Dear Wendy
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3.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An Instant Indie Bestseller!
"The platonic love story of my dreams!" —Alice Oseman, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Heartstopper
Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV debut from Ann Zhao
Sophie Chi is in her first year of college and has long accepted her aroace (aromantic and asexual) identity. She knows she’ll never fall in love, but she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at her school. No one except her roommate can know that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account.
When Joanna “Jo” Ephron (also a first-year student and aroace) created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn’t at all meant to take off or be taken seriously. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Wendy’s account? Oops. As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender identity, whether she’ll ever truly be loved, and the possibility of her few friends finding The One then forgetting her!
While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo grow closer in real life, especially once they realize their shared aroace identity. Will their friendship survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wellesley College freshman Sophie Chi runs the well-established Instagram romance advice column Dear Wendy. Classmate Joanna Ephron, meanwhile, has just started posting as Dear Wanda, a less serious but still sincere competitor. Each is named for a Wellesley stereotype: Wendys are considered perfect type As, while Wandas are perceived as sloppier, someone more likely to skip a class or three. Though they're rivals online, they soon discover that they have a lot more in common than they realize after meeting IRL in a women's studies class—most notably that they're both aromantic and asexual. They each help the other through their individual dilemmas: Joanna hates it when her friends get romantically involved with people and often wonders if she'll always feel alone, and Sophie wishes her Chinese immigrant parents understood her identity better. Via Sophie and Joanna's alternating POVs, Wellesley student Zhao curates a realistic setting at a women's college full of angsty queer students caught in the throes of romance, self-doubt, and self-discovery, culminating in a gently sweet aro-ace rom-com and a raw and emotionally resonant debut. Joanna is white; most other characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up.
Customer Reviews
Awesome
As an aroace person this book is so incredibly relatable. Admittedly I’ve only read half of it (in the 2 days since it came out) but I’m loving it so far.
The book is well-written, funny, and has deep discussions about queerness and society. The chapters are in approachable and addictive bite sized chunks. And on a personal note, Jo and Sophie’s relationship is exactly what I would want, and the platonic attraction / relationship development between them? *chef’s kiss*
Really happy to have aroace representation like this!!!