I both love and dislike the FMC
I hate that she allows her classmates to just walk all over her
I absolutely love her snarky emails when she just lets her true feelings out. This side of her I totally relate to, I write emails/texts/etc that I never intend to send …JUST to express how I really feel in words that I know shouldn’t be said…well perhaps should be said just slightly less snarky haha I mean, come on, who hasn’t drafted out thoughts and frustrations in the heat of the moment? It’s the perfect outlet to really use harsh, colorful words to fully express oneself. This allows a full frustration release and a way to gather thoughts in a more acceptable way. Of course, those words are never meant to be read.

So obviously, from the synopsis, we know what is going to happen…Sadie writes email drafts expressing her thoughts and feelings as an outlet, never planning for anyone to ever read what she writes but somehow those drafts are sent out. I just didn’t expect things to happen quite as quickly as they did. We literally just learn of Sadie’s email drafting habit when the unthinkable occurs. I personally would have enjoyed more of the story building up around her draft venting rather than muddling through the whole student tour beginning the book starts with. To be honest, the beginning lost my interest numerous times and I almost didn’t continue reading…glad I did. While I understand the beginning sets up the whole rivalry and “one up/gotta beat each other”, it dragged for me.

Sadie is just like every teen girl…every teen actually…she just wants to be accepted, liked, no matter what it takes. Sadie is a character that not just teens but anyone could relate to. The pressure of wanting to be accepted by all, wanting to make everyone happy, putting others first, putting others feelings first, only caring about others feelings, always taking the blame for everything, wanting to be “perfect” never showing feelings or weakness, basically living for others. Julius is also a character we all can relate to. Although Julius starts off annoying, he slowly starts showing more of who he is underneath that pompous exterior and as we learn more about him, it becomes clearer why he’s the way he is.

During the cleaning punishment, we clearly get a glance at Julius’s feelings for Sadie. We also start to see that perhaps some of the snarky comments he made in the past were snarky attempts to conceal how he feels about her.

The snark *chef’s kiss* I love it! When Sadie relaxes and is more herself instead of the “perfectly cheerful person” she attempts to be for everyone, she’s sarcastic, funny, relatable and I love that about her.

The teen attitude is also spot on, I laughed when Max called his mom bro…oh yes, as a mom this was definitely a perfect teen moment.

There’s wonderful advice included…even the cliche phrase that it’s not the end of the world…because it isn’t. You can’t fix everything, you will make mistakes but those mistakes help shape us and help us grow. To quote Sadie’s mom “Live your life and see what happens.”

Both characters learn and grow and overall, it’s a great story that features real/relatable life stresses that teens face.

Oh and I completely agree, “Glitter is, without a doubt, the worst thing humanity has ever invented.”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved everything about this book hence to all the boys I loved coded so much but in email format. It was so easy to follow through and read in one sitting!

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THIS BOOOK!! it was perfection, down to the banter, side characters, and the writing. i couldn’t have asked for anything better. i love them ur honor!!!

Oh Ann Liang, how I love your ya romance novels. Am I usually a fan of ya? no. Will I read every ya romance novel Ann Liang writes? absolutely.

I Hope This Doesn't Find You follows Sadie, a straight A student with a little secret. To escape all the pressures of being the perfect student, she pours all her feelings (and rage) in unsent emails to the people she can't stand, especially her long time academic rival, Julius Gong. For Sadie, this is the perfect way of expressing and feeling out her emotions without causing ripples in her academic (and social) life, that is, until all her emails get leaked.

This book was so absolutely cute! Loved the relationship between Sadie and Julius. Oh and if you LOVE angry confessions (like me), you'll love this one!

i really enjoyed this book! I liked that the main character had flaws and also was actively working to better herself. This was a sweet romance that I very much enjoyed!

Ann Liang’s latest novel, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, delivers a light-hearted romance that many will enjoy, though it didn’t quite match the charm of her previous book, This Time It’s Real. As a non-romance fan, I was surprised by how much I liked her earlier work, which was even chosen for our district’s Summer Reading Program. Unfortunately, her new book didn’t fully capture the same magic for me.

While the rivalry between the main characters was engaging, the rapid development of their romantic feelings felt slightly out of place. The plot was nicely paced and had its share of laugh-out-loud moments—often thanks to Abigail’s sharp wit—but there were few surprises along the way.

Despite these minor shortcomings, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is still an enjoyable read. Fans of Liang’s work will likely find it just as popular as This Time It’s Real, even if it didn’t quite reach the same heights for me.

Thank you so so much Scholastic for giving me an ARC (advance reader copy) of this Speak Now coded book that is literally a boost of serotonin!! I recently found Ann Liang and have read If You Could See The Sun and This Time It’s Real with all my heart and Ann Liang has gone in my “automatic buy” list for all future books and is most definitely an author of the year!!
I give this book a solid five stars because you know what, I was grinning the entire time and it was so funny and heartwarming and full of energy you just can’t help but fall in love with it. The main character Sadie is an extreme people pleaser who craves academic validation with a rival to compete with AKA love interest Julian Gong who most of previously mentioned hate emails are directed toward and in some cases broadcasted to their whole school. Talk about awkward…
The words bleed emotion on every page and I think everyone can relate on some level to an aspect about these characters that Ann Liang presents! The book is so cute 🥰🥰! And also absolutely perfect to get out of a book slump! S

I featured this book in a new release video prior to publication and was very excited to read a YA romance where the main character does something cringe AND THERE ARE ACTUALLY REPERCUSSIONS 😂. This is the academic rivals story of my dreams. Will update when final review posts, but I'm expecting 5 stars!

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!

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.