688 ratings | 281 reviews | avg rating:5.00

Ann’s Year In Books

Ann’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Ann’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Ann’s 2025 Year in Books

Ann Zhao’s Followers (448)

Ann’s Bookshelves

to-read (517)
currently-reading (0)
read (748)
did-not-finish (0)

Ann’s Friends (82)

Zakiya

1,226 books | 191 friends

Sydney Langford

495 books | 46 friends

Kaye the Cake

994 books | 209 friends

Delaney

1,533 books | 109 friends

Christen Randall

35 books | 25 friends

Aaron Aceves

1,245 books | 167 friends

Cas ♛

1,726 books | 206 friends

2,032 books | 68 friends

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Ann Zhao

Goodreads Author

Born

December 06

Website

https://annzhao.com

Twitter

annzhao_

Genre

Young Adult, Contemporary

Member Since

April 2014

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/annzhao

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Ann Zhao (she/her) is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she studied linguistics with a minor in women’s and gender studies. At various points in college, she participated in the student-run newspaper and the student-run radio station, processed interlibrary loans for the college library, and assisted in research for two linguistics labs, including one that wasn’t even at Wellesley. Doing all this was not good for her writing schedule.

Now working the youth desk at a public library by day and writing by night (or, more realistically, also by day), Ann lives with her family in Illinois. She enjoys cooking, baking, and knitting, but she does not enjoy cleaning up after herself when she’s done with these activities. She collects cassette ta ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

It's okay if you don't want to address this question, but I'm nearly 100 pages into DEAR WENDY and I've noticed that both Sophie and Jo show a lot of autistic coding. Was that deliberate? (I know from my own experience that autistic authors often "accidentally" write autistic-coded characters!)

Ann Zhao I’m not autistic, and Sophie and Jo weren’t intended to be neurodivergent at all; that being said, they do have some personality traits of my friends …moreI’m not autistic, and Sophie and Jo weren’t intended to be neurodivergent at all; that being said, they do have some personality traits of my friends and loved ones, many of whom are neurodivergent, so if you’re autistic and see yourself in them, that’s totally okay! But I can’t claim that anyone in Dear Wendy is meant to represent being autistic or neurodivergent in any other way—it wasn’t my intent while writing. (less)

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Your book was an absolute delight to read as an aroace teen, it made me feel like there could be a place for me and I could find other people like me, and it would be amazing to read more books about aroace people finding connection and platonic love, do you think you will write more books like that and about aroace individuals? If so, I can't wait!!

Ann Zhao I’m so happy to hear from an aroace teen reader; I was one not all that long ago, and I wrote Dear Wendy precisely because I wanted to read more stori…moreI’m so happy to hear from an aroace teen reader; I was one not all that long ago, and I wrote Dear Wendy precisely because I wanted to read more stories like it. Thanks so much for reading Dear Wendy, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m working on more than one book about aroace characters right now, though I don’t have anything under contract with a publisher, so I can’t say anything more than that right now. In the meantime, I’ve got a short story coming out next year in the anthology Being Aro, which is all about aro-spec characters and is edited by Rosiee Thor and Madeline Dyer (both of whom have some other work you should totally check out)! If you’re looking for more stories about a-spec characters and platonic love, I would recommend Loveless by Alice Oseman, Funeral Girl by Emma K. Ohland, Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman, and Shapes of Love by L.V. Peñalba, the latter of which comes out next year. (less)

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Combine Editions
Ann Zhao’s books

Average rating: 3.93 · 3,338 ratings · 1,123 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Dear Wendy 3.93 avg rating — 3,328 ratings — published 2024 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Being Aro: A Collection of Aromantic Fiction about Love, Connection, and Empowerment by Madeline Dyer (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Rosiee Thor (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Ann Zhao (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.09 avg rating — 22 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

6 posts
Ann Zhao's Blog

I read every Dog Man book

This time, it’s not clickbait. I actually read them all. I might have to keep up with this series through its end. I’m in too deep.

So I decided to read all the Dog Man books

The most common reference requests I get at the library are probably where to find the Dog Man books and where to find the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. And while I’m young enough to have once been the target audience for Wimpy

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Ann’s Recent Updates

Ann Zhao and 1155 other people liked Rick Riordan's review of The Message: "Another excellent and thought-provoking read from Coates. Like Between the World and Me, it offers no easy solutions to the problems it highlights -- focusing mostly on the importance of further writing, further conversation and self-education to upl" Read more of this review »
Apr 13, 2026 03:47PM · see review
Ann Zhao has read One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 12, 2026 10:51AM · like
Ann Zhao rated a book it was amazing Babel by R.F. Kuang (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I am so unbelievably mad that it took me so long to read this book, given that it is about so many of my interests. Having read this immediately after reading Yellowface, I was hit face-first with the fact that R.F. Kuang really, really has range. Su ...more
Mar 24, 2026 10:30AM · 23 likes · like · see review
Ann Zhao rated a book it was amazing The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2026 10:29AM · 2 likes · like
Ann Zhao finished reading Celestial Monsters (The Sunbearer Duology, #2) by Aiden Thomas (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2026 10:29AM · like
Ann Zhao rated a book it was amazing Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2026 10:29AM · like
Ann Zhao rated a book it was amazing Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods, #1) by Chloe Gong (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2026 10:28AM · like
Ann Zhao finished reading Interesting Facts about Space by Emily R. Austin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2026 10:28AM · like
Ann Zhao rated a book it was amazing Happy Place by Emily Henry (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2026 10:28AM · 5 likes · like

More of Ann's books…

Quotes by Ann Zhao (?)

“Nobody talks about breaking up with your friends. It sucks. Especially when that friend ditches you to be with whoever they think is The One.”
― Ann Zhao, Dear Wendy

tags: aroace, aromantic, asexual

5 likes

“I just... I just feel like, that's how I feel, all the time. Every day. There's that... nagging feeling, you know? It's... it's there when I wake up, it's there when I go to bed. It's there when I'm with my friends, or by myself, or watching a romcom on Netflix. That... that my life doesn't matter as much. That once we're all grown up, I won't be relevant. That everybody actually hates me. Because I can't love people the way everyone else does. So they won't love me at all.”
― Ann Zhao, Dear Wendy

3 likes

“Damn," Priya says, "This'd be a good place to commit arson."
"Please don't commit arson," I say.”
― Ann Zhao, Dear Wendy

1 likes

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