This was a pretty standard romance book. It didn't have a lot of spice, so I enjoyed that. The plot felt like it was going all over the place, first the big thing was Awards night, then it was the kiss between them, but the kiss actually wasn't that big of a deal in the past, so I don't know why it was a huge piece of their "history", because they actually almost slept together. The whole thing felt underdeveloped. I don't think events or the past were set up properly, and lowkey, I was lost the whole time.

I liked the idea of the book, and it had its good moments. I liked the vibes, but there was just so much potential that felt wasted to me. I think it would have been better if it was a dual POV book with Danny cause a lot of the issues between them felt one-sided.

I loved the elements from the early 2000s as it went back and forth to 2023. The slow burn was so good, and I typically don't like it. Thanks, netgalley, for this arc.

High school best friends turned enemies, Rachel Dang and Danny Phan, reunite as adults at their 20-year high school reunion in Julie Tieu’s The Girl Most Likely To and a night of mishaps and misadventures around her hometown and encounters with colorful characters from their youth are sparked by a simple errand. Unlike in high school, Rachel is uncertain, dissatisfied, and lost in her life and career, while Danny is grounded and successful in his. Danny and Rachel discover their shared feelings and connection still run deep, along with a fiery, adult attraction now burning between them, too. Is this night just a fun trip down memory lane or a second chance at happily ever after?

I love Tieu’s lively and descriptive down-to-earth narrative style flowing with colorful and natural-sounding dialogue, snarky banter, pop culture references, and her skill with humor and characterization, that draw you into the novel from the opening scene and make it a page-turner. Before I knew it, the novel had flown by. I love her quirky, relatable, likable, nerdy, complex, and goofy characters and their animated, funny, sexy, sweet, emotional, steamy, and intimate interactions.

Soon after being laid, Rachel receives Danny’s invite to the reunion and attends, hoping to see him again. They haven’t spoken in years and never resolved things after a fight. Because Danny was smart, but didn’t focus on his school work, he and Rachel were partnered so he could hopefully learn or take on her work ethic. However, they didn’t become friends until they met each other online under pseudonyms and began chatting on AIM. Late night chats, where they learned different sides of one another and became close friends with the possibility of more.

Rachel focused all her energy and time in high school on studying and excelling to get into a top college to have a brilliant career that’ll lead to a successful life. Losing her job throws Rachel into self doubt about her future and whether she had wasted her time and in high school, college, and work—life—trying so hard to be the best. After all, she had been voted “Most Likely To Succeed” in high school. She catered to her boss’s every need and whim, working non-stop without vacations, and ended up laid off without advancing in her career. Returning to her hometown and being with Danny again gives her perspective on their friendship, the past, her dreams, and her future. It also gives them the opportunity to talk to each other and deal with the miscommunication issues that tore them apart before and decide whether they want to fight for a future together.

Sweet, sexy, funny, nostalgic, angsty, steamy, and melancholy, The Girl Most Likely To is a fast-paced read perfect for friends-to-lovers, high school reunions, second chance romance, night around town with mishaps/misadventure, coming home, two-sided triangle romance and frenemies-to-lovers romance fans.

Avon provided an advanced review copy via Netgalley for review.

really liked the premise and the asian-american characters, but didn't really like the flashback at the beginning very much

C'mon now. It's the 21st century.

Shouldn't the cover of a book proudly represent Asian American features? Granted, hers is slightly better than his.

Set in LA their story is told in a story of (disjointed) flashbacks and the present day.
Despite the career bump in the road for her and the unfortunate sibling he had to endure, good muster little empathy for these characters.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#TheGirlMostLikelyTo #NetGalley

This one took me a while! First, let me say I LOVED the characters. The banter between Rach and Danny, the chaos of Nat.. the typical parents, all the characters were fantastic.

I thought the story line was a little slow and uneventful, but it was an easy read and I liked the romance aspects. I didn’t love the flashbacks/old messages..they were cute, but didn’t do much for me.

Definitely preferred the second half of the story and the chaos that Rach and Danny got into. So happy with how it ended!

Thank you to the author and netgalley for ad advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Rachel Deng has just been laid off from her high profile job at a streaming network and is at loose ends with her life. So why not go to her class reunion, where she’s being honored for achievements in her career. But no one knows she’s been laid off. Enter Danny Phan, Rachel’s kind of sort of boyfriend from high school. Their relationship ended on a bad note and they haven’t communicated since high school. This book is a Second Chance romance and also primarily takes place in one night. It also alternates between 2003 in the present time, between Rachel and Danny in high school and now.

This book was all right. Low on spice. Sometimes I felt it between Rachel & Danny, and sometimes I felt a disconnect. I thought the writing was good and it wasn’t cheesy thankfully. I liked the different settings on class reunion night.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

As a former salutatorian, “Most Likely To Succeed”-recipient, and overall recovering perfectionist who is currently thinking of a change in career after 10 years in the same industry, this book could not have come at a more perfect time for me personally!!

Here is what I loved about the book:
1. First of all, I loved the pace and overall vibes of the book. The book read quickly because of all the humor and was sprinkled with the best pop culture references I could ask for! I’m a sucker for pop culture references from around my era (ahem, let’s not think about my age with that…), and this book was chalked full of them!

2. I love the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope, which is kinda what this one was! They were high school online friends turned IRL friends turned enemies turned lovers after 20 years and it was perfect! I think a lot of us who are around the 20 years out of high school age group (ahem, still not thinking about the age thing), probably think back to some of the silly things that meant the world to us in high school, the fights that ended friendships and where those friendships would have been now if they hadn’t ended, and many other things in the same vein.

3. I loved how relatable Rachel was from her overachiever ways to her temper. All things Rachel = all things Britt, good and bad (*nervous laughter*). I especially loved watching her character growth through the book from caring what literally everyone thought to caring only what she and those closest to her thought. It happened so naturally throughout the flow of the book that it didn’t feel forced or like the author was wrapping up everything with a nice bow in the last paragraph.

4. I loved Danny. Despite him being terrible at communication literally his entire life, he was definitely there for the people in his life when they needed him and he had a very solid heart. I loved that after he let their friendship go 20 years ago, he was dead set on not making the same mistake twice, which also lead to him giving Rachel all the space she needed as long as she didn’t forget about him and disappear again. I loved his goofy sarcasm and his overall love for Rachel, especially when she couldn’t love herself.

5. I love a good rom-com adventure book, and this definitely had that feel! With Rachel and Danny going on a series of missions and mishaps throughout the city on the night of their high school reunion, it allowed them to reconnect and readers were along for the fun adventure!

6. I loved the flashback IMs between them in the chapters. It showed how their friendship grew so we could be placed in the present while still getting the background along the way. I thought this strategy made the book so fascinating and presented all the information in a nice format rather than handing us an info dump at the beginning. Very well done!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Julie Tieu for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.

4.5 stars!

After a couple of weeks after reading this book I kind of still feel the same way about it. Like overall a good premise, a fun book just not something very memorable for me. I was kind of bored in some parts and I just maybe wanted a tiny bit more. Overall just a lovely time.

Okay, I think what I liked the most about this book was that they graduated the same year as me. The nostalgia references were my references. It was my high school experiences, music, and technology.

I have a hard time when a book is done in solo point of view - I find it difficult to connect with the other main character when I don't get their point of view. Although the AOL communication was definitely interesting. I do think that Rachel was a bit too quick to dismiss Danny and his explanations. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable and easy read.

Pick this one up if you enjoy:
* 2000s nostalgia
* High school reunion
* Second chance romance
* Slow burn

This wasn’t your everyday rom-com! I loved how most of it was structured around one adventure of a night and the parallel timelines of today and 2003. It brought up every awkward feeling of talking to your crush on AIM and being a teenager unable to articulate your feelings, as well as being an adult who doesn’t quite know what to do next. I’ve enjoyed Julie Tieu books before, but I think this is her best yet.

4 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wouldn't necessarily say that this book was "frenemies-to-lovers", but instead I would classify this as more of a "second chance romance" with miscommunication thrown in, since the two were never "frenemies" in my opinion, they just had a fight and stopped talking. There also wasn't a lot going on throughout the book that really hooked me and made me want to know more about the main couple so I did grow bored at times. I did love that the main characters were in their mid-to-late thirties, and they were not immature, like in some other books, and it shows the progression of their character between the chapters of the past, and the chapters in the present. The chapters of the past were a great choice to throw in there, and it really allowed you to see more of how Rachel and Danny connected and grew to become close when they were younger.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager, Julie Tieu, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This book took a really long time for me to start enjoying. It spent a lot of time on unnecessary characters and details and I was wondering when the romance would begin (I'm sorry to say but the beginning was very boring). I enjoyed the millennial things as well as the AOL chat (haha on the unsernames). Overall this one was a miss for me.

The Girl Most Likely To is centered around a few weeks time, during the main character's 20 year high school reunion. This is combined with flashbacks to their high school years. It's a sweet romance with fun side characters and interesting relationship development. I enjoyed a romance with slightly older characters. It has great representation of diverse identities as well. Overall a great read!

This book was fine. I wasn’t particularly blown away by it. Overall, I thought the premise was creative and I enjoyed that. However, I didn’t like how the majority of the book covered one night. It made it hard to understand the timing of things. I also struggled to keep track of conversations because the main character would get lost in her thoughts for a long paragraph during them.

Loved the format of this one (present day and high school). And a quick fun read! I’m here for more romance novels in these wild times.

Let me start by saying, I don’t usually enjoy high school reunion story-lines in general. This would be at the top of the list for those though! I liked it overall but there were definitely some issues for me. Danny is pretty contradictory at most points of their arguments and rather rude at others. He criticized her for caring too much about what others thought, but somehow not caring enough about the honors that might’ve been given. Also, I feel like people going to a school reunion quite often lie about where they really are in life, like Romy and Michele. At least with the FMC, she is quick to admit that she doesn’t know what she’s doing in her life. I liked their chemistry when they were good though, even if it was a bit further apart than I would’ve liked. It was comforting to read about someone in their 40s that had some difficulty getting their life in order, life isn’t just always up. Idk, it just felt more real for me. This was a 3.5 for me, rounding up to 4 for any bias.

"𝘐𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭. 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘵𝘸𝘰. 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘰𝘣. 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘕𝘢𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳-𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭."


A big thank you to @harperaudio, @avonbooks and @netgalley for the advanced copies of the book and audiobook in exchange for this review!

Listening to this book brought me so much nostalgia. 😅 and then I had the realization that I'm coming up on 16 years since I graduated and I was shooketh. lol

While I graduated about 6 years after our main characters, I still had AIM. lol I remember the butterflies of hearing your crush log on.

I was also our class president. I TRIED to throw a 10 year reunion.... it didn't go well (alas is the life in a small town in the day and age of Facebook lol)

🎒 Asian Americans
⭐️ High School Reunion
🎒 Second Chance Romance
⭐️ Teenage Love
🎒 School Superlatives
⭐️ Navigating Life Changes
🎒 Dual Timeline
⭐️ Late Thirties MCs
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #thegirlmostlikelyto #julietieu #harperaudio #harpervoyager #avonbooks #book4of2025 #whatsnikkireading #whatsnikkilisteningto #asainamericans #highschoolreunion #teenagelove #secondchanceromance #schoolsuperlatives #dualtimeline @natalienaudus

I enjoyed this book.. I'm torn between a 3.5 to 4 stars mainly be the FMC was annoying at times. I do wish we had gotten a POV from Danny.

I was initially drawn to the premise of this, especially the
"gifted kid burnout" and academic validation vibes, and while there are several elements I enjoyed, it mostly felt flat and I wasn't very invested.
The Girl Most Likely To follows career-driven Rachel
Dang as she is laid off from her entertainment industry job just before her 20-year high school reunion. The story is told in a dual timeline that moves between her online turned real life friendship (and almost more) with Danny Phan during their senior year of high school and their journey to reconnect almost entirely during the night of their high school reunion.
The FMC felt relatable and realistic in feeling stuck and trying to keep it together. I actually like how Rachel was a little prickly and abrasive. Women tend to be perceived that way when they get burnt out feeling like they are the only ones looking out for themselves and like they have to navigate so much of life on their own.
So her reliance on academics and career to feel some semblance of stability and confidence made sense.
Overall, I liked the the cultural elements with two Asian American leads, the familiar setting as a SoCal native, and how the dual timeline built up the tension of the friends to lovers and second chance tropes. However, while I felt the leads were well-matched and that Rachel's personal journey was well done as she accepted she didn't need to be perfect and could live for more than just work, the romance fell flat for me and lacked depth. Their attraction and thoughts and actions started to feel repetitive in the narrative, so I ended up mostly bored and just wanting to finish it. It was a sweet story, but I wanted more from it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.