A very, very funny YA romance with just the right amounts of angst and fluff. Absolutely every reader knows going in what the resolution of the "who is this mystery person on a chat app" plot line will be—if you've at all read the cover blurb, you probably know already—but the journey to the destination is absolutely delightful. Like all romcom fans I'm a sucker for a ridiculous situation and a load of snappy, humorous dialogue, and this book delivers like an overachieving student body president. ( )

This book was everything it needed to be as a romcom — fluffy and fun with enough serious emotions to not be shallow or dull. Wren could be a bit of an ass and a bit wrapped up in himself, but still managed to be very sympathetic and likable. The way both Wren’s and Leo’s personal struggles with grief and uncertainty about what they want from life after high school played well with their romantic misadventure. Both their reasons for rejecting one version of the other (the anonymous Buddy app version or the real-life version) and their reconciliation and reasons for choosing each other in the end made a lot of sense and worked with their character growth.
The casual asexual rep was great too. The story isn’t about asexuality, but it’s not an incidental, throwaway element either. Wren’s behavior and feelings are very much affected by being ace in ways that, as an ace (though, unlike Wren, also aro) reader rang true. I wish there had been a little bit more discussion of that towards the end though. Leo, as BB, states his acceptance before either of them have actually floated the idea of getting together and Wren’s worries about dating as an asexual don’t come up much after that. I thought there might have been a place for that after his relationship prospects got less theoretical and more serious.
I had a few other minor issues with the story. Most notably, I got exasperated at how oblivious Leo and Wren are about their “Buddy’s” identity. They got way more hints than they should have needed and none of them clicked. But overall, it was enjoyable. ( )