Well, That Was Unexpected
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Funny
Realistic Fiction
Romance
Rom-Com
* * * * Stars (Great!)
Sharlot and George find themselves at the center of a teenage rom-com entirely fabricated by their well-meaning parents, after each is discovered in an embarrassing sexual situation. To get some distance from her boyfriend, Sharlot is whisked off to Indonesia where her mother creates an online dating profile for her and starts exchanging messages with “George.” George’s little sister Eleanor and his father are worried that he’s attracted to weird stuff and are determined to find him a real, human, girlfriend, so they ALSO set up an online dating profile and start exchanging messages with “Sharlot.” Their fake personas really hit it off and everyone except George and Sharlot are convinced that the two need to meet up in person. So, very reluctantly, they do. The results are about what you’d expect – ranging from painfully awkward to downright hilarious. Even though neither Sharlot nor George are anything like their fake dating profiles, they really hit it off. But then there’s the drama of how do they come clean about their family members setting them up. The stakes are set even higher when Sharlot’s family learns that George is actually “George Clooney Tanuwijaya” of THOSE super wealthy successful in everything they do Tanuwijayas and is practically Indonesian royalty. Everyone gets caught up in the publicity and launch of the Tanuwijaya’s new app, and the media are positively besides themselves when they learn that George has a girlfriend! This! Is! News! Great characters, some really funny scenes as well as some serious ones, and a real slice of Indonesian life (Bali and Jakarta) – the food and the drinks sound AMAZING. I really developed an appreciation for this as the story progressed beyond the setup. For older high school teens.
Reviewed by YA Librarian
