Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was enemies/academic rivals to lovers and it went harder than most YA books of the trope do. FMC Sadie genuinely, genuinely disliked MMC Julius (or at least was very convinced that she did) and it did NOT let up for the majority of the book. Even when she realized her feelings were more complex than dislike, the dislike still took center stage. This was a very well written book - Ann Liang has a way with words - and Sadie and Julius were well-realized characters. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys the enemies/academic rivals to lovers trope, and I plan to purchase a copy or two of the novel for my classroom library.

A strong representation of rivalry and competing to prove ones self worthy and reach goals.
I loved the dynamic of the personalities.
I received an ARC from NetGalley.

Like "to all the boys I've loved before" but in meaner. It's pretty obvious that this will be an enemies to lovers story. It was an enjoyable, but lots of anger and tension. The main characters slowly became softer.

Thank you scholastic for the arc! This book was just okay to me. It's a very lighthearted book and I liked that, but I also couldnt help but want more?

Everytime something pivotal to the plot happened I couldn't help but thinking about how awesome it would be if there was just a little bit more to it. The characters felt somewhat flat to me and I found myself unable to understand why characters had certain thoughts or actions. Everything in this book was all kind of .. there, I guess. I did really enjoy it all, though, from what we got. Sadie is great.

All that to be said, it was by no means a perfect book, but it wasn't a terrible book either! If you're looking for something fun and not too serious to read, then I'd recommend this.

"Because I'm willing to lose everything," he says, his eyes blacker than the surrounding darkness, than the sky outside, "so long as I don't lose you."
4.5 stars
i honestly loved this book, the most perfect academic rivals to lovers!! i loved the rivalry, the banter, and most of all the romance!

i tend to find with most rivals to lovers it's always so rushed, or you never actually see the rivalry for yourself but this was down so well, the balance between everything in such a short amount of pages

sadie wen. a mirrorball and this is me trying girl fr. people-pleaser n academic validation seeker, i saw so much of myself in her. seeing her vent through her emails was kinda funny and although the second hand embarrassment was kinda strong i'm glad they did get out!

julius gong. although i feel like we only got a base-layer of his character, i understood his sibling relationship to my core. i love characters who act like they hate the other character but will do anything to be in their presence!

"I can't pretend to care about the things that once interested me. I can't fall asleep. I play through every look you've ever cast in my direction. I read through your emails over and over until they're carved into my memory. You did this to me..."

sadiejulius made this book everything, i felt so giddy after every little petty argument between them!! this book just delivers on everything it says it will * i could not recommend this book more enough!! i don't remember the last time i finished a book in one sitting and i'm immediately buying the physical copy once it's out <3

Thank you to NetGalley and Scholastic for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to read this one, and it was my first read by Ann Liang! It was a light and enjoyable read that I finished in one sitting. This book hits close to home, as when I was younger, Sadie's outside persona was one of my biggest aspirations: I always grew up wishing and striving to be a well-rounding high-achieving individual, as Asian/Asian-American culture values highly. Seeing Liang tie in these significant and real themes into a YA book was meaningful, and I honestly felt the importance of representation in a way I haven't before.

Despite it being a bit cheesy and at times predictable (which I don't the book intends to avoid anyway given the YA category), I enjoyed the romantic moments between Julius and Sadie -- I wish there were more in fact!

I do think there are a couple of things that were a bit awkward and are little tough to read (e.g. seeing how "fake" Sadie is, is hard to swallow at first and sometimes there felt like heavier dumps of introduced pressures that felt a bit forced); nonetheless, I enjoyed it and will be imagining the romance between the two continuing on and blossoming!

Ann Liang has the uncanny skill of putting all of my deepest teenage insecurities on a page and wrapping them up in an adorable love story, and this book only further cemented the fact that I will read any and every book she ever writes. What a great book to start the year with!

It's very difficult to navigate a main character who thinks (and writes) some pretty mean things, but still make them likeable. I really enjoyed Sadie. I think that this was a great read!

This was so much fun!!! It's very Devi and Ben (from NHIE) coded, so if you like academic rivals/enemies to lovers, PICK UP THIS BOOK 😭

The banter between the MC and her ship is so engaging and so wholesome, I binged the book in like a couple of hours. I also loved the MC's emotional musings and her character growth over the course of the book <333

TWs - absentee/estranged father, child who blames herself for the estranged father, constant demeaning/insults regarding academics etc. to a child by family members (not the MC)

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

"Unforgettable, snarky, and romantic, I Hope This Doesn't Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters.

Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a "pleasure to have in class." It's not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She'd never send them of course - she'd rather die than hurt anyone's feelings - but it's a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie's work.

All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids.

"You're attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain...I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you've been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft..."

Sadie doesn't have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them...that is, until they're accidentally sent out.

Overnight, Sadie's carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It's her worst nightmare - now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they're not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there's one person growing to appreciate the "real" Sadie - Julius, the only boy she's sworn to hate..."

This is literally my worst nightmare. Not that I'm sitting around writing bad things about people, just that there will be wires crossed with technology and something I don't want someone to know will be outed.

What a DELIGHTFUL romcom full of well-rendered characters with complex back story, tons of enemies-to-lovers tension, and a high-stakes, high-powered academic setting. I love Liang's universe!

after reading this book, i am fully convinced that i’m in love with sadie. fully convinced.

academic rivals to lovers finds a home in ann liang’s new book: i hope this doesn’t find you starts off with a high school girl named sadie wen, constantly competing against her academic rival, julius gong. sadie and julius are both school captains, and the only ones preventing them from academic glory are each other.
sadie’s life changes in an instant when all her hate mails, the ones she writes when she feels like she is about to snap, get sent out. sadie has to face betrayed “friends”, her carefully crafted school reputation crumbling, and julius gong’s wrath (and his beautiful face).

sadie wen. one of the best liang fmcs, maybe the best? she was just simply incredible. the layers behind sadie’s actions, and her pure willpower were just so relatable & fresh. i could see myself behind every one of sadie’s decisions, her outbursts, and her dedication to take care of the people around her. was sadie perfect? of course not. but the steps she took to repair relationships and her logical thinking are just two reasons why people will fall in love with this truly beautiful character.

julius gong. while i didn’t see as many layers or depth in julius, he was an interesting mmc and i really enjoyed seeing his relationship with sadie develop. behind his carefully crafted facade was a human being that genuinely cared about sadie, and i’m so glad that he gave her the love that she deserved. (although i’m available if things don’t work out)

plot: the concept of <i>i hope this doesn’t find you</i> is so good. it’s everything i want in a book, really. and sadie and julius genuinely hated each other. it was hard to believe those feelings would change in the first few chapters of the book! clearly, ann liang does academic rivals to lovers justice. the storyline wasn’t choppy, and everybody’s character arcs were very believable. however, this book was a little hard to get into, and i felt detached from parts of the story, which is why i’m giving it four stars. i also felt that some characters, like abigail or even sadie’s brother, were underdeveloped and had more to them that i didn’t really get to see.

yes, i’m picky. this is the picky part where i whine about grammatical errors, which really isn’t a problem since this is an arc. but there were a full 3 chapters (maybe this was a glitch in my copy) where every word took up one line. that was a solid 25 pages of
words
like
this!
hopefully these errors will be fixed before the release
date, and annoying perfectionists like me will be able to enjoy this amazing book without having to put down the book out of frustration!

anyways.

i think we can all agree that ann liang is a master at creating relatable characters and strong relationships, whether they take form in a mother and a daughter, or two lovers. this book is another one of her beautiful stories, and i can’t wait to read more from her.

——————————————————
pre-review: writing emails about people i hate is definitely a bucket list item.
<thank you to the publisher/netgalley for the arc!

PERFECTION IN THE FORM OF A BOOK. sadiejulius are engraved in my heart atp. academic rivals to lovers supremacy for real. rtc when i can form coherent thoughts but for now, this is definitely one of my top reads of the year!

This was so cute!! To be fair, rivals to lovers is my favorite contemporary romance trope, but Ann Liang is a master at it. The two main characters are complex and have issues outside of their rivalry, so while the story focused a lot on the two, they felt more real with their relatable problems. They are so snarky with each other that I ate it up. The dialogue is hilarious. I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down.

Highly recommend for fans of Liang's other works, those who eat up rivals to lovers, or even those who enjoy a good contemporary romance focused in a school setting.

5★

MY FAVORITE ANN LIANG BOOK!??!!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS EVER???

no one and i mean no one does academic rivals to lovers like ann liang. I ATE THIS BOOK UP!!

after seeing so many raving reviews online, and loving ann liang's other books, my expectations for this book were really high and yet ann liang exceeded them. this book is everything i could have wanted and more.

read if you like:
➤ academic rivals to lovers
➤ forced proximity
➤ it's always been you (kinda??)
➤ amazing characters
➤ AMAZING romance
➤ mirrorball main character
➤ chinese dramas

𖤓*ੈ✩‧₊˚ sadie wen:

fellow mirrorball girlies unite 💪 AGGJFJFJFJFJ I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! you don't understand how much she means to me. i saw so much of myself in her, even in the first page of the book, i had an instant connection with her. she's a pathological people pleaser and as the book progresses, you get to see her slowly start to be like, "wait... why do i need these people to like me?" and i feel like these hate emails that she typed up and ended up being sent out by accident stunted this change of character. I CAN'T I ACTUALLY LOVE HER!

𖤓*ੈ✩‧₊˚ julius gong:

in a world of boys he's a gentlemen. the second he walked in i knew i was done for. he is now the love of my life and we are married. TELL ME WHY THIS MAN HAD ME KICKING MY FEET LIKE CRAZY!?!! i love men who know they are hot and BOY DID HE KNOW THAT HE WAS FINE AS FUCK 😏🤭every single word that came out of his mouth i was deceased. don't even get me started on the things he would do for sadie. he would always go out of the way to defend her despite "hating" her. his character was developed so well, especially how his internal struggles were introduced with his family putting all this pressure on him. i love him so much i would do anything for him and we are married.

𖤓*ੈ✩‧₊˚ sadie & julius:

GOT LOVESTRUCK, WENT STRAIGHT TO MY HEAD!!! GOT LOVESICK, ALL OVER MY BED!! they have my whole heart 🫠💞 i ate up every single scene they had together and i don't think i'll ever shut up about them. the way that they were absolutely obsessed with one another 🤭 when they so much as glanced at each other across a room ann liang would write it in this way that had me trying to stop myself from screaming SCREAMING over two characters just making eye contact. i was not expecting there to be so much sexual tension between sadie and julius because in the books i've read by this author it seems like there is a mild amount. however, the tension was much more present in this book. TO SAY IT DELIVERED WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT 😩😩 LIKE I COULD NOT BREATHE YALL AND THIS IS YA!! when they finally confessed their love to each other it was so beautifully written and i was so happy and had to take a minute to jump around my room out of happiness. guys this is forced proximity too, SO NOT ONLY IS IT ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS BUT IT ALSO HAS FORCED PROXIMITY!?? EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS!! the vulnerable moments between them didn't feel forced and i loved how they gradually began to open up to each other. they're so cute 🥰 when they were picking up trash from the party it gave off the same vibe as new year's day by taylor swift. "there's glitter on the floor after the party girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby candle wax and polaroids on the hardwood floor you and me for evermore" LIKE OH MY GOD?!?? I'M SCREAMING!??!! i don't want to give too much detail to all these scenes they had together because you need to experience the "sadie and julius effect" for yourself. just know, that you will be in love with them.

this is kinda random - but i love how ann liang never drags on the romance in any of her books. i hate when romance books are longer than 350 pages and her books are never longer than 350 pages 😁 she just gets me.

the pacing of this book was amazing. the characters were amazing. the romance was amazing. EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING!!

i love ann liang and i will read every single book she writes. reading this made me want to reread her other books, <i><b>this time it's real and if you could see the sun because all of her books are incredible and make me feel so giddy and happy 🤭🙃

ONE FINAL THING!! thank you to netgalley, kathleen, and the publisher for this arc. this books means so much to me 🫶

Okay so this book was AMAZING!!! It is definitely one of my favorite books for this year and I will definitely be getting a physical copy just to reread and re-annotate it. The characters were so so lovable and also very relatable. While reading I was definitely relating to Sadie a lot. Also can we please talk about the butterflies from this book!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

EDITED.

THIS IS SO CUTEEEEEE😭😍😭😍😭😍🙏🏻😍🙏🏻😍 Academic rivals from Ann Liang is a chef kiss😚

People-pleaser Sadie Wen is the perfect student but she has a secret— she writes hate letters in the form of never-to-be-sent emails to people at school who upset her. And in some cases, like when it comes to her arch nemesis, Julius Gong, that adds to a whole lot of correspondence. When the emails are accidentally sent to the recipients, Sadie’s life is changed forever.

Surprisingly, the person who should detest her the most, Julius, seems to be the only one who appreciates the real her, raw honesty and all.

As well as a great premise, the characters of Sadie and Julius are well written and the snarky banter between them is pitch-perfect.

Highly recommend to anyone looking for a fast paced, emotional read.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

5 ⭐️

“From that point on, Julius Gong became the bane of my existence. The issue is that nobody else seems to share my frustrations, because he only ever bares his fangs at me.”

dear readers,

i hereby officially declare this book a part of my all time favourite reads ever. i’m not exaggerating when i say i was shocked by how much i actually enjoyed this book. i binged the hell out of it because i was unable to put it down. truly a masterpiece.

the banter between the main character was immaculate. i don’t remember the last time that a book had me giggling and kicking my feet this hard.

all of the characters were also well written and likeable. sadie is my favorite peoplr pleaser ever. i related to her on so many levels.

the only bad thing about this book is that it ended.

you should immediately add this book to your tbr and read it as soon as it comes out on february 6th, 2024!

i promise you’ll be blown away.

love,
renee <3

p.s. thank you to netgalley and scholastic for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story unfolds a captivating tale as Sadie Wen's meticulously crafted facade crumbles when her unsent, candid emails accidentally go public. The story navigates the fallout, exposing the vulnerabilities and complexities beneath Sadie's perfect exterior. With humor and heart, the narrative explores the consequences of unfiltered honesty and unexpected connections, particularly with Julius Gong, the very person Sadie vowed to despise. A delightful exploration of self-discovery and the unpredictable nature of relationships.