Book Summary and Reviews of Never Thought I'd End Up Here by Ann Liang

Never Thought I'd End Up Here by Ann Liang

Never Thought I'd End Up Here

by Ann Liang

  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2025, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the author of the instant New York Times bestseller I Hope This Doesn't Find You, Never Thought I'd End Up Here is another hilarious and romantic romcom from Ann Liang, this time following a former model determined to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.

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 ever: 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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Hilarious and heartfelt, this story of budding young love simultaneously emphasizes the connections between romantic partners, between the characters and their culture, and with themselves. A comedic supporting cast adds further layers to this fast-paced trip of inward and outward discovery." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Liang's prose is stunning...By turns laugh-out-loud funny, achingly earnest, and deeply romantic, Liang's latest rom-com is a journey of self-discovery and self-love that is a true delight." —Booklist (starred review)

"A light and dreamy romance." —Kirkus Reviews

This information about Never Thought I'd End Up Here was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Ann Liang

Ann Liang is a graduate of the University of Melbourne. Born in Beijing, she grew up traveling back and forth between China and Australia, but somehow ended up with an American accent. When she isn't writing, she can be found making overambitious to-do lists, binge-watching dramas, and having profound conversations with her pet labradoodle about who's a good dog. You can find her online at annliang.com.

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