This book took a really long time for me to start enjoying. It spent a lot of time on unnecessary characters and details and I was wondering when the romance would begin (I'm sorry to say but the beginning was very boring). I enjoyed the millennial things as well as the AOL chat (haha on the unsernames). Overall this one was a miss for me.

The Girl Most Likely To is centered around a few weeks time, during the main character's 20 year high school reunion. This is combined with flashbacks to their high school years. It's a sweet romance with fun side characters and interesting relationship development. I enjoyed a romance with slightly older characters. It has great representation of diverse identities as well. Overall a great read!

This book was fine. I wasn’t particularly blown away by it. Overall, I thought the premise was creative and I enjoyed that. However, I didn’t like how the majority of the book covered one night. It made it hard to understand the timing of things. I also struggled to keep track of conversations because the main character would get lost in her thoughts for a long paragraph during them.

Loved the format of this one (present day and high school). And a quick fun read! I’m here for more romance novels in these wild times.

Let me start by saying, I don’t usually enjoy high school reunion story-lines in general. This would be at the top of the list for those though! I liked it overall but there were definitely some issues for me. Danny is pretty contradictory at most points of their arguments and rather rude at others. He criticized her for caring too much about what others thought, but somehow not caring enough about the honors that might’ve been given. Also, I feel like people going to a school reunion quite often lie about where they really are in life, like Romy and Michele. At least with the FMC, she is quick to admit that she doesn’t know what she’s doing in her life. I liked their chemistry when they were good though, even if it was a bit further apart than I would’ve liked. It was comforting to read about someone in their 40s that had some difficulty getting their life in order, life isn’t just always up. Idk, it just felt more real for me. This was a 3.5 for me, rounding up to 4 for any bias.

"𝘐𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭. 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘵𝘸𝘰. 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘰𝘣. 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘕𝘢𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳-𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭."


A big thank you to @harperaudio, @avonbooks and @netgalley for the advanced copies of the book and audiobook in exchange for this review!

Listening to this book brought me so much nostalgia. 😅 and then I had the realization that I'm coming up on 16 years since I graduated and I was shooketh. lol

While I graduated about 6 years after our main characters, I still had AIM. lol I remember the butterflies of hearing your crush log on.

I was also our class president. I TRIED to throw a 10 year reunion.... it didn't go well (alas is the life in a small town in the day and age of Facebook lol)

🎒 Asian Americans
⭐️ High School Reunion
🎒 Second Chance Romance
⭐️ Teenage Love
🎒 School Superlatives
⭐️ Navigating Life Changes
🎒 Dual Timeline
⭐️ Late Thirties MCs
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #thegirlmostlikelyto #julietieu #harperaudio #harpervoyager #avonbooks #book4of2025 #whatsnikkireading #whatsnikkilisteningto #asainamericans #highschoolreunion #teenagelove #secondchanceromance #schoolsuperlatives #dualtimeline @natalienaudus

I enjoyed this book.. I'm torn between a 3.5 to 4 stars mainly be the FMC was annoying at times. I do wish we had gotten a POV from Danny.

I was initially drawn to the premise of this, especially the
"gifted kid burnout" and academic validation vibes, and while there are several elements I enjoyed, it mostly felt flat and I wasn't very invested.
The Girl Most Likely To follows career-driven Rachel
Dang as she is laid off from her entertainment industry job just before her 20-year high school reunion. The story is told in a dual timeline that moves between her online turned real life friendship (and almost more) with Danny Phan during their senior year of high school and their journey to reconnect almost entirely during the night of their high school reunion.
The FMC felt relatable and realistic in feeling stuck and trying to keep it together. I actually like how Rachel was a little prickly and abrasive. Women tend to be perceived that way when they get burnt out feeling like they are the only ones looking out for themselves and like they have to navigate so much of life on their own.
So her reliance on academics and career to feel some semblance of stability and confidence made sense.
Overall, I liked the the cultural elements with two Asian American leads, the familiar setting as a SoCal native, and how the dual timeline built up the tension of the friends to lovers and second chance tropes. However, while I felt the leads were well-matched and that Rachel's personal journey was well done as she accepted she didn't need to be perfect and could live for more than just work, the romance fell flat for me and lacked depth. Their attraction and thoughts and actions started to feel repetitive in the narrative, so I ended up mostly bored and just wanting to finish it. It was a sweet story, but I wanted more from it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A fun rom com by Julie Tieu about two former frenemies reuniting at their 20 year high school reunion. Alternating between past, present, and their AIM conversations, this is a fun read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
DNF @ 32%

Another book that I technically COULD make myself finish reading, but I have no desire to. The book isn't bad necessarily. It's just... bland? The character gets let go and just has no real reaction. I don't need the book to be all that deep and emotional (though I'd prefer it), but there was just NOTHING. We get told bits and pieces of her feelings. It just never really comes through as anything more than text, you know?

And this seems to permeate the narrative overall. There's no real emotion, no real voice, just... text.

It really sucks, because I LOVED the start and enjoyed all the nostalgic and nerdy bits. Also, its own voices, which I try to support.

If you don't need a strong voice in the text to be engaged, definitely don't let my review stop you. There's nothing super wrong with the book, and you may still like it, especially if you're looking for near-40-year-old main characters, midlife crises, and a lot of millennial vibes!

This was another wonderful installment from Tieu—I loved seeing characters reunite who knew each other as different people, now trying to work through their own baggage and regret about their lives. Romantic, healing, and so fun!

This was a fun rom com focusing on two people getting back together at a 20 year reunion after their friendship fell apart in high school. It flips back and forth between past, present, and their AIM chats. Creatively done and enjoyable.

OMG the way parts of this story had me on the floor laughing, lol. Really enjoyed the fact that the characters are in their late 30s. I liked the relateability of. Rachel. She is in a moment of her life where things are not falling into place like she would like and is struggling and looking to go back to a time where she felt she had some control of her life, but of course that was when Danny was in her life. It was fun to get flashbacks to when Danny and Rachel were in school and how their friendship was and how they got to where they are in current times. Lots of pining emotions!

cutie little romance book but I liked that it had more mature characters and had real life issues (lay offs, family conflict, family planning)

This book was pretty cute and enjoyable! I liked the MC because I saw many aspects of myself within her, especially the planning and overpreparing for situations. I also liked that the book was flip flopping from the present to the past because I was able to understand the MC's past and what made her the person she is in the present. I did find it interesting how so many people at the reunion didn't have much growth from high school, though maybe that's realistic? I found the connection between Rachel and Danny to be wholesome and there were definitely some funny moments in there as well. I would recommend this to people who want a quick and easy rom com read.

There was a lot going on in "The Girl Most Likely To" and I'm not sure it all worked for me. Rachel is a career-driven executive who is fired at the beginning of the book and decides to go to her 20th class reunion. Most of the book actually takes place at the reunion/on the day of it. She was voted the "Girl Most Likely To Succeed" and has a chip on her shoulder about being fired now. She also wants to see Danny, her high school love she hasn't seen in 20 years.

I just felt like the whole Rachel and Danny thing moved so, so fast after 20 years apart. Maybe it's because I just had my 20th class reunion pass and I know how much I have changed, but I hated how so many people from their high school were still the same, too.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

I found this book interesting and enjoyable. I loved how it shifted between Danny and Rachel's high school years and the present. The connection between Rachel and Danny was fantastic, and there were some genuinely funny moments. As a fan of second-chance romances, I thought it was a great read. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a second-chance romance and a relaxing, feel-good read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ARC for an honest review. Coming from an Asian family where school and success were a priority and life outside of these things come later, I related to Rachel heavily!! It was like looking in a mirror while reading! Rachel is a 38yo career driven woman where nothing else matters but being the best at everything. She unfortunately gets laid off from her job where she put in 10+ years of work for it. In Rachel’s eyes, unemployment is practically the definition of a failure and fears what others will think of her. She attends her high school reunion to remininsce on her excellent achievements throughout high school but to also reconcile with her friend, Danny Phan. Going down memory lane, she recognizes how much time and energy she put into being the best at school that she lacked the social life of every teenager and missed the best moments of high school. She realizes life isn’t all about work and success and that it’s okay to live life and to realize that when one road closes, another one will open. When something doesn’t go your way, it doesn’t automatically mean you failed at life. Danny was extremely patient with her back in high school and at the reunion. Both Rachel and Danny had a lot of miscommunication back then but were slowly able to have better communication with each other now. I appreciated the Asian representation and how it was shown how much pressure we’re under into achieving things in order to be considered successful and get validation from our family members. Even though, it’s an unhealthy mindset to be in. I enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more from Julie Tieu.

Set mostly over the course of one night at a 20-year high school reunion, The Girl Most Likely To is a fun and nostalgic second-chance romance. I loved how the story weaved in early 2000s throwbacks, especially the AIM chatroom connection between the MCs.

At her 20th high school reunion, Rachel Dang, once “Most Likely to Succeed” but is now unexpectedly unemployed, crosses paths with her former frenemy, Danny Phan, whose life has taken a more successful turn. As teens, their late-night AIM chats hinted at something deeper, but in person, it never really came together. When an errand spirals into a night of chaos, nostalgia, and unexpected run-ins, old feelings resurface, forcing them to question whether this reunion is just a fleeting moment or the start of something real.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the cultural representation. With both MCs being Asian, we get glimpses into their family dynamics, both in high school and the present day. I also really enjoyed the FMC’s personal growth. She’s always been someone who had a clear path, but after unexpectedly losing her job, she’s struggling to figure out what’s next. Watching her navigate that uncertainty while rekindling her connection with Danny made her story all the more relatable.

The romance itself was well-developed, with the MCs working through past misunderstandings and growing into a more mature relationship. There’s a great mix of heartfelt moments, humor, and a bit of spice with one steamy scene. Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced read that kept my attention by jumping between 2003 and present day.

Thank you, NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager, for this eARC!

There's a lot about this book that people who grew up in the age of chat rooms can relate to. There's plenty of nostalgia. Rachel and Danny met during the days of AIM, and though they were opposites in high school (she was the over-achieving most likely to succeed, and he was popular and always fell asleep during tutoring), they had a sweet friendship and kiss. The high school scenes were actually my favorite scenes in the book. Adult Rachel is in her late 30s, just got laid off, and is single. She's pretty miserable, and has a hard time being honest about it. I think the most frustrating thing about her is her stubbornness and unwillingness to ask for help. Danny is overly patient with her if you ask me. I had a hard time buying their chemistry as adults because Rachel is pretty evasive with Danny as they spend the day of their 20th reunion together. I was hoping she had learned more from the way their high school friendship blew up. I know it's normal in RomComs for tension to build up between characters, but I spent a lot of time screaming at this book saying JUST TELL THE TRUTH.