We love a good revenge story and Ann Liang delivers. Never Thought I’d End Up Here is heartwarming, swoony, and full of bite all at once. Keep reading this book review of Never Thought I’d End Up Here for my full thoughts.
Summary
Leah Zhang has spent her whole life in LA – it’s all she’s ever known. But after accidentally wishing her cousin ill health and a very depressing marriage at her wedding, her parents stage an intervention. She’s forgotten most of her Mandarin, has zero regard for etiquette, and can’t hold a conversation with her own grandparents for longer than a minute. Their solution? Send her on an intensive two-week travel program across China’s most beautiful cities. To them, it’s the perfect opportunity for Leah to get back to her roots. To Leah, it’s simply a much-needed escape.
But before Leah can even begin to enjoy the luxurious hotels, stunning scenery, and mouth-watering cuisine, she finds that also on the trip is her former classmate and least favorite person cynical, sarcastic Cyrus, who’s somehow only gotten more annoyingly handsome since they last saw each other.
While Leah might be tempted to shove him off the peak of the Yellow Mountain when nobody’s looking, she can’t get rid of him just yet. After all, she might never get another chance to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.
Yet the deeper they wander into China’s provinces, the deeper Leah finds herself falling in love – with the boy she once thought she despised, the home she never thought she’d call her own, and the parts of herself she thought were already lost.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
What couldn’t you love about a forced proximity meets revenge and pretending to fall in love? Except the pretend part gets lost in the meantime. Never Thought I’d End Up Here is about what happens when you don’t expect it. The paths it throws you life onto when you’re not looking. Starting with a story about revenge, Never Thought I’d End Up Here is about discovering pieces of ourselves. It’s about forgiveness, learning, and challenging ourselves. At its core, it explores how someone can see us, the things we cannot see ourselves. And too often, it’s our enemies.
For Leah, she’s so used to creating an image of ourselves. She learned to be liked, well received, pretty. To know how to want what other people want from us. But who is Leah underneath all these layers? I loved witnessing Leah’s character development as she explores these pieces of herself. While it definitely has a romance within, I adored the unexpected friendships and the ways Leah gets to know who she is when she’s not expecting it. The pieces of herself and the loneliness she feels. Find Never Thought I’d End Up Here on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.
Book Tour Schedule
| Tour Date | Tour Hosts | Type of Post |
| June 3rd | @inmybookishhaze | Bookstagram only |
| Awonderingreader | Instagram + Tiktok | |
| @infinitenovels | Instagram + Tiktok | |
| Dear Rivarie | Bookstagram + Blog | |
| June 4th | @debreadsalot | Bookstagram only |
| @lyrical.reads | Bookstagram reel | |
| @thebookviewblog | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| Utopia State of Mind | Bookstagram + Blog | |
| June 5th | Read.withviv | Bookstagram only |
| @toffiladyreader | Bookstagram only | |
| Oflowersandfiction | Bookstagram only | |
| June 6th | @livsliteratures | Bookstagram only |
| Illusion_of_reading | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| @deadbookishsociety | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| @yolandaannmarie.reads | Bookstagram only | |
| June 7th | @sweetandsaltyreads | Bookstagram only |
| @pagesforpaige | Bookstagram only | |
| greenghost.reviews | Bookstagram only | |
| June 8th | Sams._.bookishrebel | Bookstagram only |
| @brittanykilinsky | Instagram + Tiktok | |
| Jlreadstoperpetuity | Bookstagram only | |
| June 9th | @bookmunchies | Bookstagram only |
| Little Corner Reads | Bookstagram + Blog | |
| @readsbyvanshikha | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| Crystal Z. Lee | Instagram + Tiktok |