Blog Tour and Review: Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanto

An outrageous, laugh-out-loud YA rom-com about a girl who’s whisked from LA to her mother’s native Indonesia to get back to her roots and finds herself fake-dating the son of one of the wealthiest families there, from the author of Dial A for Aunties.

After Sharlot Citra’s mother catches her in a compromising position, she finds herself whisked away from LA to her mother’s native Indonesia. It’ll be exactly what they both need. Or so her mother thinks.

When George Clooney Tanuwijaya’s father (who is obsessed with American celebrities) fears he no longer understands how to get through to his son, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

To ensure that their children find the right kind of romantic partner, Sharlot’s mother and George’s father do what any good parent would do: they strike up a conversation online, pretending to be their children.

When the kids find out about their parents’ actions, they’re horrified. Not even a trip to one of the most romantic places on earth could possibly make Sharlot and George fall for each other. But as the layers peel back and the person they thought they knew from online is revealed, the truth becomes more complicated. As unlikely as it may seem, did their parents manage to find their true match after all?

• Title: Well, That Was Unexpected
• Author:  Jesse Q. Sutanto
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication Date: September, 27th 2022
• Genre: Contemporary Romance 
• Source: Digital ARC via Netgalley / Publishers in exchange for an honest review
• Targeted Age Range: YA
• Content Warnings: Mentions of sex, mentions of divorce (chapter 1), mentioned death of a parent, grief, mentions of porn and masturbating, Harry Potter mention (chapter 5), catfishing, slut shaming, mentions of teen pregnancy (not main character, chapter 11), sexism and misogyny, toxic masculinity, homophobia, ageism, bullying (including cyberbullying)
• Rating: ★★★

Thank you to the publishers and TBR Beyond Tours for providing me with an arc of Well, That Was Unexpected in exchange for an honest review!

I love Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A for Aunties series, and her YA mystery thrillers, The Obsession, and The New Girl, so I’ve definitely had Well, That Was Unexpected on my radar for quite a while now! While I didn’t love it as much as I love the Dial A series, I think that Well, That Was Unexpected has a lot of the things we’ve come to expect from a Sutanto novel: Meddlesome but loving and well-intentioned families, scenes that will literally make you laugh out loud, and very honest and heartfelt moments.

I liked that the story was told from George and Sharlot’s points of view — it was nice to read both of their perspectives and it helped us get to know them better since there were a lot of surface-level conversations between them before they became more comfortable with one another. However, one thing that bothered me was that this book focuses heavily on the miscommunication trope. It got a little tiring to keep reading about how the two of them felt bad about lying to the other about the origin of their private messages. All of that conflict could’ve been solved had they just been honest with each other. Although, I do understand their hesitancy as they didn’t know that their parents had done the same thing, and they didn’t want to hurt each other. I personally am not a fan of the miscommunication trope, so that could be why I found it a bit tiresome. 

To be honest, I felt like Sharlot was lacking the usual likability that Sutanto’s main female characters usually have. Sharlot had issues with her mother’s secrecy behind her life in Indonesia and her refusal to speak about it, which for Asian American kids especially, can be really difficult. It hurts to continually be shut down when asking about your culture, so I understand Sharlot’s anger surrounding that. However, Sharlot came off as extremely bratty, judgemental, and petty and I found her constant lashing to be very grating.

I did appreciate that as the story went on, Sharlot started to notice how unfairly she was treating her mother and that, even if only internally for the majority of the story, she would call herself out on her behavior, in addition to trying to get to the root of why she was acting that way. After one scene in particular, you could tell that Sharlot started to see her mother as a person and not just her mother, which influenced her to want to mend their relationship. Additionally, Sharlot noted that her preconceived ideas about Indonesia came from a very U.S. and white-centric narrative that often perpetuates the idea that countries outside of the U.S. and Europe are “third world” countries and are lacking when that is not the case. Sharlot definitely went through some good character development and ended the book in a much better place than she started it, which I was really glad to see. However, I think that some of it happened a little too late which made her harder to sympathize with.

Although it took me the majority of the book to warm up to Sharlot, I found it easy to like George. He was much more sensitive than I had thought he would be, and the moments where he spoke about his mom were really touching. The love he has for his mother, and the ache of losing her so young was incredibly evident and I just wanted to give him a hug. I also really appreciated his passion for OneLiner —- the app his family’s company was developing — and that he didn’t just want to be the face of the app, but actually wanted to develop it and have a say in what kind of content they were putting out into the world. George is a character who has a lot of heart and really cares about others, which I thought was very evident throughout the story.

The side characters were actually my favorites in the book, especially Sharlot’s cousin Kiki and George’s sister Eleanor. Kiki was really fun and outgoing, and I loved how even though she had her reservations at first, once she and Sharlot connected, Kiki always stood up for her and protected her. Eleanor was definitely a bit chaotic, but what thirteen-year-old isn’t? She was very overdramatic (truly as all of George’s family was) and I really liked how she spoke her mind. The friendship that Kiki and Eleanor formed was just so sweet — I loved that sibling bond, especially since Eleanor was so young when she lost her mom and hasn’t really had any female figures in her life besides Eighth Aunt. I could’ve read an entire book about Eleanor and Kiki’s friendship, they really were my favorite part of the book.

For me, the scenes that really stood out were the scenes that explored Jakarta and Bali. The descriptions were detailed and vibrant and I just fell in love with Indonesia through Sharlot and George’s eyes. I loved reading about their latte art class (even for someone who doesn’t like coffee), white water rafting along the Ayung River, the beaches, exploring all that Jakarta has to offer, and the food! The food sounded simply incredible, and I really would love to be able to visit Indonesia one day and experience some of these things for myself!

This post will be updated with OwnVoice reviews as they become available.

Links for Well, That Was Unexpected: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | Amazon