The novel follows the story of Kiki Siregar, a confident gamer girl who navigates the complexities of online anonymity and real-life challenges with a spirit that resonates with the youth of today.

Kiki's journey is one that many can likely relate to—a struggle for identity in a world that often seems to demand conformity. Sutanto cleverly uses the backdrop of gaming—a space where Kiki feels she must hide her true self behind a male persona—to explore broader themes of sexism and self-expression. This narrative choice not only adds depth to the character but also provides a mirror to the societal issues that plague our digital interactions.

I liked that the story doesn't shy away from addressing the harassment that women can face in gaming communities, making it a relevant read for today's audience.

Jesse Q Sutanto is an author who has been on my radar for a long time. I think its nearly impossible to exist within the book sphere and NOT be aware of their books. I was worried going into this book as I hadn't read [book:Well, That Was Unexpected|59382071] but this book is 100% a standalone.

It follows Kiki who has just started a strict new school against her best wishes. If she had her way, she would have stayed in her old school, where she had friends and was well liked. In this new school however, she's the new girl, and quickly adopts the nickname of Crazy Kiki and finds herself at the butt of many jokes. Luckily, she finds solace in her online roleplaying game and if she's secretly a little in love with her online best friend who she has never met, and who also doesn't know she's a girl, well...that's no one's business. Yet, everything comes to a head when she finds out the cute boy in her new school is said online friend...and well, you can say she didn't see that coming...

Get it?

I think I'm really funny.

Anyway, I thought this book was great. It's clear that Jesse Q knows exactly who her audience are. She knows her strengths are in combining humour and just the right amount of angst to tell a good story, and leans into them. There was a couple of points of this book where I found it a little predictable but overall, I don't mind a plot that is a little predictable.

This book touches on some serious issues, such as bullying and systematic sexism, and I think they're handled pretty gracefully in the book. We have a strong female main character who is repeatedly finding herself at odds with fitting into a system she hates, or causing so much trouble she loses her place in school. While we always wish for moments where the main character stands up for their beliefs immediately and from the outset, this book is a prime example of showing that sometimes it takes time and an established support system to improve injustices, as we find with the interactions between Kiki and the school principal.

Overall, if you're looking a humourous book, an unexpected love story and a book that combines this with more serious moments, then I think this the book for you.

This is a humorous and sad romance.

Sad in the aspect that Girls are still abused in this day and age.

Humorous in the respect of finding ways round the abuse.

An enjoyable read.

I didn’t get to consume this book before it was released and archived on NetGalley, but I have since read it and really loved it. It was a sweet story and the characters were really engaging and I just was rooting for them the whole way. I really like the writing style and definitely want to read more from them

This is Moxie, set in Indonesia with a gaming aspect. I really enjoyed the gaming aspect and learning more about the culture. I really felt enraged and empowered by the misogyny in the book. Having been a gamer all my life is horrible the abuse you get as a female gamer.

I didn't enjoy the not being honest part but I did enjoy the ending.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley!

I loved it! I was completely enchanted! Those who know me know that my weakness is the stories of pen pals online - or simply by mail - who do not happen to know each other personally. I discovered this book because of its cover, and I really liked the blurb. I got into Kiki and Sourdawg's story with curiosity. It's really cool that it also has a gamer line! Although this is the second part of a series, it was still understandable. :)

The book deals with quite serious topics. Fitting into a new environment is never easy, especially not when Kiki is bullied and called crazy from the very beginning. The image of the once confident and easy-going girl quickly fades to nothing, and she is in for some tough trials. The situation is complicated when the principal of Xingfa High School tells him off for not being sensitive...
At least Liam Ng was nice to him who is sitting next to her in classes.

The other was the gamer line, at least Kiki can feel at home there. But everything is not cloudless there either, because when they knew she was a girl, they kept hurting her, saying that a girl can't play. That's when he decided he was going to play as a guy, and from then on, no one told him. As Dudebro10, you're unstoppable in Warfront Heroes online.

I was waiting to find out that they go to the same school as your favorite online friend! *-*

Definitely recommend it to others! Especially to those who like stories where the main characters don't know each other personally and they meet eventually by fate.

★★★★★

I had a read a couple of Jesse Q. Sutanto’s adult books before Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers and Dial A for Aunties being ones that I really enjoyed so was thrilled to get my hands on one of her YA books and it was brilliant despite me not being the targeted audience.
The book is centred around a teenage girl Kiki living in Jakarta. Kiki is a super-cool confident teenage girl who is also an ace gamer. She has experienced online sexism in the past and changed her profile to appear like a teenage boy so she can game all she likes without getting harassed online!
Her parents have just transferred her to a new more prestigious school which they believe will be better for her. Confident Kiki takes the new school as an opportunity to make new friends but things don’t go quite to plan as the school golden boy labels her “Crazy Kiki” when she stands up to him. Her self-esteem starts hitting rock-bottom and the only person she can confide in is her online gaming best friend who she quickly discovers goes to her school but she can’t tell him who she is as she’s been lying to him all along!
This book is more than a simple and cute YA romane novel – Kiki is a brilliant character and she really fits the model of the typical female character in Jesse’s books which feature strong women facing difficult situations. In this book, there is no avoiding the bully and toxic masculinity which Kiki is exposed to and we can see her confidence plummeting as the online and school bullying start affecting her.
I really enjoyed this book without being the intended audience – I loved that Kiki was a gamer and also a bad-ass girl. I would highly recommend to anyone with younger teenage children!

I enjoy Jesse Sutantos books and they’re definitely something fun to read when you need something light hearted and heartwarming. The plot is always well paced. A nice read.

Unfortunately I think this one just wasn't for me. I'm a fan of YA contemporary that focuses on self discovery and identity, and while Didn't See That Coming does a good job at looking into common struggles and the realities of being a teen, from cyber bullying to toxic masculinity in the gaming world, I just found the characters to read very young. Kiki is not all that likeable, and the whole plot fell flat with some tired tropes which left me feeling underwhelmed.

Utterly delightful romance with a cooler edge because of the gaming angle. I was totally absorbed in the setting and loved the main characters. The balance between light-hearted romance and serious genuine issues was extremely well done and I will be recommending it a lot.

This was just so good. Of course, we DID see it coming, but that's part of the fun. I say fun but at times there were truly heart-wrenching moments, and a lot of exceptionally punch-that-one-guy moments. But ultimately brilliant. I liked Kiki a lot, I liked her nature and her support group. I hurt with her as she slowly lost herself and cheered for her when she claimed her fierceness back.

Side note: I didn't realise it was the second in a series but that really wasn't a problem. But I will definitely get around to reading the first one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

I devour everything that Jesse Sutanto writes— including her Insta stories!
It’s definitely different to her Auntie series, which I love to bits, but this still just as funny and sweet! I’m not a huge YA romance kinda gal but this was definitely worth the read!

Really sweet YA romcom. Its a genre I don't read much of these days but I have read a few books from Jesse Sutanto and always enjoy her writing.

I did guess a few of the plot points as we went along but it was still enjoyable, it contained some good messages around online gaming communities and the sexism that goes on there.

(I did find the character names George Clooney and Sarah Jessica Parker took me out a bit though)

I picked this up because I've really enjoyed Jesse Q Sutanto's 'Aunties' series, but I wasn't sure how a ya romance would be for me as that's usually not my thing.. This was charming but also really important and impactful. It was fun and enjoyable but also covered some really important topics. I couldn't put it down!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book

I really love this author’s mystery novels and so thought I would give her rom-com a try.

This is a sweet gamer-romance and friends-to-lovers story, in which Kiki is forced to move schools and deal with struggling to be accepted and hiding her true self from her peers and her online friend, Sourdawg, who thinks she is a boy. This leads to some pretty nasty bullying, as her classmates start to call her CrazyKiki and spread nasty pictures/videos about her… a situation that is likely to feel very relatable for many teens these days.

Along with the sweet developing romance, there is an interesting exploration of the challenges facing the main character as a Chinese-Indonesian teen, with all of the parental pressure and societal misogyny that can bring. Which, of course, links neatly to the Gamergate-style issues of being female in a male-dominated online game.

I found most of the story a pleasant easy read but was a little baffled as to why Kiki’s parents were so keen for her to change schools with only one year left to go – maybe a cultural confusion there? – and I found Kiki’s long climactic speech a little bit too much. It didn’t really fit with the pace and tone of the rest of the story and felt a bit like the ‘And then the whole school clapped’ trope (although it was ‘gave thumbs ups’, in this case).

Personally, I prefer the author’s mystery writing, but then I am not really the target audience for this book and can see that teens looking for a fun, relatable romcom about gaming and identity are likely to love it.

really enjoyed reading this book a lot. i liked the writing style a lot tbh and defo need to read more of the authors work

This YA contemporary novel unfolds in the same universe as "Well That Was Unexpected." I'm drawn to the Asian setting and the author's approachable, witty writing style. Navigating serious themes relevant to its target audience, the book achieves a delightful balance with intermittent humour and a touch of romance. Kiki, the fearless main character, and the endearing Liam contribute to the book's charm. The narrative delves into diverse themes, such as transitioning between schools, addressing bullying, tackling sexism, exploring the realm of gaming, and navigating the complexities of family and friendships. I find myself wishing there were books like this when I was a teenager.

First of all a big thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

I really enjoyed this one. I loved the chemistry between Kiki and Liam. I also picked up Well That Was Unexpected before I read this so I loved that Sharlot and George appeared in this one too. I read this really quickly and I loved every moment.

I'm pretty sad to just feel average about this book - I really liked the author's other work, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, so I was hoping to enjoy this the same. Unfortunately, I just really didn't like the narrative style for Kiki - she read very young and very annoying and I found myself cringing at her a lot - but then again, I suppose that that is kind of the point as she comes to find herself and tackle the bullying rampant in her new school. I did enjoy how the author approached topics such as sexual harassment and cyberbullying; I just ended up feeling like the romance plotline wasn't exactly necessary, as I didn't feel any chemistry between Kiki and the love interest.

I really enjoyed this, it was an easy read but it was also a little predictable. The twists were pretty obvious as this sort of thing has been done before. However, the characters were well developed and great to engage with. I found myself rooting for Kiki from the start and I enjoyed seeing her relationships with other characters change and grow. If you want an a quick, enjoyable read then this is a great one to delve into but don’t expect anything groundbreaking.