About The Book
Sadie Wen is the perfect student and all-around nice girl, but she secretly vents her frustrations in unsent email drafts. Her most brutally honest messages are aimed at her nemesis, Julius Gong, but she never expects anyone to read them—until they’re accidentally sent out. As her carefully controlled life unravels, the one person who seems to appreciate the real Sadie is the boy she’s sworn to hate.
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/4aqAc9i

My Rating

When I read the synopsis of this book, I thought I was going to get an adorable young adult contemporary. I was hoping it would give me all the feels To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han did. Unfortunately, the book was such a letdown. Once again, it’s making me wonder if I’ve just aged out of the YA genre.

In the book, we follow our main character, Sadie. She’s an overachiever, co-class captain, and an all-around nice girl. But one day, all of her saved email drafts get sent out. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but these drafts contain her “anger emails.” They’re a way for her to vent her frustrations without actually confronting anyone.

As a main character, Sadie was infuriating to me. She let people walk all over her and used the excuse that she was just being nice. She does have a lot of family issues that contribute to her non-confrontational, good-girl personality. However, I didn’t like how little personal growth she had throughout the book.

The romance in this book was probably the worst part—and that’s saying something, considering this is a young adult romance. Sadie’s love interest is Julius, her academic rival and co-captain at school. He received the majority of her rant emails.

“So ready to split me open with a single word, stitch me up again with a fleeting touch.”

Sadly, I didn’t see any real connection between them. They were constantly saying mean things about each other. This book really plays into the tired cliché we’re told growing up that if someone likes you, they’ll be mean to you. I want to say this with all my heart that is not true. It’s not a lesson we should be teaching anyone, let alone young boys and girls.

I love a good enemies-to-lovers romance, but I feel like the author took that trope way too far for a YA contemporary. There were never any real moments where they were actually kind to each other. One of them was always standoffish or convinced the other was toying with them. For high school seniors, they acted incredibly immature.

Overall, the writing was really what redeemed this book for me. I liked the author’s pacing and storytelling. However, I do want to mention that this book almost borders on a bully romance. So, if you’re looking to dip into that genre, you might want to give this one a read. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it as a feel-good YA romance.

In the comments, let me know if this book is on your TBR! If you’d like to share this post with other readers and give it a like, that would make my day. Before you go, don’t forget to follow the blog!

Until the next chapter,
Bunny