Scan barcode
opalmars's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Well. That was disappointing. đ
The premise of this book is really intriguing. 2 cousins go to a fancy school and one day a bunch of secrets about some of the most popular students come out, and everyone blames one of the cousins, so she has to find out who exposed those secrets so she can clear her name. That sounds so cool!
Unfortunately, though, the execution was really off. First of all, it took 50 pages for anything interesting to finally happen, which made the start of this book quite boring. But I was like âYou know what? That mightâve been a slow start but NOW things are FINALLY going to get interesting!â. And uhâŠ.. Yeah. That didnât happen. đ«„
For starters, most of the secrets were quite boring. Sure, some were scandalous (like âthis person cheatedâ and whatnot). But there was literally a secret that was âYou donât have what it takes and everyone knows it.â????? And another one implying that a guy was faking being gay for attention⊠as if anyone would ever want *hate crime* type of attention đ„Ž (this one ended up being about something else, but we only find out at the very end ). Idk man⊠I just thought these secrets were going to be super dramatic and scandalous, but they were boring. Didnât gag me at all.
Then everyone blames Iyanu because the secrets were written on the pictures sheâd taken, which is just completely absurd. It makes no sense to me that people would think itâs Iyanu. Why would she use HER OWN photos? That would obviously incriminate her! Also, how could she even know all of those secrets when she didnât even talk to those people? Itâs clear from the start that Iyanuâs photos were just stolen and used for this little exposĂ©. And yet nobody managed to put 2 and 2 together and realize she didnât do it? đ€šđ
Anyways. Iyanu starts investigating so she can clear her name (and also so she can find another thing the real culprit stole from her). I thought weâd get a lot of sleuthing, eavesdropping, bluffing and spying in this section of the book, but we barely got anything. There were only like 4 or 5 (short) investigative moments, spread through hundreds of pages, which made a lot of this book feel like filler. Additionally, Iyanu started counting out and teaming up with a bunch of people, so by the halfway point there were only like 3 possible suspects, so even when we got the reveal I wasnât gagged, because like⊠there were no other options? Also, it was very obvious from the beginning who the âbad guyâ was going to be (I literally wrote in my notes this person was a âvery obvious villainâ ON PAGE 6!!! đđđ). I didnât fully guess their plan, so that was a bit interesting to learn in the end, but still. If the obvious villain from basically page 1 ends up being the ACTUAL villain, that makes the mystery quite underwhelming. đ
So, overall, the mystery in this mystery book was very boring to me: the setup wasnât that dramatic, the investigation was extremely slow-paced and lackluster (it couldâve all been done in 50 pages max, but instead it was spread through hundreds), and the villain was obvious from the beginning.
Now, you mightâve noticed that I have yet to mention the other MC, Kitan. Well, thatâs because sheâs irrelevant. Donât get me wrong: sheâs a sweet girl! Itâs just that she had no reason to be taking up half of this story. The 1st time I was interested in her POV was at 46% (she found a lost object, and I thought something exciting was finally gonna come from Kitanâs POV! I was wrong. đ«„ This only came back up again at the very end, and wasnât that thrilling anyways). Her POVs only existed to give the readers a glimpse of other characters, particularly the popular (racist) girl. I genuinely canât think of any other reason for Kitanâs POVs to even exist; she doesnât talk to Iyanu until the very end, she only joins the investigation at the very end, too⊠Kitan was a very passive character and her POVs had no purpose, and unfortunately slowed down an already slow-paced story.
Another boring thing about this book was the romance. Both couples already had feelings for each other at the start of the book, so all we really see is them rekindling their relationships and finally getting together. Donât get me wrong: Iâve seen this done successfully before (some of my favourite ships of all time had their friendship, and sometimes even romance, developed BEFORE the book begins)!!! Itâs just that, unfortunately, this author never managed to make me LOVE these couples. They were alright! They had sweet moments and clearly respected each other. And I LOVED that the LIs werenât toxic or mean. They were both sweet and kind, and clearly cared about and respected the MCs! These romances had a lot of miscommunication and misunderstandings, which made them a *bit* annoying, but the LIs still ended up openly talking about their feelings and apologizing for their wrongdoings, which I REALLY appreciate. đđđ But just because the characters were nice, it doesnât mean the romance moved me. It didnât. At all. I just didnât care about the romantic plotlines đ€·đ»ââïž.
I said a lot of negative things, but I want to make it clear that I didnât HATE the book! I just found it profoundly boring and overall very forgettable. But there were still things I really enjoyed:
†I really liked both MCs! (Even though I found Kitanâs POVs unnecessary, I liked her as a character!!!). They were both well rounded, very human, and extremely nice. Theyâre the kind of people youâd want to be best friends with!
†Heather was too villainous at times (particularly when it came to her ~evil plan~ lol ), but I found her blackfishing unfortunately VERY realistic. I mean, I can think of at least 5 famous influencers that blackfish A LOT đ„Žđ„Žđ„Ž. Her forging documents to fully pretend she was black was the icing on top, though. đ
†I really appreciated the conversations about racism (both overt, but also the microaggressions included in the story). And I REALLY loved that the characters called the racism out! đ I also liked the discussions about biphobia and coming out in general. đ
†As I already mentioned, I really liked that the LIs were actually nice! Iâm soooo sick and tired of mean, angry and broody men in books, who are lowkey rude to the girls theyâre gonna end up with. So I always LOVE seeing LIs who are unapologetically kind, actually apologize for their mistakes, validate othersâ feelings and express their own. đ
The premise of this book is really intriguing. 2 cousins go to a fancy school and one day a bunch of secrets about some of the most popular students come out, and everyone blames one of the cousins, so she has to find out who exposed those secrets so she can clear her name. That sounds so cool!
Unfortunately, though, the execution was really off. First of all, it took 50 pages for anything interesting to finally happen, which made the start of this book quite boring. But I was like âYou know what? That mightâve been a slow start but NOW things are FINALLY going to get interesting!â. And uhâŠ.. Yeah. That didnât happen. đ«„
For starters, most of the secrets were quite boring. Sure, some were scandalous (like âthis person cheatedâ and whatnot). But there was literally a secret that was âYou donât have what it takes and everyone knows it.â????? And another one implying that a guy was faking being gay for attention⊠as if anyone would ever want *hate crime* type of attention đ„Ž (
Then everyone blames Iyanu because the secrets were written on the pictures sheâd taken, which is just completely absurd. It makes no sense to me that people would think itâs Iyanu. Why would she use HER OWN photos? That would obviously incriminate her! Also, how could she even know all of those secrets when she didnât even talk to those people? Itâs clear from the start that Iyanuâs photos were just stolen and used for this little exposĂ©. And yet nobody managed to put 2 and 2 together and realize she didnât do it? đ€šđ
Anyways. Iyanu starts investigating so she can clear her name (and also so she can find another thing the real culprit stole from her). I thought weâd get a lot of sleuthing, eavesdropping, bluffing and spying in this section of the book, but we barely got anything. There were only like 4 or 5 (short) investigative moments, spread through hundreds of pages, which made a lot of this book feel like filler. Additionally, Iyanu started counting out and teaming up with a bunch of people, so by the halfway point there were only like 3 possible suspects, so even when we got the reveal I wasnât gagged, because like⊠there were no other options? Also, it was very obvious from the beginning who the âbad guyâ was going to be (I literally wrote in my notes this person was a âvery obvious villainâ ON PAGE 6!!! đđđ). I didnât fully guess their plan, so that was a bit interesting to learn in the end, but still. If the obvious villain from basically page 1 ends up being the ACTUAL villain, that makes the mystery quite underwhelming. đ
So, overall, the mystery in this mystery book was very boring to me: the setup wasnât that dramatic, the investigation was extremely slow-paced and lackluster (it couldâve all been done in 50 pages max, but instead it was spread through hundreds), and the villain was obvious from the beginning.
Now, you mightâve noticed that I have yet to mention the other MC, Kitan. Well, thatâs because sheâs irrelevant. Donât get me wrong: sheâs a sweet girl! Itâs just that she had no reason to be taking up half of this story. The 1st time I was interested in her POV was at 46% (she found a lost object, and I thought something exciting was finally gonna come from Kitanâs POV! I was wrong. đ«„ This only came back up again at the very end, and wasnât that thrilling anyways). Her POVs only existed to give the readers a glimpse of other characters, particularly the popular (racist) girl. I genuinely canât think of any other reason for Kitanâs POVs to even exist; she doesnât talk to Iyanu until the very end, she only joins the investigation at the very end, too⊠Kitan was a very passive character and her POVs had no purpose, and unfortunately slowed down an already slow-paced story.
Another boring thing about this book was the romance. Both couples already had feelings for each other at the start of the book, so all we really see is them rekindling their relationships and finally getting together. Donât get me wrong: Iâve seen this done successfully before (some of my favourite ships of all time had their friendship, and sometimes even romance, developed BEFORE the book begins)!!! Itâs just that, unfortunately, this author never managed to make me LOVE these couples. They were alright! They had sweet moments and clearly respected each other. And I LOVED that the LIs werenât toxic or mean. They were both sweet and kind, and clearly cared about and respected the MCs! These romances had a lot of miscommunication and misunderstandings, which made them a *bit* annoying, but the LIs still ended up openly talking about their feelings and apologizing for their wrongdoings, which I REALLY appreciate. đđđ But just because the characters were nice, it doesnât mean the romance moved me. It didnât. At all. I just didnât care about the romantic plotlines đ€·đ»ââïž.
I said a lot of negative things, but I want to make it clear that I didnât HATE the book! I just found it profoundly boring and overall very forgettable. But there were still things I really enjoyed:
†I really liked both MCs! (Even though I found Kitanâs POVs unnecessary, I liked her as a character!!!). They were both well rounded, very human, and extremely nice. Theyâre the kind of people youâd want to be best friends with!
†Heather was too villainous at times (
†I really appreciated the conversations about racism (both overt, but also the microaggressions included in the story). And I REALLY loved that the characters called the racism out! đ I also liked the discussions about biphobia and coming out in general. đ
†As I already mentioned, I really liked that the LIs were actually nice! Iâm soooo sick and tired of mean, angry and broody men in books, who are lowkey rude to the girls theyâre gonna end up with. So I always LOVE seeing LIs who are unapologetically kind, actually apologize for their mistakes, validate othersâ feelings and express their own. đ
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Racism
lettuce_read's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Biphobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
girlreading's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Mean Girls meets Dear White People meets Ace of Spades in this standout debut from Aleema Omotoni.
At the core of Everyone's Thinking It, is a compelling mystery that propelled the plot forward with intrigue and drama but what I think truly makes this debut shine is its examination of topics such as blackface and blackfishing, biphobia, systemic racism and both the courage and risk that comes with discussing and calling out these injustices when you're Black.
Everyone's Thinking It expertly balances multiple elements of storytelling; it's got romance, mystery, family and friendship dramas, academic pressures, LGBTQIA+ and mental illness representation and more and yet at no point does any element seem to be unnecessary or monopolising the story. The same goes for the characters. Both Kitan and Iyanu's perspectives are equal in their time and intrigue and both have their own stories that, whilst brilliantly intertwined, give both girls a distinct and strong voice. The side characters were equally endearing (or awful but in a good way) and memorable.
All in all, Everyone's Thinking It is a truly compulsive read and one I found myself unable to look away from. Aleema writes in a way that left me almost feeling as though I'd watched this book as a TV show or movie. Her writing is immersive, visual, exciting and so incredibly readable and I cannot wait to read whatever she writes next.
At the core of Everyone's Thinking It, is a compelling mystery that propelled the plot forward with intrigue and drama but what I think truly makes this debut shine is its examination of topics such as blackface and blackfishing, biphobia, systemic racism and both the courage and risk that comes with discussing and calling out these injustices when you're Black.
Everyone's Thinking It expertly balances multiple elements of storytelling; it's got romance, mystery, family and friendship dramas, academic pressures, LGBTQIA+ and mental illness representation and more and yet at no point does any element seem to be unnecessary or monopolising the story. The same goes for the characters. Both Kitan and Iyanu's perspectives are equal in their time and intrigue and both have their own stories that, whilst brilliantly intertwined, give both girls a distinct and strong voice. The side characters were equally endearing (or awful but in a good way) and memorable.
All in all, Everyone's Thinking It is a truly compulsive read and one I found myself unable to look away from. Aleema writes in a way that left me almost feeling as though I'd watched this book as a TV show or movie. Her writing is immersive, visual, exciting and so incredibly readable and I cannot wait to read whatever she writes next.
Graphic: Biphobia, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cultural appropriation
More...