Thoughts

I honestly loved everything about this book. I hate the miscommunication trope but in this book it absolutely makes sense. When you are teenagers and you are shy and not sure if someone is really into you, it is easy to read into things and not communicate properly.

I loved the flashbacks to when they were teenagers because we get the pop culture references and I always love those.

I honesly related to the FMC so much, I was wondering if there was going to be a revelation that she was neurodivergent and that was part of her finding herself.

This was my second book by this author and I have enjoyed both so much!

dnf 34% I am so bored. I have read and rated the past three Julie Tieu books 3 stars and I really should not have picked up this one. Once again the cultural representation is the absolute highlight of the book. Not only are the depictions of Chinese Americans accurate, it includes Chinese idioms and some text in Chinese characters. The rest of it is just plain old boring. I didn't connect at all with Rachel and where she is the only POV there isn't another side of the story to make me want to keep going. I hav been "reading" this book for about a week and every time I pick I up I instantly want to put it back down. I can't take it anymore. It may work for you, but it isn't doing anything for me.

THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO is a swoony frenemies to lovers romance that had me kicking my feet and giggling the entire time!! Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the advanced copy!

This was a fast paced book and I had a good time. I liked how the scenes from their childhood were interwoven. They took twenty years to come back together but better late than never.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Any book that brings AIM into the plot is going to have my elder millennial heart. I loved that this was part of the plot. Rachel is headed back to her high school for her 20 year reunion. She's set to receive an award for her accomplishments which means she's living up to her Most Likely to Succeed title. Only thing is she was recently fired. Also at the reunion is Danny, who was in a different crowd, but she had a connection with. Going between present day and the early 2000s, the story of Rachel and Danny unfolds. I really liked the flashbacks in this one given it's my literal generation, as well as Rachel figuring out life in the present day. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this February 2025 release.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon/HarperCollins for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
The Girl Most Likely To follows main character Rachel Dang who was voted “Most Likely To Succeed” when she was in high school. When she’s invited to her twentieth high school reunion by none other than Danny Phan, an old friend/flame, she decides to make an appearance.
Rachel was the type of student to get the best grades and try her hardest to avoid any problems with her parents. Rachel and Danny meet in a chat room and find that they can confide in each other, and with the combination of their communication through IM and when teachers put them together, an unlikely friendship (sorta) ensues.
The book follows mostly a present timeline with occasional chapters that follow Rachel and Danny when they were in high school.
There were several aspects of the story that I enjoyed. Overall I felt like Rachel was a relatable character, she feels as if so many people had set expectations for her and she feels as though she’s fallen short. Especially as she’s thrust back into an environment where she can compare herself to everyone she went to high school with, she begins to grapple with what it is she truly wants out of life.
I loved the concept of the high school reunion, I thought it was the perfect setting to explore past relationships and confront past expectations and behaviors. There’s a quote I really liked:
“It was too embarrassing to admit that I wanted to relive a time when I knew what I was doing.”
I think that quote resonated with me and will resonate with so many others. Now, I don’t think I actually knew what I was doing when I was in high school but it certainly felt that way, and missing that feeling I think is a shared experience.
That being said, although there were aspects of this book that I enjoyed, I felt as though I couldn’t fully invest myself in the characters. Characters are everything to me and if I’m not rooting for them, cheering them on, then it feels as though something is off. The chemistry between Rachel and Danny felt more palpable and real in the flashbacks than in the current timeline. However, I do think people will enjoy this book as I think not connecting with the characters might be more of a me thing.
Read if you like:
- frenemies (friends) to lovers
- dual timelines
- second-chance romance

Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

The Girl Most Likely To by Julie Tieu really drew my attention because it follows our fmc Rachel, who has just lost her job, going back for her 20th High School Reunion. The story gives second chance romance and 90’s rom com vibes. We also have two Asian main characters Rachel and Danny, which I personally think I don’t see enough of in the romance book space. I liked seeing the relationship between our main characters develop and redevelop throughout the book. There was good banter, and I felt at points that I was invested the relationship. There were just some areas where it was quite slow in my opinion and that took me away from the story a bit, but I would still recommend people give this book a chance!

3.5/5 stars

This was okay. Unique structure in Romance (and books, in general): the majority of the present-day storyline takes place over one night. The backstory and much of the relationship development is told through flashbacks (half of which are presented in IM format).

Main problem for me was that it didn't make me feeeeeel anything. No tension (sexual or otherwise), no stakes, no real conflict.

Which is all very realistic. Sometimes two people just like each other ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But I'm not here for realism...

I did appreciate that the author stayed away from clichés. For instance, the FMC's best friend (the only supporting character with any substance) is an actress. She's on a well-regarded show, but not super famous. She's a little bossy (/is FMC's actual boss), but not a diva. At the same time, all these nuances left me confused as to how I was supposed to feel about that character and their friendship.

All in all, I finished this book and didn't feel like it was a waste of time at the end. But I also don't think I'm going to remember what it was about if asked this time next year.

A second chance romance that comes full circle at their 20 year high school reunion all in one day. Rachel makes the decision to attend after receiving a personal note from Danny, high school crush. Rachel is an over achiever in high school and tends to carry that into her adult life and when it all falls apart she works to figure out of to gain control again. There are some laugh out loud moments in the books but overall it was a 2.5 rating for me. I liked the story but it was a lot in the course of one day and it was slow at times. I wish we had Danny's POV instead of just Rachel's.

3.5/5

I love the miscommunication trope and it leading to people becoming estranged. I felt that this book had a good ratio of being in the present and doing flashbacks. It was a quick and lighthearted read! Looking forward to seeing what this author releases next!

4.25/4.5

What an adorable book! Not usually a fan of friends to lovers or books that have a dual timeline but the chapters were short, the time hops were short and to the point. The pacing of the book was really engaging.

This is my second Julie Tieu book and I’ll be reading her books moving forward!

Thank you to NetGalley and Julie Tieu for the advanced copy

I really enjoyed having main characters in their late 30s and I enjoyed the concept of the entire novel taking place in one day.

However I did not love the female main characters as I felt she was a bit too immature and stubborn. I did enjoy the character growth of the male main character.

This novel is a friends to lovers romance. It is also a second chance romance. And it is sort of a friends to lovers to friends to not anything, back to friends again.

It all starts with a high school reunion, 20 years later, and Rachel Dang does not want to go. She has just lost her job, and she feels she doesn’t live up to the class that voted her “Girl most likely to.” But then, the decides to go, and runs into a friend, who she had feelings for when she was in high school, but figured he was just a friend, still.

This is the story of a girl who is driven to be the best, because that was what she has always done. So, now that she is jobless, she has no idea what to do with her energy.

This is not a straight shot, by any means. The story goes back and forth in time to explain why she fell out with the boy that she felt was her best friend that she also had a crush on.

It was a fun reunion, and how it all transpired, and the outcome. It was also fun that the author lives in Southern California, in some of the places that I grew up in, so when she is talking about places, I know where they are, and what they are like. Although I never got into “The Industry” as the film industry is called, both my father and grandmother worked for the studios, so I knew enough to see what felt right about the story.

Fun finding out what went wrong the first time around, and what goes right this time. I also like her interaction with her traditional Cambodian parents, and what they have to say about her dating a boy.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 18th of February 2025.

The Girl Most Likely To by Julie Tieu (e-ARC)
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a very sweet story about two childhood best friends who reconnect after being estranged following some major miscommunications.

I loved Rachel and Danny’s chemistry!! Danny was so so sweet, and he really won me over in the end.

My biggest gripe with this one is that the entire plot centers around the miscommunication trope. Most of the book is just two people figuring out where things went wrong in the past. Very much character driven, not much plot to be followed.

That being said, Julie really managed to create a heartfelt relationship between Rachel and Danny that felt entirely genuine and very real.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC! 🫶

THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO by Julie Tieu is now my favorite novel by the author. For those that know how much I love THE DONUT TRAP, that's saying a lot.

This is a lot of things I love all in one book - the secret identity meeting, because of AOL chat rooms; a what's going on confusion-awkwardness in high school; second chance with forced proximity (in the form of a road trip/running errands, which is the best). Add in the nostalgia of my high school years.

"The only cardio I've seen you do was chase after that extra because you thought he was Daniel Henney"

This is the book of my millennial dreams.

🥑 set in LA
🥑 friends to lovers
🥑 38 year old Chinese Cambodian American protagonist
🥑 Chinese Vietnamese American divorced love interest

Rachel Dang is not doing well. She was once voted Most Likely to Succeed. Days before a twentieth high school reunion, she is laid off by the entertainment company where she made her mark. She has to take on a part-time assistant role to her actor friend and roommate, Natalie Huang. I don't think Nat is a great friend, but that is irrelevant to this review, and my feelings about this book, so I'll leave that out.

I was scared when I thought this was second chance romance, as I don't do well with those. It's definitely more of a former best friends had a weird falling out that neither of them understand and have now met back up and still find each other attractive kind of thing. Yes, that is a run-on sentence. No, I do not care. If I have to work during the holiday season, you have to read my rambly reviews.

The Chinese diaspora is vast. Chinese Americans, even when they call themselves such, often emigrate from countries that aren't China. A lot of the times, they don't even mention these countries until way later. I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that, but I like that Julie always highlights Chinese Cambodian culture (her own) and in this case, a Chinese Vietnamese love interest with Houston roots (not me, but certainly people I've known).

Rachel and Danny first meet when he shows up as the new kid at her school in Alhambra. They e-meet on AIM, which gave me so many flashbacks. Her screenname is xxaznxbbxgrlxx. A/S/L, am I right? Did that give you a jump scare?

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. Naïve eighteen-year-old me didn't factor in the many, many variables outside of my control. "A flawed plan."


I mostly loved this book, because not everyone finds love early in life. That's not to say your late thirties are old. It was just nice to read about people starting their lives together a little later than your standard mid-twenties couple.

Things that attacked me, alphabetically:

🥑 Acqua di Gio
🥑 AIM
🥑 burned CDs
🥑 corndogs
🥑 Dashboard Confessional
🥑 Jimmy Eat World
🥑 "Sandstorm" by Darude
🥑 scientifically round butts

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Avon

I love these “bottle episode” books (like tv show episodes of the same style) that are so self-contained, they basically take place in one evening. In this case, a 20th high school reunion. And yeah, a lot of it felt like my own 20th. But this one was a lot more fun and had a lot more spice. Thanks to Avon for the ARC.

A fun take on how high school reunions can be just what you need to find parts of yourself again. I enjoyed a lot about this novel, especially how individual growth and discovery was a really important message. It was funny, messy, sweet, and full of a charming cast.
While the novel does start off a bit slow, the chat messages showcasing the characters' past online relationship really does build to a valuable connection that helps explain the time they've spent apart and why they come back together. It's also unique in its 3rd act, which for me was a welcome break from the classic tropes you see in romcom novels like this. There's a lot of cultural emphasis to the characters' backgrounds as well, which I always really appreciate in building a diverse and dynamic group of people to read about. It was a great book to read around the holiday season because it fills you with softness and gratitude!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This had such a fun premise and started off strong but ultimately ended up falling flat.

I related to the experiences of having immigrant Asian parents, and also love stories that are contained to a single night. But I quickly found Rachel to be an immature FMC - even in the current POV where she is an almost 40-year old woman. The primary conflict between Rachel and Danny didn’t even seem that consequential and could’ve been resolved in a quick conversation. The miscommunication trope strikes again.

This book wasn’t for me, but maybe it’ll be for you if you enjoy a second chance romance with some light steam. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The dreaded high school reunion. Rachel Dang was that girl in high school, over achiever with ambition and goals. At thirty-eight though she’s laid off from her job that she’s been with for more than 10 years and she feels lost. Why does she go to this 20 year high school reunion? It’s to see Danny her friend from high school and maybe to reconnect with him.

I did like Rachel and her best friend Natalie (who is an upcoming movie star) – their friendship felt genuine and funny and I wish there were more scenes were fun. I thought the nostalgia factor of the book was really fun too – the chatrooms of the 90’s? Boy did that bring me back to a time! The mentions of certain pop culture things from that time was great like the music and burning cds.

The way Natalie and Danny meet is cute and a friendship begins but talk about all the miscommunication between the two. The story is told with flashbacks to Natalie and Danny in high school and they seemed like they had a solid friendship until they crossed a line. When they meet up again at the reunion, I just felt lost as to why they had a falling out. As the story unravels we see how the miscommunication between them and how it really ruined their friendship. The conflict isn’t huge it’s mainly the miscommunication.

By the way, a lot of this story happens in a span of days. The bulk of this story happens the day of the reunion.

Final Thoughts:

I did enjoy the flashbacks, the nostalgia and the reunion where crazy antics happen. I kind of wanted more from the romance but it does have a happy ending.