well as the culture and dynamics within Asian families and "traditional" private schools. The characters themselves are dynamic and genuine and supportive of each other.

I will say that I could see the last minute "plot twist" coming and, while some may deem it unnecessary, I believe it crucial to the last 25% of the story (necessary chaos, if you will).

Overall, this is a sweet and contemporary romance that delicately touches upon important topics that women specifically struggle with.

I really enjoyed this YA coming of age book! Thank you Netgalley for this arc! Even though it was YA it didn’t feel too you as the MC Kiki was forced to move schools because her parents wanted her to go to a more traditional Asian school to learn respect and manners. What they didn’t expect was Jonas. The boy that bullied her from day one when she stood up for herself and her group on a team project. While school was awful at home she found comfort in gaming with her virtual friend. The main issue is she has to have a guy name because she has been bullied as a female gamer in the past. Her friend doesn’t know she is a female and reveals a lot of feelings to her. When her new school and her gamer life clash she has to figure out what to do. How can she be herself and meet everyone’s expectations?

I liked the themes explored in the novel of a high school girl, Kiki Siregar of Jakarta using a boy's name for her game name online in order to protect herself, a girl, from ridicule and outright threats by male game players.

I thought that having her foil, the obnoxious wealthy gamer Jason, be also her classmate at school, added to the conflict in the plot. It was also clever that her best friend on the online game happens to be another one of her male classmates, neither of whom realizes that Kiki is the game player they interact with online .

There is, of course, romance in the story of the teens. The author wrote an entertaining young romance with a broader message, that sexism in society and in some private schools give advantages to males that put girls on a lower level.

A book not just for YA and teen readers, but for adults as well.

As much as I like the Aunties, the Teenage characters in Jesse Q Sutanto’s book, Didn’t See That Coming, are growing on me. In the 2nd installment of her YA series following this group of teens we get a glimpse into the hierarchy of the Indo-Chinese culture and family priorities. Revisiting some of the characters from the first book in this series (Well, That Was Unexpected) we dive into 17 year old, student/gamer Kiki’s transfer to a school her parents feel will make her less contemporary and more traditional, and of course be around “all the right people”. Once there she really does get a first hand look at how class differences as well as school and cyber bullying and the age old “boys club” mentality come into play. This is a sweet enemies-to lover trope along with the hot button topics that are relevant in todays society. Well researched and well told. 4⭐️

Jesse Q. Sutanto has become one of the auto-read authors for me after her Aunties cozy mystery series.

Didn't See That Coming is a young adult romance set in an Indonesian school where Kiki Siregar is a closeted gamer playing under the pseudonym of a boy. Like women IRL, Kiki was bullied online by men when she chose a more feminine gaming handle before choosing one that's more masculine sounding. Although the romance isn't the central focus, I enjoyed it. The discussion of bullying, online and IRL, along with the societal expectations of girls vs. boys is discussed in this novel. I think it's a good read whether the reader is a gamer or not.

Thank you to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

We first met 17 year-old Kiki in last year's Well, That Was Unexpected. She is the cousin of Sharlot, who fake-dated George and then became involved with him IRL. However, you do not have to read that adorable novel first, but I highly recommend it. Anyway, this is Kiki's story.
Kiki is a awesome gamer-girl who pretends to be a boy online so that she can avoid all the harassment that goes along with being a gamer-girl. There is one boy online, however, that is not like the other jerks. Kiki is transferred to a more conservative school her senior year and finds out that her online bestie also attends there. But who is he? And how will he react when he finds out Kiki's secret?

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House, Delacorte Press for this e-arc.*

A light, funny teen romance with a serious message woven in set among the elite in Indonesia. I've read Sutanto's adult novels and this has a similar feel. This reads like "Crazy Rich Asians" for the teenage crowd. (This is actually a sequel - I didn't read the first one but never felt lost.)

The author has such a way with words, especially when creating such a cute and charming atmosphere. The characters were SO easy to like and you really root for them the entire time. I thought the way she subtly includes the conflicts and biases girls face when gaming and even in private schools was super refreshing. Plus the challenges that arise with all of that were really interestingly handled as well. There was quite a twist close to the end and it honestly left me very surprised I wouldn't say it was super necessary but the book was definitely still enjoyable at least. The romance was sweet and I loved the focus on topics like cyberbullying and toxic masculinity.

🦇 Didn't See That Coming Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❝ The patriarchy is very far from being smashed. In fact, maybe they're even a little bit worse, because we pretend that the patriarchy is done and we're in a society with gender equality, so we can't even fight it because the fight's over. How do I fight something that's already playing dead but is still very much alive behind closed doors? ❞

❓ #QOTD What are your favorite video games? ❓

🦇 Kiki Siregar is a badass gamer girl brimming with confidence and sass. She never hesitates to be herself...unless she's online. When she gets harassed as a girl playing a single-shooter game, she decides to recreate herself and anonymously starts playing as a guy. She even makes a friend--Sourdawg, who loves baking so much that he's the human equivalent of a sweet cinnamon roll. When Kiki's parents transfer her to an elite private school her senior year, she learns that the harassment doesn't only happen online. Worse yet: Sourdawg attends the same school. Can Kiki be herself in such a strict school, and uncover Sourdawg's identity in the process?

💜 Kiki is FIRE. She's sassy, independent, and refuses to sit silent when the world tries to pre-package her into the pristine image of what men expect her to be. Kiki is perhaps one of the most self-assured, confident YA characters I've encountered this year. Unfortunately, the misogyny and sexism she faces lead to reverse character development, causing Kiki to doubt herself. She's forced to fall in line with ultra-conservative rules that favor boys over girls. Sutanto does a wonderful job of conveying the realities women face both on and offline. Even if you're not a gamer, the messages here are universal. Sutanto is also skilled at creating realistic, likable characters. Did I agree with every choice Kiki made? No, definitely not. Did I feel for her and want to give her a huge, warm hug? Definitely. The interactions between Kiki and supporting characters (namely Sourdawg online and her love interest at school) are the adorable fluff you need to offset the disgusting misogyny she experiences from both GROWN MEN and frustrating teenage boys. Thank you, Sutanto, for not dragging out Sourdawg's identity, either. Every secondary character is a delight as well.

🦇 My only real hangup with this story was the pacing, which does drag a little. However, Sutanto does a wonderful job of demonstrating how a "rebellious" female in a conservative, Asian culture can defy outdated concepts of misogyny and sexism without disrespecting her culture or elders outright. Kiki also defies every stereotype and bias thrown at her as Sutanto demonstrates the reality of our times. Whether in Asia or America, these problems still exist. We're not done fighting for gender equality. It's just playing dead, making the fight all the more difficult.

❝ I guess it's much easier for the school if a harassed girl keeps her head down and learns to accept abuse, but I am done keeping my head down. I'm done swallowing my anger and pretending that everything's okay. I'm not crazy just because I speak my mind. I'm a person with equal rights to those of everybody else here, and I am done staying silent to make boys feel comfortable. ❞

🦇 Recommended for fans of You've Got Mail and Jesse Q. Sutanto's Well, That Was Unexpected. This is a sweet, thought-provoking YA romance with a refreshing perspective on inequality, bullying, and feminism; a worthy read!

✨ The Vibes ✨
🎮 Gamer Girl / Secret Identity
🕹️ Friends to Lovers
👾 South Asian Rep
🕹️ Down With the Patriarchy
🎮 Contemporary YA Romance

⚠️ Cyberbullying, Toxic Masculinity, Class Differences, Gaslighting

🦇 Major thanks to the author @jesseqsutanto and publisher @randomhousekids @delacortepress for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #DidntSeeThatComing #NetGalley

4.5 stars!

Kiki was an amazing MC to follow, and so relatable in her angst and stubbornness, her desire to stand up for herself and question what's wrong. As an Asian, I did understand some of her struggles and the gender bias in what societal norms of girls are versus boys. I do think maybe that the situational drama with Kiki's new school may have been magnified to draw attention to it.

Jonas really brings to mind some of the spoilt characters from Enid Blyton's series, and yup, he was a maddening character. His ego and complete lack of awareness of his surroundings made him completely despicable, yet his behavior didn't come off as unbelievable considering the environment in the school. Eleanor Roosevelt was the perfect little sidekick- a daring genius with surprising maturity. And more than Kiki's actual best friends, I enjoyed interactions with Peishan and the girls. Kiki was completely right when she said- "I need girlfriends more than I need my online crush".

I've always had a fear that Asian stories with Asian characters fall flat and don't work well if not in a western setting with diverse side characters. But this book proved me wrong, what with it being entirely focused on Chinese-Indonesian culture. While I agree with a lot of modern changes, I think there are aspects of conservative Asian culture that must prevail in moderation, and I love how Sutanto bought that out, with a rebel MC who doesn't embrace the bits of her culture projected as sexist and misogyny, all the while still not disrespecting it.

My only complaint about the whole book was the absence of romance till the very end. This was a slow burn romance, centered more on debunking stereotypes and acknowledging the biases in society which may be subtle but definitely exist. I actually think that the book could have worked just as well without the promise of romance which wasn't really kept. So don't dive into this book expecting just that coz there's just so much more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are solely mine.

Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto was a super cute YA romance.
I mean seriously is there anything this author can’t write? I don’t think so!
This book had me smiling so much!
I adored the characters and thought it was a very engaging story.
The characters are funny, adorable, and delightful.
Sutanto does such a great job of telling an interesting story from the teenage perspective.
This book is so witty, funny and charming. It's a great book for teenagers and adults.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.