ARC Review: Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Published by Delacorte Press on November 28, 2023
Genres: YA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 320
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
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Blurb:

A hilariously fresh and romantic send-up to You’ve Got Mail about a gamer girl with a secret identity and the online bestie she’s never met IRL until she unwittingly transfers to his school, from the bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties, The Obsession, and Well, That Was Unexpected.

Seventeen-year-old Kiki Siregar is a fabulous gamer girl with confidence to boot. She can’t help but be totally herself… except when she’s online.

Her secret? She plays anonymously as a guy to avoid harassment from other male players. Even her online best friend—a cinnamon roll of a teen boy who plays under the username Sourdawg—doesn’t know her true identity. Which is fine, because Kiki doesn’t know his real name either, and it’s not like they’re ever going to cross paths IRL.

Until she transfers to an elite private school for her senior year and discovers that Sourdawg goes there, too.

But who is he? How will he react when he finds out Kiki’s secret? And what happens when Kiki realizes she’s falling for her online BFF?

My Review

I cannot say just how much I LOVED this book! At first, I was a bit unsure, as a character with that much self confidence was not something I understood, since I am not at all like that. But as she moved to her new school, and it was taken away from her bit by bit, I was horrified and so angry at what was happening to such a sparkling shiny character that had been at the start of the book. I was so mad at the bullies in her classes, the teachers, and that principal! Wow! I could not believe it at times. However so much of what happened to poor Kiki is exactly what I know happens in the real world, and while we like to think that people are getting better about it, one character even pointed out that she talked like she’d been watching to many American tv shows. And then it hit me that yeah, in other cultures things are very slow if moving at all towards getting away from the misogyny and stereotypical behavior expected of girls, and even just students in general!

I didn’t get the chance to read the book that featured some of the characters in this book and now I know I really need to go back and read it. Not to mention how much I adored all the characters and hope for more stories for some of them in the future. I’m not really a gamer like these characters, in the past I was a bit obsessed with both the Sims (before I started blogging, I’ve got no time for that now) and then it was Animal Crossing during the pandemic. Honestly most of what I know of the types of games that were played in this book comes from the tv show The Big Bang Theory. But it was interesting to read about, and I definitely liked the way Kiki did her big apology/get back at those who deserved it.

I can’t wait to add this book to my school library and share it with students! And as I mentioned, I’ll be making sure we have the one before as well!