#Sophie Zhao

[radios-universe]

i just want everyone to know i just finished dear wendy by @annzhao . and when i tell you. i was in TEARS.

i could go on a long tangent about why this truly wrecked me (other than being aroace myself and connecting with jo on a spiritual level, i think) but i’ll spare you the details. i can get to the point. (warning: i proceed to not get to the point)

being out as aroace for 3 years doesn’t mean SHIT.

in fact, i think i was most proud of being aroace in my first 6 months of being out. since then? it’s … almost dwindled.

i’ve never had a stable aroace friend. well i thought i did… that got a bit shakey (i just said i won’t go into the details i’m not letting myself go on this tangent) i’ve never been able to come to terms with the idea that i might never have that companionship.

and while jo ended up having sophie to confide in, i still entirely saw myself in them. and sophie’s words by the end of the book, telling jo that ‘to accept your sexuality, you have to accept that you’re probably going to question it for a really long time, and possibly the rest of your life.’ i was sitting there with them listening to the same thing.

it wasn’t new information. i have told myself the same thing for years… i’ve told others the same thing for years. yet to see it, and all these others pieces of advice written down, for me to read and apply precisely to my own life - instead of having to piece together advice from short, stereotyped a-spec representation (which doesn’t end up holding any useful message for me, anyway) is so…. empowering.

i think it may have been the first piece of a-spec media i’ve consumed where the character isn’t actively figuring this out about themselves. that it isn’t the main storyline to this character. and more than that - it’s multiple significant characters.

surprisingly, this is revolutionary to me.

and while i may not be able to push past my constant, annoying urge for companionship, i still have so much warmth in my heart now after reading this, truly. i am absolutely in love with this book, and while i thought i did before, i think i’ve never seen myself be truly represented in media until this moment. i’ve never truly felt seen and understood from characters like me until now…

it is such a breath of fresh air to be able to have this book and to experience it. i highly recommend any a-spec folk do the same <3

[hazellevessque]

OK I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL AND STARTED DEAR WENDY ANYWAYS AND

I LITERALLY SCREAMED SHE’S JUST LIKE ME FR MECORE MECORE MECORE

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

No but like imagine making fun of someone for being a Swiftie then playing the Glee cover of What Makes You Beautiful like please be so serious right now-

[arojenniferwalters]

Canon AroAces 292/?: Sophie Chi in Ann Zhao's Dear Wendy (2024)

[dangermousie]

Man comes home to find his wife about to be buried...

And then he goes Pedro the Cruel, Chinese style, and installs her corpse, insisting she is not one and talking to it. THIS IS A ROMCOM A ROMCOM A ROMCOM!!!!!

She actually does get brought back from the dead but their wedding goes sideways when he thinks she wants to kill him and she believes he planned to off her whole fam. (Both are wrong.)

And then they save each other’s lives...

And then he goes blind and she goes mute and gets amnesia and this drama’s definition of romcom gets wilder and wilder!

[nazorneku]

𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇  𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂  𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐊  𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐄  𝐀𝐑𝐄  𝐘𝐎𝐔 ?

antigone dear antigone, defiant antigone, saint of blind loyalty and digger of graves. you wept for your father as you wept for your brothers—with tears obscuring your eyes of their faults. on your own two feet shall you walk to hades's domain because yes, the devotion to the ones you love is simply that strong. none but the law of gods shall hold you back from what you think of as divine.

orestes you are your father's son and your mother's equal. morality and justice guide your hands through every act, no matter how vile, so that society may be preserved—even if you must sacrifice yourself. what is your flesh flayed by the kindly ones over your father being avenged? matricide, when sparing your mother would lose her respect for you? there is peace at the end, orestes, but the journey to it is dark and terrible.

tagged by: @litpyres tagging: @scarletrotted , @bogachs , @inavagrant , @box-of-characters (Takumi or Wisteria), @ichoric (twins or Ryne), @lockhartred , @aequitaes , @kuraivu , @sorcerhul , @soulspun

[rb19]

And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best... though it never felt right.

Max Verstappen, The Guardian 2018 | Mitch Albom | x | Sophie Kumpen, The Red Bulletin Heroes Edition 2022 | Sue Zhao | Miami Grand Prix 2022 © Mario Renzi | RaceFans Paddock Diary Dutch Grand Prix 2022 | Max Verstappen, The Times 2023 | Julia Jacklin, Less Of A Stranger | Belgian Grand Prix 2022 © Peter van Egmond | Peter van Egmond, Formule1.nl 2022 | x | Sophie Kumpen, Anatomy Of A Champion 2023 | Adele, My Little Love | Sampha, Kora Sings | Sophie Kumpen, Anatomy Of A Champion 2023 | Sophie Kumpen, The Red Bulletin Heroes Edition 2022 | Mitski, Class Of 2013 | © Margaret Wise Brown | Henry Miller | © obsob Tumblr

[mendingbone]

i keep seeing people in their late teens/early twenties having a "[X] content intended for younger audiences does not feel satisfying to me anymore but i don't know where to start to branch out into adult fiction" moment and i thought i would give some recommendations for adult fiction for my fellow creepy crawly queer people. all or at least a LOT of it will be on the darker and more fucked up side bc i primarily engage with horror and thriller media personally but feel free to add on with more or recommendations from other genres :)

edit: i am continuing to add to this list so there might be new recs (highlighted in pink) in here every once in a while! also want to add that there's a variety of POC, queer, and disabled authors in here as well, i am also all of the above (asian, aro lesbian, poly, disabled) and tried to incorporate as many wickedly talented, compelling narratives as possible. that's all, happy reading!

A Certain Hunger, Chelsea G. Summers

A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E Schwab*

A Dowry of Blood, S.G Gibson

Animal, Lisa Taddeo*

A Ripple of Power and Promise, Jordan A. Day*

Bunny, Mona Awad*

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi*

Cursed Bread, Sophie Mackintosh*

Dark Places, Gillian Flynn

Dead Girls Don't Say Sorry, Alex Ritany

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk*

Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh*

Fruiting Bodies, Kathryn Harlan*

Goddess of Filth, V. Castro*

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski

If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha*

Into the Drowning Deep, Mira Grant

Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

Jackal, Erin E. Adams*

Juniper and Thorn, Ava Reid*

Kindred, Octavia Butler*

Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin*

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee*

Rabbits, Terry Miles*

Scorched Grace, Margot Douaihy*

Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn

She is a Haunting, Trang Thahn Tran

Slewfoot, Brom

Sorrowland, Rivers Soloman

Summer Sons, Lee Mandelo

Supper Club, Lara Williams*

The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi*

The Change, Kirsten Miller

The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling*

The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

The Hollow Places, T. Kingfisher*

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter, Soraya Palmer*

The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri

The Locked Tomb, Tamsyn Muir

The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling*

The Red Tree, Caitlin Kiernan*

The Unfamiliar Garden, Benjamin Percy*

Vicious, V. E Shwab

Wake, Siren, Nina MacLaughlin*

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher*

[annzhao]

Dear Wendy, my debut young adult novel about two aromantic asexual college students giving love advice to their peers, releases on April 16, 2024!

Preorder: bit.ly/dearwendy

Preorder campaign (for the two art prints designed by maiahee_): bit.ly/dearwendypreorder

Events (including virtual and in-person): annzhao.com/events

Full description below the cut!

Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao

Sophie Chi is in her first year of college (though her parents wish she'd attend a “real” university rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aroace (aromantic and asexual) identity. She knows she’ll never fall in love, but she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at her school. No one except her roommate can know that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account.

When Joanna “Jo” Ephron (also a first-year aroace college student) created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn’t at all meant to take off or be taken seriously—not like Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Wendy’s account? Oops. As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender identity, whether she’ll ever truly be loved, and the possibility of her few friends finding The One then forgetting her!

While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo grow closer in real life, especially once they realize their shared aroace identity and start a campus organization for other a-spec students. Will their friendship survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?

Exploring a-spec identities, college life, and more, while perfect for fans of Alice Oseman’s Loveless, this is ultimately a love story about two people who are not—and will not—be in love!

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

More aroace book recs

Comes out April 16

Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual students at Wellesley College, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao. Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents' wishes that she attend a "real" university, rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual identities. Despite knowing she'll never fall in love, she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at Wellesley. No one except her roommate knows that she's behind the incredibly popular "Dear Wendy" account. When Joanna "Jo" Ephron —also a first-year student at Wellesley— created their "Sincerely Wanda" account, it wasn't at all meant to be serious or take off like it does—not like Dear Wendy's. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Dear Wendy? Oops. As if Jo's not busy enough having existential crises over gender, the fact that she'll never truly be loved or be enough, or her few friends finding The One and forgetting her! While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo are getting closer in real life, bonding over their shared aroace identities. As their friendship develops and they work together to start a campus organization for other a-spec students, can their growing bond survive if they learn just who's behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts? With its exploration of a-spec identities, college life, and more, this platonic comedy, perfect for fans of Netflix's The Half of It and Alice Oseman's Loveless, is ultimately a love story about two people who are not—and will not—be in love!

[silver-stargazing]

aggressively arospec week: canon arospec characters

◦ Sophie Chi and Jo Ephron from Dear Wendy are aroace.

I just finished this book (incredibly charming read btw) and I've got to say: I am really digging this trend in YA aro representation of having characters already know they are aro before the start of the book. They've already been through the whole self-discovery journey and have come out the other side confidently aro. Obviously, aro discovery and coming out stories are incredibly important but they shouldn't have to be the only kind of story told about aros.

[Image ID: Book cover for Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao. The cover consists of two people, Jo and Sophie, lounging on a green carpet while happily chatting. The color scheme of the cover is predominately green and purple. /end ID]

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💙💜🩷 Books for Bisexuality Visibility Month 🩷💜💙

please support this blog

💜 How incredible is it that I made a list of 99 books for bisexual visibility month, KNOWING there are so many NOT featured on this list? I'm so proud to be bi. Having these characters and stories intertwine with mine warms my heart.

💜 What's your favorite book featuring bisexual characters?

💙 The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar 💙 Perfect on Paper - Sophie Gonzales 💙 Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli 💙 Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston 💙 Queens of Geek - Jen Wilde 💙 Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster - Andrea Mosqueda 💙 Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute - Talia Hibbert 💙 Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake - Alexis Hall 💙 A Merry Little Meet Cute - Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone

💜 Leah on the Offbeat - Becky Albertalli 💜 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid 💜 Radio Silence - Alice Oseman 💜 The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee 💜 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 💜 Wolfsong - T.J. Klune 💜 The Pairing - Casey McQuiston 💜 Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 Heartstopper - Alice Oseman

🩷 Going Bicoastal - Dahlia Adler 🩷 Some Girls Do - Jennifer Dugan 🩷 Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating - Adiba Jaigirdar 🩷 Autoboyography - Christina Lauren 🩷 Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur 🩷 They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera 🩷 Cool for the Summer - Dahlia Adler 🩷 Delilah Green Doesn't Care - Ashley Herring Blake 🩷 One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

💙 I'll Be the One - Lyla Lee 💙 Running With Lions - Julian Winters 💙 Take a Hint, Dani Brown - Talia Hibbert 💙 Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender 💙 Not Your Sidekick - C.B. Lee 💙 Ophelia After All - Racquel Marie 💙 Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao 💙 Something to Talk About - Meryl Wilsner 💙 The Girls I've Been - Tess Sharpe

💜 Iris Kelly Doesn't Date - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 Never Ever Getting Back Together - Sophie Gonzales 💜 Her Royal Highness - Rachel Hawkins 💜 Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman 💜 I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver 💜 Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner 💜 Hang the Moon - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Kiss Her Once for Me - Alison Cochrun 💜 The Brightsiders - Jen Wilde

🩷 Wild Beauty - Anna-Marie McLemore 🩷 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Victoria Schwab 🩷 Payback's a Witch - Lana Harper 🩷 A Dowry of Blood - S.T. Gibson 🩷 Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo 🩷 Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat 🩷 If This Gets Out - Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich 🩷 Let's Talk About Love - Claire Kann 🩷 Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

💙 Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Klune 💙 I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston 💙 Pumpkinheads - Rainbow Rowell 💙 Icebreaker - A.L. Graziadei 💙 This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron 💙 A Lot Like Adiós - Alexis Daria 💙 Sorry, Bro - Taleen Voskuni 💙 We Are Okay - Nina LaCour 💙 Count Your Lucky Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

💜 Hot Dog Girl - Jennifer Dugan 💜 Verona Comics - Jennifer Dugan 💜 They Hate Each Other - Amanda Woody 💜 The Disasters - M.K. England 💜 The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater 💜 You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson 💜 These Witches Don't Burn - Isabel Sterling 💜 My Dearest Darkest - Kayla Cottingham 💜 City of Shattered Light - Claire Winn

🩷 The Unbroken - C.L. Clark 🩷 Dread Nation - Justina Ireland 🩷 House of Hollow - Krystal Sutherland 🩷 Love & Other Disasters - Anita Kelly 🩷 Ace of Shades - Amanda Foody 🩷 The Lost Girls - Sonia Hartl 🩷 Of Fire and Stars - Audrey Coulthurst 🩷 This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story - Kacen Callender 🩷 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

💙 If You Still Recognise Me - Cynthia So 💙 Melt With You - Jennifer Dugan 💙 The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochrun 💙 That Summer Feeling - Bridget Morrissey 💙 The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School - Sonora Reyes 💙 The Luis Ortega Survival Club - Sonora Reyes 💙 The Fiancée Farce - Alexandria Bellefleur 💙 Flip the Script - Lyla Lee 💙 Role Playing - Cathy Yardley

💜 I Think I Love You - Auriane Desombre 💜 Truly, Madly, Deeply - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Gearbreakers - Zoe Hana Mikuta 💜 Finally Fitz - Marisa Kanter 💜 The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - Andrew Joseph White 💜 Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl - Brianna R. Shrum & Sara Waxelbaum 💜 Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings 💜 A Darker Shade of Magic - Victoria Schwab 💜 Love at First Set - Jennifer Dugan

[hazellevessque]

I FINISHED DEAR WENDY IT WAS AMAZING

[the-bi-library]

Bisexual books coming out in 2024!

Let me know of the books I didn't include!

Here is the goodreads list link. You can add books to this too!

Books listed:

Dear Bi Men: A Black Man's Perspective on Power, Consent, Breaking Down Binaries, and Combating Erasure by J.R. Yussuf

Breaker of Fates by Vaela Denarr, Micah Iannandrea

Fake Dating a Witch: A Magical Summer Solstice Romance by Brigid Hunt

The End Crowns All by Bea Fitzgerald

Rupture in Total Eclipse by Sem Thornwood

The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee

Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris

Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher

Better Left Buried by Mary E. Roach

Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar

The Afterdark by E. Latimer

Truthfully, Yours by Caden Armstrong

The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown Don't Be a Drag by Skye Quinlan

Digging for Destiny by Jenna Jarvis

Exes & Foes by Amanda Woody

Under All the Lights by Maya Ameyaw

Off With Their Heads by Zoe Hana Mikuta

An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

Lavash at First Sight by Taleen Voskuni

Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco

The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford

Practical Rules for Cursed Witches by Kayla Cottingham

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

Mewing by Chloe Spencer

London On My Mind by Clara Alves, Nina Perrotta

What Is Love? by Jen Comfort

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean

Road to Ruin by Hana Lee

Rise by Freya Finch

The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee

Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur

Honeybloods by I.S. Belle

The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe

Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

The Phoenix Bride by Natasha Siegel

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales

One Killer Problem by Justine Pucella Winans

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors by Gail D. Villanueva

Redsight by Meredith Mooring

Finally Fitz by Marisa Kanter

The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford

Trouble by Lex Croucher

Playing For Keeps by Jennifer Dugan

Something To Be Proud Of by Anna Zoe Quirke

[radios-universe]

Hi hello we've literally never talked before but I saw you like asks and as a fellow aroace of a similar age and a Radio Silence enthusiast I thought I'd say hi :)

Now for the pressing question seeing as this is an ask... what are your fav 5 friendships in fiction?

omg!!! what!!! ur based as hell omg!!!

oh god 5 fave friendships??? god if i get even 1 non osemanverse friendship in this list i will be impressed with myself

1. aled and frances (radio silence)

2. the whole gang from loveless i adore them all

3. sophie and jo (dear wendy - ann zhao)

4. ellie and paul (the half of it)

5. charlie and tao (heartstopper)

honorable mentions include the main characters of heartbreak high (amerie, darren, quinni) and becca and sam from the society (rip the society fly high solider)

surprisingly got more out there than i expected !

[dangermousie]

So, I finished Choice Husband, which was entertaining as hell!

It ended happily on a wedding - third (?) time’s the charm hopefully - but instead I am gonna leave you with my fave scene from this drama, courtesy of ep 29.

I will now start a petition for all romcoms to be like this!

Joking aside, this drama was a huge failure of marketing imo. I can see people who expecting romcom thanks to descriptions and trailers and early eps being pissed when it became drama and angst and blood and bailing and/or reviewing poorly. And people like me, who want drama and angst and blood, were put off by trailers/descriptions/early eps so....(I only checked it out because @mercipourleslivres linked me to the above scene; I would never have in a million years otherwise.)

Anyway, this was a delight!

I see why people complained about misunderstandings and heroine not trusting but honestly, her whole family was at stake and he WAS a schemer even if he fell for her, so...

I do recommend this one!