Book Review: I Hope This Doesn't Find You By Ann Liang
If there's one thing Sadie hates more than being unprepared, it must be Julius Gong.
By writing
passive-aggressive emails that, of course, Sadie never intends to send, she can maintain the illusion of being good — the A+ student. But what happens when all of her emails are somehow sent out?
Sadie’s the type of student who has everything prepared a week in advance when an assignment is due or does school projects over the holidays. She considers any grade below ninety a failure and keeps a score in her mind of her rivalry with her nemesis, Julius Gong, assessed in points.
Sadie is the type of person whose idea of fun is to collect badges and run five miles every night. Sadie’s idea of relaxing is to be productive, and Sadie’s version of being the best... is being loved. So when her classmates ask her to help them with a project or send her entire set of notes for a semester course, she says yes. She thinks, even to herself, that she could even give her arm to her classmates if they asked nicely enough and gave enough appreciative comments, making her think maybe everybody loves her after all.
But when her secret emails, most of them concerning her academic rival and all-around life nemesis, Julius Gong, are sent out to the entire school, she begins to experience resentment from half of the student body and staff who feel the impact of her rants.
Craft and Artistry
I loved how the author made this book so approachable for a rivals-to-lovers YA romance. The author keeps it sweet and age-appropriate without it feeling forced or cringy; it felt realistic.
I really admired the descriptions that she used and how, all throughout the book, they felt dynamic. Sometimes with books, descriptions can be overused or feel dull after a while, especially with the YA genre, but this wasn't the case with this book. The pacing was just perfect, and given the short length, I feel like I’ve read through a long story instead of just a three-hundred-page novel.
I also appreciated the way the author wrote the characters, especially Sadie, and how she made Sadie’s inner struggles a pivotal point in the book in a way that felt relatable and even encouraging, which is wonderful to see in a coming-of-age novel.
The one complaint I would have about the book is that the quality of the physical paperback is very poor. I had to order the book three times in order to get a readable copy, and even then, it wasn't pleasant, as the glue was over-applied and the book was very stiff to open. If you are picking up this book or thinking about picking it up, I would recommend reading it in eBook format or as a hardcover. ★★★★
Themes and Messages
I Hope This Doesn't Find You is a book that wrestles with deep questions and insecurities. The main character, Sadie, carries heavy burdens from her past that express themselves in a need to be loved and to please the people around her. So when Julius, who is more or less unbothered by trying to be generically good, comes into her life, everything begins to shift.
The book centers around the cost of miscommunication, a lot of emotional growth, and the questioning of how we handle not being liked or even hated, which is a tough lesson to learn, no matter our age.
The novel questions "at what point is something too broken to be fixed? And is it okay if we can accept it? What if we do make mistakes? What if we mess up horribly? Are we still okay?" All of the insecurities that start in high school tend to follow us if we don't internalize and reflect on the messy situations of our lives.
It's a rivals-to-romance story for sure. It is electrifying, sweet, heartwarming, and at some points—especially in Sadie's growth and realization of herself—there were moments where I teared up.
This book was a very comforting experience for me personally, as someone who has carried guilt in the past and felt the need to be loved by others. I relate to Sadie, and her story really warmed me.
The romance in it is great and sweet, as well as surprising in many of its turns. ★★★★
Final Thoughts
I absolutely loved I Hope This Doesn't Find You, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a romance novel that touches upon meaningful subjects of identity, especially identity formation. Overall, I rate this book four out of five stars.
Content Discretion:
Kissing, Gossip, Language,
Trauma, Divorce, Underage drinking
If you’d like to explore more of the author's novels, feel free to click here for more of Ann Liang's work.
That's all folks! If you enjoyed the review, feel free to share it and/or leave a comment below. If you have read I Hope This Doesn't Find You, how do you feel about the enemies-to-lovers trope being in a YA book? I'd love to hear your perspective and feelings about her book. ❤❤❤
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