Well, That Was Unexpected Books in Order

Well, That Was Unexpected brings Jesse Q Sutanto’s chaotic sense of humor to a young adult romcom set between Los Angeles and Indonesia. Instead of aunties hiding a body, this story starts with two embarrassed parents, an impulsive decision, and a pair of teens who want nothing to do with the match being made for them.

Sharlot Citra is a high school junior in Southern California who thinks she has her first time all planned out. When her mom walks in on an intimate moment, Sharlot suddenly finds herself shipped off to her mother’s hometown in Indonesia. The trip is pitched as a chance to reconnect with family and learn how to jadi orang, to grow into a proper adult, but it feels more like punishment. Sharlot does not speak the language fluently, barely knows her relatives, and is not sure what to do with a country that is technically hers yet still feels foreign.

On the other side of the world, George Clooney Tanuwijaya, son of one of the wealthiest families in Jakarta, is dealing with his own humiliation. His father and older sister catch him in a compromising situation and decide he needs a respectable girlfriend to straighten him out. George’s dad is obsessed with American celebrities, which helps explain his son’s name and his approach to matchmaking. Without warning their kids, Sharlot’s mom and George’s dad start chatting online, pretending to be their children, and arrange what they think will be the perfect cross-cultural romance.

When Sharlot and George find out they have been catfished by their own parents, they are furious and determined to tank the match. A painfully awkward first meeting in Jakarta would be more than enough on its own, but a messy chain of events pushes them into a fake relationship for public relations reasons tied to George’s family business. As they spend more time together in Jakarta and Bali, they start to see past the version of each other that exists online and in their parents’ imaginations.

The book folds in a lot of detail about Indonesian food, family customs, social media culture, and the experience of coming home to a place you have only ever known through stories. Sharlot struggles with guilt over how little she understands of her mother’s past, while George tries to reconcile who he really is with the glossy image his family presents to the world. Through banter, mishaps, and a growing attraction, both characters slowly learn to assert what they want rather than what is expected of them.

Readers who like contemporary romcoms with meddling parents, fake dating, and a strong sense of place will find this story easy to sink into. Even though it stands alone, it pairs well with Sutanto’s other teen novels, especially if you are interested in how she writes about Indonesian settings, family expectations, and the pressure to curate a perfect online life.