I love everything about this book, including the dust jacket art that features an Asian main character on the front and the iconic Wellesley bell tower on the back.
I'm not an alum of Wellesley College, but I have a soft spot for it due to a number of personal connections. I wonder if Wellesley students and alum think the portrayal of Wellesley life is authentic? I hope so. I once read a YA book set at my alma mater and was disappointed because the setting was almost irrelevant to the storyline, unlike this book, in which the Wellesley culture and campus were integral.
Representation and intersectionality are the cornerstones of this book. The "Dear Wendy" Instagram account is actually Sophie, who, in addition to being aromantic and asexual, is Chinese with immigrant parents. Her roommate is gay and Indian, with an immigrant dad and a mom who died (not actually a topic in the book). Jo, who is behind the "Sincerely, Wanda" account, is also aromantic and asexual, uses she/they pronouns, and has 2 lesbian moms. One of her roommates is white and bisexual and the other is Black and gay. Introductions with pronouns are modeled as being the norm.
It's perhaps stating the obvious, but one of the best things about this book is its mere existence, its ability to serve as a mirror for aro-ace readers and a window for those who may know nothing about it.
Chapters are written from the first-person perspective of either Sophie or Jo, which is always a fun format to read. Interspersed are Dear Wendy and Sincerely, Wanda relationship questions and responses, which actually amount to pretty good relationship advice for young readers. The fact that texting and social media are fundamental modes of communication for this generation is also reflected in even more fun formatting.
I really enjoyed the portrayal of how a budding friendship can be uncertain in the same ways as a potential romance, e.g., Does the other person even like me? Should I ask them to hang out? What kind of activity should I suggest? What if they say no? There's also a great message that aro-ace or not, a person isn't defined by a romantic relationship, and a close platonic friendship can be just as fulfilling and supportive.
As a Chinese person myself, I appreciated the Chinese dialogue from Sophie's parents, written in accented pinyin. But even though there were plenty of context clues, each line was not directly translated, which is kind of a pet peeve of mine when foreign languages pop up because if I didn't know Chinese, I'd still want to know exactly what was being said in the other language. And maybe that makes me a total Wendy, which I admit and fully accept!
