I Hope This Doesn't Find You | 
pickI got this book for free, in exchange for my honest opinion via NetGalley.
Sadie has spent most of her life trying to be regarded a certain way: smart, confident, likeable, and charming. She has the need to be loved by everyone, and would do anything to not upset anybody in her life. She and her number 1 nemesis (and co-captains), Julius hate each other with a passion…
Read more at: FictionLux
pickThis isn‘t usually the type of genre I go for when reading but I‘ve been in a bad reading slump and decided to give this one a go. And I loved every second of it. It was perfect for what it needed to be and I think I read it at the perfect time. The characters were funny and lovable and though there‘s some moments of miscommunication, it made sense in the story and didn‘t bother me like it sometimes does. I really liked the writing style too!
4⭐️
You were right, Sadie Wen. I am completely, helplessly obsessed with you.
Love,
Julius
All of which is to say I really hope this finds you.
And I hope you find me too.
Sadie
I want you to hold me like a grudge, keep me like a promise, haunt me like a ghost.
“Do you always pay such close attention to everything people say?” he demands between short, uneven breaths.
“No. Only what you say.”
“You‘ll always be my first choice, Julius Gong.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You made it clear—so terribly clear—how much you hate me. That I‘m the last person in the world you would ever consider. But I kept looking for signs that would suggest otherwise. I kept wondering if it was still possible. Because I‘m willing to lose everything,” he says, his eyes blacker than the surrounding darkness, than the sky outside, “so long as I don‘t lose you.”
We move like two planets in orbit; both on the same trajectory, but never touching.
“Why do you always single me out?”
“Because,” he says quietly, a curious expression on his face. I‘ve never seen him so serious. So sincere. “You‘re the only person worth paying attention to.”
“Your entire existence is basically a run-on sentence.”
“Hurt my feelings?” he says it like a joke. “You have far too high an opinion of yourself, Sadie. You aren‘t capable of hurting me. On the contrary…don‘t you remember what you wrote?”
[…]
“From what I recall you wrote two whole paragraphs protesting the colour of my eyes. […] You then write three hundred words ranting about my hands.”
“I‘ll have you know,” Julius begins, low and furious, “that I was not named after a Roman dictator.”
I‘m so disoriented, so shaken still, that I can only say: “You weren‘t?”
“Absolutely not.”
“What…were you named after, then?”
“A printing company.”
pickI love a romance that subverts some of its tropes. Sadie and Julius stayed competitive with each other even as they realized their feelings, and he wasn't the sole catalyst for her development, all of which I loved. If you want TATBILB but with hate mail, this is for you. #yalit #yaromance
