Dear Wendy

This was my most anticipated read of 2024, I was so excited to get into it and for it to become one of my ultimate fav books because you don't see aroace rep every day. This was supposed to be THE book for me, the one I've been waiting for all my life. But sadly it didn't fully work for me.It felt like something was missing. Maybe it's because it's a debut, and the author's future works will be better. It wasn't bad at all though, just not as amazing as I was hoping.So I think the voice here is what mainly bugged me, it read super young for YA and I couldn't really believe that they were both in college. It was borderline middle grade level.The discussion about different ace-spec identities was well done, but it also felt like the author was introducing the readers to it more than trusting us to already know about it.There's a positive side to that too, I think this could be a hit with the younger YA crowd, Dear Wendy is a book that could help them realise they're ace, aro, or both. But when you already know & are secure in your identity, it can feel a bit repetitive.The whole online feud thing wasn't my favourite part either, I think the concept was good, but the execution made it seem so immature. I'm not saying college aged folks don't get into petty Instagram arguments, but I feel like it's something more suited for, say, fourteen year olds?What I liked, is the lovely queerplatonic relationship between Sophie & Jo. Like, if you asked me what my ideal relationship is, it would be theirs for sure.It's so nice to read a book where friendship is centred and platonic love is just as important as romantic love. We love to see it. And we NEED more books like this, please and thank you.I also liked Sophie and Jo as characters, their friends, how everyone interacted with each other, how funny the book could be at times and the overall diversity of the world.Please do read this book and support Ann Zhao!!! I may not have fully vibed with it, but you might. I need as many people as possible to give this book a chance so we can keep getting ace stories okay? Okay.