Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s, Delacorte Press for sending the book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I’ve been reading a bunch of YA lately, thanks to recommendations from my 14-year old niece; I believe this would be a great book to add to her TBR pile! 17 year-old Kiki Siregar starts senior year of high school in a new school – one where her independent, strong personality is not welcome. This traditional school doesn’t appreciate when she points out the presence of bullying and sexism. Unfortunately, Kiki has dealt with behavior like this before. She is a gamer and had to create a male persona in that world to avoid threats and disparaging comments. She can hide behind her fake account in the gaming world, but there is no hiding who she is in real life, where she must deal with terrible treatment from students, teachers and administrators. She discovers that her best friend in gaming, also hidden behind an online account, goes to her new school. Who is he? And how will he react when he finds out Kiki is a girl? This story tackles how hard it is to be yourself in high school and in life. And the horrendous treatment of females in the gaming world. It shows how important it is to find your own voice and your own people and the significance of friends and the love and support of parents.

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I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did being that it is a high school setting but I completely loved this!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found myself taken by surprise by this book. As a reader of several of Sutanto's other books, I expected a light, silly read with colorful, lovable characters. While there were those elements, the story was decidedly deeper, taking on important social issues such as misogyny and bullying. I thought it did so in a very effective way, remaining entertaining while effectively portraying Kiki's inner struggles.

I am very impressed by Sutanto's ability to change genres and think this is a great book for YA readers.

Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto focuses on a minor character in Well, That Was Unexpected, but it's still very readable as a standalone. Teenage Kiki (Sharlot's cousin in WTWU) loves playing the MMO Warfront Heroes, but she doesn't love being harassed as a girl gamer, so she starts playing under the most anonymous male-coded name ever, DudeBro10. As DudeBro10, she can participate in battles and instances without anyone telling her she sucks because she's a girl, or trying to date her because she's a real live gamer girl, or sending gross threats, or asking for nudes, or, well, you get the reasoning. It's depressing that this is still a thing, I feel like I've been writing about this for decades. So Kiki's fake persona is an understandable deception, and a fun thematic followup to the double-catfishing romance of WTWU. 

In her offline life, Kiki's parents decide to transfer her to a prestigious prep school, with a focus on traditional values. In addition to separating from her old friends and old classes, Kiki is just discovering that for all the positive talk about gender equality, there's actually a lot of extra pressure on girls.  

I particularly enjoyed discovering the no-dating dating double standards -- obviously no students are allowed to date and the school has strict policies about campus behavior, but plenty of students are dating and the school also has a big spring dance. There's an upscale Chinese/Indo flavor to the dating rules, too, with special gifts from a boyfriend's mom to a girlfriend's mom. 

At home, as DudeBro10, Kiki has a gaming buddy, who lives in Singapore. She lives in Indonesia, close enough to play in the right timezone but too far to bump into each other and be revealed as a girl. When she mentions her new school, he mentions that actually he's in Indonesia, too. At the same school, of course. In her class, too. 

I mean, obviously we all DID see that coming, since finding out the person you've been superclose to online is a different gender offline is already in loads of gaming novels, from 88 Names to Ready Player One.  But that's kind of the point, Sutanto can definitely write a completely twisted and shocking story, but that's not what this book is. 

Didn't See That Coming is about a teenage girl discovering that even though society claims to be equal, there are extra challenges for girls. Even though school promises opportunities for every student who studies hard, there are extra advantages for certain families and relationships. Even though there are anti-harassment policies online and in school, somehow the bullies keep getting away with it, and there are penalties for reporting. This makes a relevant and moving coming-of-age story, while Kiki's gamer adventures and good times with true friends keep these life realizations from feeling depressing. 

Really, I think the book goes a bit too far the opposite way. I love a gamer girl coming into her own, but the ending went over the top, with a hacker showing Kiki's dramatic speech to the entire school, with students withdrawing en masse from the prestigious academy, etc. etc.  It was disappointing to me because a lot of the realizations leading up to this point (even the guy who was convinced that legit dislike was his romantic enemies-to-lovers love story!) felt relatable, and the teen emotions are definitely real, and then the ending felt more and then everyone clapped. If you like the extremely dramatic endings that often go in teen movies, though, you probably won't be disappointed.

I have enjoyed every book that I've read by author Jesse Q Sutanto. This story did address some heavy topics, but did not make the book feel heavy. The main character Kiki faced harassment as a girl gamer and bullying as a student in a new school. The book navigated how she "lost" herself, but by the end of the book was able to find her true self and stand up for herself against the protagonist characters in the book.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book for my honest review.

Kiki is a gamer girl and proud of it, but when the unending misogyny she faces online becomes too much, she begins to play under a masculine name. Is it really her fault that other players see it and assume she's a guy? Everything is looking up until she is forced to change schools and discovers her online best friend is also a student there, and of course she's technically been lying to him for months ...

I loved this book! A fast paced read with brilliant characters, it was about more than just a high school romance. I will definitely be recommending it!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

Didn't See That Coming was a sweet sometimes intense book. I really loved the idea of this book. I am a big fan online friends meeting in person and liking one another but not realizing it's the other person.

I really enjoyed the sweetness for most of the book between KiKi and the love interest( I won't spoil who it is) but the rest of the story did feel very heavy at times. There were a lot of sensitive subjects talked about and in some way the book felt too mature and others not mature enough.

I would definitely recommend others to read it as I did enjoy it!

Thank you to netgalley for providing a copy of the book for an honest review!

This just wasn’t very fun… Not super inventive or even enjoyable. Mainly covered bullying but in an after school special kind of way. That plus an unnecessary third act “twist” had me rolling my eyes a bit.

Super cute and simply written. Liked Kiki a lot but the book took a different turn the second half with the message. Focusing on the love story it was sweet and cute. Worth the read as a light hearted escape but definitely more cutesy than had hoped. Certain scenes felt rushed and the end was expected.

I first started reading this author because I thought, yay, more South Asian representation, finally! Now after two books--I loved this one even more than the previous--I'll be looking for more of her work because I adore this writer's voice.

I could just see my grand-niece glomming onto this book. The language is salty--as is the language of pretty much all the teens I used to teach, when they thought adults weren't listening. I loved Kiki's personality, and Liam's, and I absolutely cheered for Kiki taking on the rampant misogyny in the gaming industry--and in upper crust boarding schools. The heavy cultural weight of Asian tradition gets its bow, but that doesn't excuse the abuse, the shame-tactics that women get hit with but aren't given to the men, and above all the gaslighting.

That makes this sound like a problem novel, but though it dealt with some heavy issues, there is a ton of humor, and some great characters. (I loved the younger teenage girls in this book. They cracked me up.) The pacing was terrific, and I loved Kiki's parents' handling as well as the young people.

I could totally see this as a film--I hope it gets bought as a property.

It’s well written, easy to read, and flows well. I can see it going over well with target audiences, with some crossover potential. I stopped after chapter 1 (6%), but overall it should be an easy three stars and four, probably five, with the right readers. It feels light and the voice is clear.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for the ARC.

Kiki's parents have just transferred her to an elite private high school in Indonesia and she's struggling to fit in. By night, though, things are much easier—she games under a male alias to avoid harassment and has formed a close friendship with another gamer.

When she discovers that her gamer bestie (who she's totally falling for) goes to her new school, she sets her sights on discovering his identity. Meanwhile, she finds herself navigating a school environment that supports toxic masculinity where bullying and classism are rife, and a whole lot of drama.

With memorable characters, sweet romance, and plenty of hijinks and drama, this is a fun read for YA audiences and up.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

.Jesse Q. Sutanto became an auto buy author for me after reading her first YA Well That Was Unexpected so it was an easy choice to read Didn’t See That Coming.

First, I loved that this was a connected standalone so we still got to see what was going on with Sharlot, George and Cassie after all this time.

The You’ve Got Mail like romance coupled with the gamer culture hooked me immediately. If you’re a fan of Eliza and her monsters, this is definitely the book for you.

I went into this story expecting all of the humor and heart from the first book and this one definitely delivered. Even though I’m used to her stories having a subplot with some depth to it and they’re never just a rom com, the fight against misogyny and double standards and gaslighting in the school system and culture in general was a really well done element in the story. It made me feel what the characters felt and get angry and sad and I loved that I was so invested in their story.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC to review.

It is not a direct sequel to “Well, That Was Unexpected” so there is no need to read either one in any particular order. This new book set in Jakarta and is about Sharlot’s cousin KiKi.

Kiki’s mom decides to enroll her into a new conservative school where she struggles to fit in. On the surface this book seems light hearted and a fun read but it gets into the pressures of being a teenager, bullying (cyber & in person), misogyny, sexism, ect. This subject matter brings depth to the book.

This book made me laugh, made me mad, made me tear & made me smile!

I give this a 3.5 but will round it up to a 4 for like of half starts.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC.

So this girl had to pretend to be a boy online because she didn’t like how she got harassed by boys if they found out she was a guy playing a game, so she made a boy’s screen name an pretended she was a boy when she played this game online. She had a friend online who talked with her for 2 years I think it was and the guy thought he was talking to a boy, so she never thought she was going to be transferred to a school that her friend goes to and doesn’t even know that it was her, so she found out through some detective work who actually was the one that she was talking to online an she was falling for him an then pretending to talk to him as a boy an he never suspected it was her, I just loved this book so much I couldn’t stop reading it it was so interesting nothing like i have ever read before, when this comes out im buying the physical book to own, I just loved it so much the writing was amazing. Thank you netgalley for giving me this book to read and give feedback, 5 stars!

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I LOVED THIS BOOK!! It was so cute and fluffy. I loved both the protagonist and the love interest so much! And I was so impressed with the message behind it too. Misogyny and sexism are sadly things that are all too common in gaming culture. It was really interesting to read about some of the cultural aspects as well. I love a book that can mix a sweet, sappy YA love story with an important message. It’s hard to do and I think this book absolutely nailed it! I’d say it’s like Moxie mixed with Tell Me Three Things. (If you’ve read/watched Moxie- Liam in this book gives MAJOR Seth vibes, which I’m totally here for!)

So great! I loved this book . Dealt with heavier topics like sexism, patriarchy, conservitive measures, bullying but was also amusing and funny. only thing i did not like was the strong language

This book follows Kiki, a girl gamer who pretends to be a boy online because of the harassment she’s received playing as a girl. After being forced to change schools her senior year, she discovers that the patriarchy is alive and well in real life as well as online. Tackling bullying and her ever-growing pile of homework is nothing compared to the stress of trying to keep her gaming identity a secret after discovering her online best friend attends the same school.

This book is a cute YA romance that handles a lot of issues that women and girls face on the daily. It’s definitely something that I think women of any age can relate to. The characters were likeable, though I felt like I didn’t really get to know them very well. I found it hard to understand why Kiki was keeping quiet and not talking to her parents (or at least yelling at them) about how horrible things were at her new school given the fact that she’s labeled as somebody who always stands up and speaks her mind- but maybe part of that was a culture thing I wasn’t quite understanding as an American. I thought the premise was really good and the writing style was one I definitely enjoyed. I would have liked to see more flirty moments between Kiki and Liam.

I genuinely love everything Jesse Q. Sutanto writes and this was no exception. For starters, the cover is stunning!
This was definitely a YA book and I thought the author did a wonderful job of portraying a teenager in the digital age. As Olivia Rodrigo said, "it's brutal out there." It was definitely a quick read and the romance between the two characters was sweet (again very YA). It's definitely a quicker read and I love that we had Aunties in this book as well and that it wasn't set in the United States so there were different cultural norms.

The star of this book though is our main character Kiki who has a strong head on her shoulders and has a good cast of friends around her. I actually enjoyed reading about her friendships and those dynamics more than the actual romance.


While I don't think this will end up being a series, I genuinely cannot wait for the next installment of Dial A for Aunties.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.

Didn't See That Coming was a sweet quick read, I thought this author did a really good job making Kiki sound like a real teenager and all the bullying and pain she goes through felt real. Can't wait to read more by this author!