Reviews

Everyone's Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni

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anisyrah's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Even though I guessed who spread around the polaroids within the first few chapters, this book was incredibly enjoyable to read! Both Kitan and Iyanu had incredibly lovely story arcs, and I adored the plot really representing the way in which teenage friendship can be easily torn apart and then lovingly stitched back together with time and effort.

chloe15's review

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

chanelslibrary's review

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challenging funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

At an elite boarding school in the English countryside, Nigerian cousins Iyanu and Kitan are thrown into the middle of a schoolwide conspiracy when everyone’s juicy relationship secrets are released, Burn Book style, the week before the annual Valentine’s Day Ball.

This book’s vibe is a retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream mixed with Dear White People which I actually really liked! A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays (I named my cat Hermia!!) and I loved how the author wove in issues that teens deal with nowadays such as blackfishing, bullying, peer pressure, sexual identity, cultural identity, etc. I buddy read this book with @bookswithjaybraggs and it was fun to chat with her about the mystery in this book, and speculate ‘who did it?’ This book was a fun, cute YA mystery with a side of romance that imparted knowledge about how to navigate tough situations.

Read if you love:

🔎Mystery
🎭Retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
🌈LGBTQ+ rep
👥Dual POV
✊🏽Black/Brown rep

cinderthemoon25's review

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It was just so boring to me. Kitan’s story arc wasn’t interesting. And anything else is too slow for me.

ayla44's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

bhavya_reads's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

captwinghead's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

This story has good bones, but there were a few elements that kept it from being a slam dunk for me.

I love how much Black culture was infused in the story. There was a lot of focus on the importance of hair and how it affects treatment from non-Black people. There’s discussions of experiences with colorism and respectability politics. There’s lot of references to Nigerian food and clothing. There’s an Afro-Latino family that’s in the book a lot and there is some mention of their culture, as well.

Overall, the book was very diverse. There’s plenty of queer representation as well as Black, Afro-Latino, and Chinese representation. The book tackles plenty of topics. Aside from the aforementioned racism and colorism, it discussed biphobia, mental illnesses, and bullying.

The overarching “whodunnit” plot made this feel a bit like a blend of Ace of Spades and One of Us is Lying in terms of there being an evil plot set up by racists and the kids investigating to figure out who it was. It’s thankfully not as heavy or intense as Ace of Spades and it was thankfully better written than One of Us is Lying.

What kept me from really connecting was that the rugby brothers felt pretty interchangeable until maybe halfway through the book. The number of times I mixed up who Quincy, Jordan, and Marcus were when there being talked about was embarrassing.

I enjoyed Iyanu’s parts more than Kitan’s by far. Perhaps because Kitan’s friends aren’t meant to be likable, but she also didn’t see her family much. Again, that might’ve been intentional, as she tried to assimilate as best she could. Regardless, I enjoyed reading about Iyanu’s time with Feyi, her parents, and Navin more than most of Kitan’s chapters.

The end showdown fell a bit flat for me. Maybe I wanted something a bit more dramatic? I don’t know. I expected more of a meltdown from Luc, Heather, and Sarah. Also, I know that she lost her brand deal, but I kind of thought the pushback on her doing blackface would be a bit bigger.

Anyway, I’m glad this book tackles Black teens having to speak out against their friends participating in cultural appropriation and just generally racist things. It’s not always easy to be one of the few Black people in an environment and having to pick your battles because you don’t want to “make waves” or be too “feisty”.