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dbuchheister's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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? Yes
3.5
jotheblackbookworm's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
3.0
"I didn't understand love at all, or how it makes you feel and what it makes you do."
Zyla is a 17 year old student with a keen eye for fashion, she hopes that she will be able to travel overseas to continue her education. She also hopes that she'll be able to put some miles between her love sick mother. Over the years Zyla has internalised her mom & dads dysfunctional relationship with mum & she wants nothing to do with it. Until she meets Kai Johnson.
Kai Johnson is a ladies man, with a bright future ahead of him. He has a total of 9 ex girlfriends, which to his adoring aunt & uncle seems to be a distraction to his education, and ultimately leads to his ban of dating. Until he meets Zyla Matthews.
Following a school trip, Zyla & Kai run off, with everyone presuming they have run away to be together.
Narrated in both the past & present, Zyla & Kai's story explores the naivety & innocence of adolescent love; the beauty of love; and essentially how love is able to flourish in the face of adversity - Camille I see you, messy a*s!
Forest does a great job to include themes such as; Grief; Anxiety; Therapy; Toxic Parenting within this YA novel. I didn't find the topics overwhelming as they were balanced well with all the lovey dovey scenes 🥰
This book really took me back to my teenage years & early relationships, I thought my relationships & love was invincible - I was humbled quicklyyyy boy 🤣😆 Some of the choices that Zyla & Kai made during the course of their relationship made me chuckle, the things we do for love are wild sometimes 👀🫣
Overall, I really loved Zyla & Kai's story despite it being extremely long winded. I loved how well the author handled each characters trauma, it felt honest & realistic. I'd recommend this to fans of Love Radio, Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry & Chaos Theory.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - It dropped a star because of the length of the book! 470 pages Ladies & Gentlemen! For a YA romance I don't think it requires this length, unless there is an inclusion of mixed media.
Zyla is a 17 year old student with a keen eye for fashion, she hopes that she will be able to travel overseas to continue her education. She also hopes that she'll be able to put some miles between her love sick mother. Over the years Zyla has internalised her mom & dads dysfunctional relationship with mum & she wants nothing to do with it. Until she meets Kai Johnson.
Kai Johnson is a ladies man, with a bright future ahead of him. He has a total of 9 ex girlfriends, which to his adoring aunt & uncle seems to be a distraction to his education, and ultimately leads to his ban of dating. Until he meets Zyla Matthews.
Following a school trip, Zyla & Kai run off, with everyone presuming they have run away to be together.
Narrated in both the past & present, Zyla & Kai's story explores the naivety & innocence of adolescent love; the beauty of love; and essentially how love is able to flourish in the face of adversity - Camille I see you, messy a*s!
Forest does a great job to include themes such as; Grief; Anxiety; Therapy; Toxic Parenting within this YA novel. I didn't find the topics overwhelming as they were balanced well with all the lovey dovey scenes 🥰
This book really took me back to my teenage years & early relationships, I thought my relationships & love was invincible - I was humbled quicklyyyy boy 🤣😆 Some of the choices that Zyla & Kai made during the course of their relationship made me chuckle, the things we do for love are wild sometimes 👀🫣
Overall, I really loved Zyla & Kai's story despite it being extremely long winded. I loved how well the author handled each characters trauma, it felt honest & realistic. I'd recommend this to fans of Love Radio, Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry & Chaos Theory.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - It dropped a star because of the length of the book! 470 pages Ladies & Gentlemen! For a YA romance I don't think it requires this length, unless there is an inclusion of mixed media.
shawnie_s's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
poetic_bella's review
5.0
A twist of Romeo and Juliet
A love they tried to fight, but in the end they couldn’t fight it anymore. Zyla and Kai dealing with family issues that make love hard for them find each other and the passion is undeniable.
A love they tried to fight, but in the end they couldn’t fight it anymore. Zyla and Kai dealing with family issues that make love hard for them find each other and the passion is undeniable.
jen286's review
4.0
I really loved most of this book, loved getting to know Zyla and Kai and the way this was written. Though the end felt a bit rushed to me, especially with how long the story was.
sweetmisty's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 ⭐
They are too cute. Was a little long but I thought it will seemed necessary to the story. I'm upset that dude that lied on them wasn't confronted, like why would he do that lol.
They are too cute. Was a little long but I thought it will seemed necessary to the story. I'm upset that dude that lied on them wasn't confronted, like why would he do that lol.
ngreader's review
4.0
3.5 rounded up to 4.
It was cute but overall not the most impressive book. Great commentary on a relationship and the things that can make it work or break. Loved the male lead's relationship with his aunt and uncle and therapist. Overall, a romance that wasn't as interesting as I was hoping it would be and a very hard sell to teens since it's a longer book than most teen fics are.
It was cute but overall not the most impressive book. Great commentary on a relationship and the things that can make it work or break. Loved the male lead's relationship with his aunt and uncle and therapist. Overall, a romance that wasn't as interesting as I was hoping it would be and a very hard sell to teens since it's a longer book than most teen fics are.
Spoiler
contains underage drinking and sex, kissing, cursing, bi best friends and parents, death of one lead's parents, mentions of anxietycocopurplebooks's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book but at the same time reading it became hard after a while because the writing got really redundant. Some scenes in the novel were so overly descriptive and was more of telling than showing. Also, this book was really long. The story would've been 100% stronger if it was shorter because after a while, I feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again. I usually prefer third person pov over first but I honestly think that this book should've been written in 1st person.
Zyla and Kai's budding romance was super sweet and I loved them together and individually but Kai definitely had the stronger character arc. At times, Zyla felt like a side character compared to the amount of time that was spent on Kai's most inner thoughts. The book ended on a good note for both characters but I wanted Zyla to confront her dad for being a deadbeat for majority of her childhood and her mother for prioritizing relationships over her and her sister. It was just weird that one moment, Zyla resented both her parents and then in the next second, she's fine with both parents.
Beatrice (Zyla's best friend) and Jamal (Kai's best friend) were the highlights of the novel for me. They were great friends to the main characters and their love/hate relationship was everything. I wouldn't mind reading a book about them.
Overall, I'm happy to read a book about black teens falling in love without trauma being a major theme but I really did wish that I could've enjoyed this book better. Something was missing and I'm thinking it was generally the pacing/writing.
Zyla and Kai's budding romance was super sweet and I loved them together and individually but Kai definitely had the stronger character arc. At times, Zyla felt like a side character compared to the amount of time that was spent on Kai's most inner thoughts. The book ended on a good note for both characters but I wanted Zyla to confront her dad for being a deadbeat for majority of her childhood and her mother for prioritizing relationships over her and her sister. It was just weird that one moment, Zyla resented both her parents and then in the next second, she's fine with both parents.
Beatrice (Zyla's best friend) and Jamal (Kai's best friend) were the highlights of the novel for me. They were great friends to the main characters and their love/hate relationship was everything. I wouldn't mind reading a book about them.
Overall, I'm happy to read a book about black teens falling in love without trauma being a major theme but I really did wish that I could've enjoyed this book better. Something was missing and I'm thinking it was generally the pacing/writing.
alaina11's review against another edition
4.0
this is one of the longer books i’ve read lately and i liked it because it told a very full story. although it’s a romance book, you get to know the full story behind both of the characters independent of each other & i loved that. very very cute love story. and the end