This was a good one. I enjoyed the MC's inner monologue. I think this would make a pretty great screenplay. I struggled a little with how the plot dragged on a bit - there could have been a bit more going on. I always appreciate an authentic voices novel, too!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Sadie and Julius are enemies, at least that's what Sadie's always believed. She's always been under immense pressure to be perfect and likes to maintain the façade as much as possible, so she keeps all of her negative thoughts, her jealousy, her stress and frustration in a drafts folder in her inbox...with recipients' email addresses complete. It's no surprise to the reader when those emails are "accidentally" sent. The fallout is immediate and far-reaching. Can Sadie gain her footing back? Does she even want to? Most of her vitriol is directed at her classmate and competitor, Julius. When he receives her emails, he sees a different story. A sweet and thoughtful read that would be a great addition to any high school library.

Many thanks to Scholastic and Scholastic Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

This had the potential to be another cute contemporary academic rivals/enemies-to-lovers romance, but unfortunately it fell short for me.

The biggest issue ultimately was that it struck me as too similar to some of Ann Liang’s other works, notably her debut (If You Could See the Sun), which also strongly features the same trope except that book has an interesting speculative twist and more biting social commentary that elevated the story more. As a result, I just couldn’t help but feel that I’d read this book before and seen it executed more effectively by the author; the plot, characters, setting, etc. just felt less distinct.

That being said, I think that Liang is able to write really relatable characters and she does that again successfully here with a protagonist who struggles with people-pleasing and must come face to face with the consequences of accidentally releasing unsent emails with all of her pent-up emotions and thoughts about her classmates. This framing allows for her to evaluate this flaw along the way. I do think that journey will resonate with many, even if they other aspects of the story were ultimately more flat.

Ann Liang has such a special way with word itll have you swooning for her character. Ann Liang has successfully mastered her craft of characterization and she truly is the best in her game. She has once again created a book that is so beautifully combines all the best elements of a young adult academic rivals to loverd novel.

A cute YA romance that won’t necessarily be one that sticks with me, but was fun and sweet to read nonetheless

this was soooo cute!

to all the boys i've loved before-core but make it academic rivals to lovers!!!! eeek

anyway…

cute spring/summer read i would gobble up anything by ann liang <3

ann liang does such a gorgeous job with academic rivals to lovers!!!!!!! my favorite trope!!!

she makes you root for her characters so hard! i can so relate to the anxious people pleasing nature of both sadie and julius and appreciated the layers they had to them. while i think the emails could have been handled a little differently, the way the assignments connected julius and sadie was really fun and let their relationship build really naturally. i wish we saw a little bit more of the characters interacting with other people, but overall such cute ya goodness!

thanks to the publishers for the free copy of this one!

This book is for all the people-pleasers out there. If you’re always looking for validation and changing yourself to fit in, hoping one day you'll finally be appreciated—this is for you. If you’re a "Mirrorball" or "This Is Me Trying" type of girlie, you’ll totally relate to Sadie Wen. She’s all about striving for perfection, longing for stability, and never accepting help because she’s like, “I can do this on my own!!” But really, it’s about protecting herself from being vulnerable.

I used to dream about what it would be like to have someone special. I’d think about tenderness, infinite patience, and someone who’d chase after me even when I push them away. Someone who’d hold my sadness and actually care to understand. And now there’s you.

This book is basically "To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before" but with hate emails instead of love letters, and it!! is!! so!! addictive!! I couldn’t put it down! Her words are like a balm for the soul—they make me giggle and fall in love with the characters while also showing their different sides. Sure, it’s similar to her other books, but each character has something unique that makes them stand out, and I just adore that. Academic rivals to lovers always hits different, especially when they genuinely hate each other at first. The way Sadie gradually starts to like Julius felt so natural, and I loved every bit of their development.

We all know the horror of having our secret thoughts blasted out to the world, whether we’ve suffered vicarious embarrassment when Lara Jean’s love letters reached her crushes or our own embarrassment when we’ve texted (or even screenshotted) the wrong person.

So we’re ready to cringe alongside Sadie when, somehow, all the angry email drafts she composes but doesn’t dare send not only get sent out to the people she wrote them to but to her entire school. This certainly doesn’t fit the perfect persona Sadie’s been crafting: top student, people pleaser, always kind and friendly.

While a few emails are crafted to a variety of classmates (like Rosie, who stole her science fair project) and teachers (like Ms. Johnson, who refused to round her 89.5% to an A), most of them are crafted to her bitterest rival, Julius Gong.

She and Julius have been in fierce competition to be the best at everything ever since he targeted her in a game of dodgeball the first day of school. For nine years, she’s been taking out her rage against him in a collection of unsent emails—how dare he take her gold sticker, was he named after a Roman dictator, sometimes she thinks about throttling him—and now he, and their classmates, have seen them all.

As Sadie deals with the aftermath of the chaos, however, she finds herself spending more and more time with Julius, and she starts to realize that, perhaps, there’s more to him than she realized and that, perhaps, expressing your feelings instead of bottling them up inside isn’t an entirely bad thing.

Liang’s novel, like her fake dating rom com, This Time It’s Real, is a frothy delight where both characters fall in love and discover a better version of themselves along the way.

There is a scene of teenage drinking, but otherwise, the novel is appropriate for a wide range of students.

Thank you NetGalley and Scholastic for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Will be posted at https://threeheads.works/category/blog/ya-books/ on June 3, 2024.

*** Thank you to NetGalley and for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. ***

As a die hard fan of academic rivals to lovers, this book kept me up reading all night. The tropes are essentially repeating everything seen in If You Could See The Sun, but I enjoyed the far more "cutthroat" nature of this book more. Sadie and Julius genuinely hated each other, and went to great lengths to beat each other, something I didn't see to an extremity in IYCSTS. The scene where they stood in front of the guest speaker and essentially just had a cat fight had me smiling like an idiot the whole time. It was fun trying to see how they would one-up each other, find some new way to almost humiliate the other, but also gain respect for each other, but also themselves.

The ending left me a little underwhelmed. I wished we could see more of them at the point where they have confessed, finally a team and defending each other WHILE having acknowledged feelings. Otherwise, it was a perfect YA read. The writing was as expected for YA, and it was a great way to scratch the Wattpad itch I have been having lately.

This was alright, but felt a little bit too much like “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and thus didn’t feel very original or new.
For the most part, I have enjoyed Ann Liang’s writing and am looking forward to reading more.

Predictable . . . .but, I totally still loved it. The characters were relatable and I appreciated the added complexity to thier characters. The setting was a favorite of mine, but the book felt a bit rushed. for once, I wish the book had been longer. Regardless, I will still recomend.

Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, academic rivals, and a little bit of fake dating

<i>I Hope This Doesn’t Find You</i> is <i>To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before</i> but if Lara Jean wrote hate emails mixed with a little bit of <i>The Kissing Booth</i>

This book follows Sadie who has put a lot of pressure on herself to be the very best in school and in her home life. And in order to let some of the steam out, she drafts emails in which she says some choice words about her classmates and teachers. And then by some horrible mistake, they’re all out of her drafts and sent free.

This book deals a lot with how stressful it can be to grow up and want to make a good life for your family. It also deals with the pressures that we set on ourselves, as well as the pressures that we feel from our family member - either intentional or not.

The romance in this book is relatively light, so fans looking for a ton of on-page interaction may be unhappy. But we do see a slow burn enemies to lovers romance and a nice HEA that makes sense.

Overall, this book was pretty cue, but had a lot of deeper messages.

Easy to read, filled with witty dialogue and endearing characters. Liang is fast becoming one of my favourite comfort authors.

I HOPE THIS DOESN'T FIND YOU is a rivals-to-lovers romance about a teen girl who writes email drafts expressing her real opinions about people at her school that she never sends...until someone sends them for her and everyone knows what she really thinks of them.

This is my third book by Ann Liang and she never disappoints. One thing I've loved about every book of hers is that the setting is so clearly captured. Sometimes you can tell when an author has been out of high school for a long time because they don't give descriptions or things seem really out of date, but Liang's school settings never miss.

This book is like the devil's advocate version of TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE with even more drama. It was so entertaining and exceptionally well-written. This is a romance that low-key reads like literary fiction because the writing is just so excellent.

I will definitely continue to read and buy Ann Liang's books for my library and recommend them.

Thank you, Scholastic, for letting me read this title.

This book grabbed my interest for both the cover design and the synopsis- especially the part about it being like To All the Boys I Loved Before, but only if Lara Jean wrote hate notes instead of love letters!

I had extremely high expectations of this book! I even got it on audio too so I could listen to it at night, and I had stayed up way too late at night listening to it!

I had originally thought this one would be more (academic) rivals to lovers, but it’s definitely a true enemies to lovers, so if you’re a fan of that trope, check this book out!

I also found Sadie very relatable to how I used to be, and even still am a little bit today. It was encouraging to watch her learn to love herself and let go of what others thought.

And if you love an ultra slow burn, this one is for you!

Overall, I rate this one:

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5. (4/5)

This was my first book by Ann Liang and wow! I'm picking up the rest! I really enjoyed this, her writing is so good and the characters were perfection. I basically read this in one sitting and stayed up waaaaaaaay to late because they just needed to kiss already!!!!

What a wonderful portrayal of the immigrant mindset of succeeding on behalf and self and family . . . intertwined with some good ol' romance! I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish, and the plot undoubtedly resonates with first-generation Asian students in Western countries. Sadie's turmoil of wanting to prove herself and to others, her desire to be on good terms with everyone around her, and her drive to succeed extracurricularly was very well conveyed throughout the book. You couldn't help but fight with her. Her tumultuous relationship with her co-captain Julius was written with hilarious banter and hooked me from page 1. Again, a great read, and I look forward to reading more from the author!

I adore this book. For me, it feels a lot like To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but even better. This book is Academic Rivals to Relationship (Lovers feels weird to say for this no spice teen book). Both characters grow into themselves and become more confident in who they are together, and that's just beautiful to see.

This book will have you kicking your feet and giggling. The romantic plotline is just perfectly well done. The main characters actually aren't really jerks, just focused and banter a lot. No fake dating, just forced proximity that is handled masterfully.

This book deserves all the stars in my book. Just a beautiful book that teens will definitely enjoy. It would have definitely been an instant favorite for me as a teenager.

Favorite quotes:
"I kept wondering if it was still possible. Because I'm willing to lose everything... so long as I don't lose you."

"And now there's you. This whole time, it's been you, and I didn't even realize.... For ten years I thought I was preparing to destroy you, when really I was preparing to love you."

Content: some language, kissing (sweet romance, no spice)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.