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A review by cocopurplebooks
Zyla & Kai by Kristina Forest
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.