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A review by thisreadingcorner
When I Think of You by Myah Ariel
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
When Kaliya and Danny meet, she is a freshman at Tisch and he is a senior. A chance run in on the street makes way to a shared class, and a tender friendship blossoms into love at an imperfect moment. Right as their relationship is beginning to blossom, Danny’s father dies. Kaliya does her best to support him when he returns to school but for reasons unknown to us for the first half of the book, their relationship falls apart later that year.
Present-day Kaliya is an underemployed admin while Danny has made the best of his film school education and nepo-baby legacy handed down by his father to become an acclaimed artist. Danny offers Kal a job and so begins the second chance, with many bumps along the way.
If you caught my stories, I was having a great time with this book. Danny’s nervous excitement was palpable, Kaliya’s reluctance and resentment honest and fair. All of that made it odd to think they would have ever broken up at all, but then again, grief is a multifaceted monster. The creation of Danny’s film made perfect sense as a vehicle for a message of justice against bigotry in entertainment.
Once the double whammy of the breakup was revealed though, my stomach sank and continued to sink through the third act breakup. It feels to me like nothing was ever Danny’s fault, and the simple acknowledgement of all the ways he was set up for success is enough to erase all the ways he literally and metaphorically abandoned this woman. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, prying eyes scrutinizing her, and no safety net to fall back on, she manages to solve all of her problems (but only after solving his!). Then after all that, SHE APOLOGIZES for choosing herself despite his failure to live up to “I got you”!! I kid you not, I screamed. That doesn’t include the fact that she inititates all their difficult conversations, prompts him for understanding on where they stand, weathers multiple humiliations in service of his dream, and accepts without reservation that he was simply too overwhelmed to be there for her (or make amends in seven years).
Present-day Kaliya is an underemployed admin while Danny has made the best of his film school education and nepo-baby legacy handed down by his father to become an acclaimed artist. Danny offers Kal a job and so begins the second chance, with many bumps along the way.
If you caught my stories, I was having a great time with this book. Danny’s nervous excitement was palpable, Kaliya’s reluctance and resentment honest and fair. All of that made it odd to think they would have ever broken up at all, but then again, grief is a multifaceted monster. The creation of Danny’s film made perfect sense as a vehicle for a message of justice against bigotry in entertainment.
Once the double whammy of the breakup was revealed though, my stomach sank and continued to sink through the third act breakup. It feels to me like nothing was ever Danny’s fault, and the simple acknowledgement of all the ways he was set up for success is enough to erase all the ways he literally and metaphorically abandoned this woman. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, prying eyes scrutinizing her, and no safety net to fall back on, she manages to solve all of her problems (but only after solving his!). Then after all that, SHE APOLOGIZES for choosing herself despite his failure to live up to “I got you”!! I kid you not, I screamed. That doesn’t include the fact that she inititates all their difficult conversations, prompts him for understanding on where they stand, weathers multiple humiliations in service of his dream, and accepts without reservation that he was simply too overwhelmed to be there for her (or make amends in seven years).
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent