Review

Sadie Wen is hyper-competitive: straight As, school captain, representative athlete, conditional acceptance to Berkeley. She’s the perfect student. She’s also a world class doormat/people-pleaser, who smiles and is nice to everyone on the outside, and vents her frustrations by writing incandescently angry email drafts to students and teachers who have wronged her. She never sends them, of course. But one day, due to a laptop snafu, they’re all sent. They’re. All. Sent.

The teacher who gave her a tough mark months ago is told exactly what Sadie thought about her. A pretty and popular influencer has her cheating exposed to the whole year group. (That one was ‘reply all’.) But the one who gets the most emails is Julius: her tall, dark & handsome, arrogant, selfish, hateful, co-captaining nemesis, her academic and sporting rival since primary school. He is not happy.

In order to smooth over an increasingly embarrassing public riff between the school’s captains, the principal orders them to work closely together on a number of school-related projects. As they work, they continue their usual sniping, but Sadie gains a new perspective into Julius’s life: it’s not as perfect and pampered as she’d always thought. She begins to wonder: is it really so important to be liked by everyone? And does she really hate Julius?

*

Rave, rave, rave. I LOVED this book. It is for sure the best YA romance I’ve read for a while. The synopsis sounds pretty straightforward, I know: we’ve heard this a few times, very To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. The first couple of chapters trundle along fairly predictably while it all gets set up.

But then the emails are sent, and the whole thing gets better and better and better. It’s very well written, with good imagery, funny scenarios, witty banter and realistically motivated characters. The romantic bits are intensely romantic. Sadie is relatable and funny, but Julius is an absolute masterpiece. I was getting Anne Shirley/ Gilbert Blythe academic rivalry vibes from Sadie’s absolute determination to beat Julius in all things (all things, not just graded things), and also there’s fabulous Jane/Mr Rochester energy, especially in the second half. Julius is definitely a character in the Byronic hero tradition: all dark eyes, brooding and cynical utterances. He’s great. Keeping the first person narration solely from Sadie’s perspective helps retain a bit of mystery about Julius. And the tension is sustained right to the end, paying off beautifully. 10/10, no notes.

(Except this: although the book is set in Melbourne, the audiobook narrator is American. You have been warned.)

Age: 12+

320 pp.

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(YA depictions of) absent father – left the family years ago when character was little & character blames themselves; year 12 teenage party with alcohol and without parental consent (barely any mark remains and parent is glad that teen is acting more teen-like); passionate kissing; main character becomes accidentally drunk (immediately regrets it); disapproving parents and overachieving, narcissistic siblings; a ghost story told at a camp fire; very mild and rare sexual allusions. Occasional mild profanity: b- words, p- words and s- words.

*

Liang, A. (2024). I hope this doesn’t find you (A. Wen, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Penguin Random House Australia Audio.

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