This book was weird but also good. I liked the plot and the narrator but I will admit that the beginning was messy. I did like the high school reunion part because it reminds me of going to mine.

It was cute but felt very dull to me. The plot was not exciting and was dragged out. I liked the second chance trope but overall not my fave.

Such a great mix of nostalgia in contemporary romance.

This book truly was a breath of fresh air. The romantic comedy theme is perfect for more light hearted reading. All the mentions of high school rituals us millennials went through back in the day was a treasure.
I also love the second chance for these two.

I think there was more space for more emotion and yearning to enhance the distance, but still such an enjoyable read that I will be recommending.

I had such a good time reading this book! It's got the vibes of a late 90s/early 2000s teen rom-com but through the more jaded, no longer rose-tinted lens of being in your late 30s. Like Can't Hardly Wait with a side of Booksmart, but now everyone's an adult.

I'm the exact age of the characters in this book and found so much of what Rachel is dealing with relatable. Not to mention how spot on every description is of being on AIM waiting to talk to your crush in the early aughts. I was instantly transported back to those days during my high school years.

The audiobook was great. I really appreciated that Natalie Naudus had distinct voices for every character.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for the ARC audiobook of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I had a hard time following this book. I think most of it was because I didn’t like the characters or really relate to them as I felt I should have. As someone similar in age to Rachel and Danny, I can’t imagine acting as they did the day of the reunion. Their, more so Rachel,actions were quite immature. As a whole, the book reminded me of a person with attention issues. Not quite polished and overly active, bouncing around.

I did enjoy the flashbacks to the turn of the millennium. That was my favorite part of the book.


This book was provided to me by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

📖 + 🎧: The Girl Most Likely To-a standalone

✍🏾 Author: Julie Tieu-new to me author

📅Publication date: 2-18-25 | Read 2-17-25

📃: eBook 320 pgs.

🗣️Narrator: Natalie Naudus voices all the characters with standouts from Rachel and Danny. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.

🏃🏾‍➡️Run Time: 8:00

Genre:
*Multicultural
*Adult Fic
*Contemporary Romance

Tropes:
*2nd chance romance
*high school reunion
*frenemies to lovers
*family drama
*female/male friendship

👆🏾POV: 1st person -2 timelines 2003 and present

⚠️TW: troubled sibling-H

🌎 Setting: CA

Summary: Rachel has just been laid off and is looking for new career opportunities. She becomes a personal assistant to childhood friend and now roommate Natalie Huang-a famous TV actress. When they receive their 20th Commonwealth high school reunion invitations, Rachel agrees to go even though she will see her frenemy, Danny Phan. They have to confront past hurts and rekindled feelings for each other.

👩🏾 Heroine: Rachel Dang-38, Chinese American. Worked 11 years @ Free Stream Studio but laid off after a merger.

👨🏾 Hero: Danny Phan-38, Chinese American. Now an executive coach, was tutored by Rachel and they became anonymous chat buddies.

🤔 My Thoughts: This was just okay for me. Even the "grown" versions of Rachel and Danny seemed stuck in high school. They had some hijinks and laughs with former classmates, a nice walk down memory lane. There wasn't OW/OM drama, just a misunderstanding from their high school days.

Rating: 3/5⭐⭐⭐
Spice level 2/5 🔥🔥fade to black

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, Avon & Harper Voyager| Avon, Harper Audio Adult| Harper Audio, and Julie Tieu for this ARC and ALC 💚! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

More second chance love instead of "frenemies to lovers". Story is told in one POV but jumps between two different timelines- senior year in 2003 and the night of their 20 year high school reunion 2023. You've Got Mail or Hilary Duff Cinderella vibes in regards to the high school "friendship" and the AIM friendship. The story is very cute and I enjoyed the back and forth jump in the timeline to tell the story. I preferred the relationship in 2003- you could feel the emotion between the characters. That was sadly lost when they reconnected in 2023.

Characters:
Rachel Dang - Chinese Cambodian American, works in the entertainment industry and lives with high school friend and tv actor Natalie Huang. Voted in high school to be "The Most Likely to Succeed" only to attend the reunion after being laid off.

Danny Phan - smart but struggling in school. Rachel tutored him. 20 years later he's a very accomplished and well known motivational coach

Millennial References:
-Dashboard Confessional
-burned CDs
-AIM
-Smallville
-Keanu Reaves

Quotes:
“Silence is the worst answer after you poured your heart out”

“The problem with appearing to do well on my own was that I attracted people who wanted something from me. It’d be nice to get help without having to ask for it everytime”

Audiobook:
Narrated by Natalie Naudual. Loved the attitude she brought to the characters. Well done!

Thank you Netgalley and HarperAudio Adult for this advanced audiobook in exchange for a review.

The Girl Most Likely To gives the same rom-com movie vibes as Sisters or Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and I had such a fun time reading this book! Rachel is currently in the midst of a mid-life crisis, which makes it the perfect time to head to her 20th high school reunion. While there she decides that the best way to make it through the night is by pretending that she wasn't just laid off and is still the ultra-successful type A personality she was in high school. During the reunion, she sees her former friend Danny for the first time since school. The pair ended on bad terms which always stung to Rachel, could 20 years later she find a chance at closure or something more with Danny?...

There's lots of high-jinks in this and it was fun seeing the way that chaos ensued for the pair during the night of the reunion. I enjoyed seeing the dual timeline of Rachel and Danny's friendship in high school develop until the breakdown of their friendship at graduation.

Thank you NetGalley & Avon for an ARC of The Girl Most Likely To and to Harper Audio for the ALC!

Wonderfully relatable for any former gifted kid, "The Girl Most Likely To" is an uplifting story about second chances, both in life and in love. I related an incredible amount to the main character, which I'm sure plays a part in how much I enjoyed the book.

I came for the Natalie Naudus narration but I stayed for the former gifted kid burnout realism. In all honesty, this is such a cute romance that transports readers to and from 2003 and modern day and follows the friendship, break-up, and eventual second chance romance between Rachel and Danny. It is such an honest portrayal of growing-up, failing, and moving forward that is hopeful while being feet kickingly cute. A solid romance read for anyone feeling lost in adulthood or who likes a good second chance romance.

"If running was supposedly good for me, why did I feel like a crumpled paper straw?"

This was really good! I've only read one other Julie Tieu novel, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised! I loved that we got flashbacks to Danny and Rachel's high school years, and their reuniting was both romantic and funny, with a good mix of somber as they recounted recently life events. Personally, I loved the cactus scenes (iykyk) because omg, the following 'help' scene? 😂 There was minimal spicy scenes, but it was well written, and there was a wonderful epilogue. The narrator did a nice job, and I binged it in one day.

The Girl Most Likely To by Julie Tieu is a story about Rachel Dang who loses her job and is unsure of what to do with herself for the first time in her life. Voted most likely to succeed in highschool she has been on a successful career track ever since. That is until days before her high school reunion when she loses her prestigious job of ten years.
The story has dual timelines and if you listen to it on audiobook like I did, also dual narrations. The book alternates between present day and both Rachel and Danny thinking back to messaging back and forth on aim in high school.
I liked the inclusion of the epilogue and how it wrapped up all the lose ends. I like that it included a surprise or two as well.
I liked the dual narration for this book. I think both narrators did an excellent job portraying their character. If you're a fan of romantic comedies with a dash of spice then this book is for you!
Thank you to Julie Tieu and Harper Audio Adult for sharing your book with NetGalley. I received an advanced audiobook copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and reviews.

✨ARC REVIEW✨

The Girl Most Likely To by Julie Tieu

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced listener copy of #TheGirlMostLikelyTo! Happy release week!

GENRE
• Standalone
• Adult
• Contemporary romance

SUMMARY
Twenty years ago, Rachel Dang was voted the “Most Likely to Succeed” of her high school graduating class. Now, at 38, she’s been laid off from her illustrious Hollywood job and is coming to terms with the fact that the career she shaped her life around valued her very little. With her high school reunion just around the corner, uncertainty plagues her. She’ll have to mingle her successful former classmates and come face-to-face with her ex-friend, Danny, whom she hasn’t seen since their relationship imploded at the end of senior year. It doesn’t help that Danny, despite not excelling in high school, is thriving. Can they work through their past and present hurts and seize this second chance?

REVIEW
This has the classic feel of a great contemporary romcom. The prose is engaging and easily-digestible. The Hollywood setting is novel and engaging. The characters are relatable and lovable despite—or perhaps because of—their insecurities. The story is that nostalgic mix of grounded emotion and dramatic-verging-on-ridiculous action. The dual timelines blend seamlessly together, adding context about the characters’ pasts without bogging down the plot with extraneous details. If second-chance romances are your thing—and maybe even if they aren’t—I recommend picking this one up!
4/5

This was such a good read. I don’t normally like miscommunication, but the way this author wrote it was perfect. Definitely brings back some memories.

Thank you to HarperAudio for providing an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
The Girl Most Likely To releases February 18, 2025

2.75

Twenty years ago, Rachel and Danny met for the first time in person (or so they thought), after four years of an online friendship that was cultivated through an AOL chat room.
Now, both 38-years-old, they are brought back into each other’s orbit courtesy of their high school reunion.

With a recent layoff, Rachel’s fun-employment isn’t looking too impressive next to her winning superlative of “most likely to succeed.” In fact, high school was the last place where Rachel even felt accomplished.

Rachel was a relatable character in the sense that it’s second nature to want to compare yourself and your achievements to that of your peers.
I know for myself at the age of 27, I have those same intrusive thoughts of feeling like I’m behind in life, so I can only imagine what it would be like to start over and how much more amplified those feelings would be ten years from now at the stage where Rachel was.

Though this is marketed as a second chance romance, I wouldn’t fully view it that way since it predominantly read like women’s fiction and was more so about reconciling a fractured friendship; anything more than that was unconvincing, especially with all of the snark and miscommunication that took place in the first two-thirds.

I was a bit caught off guard with the fact that most of their reunion was set outside of the high school, and in hindsight, the added drama of the car accident and cactus needles weren’t necessary.

While I liked the nostalgia that the AIM chats brought to the story, I think the pacing could’ve been better.

3.5 ⭐️

This was a fun read, especially if you grew up using AIM and remember the days before cell phones. The book focuses on Rachel and Danny as they reconnect at their 20th high school reunion.

I enjoyed the sometimes silly events that led to forced proximity, but I think it there needed to be more sparks between the two main characters in order for their reconnection to feel satisfying. I enjoyed listening to the book and thought the narrator did a fantastic job, but I wasn’t as invested in the romance as I wanted to be.

If you’re looking for a fun romance read and graduated from high school in the early 200s, this book will check the boxes for you.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced copy of the audiobook.

I love this author and narrator so I went into this with high hopes and was not let down. The narrator Natalie Naudus does the voices so well for each person, she has become a comfort narrator for me. And Julie Tieu wrote perfect second chance/ childhood friends to lovers romance. I loved that the characters were older and knew what they were looking for. When Rachel and Danny reconnected and this pick up pretty easily after so long I knew we were in for something good. Also, I really liked how most of the book took place over the course of a day, that makes me feel like I’m reading/listen at the same pace that time is passing in the book.

I love the book because I feel related to it, and it is giving me high hopes. Julie did an amazing job.

A second chance for two former friends who lost touch after their friendship was ruined by miscommunication and are reunited at the high school reunion. Now Rachel and Danny team up to secure a gift to the school committee while also confronting their past mistakes. It was a great read with lots of chemistry between the MCs.

Julie Tieu’s The Girl Most Likely To is an engaging and heartfelt second-chance romance that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story follows Helen, a former high school overachiever who returns to her small town for a wedding, only to find herself entangled with her old classmate and former crush, Nathan. What unfolds is a charming and emotional journey of self-discovery, love, and the complexities of revisiting the past.

What made the audiobook version particularly special was the narration. The inclusion of Cambodian language and cultural elements added authenticity and depth to the characters, making the listening experience even more immersive. The narrator did a fantastic job capturing the emotions, humor, and nuances of Helen’s story, making it easy to connect with her struggles and triumphs.

The novel beautifully balances romance with themes of family expectations, identity, and personal growth. Helen’s journey felt relatable, and her dynamic with Nathan had just the right amount of tension and warmth to keep me invested. Tieu’s writing is witty, heartfelt, and engaging, making this audiobook a standout for fans of contemporary romance.

Overall, The Girl Most Likely To is a delightful listen that blends humor, romance, and cultural depth seamlessly. If you’re looking for a charming second-chance love story with rich storytelling and a fantastic narration, I highly recommend giving this audiobook a try!