- author – Ann Zhao
- rating – 5 stars ( and so many more )
- genre – ya contemporary, fiction
- pages – 368 pages
- trigger warning – aphobia, homophobia
- pub date – 16 april 2024
Dear Wendy’s Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual students at Wellesley College, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao.
synopsis
Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents’ wishes that she attend a “real” university, rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual identities. Despite knowing she’ll never fall in love, she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at Wellesley. No one except her roommate knows that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account.
When Joanna “Jo” Ephron―also a first-year student at Wellesley―created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn’t at all meant to be serious or take off like it does―not like Dear Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Dear Wendy? Oops . As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender, the fact that she’ll never truly be loved or be enough, or her few friends finding The One and forgetting her!
While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo are getting closer in real life, bonding over their shared aroace identities. As their friendship develops and they work together to start a campus organization for other a-spec students, can their growing bond survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?
With its exploration of a-spec identities, college life, and more, this platonic comedy, perfect for fans of Netflix’s The Half of It and Alice Oseman’s Loveless , is ultimately a love story about two people who are not―and will not―be in love!
review
I CRIED WHEN I FINISHED IT, THIS WAS EVERYTHING I DREAMED OF.
Sophie and Jo run rival dating advice accounts for their university students, Wellesley, as wendy and wanda two completely different archetypes. Wendy is organized, calm and reliable, Wanda on the other hand is chaotic. While they start a mini online rivalry, Jo and Sophie become friends while creating and organization for aromantic and asexual students of their university.
I will wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone, let’s start with that, I’ve never read a book about aro-ace identities ( I fall into the a-spec ) that has made me feel so seen and safe.
Ann Zhao was able to create a book filled with so much love, warmth and acceptance that it filled my heart with joy. Through out the book I was nodding at stuff, relating to and adoring these characters. Sophie and Jo are two characters that I never knew I needed.
The writing was fun, fast-paced and enjoyable, and the story was wholesome like one big bear hug. I hope it reaches people who will relate to it, who will feel seen and heard by it and will realise they aren’t alone and so many a-spec people face the same thing and won’t feel so isolated.
deadbookishsociety 
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