A review by themagicalworldofnian
Everyone's Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.25

Everyone’s thinking it by Aleema Omotoni - review

4.25 ⭐️

First of all, OMG!! I was so surprised to open this book and see that it was signed 😱🤯. I didn’t know that when I bought it 😅🫣, soo this was just an amazing surprise. 

Everyone’s thinking it was just such a good read to start off pride month with. In a nutshell I would describe this as a POC and LGBTQ+ version of Gossip Girl. 

The book is Mean Girls meets Dear White People at an UK boarding school, Wodebury Hall. Here reputation is everything. Iyanu, an aspiring photographer prefers staying more on the sidelines since everything spiralled a couple years back. Her estranged cousin Kitan on the other hand seems to be having the perfect life and is at the centre of popularity. However, it may not be as good as it seems. Being Nigerian in a mainly white school is hard and the sacrifices that have been made may not be worth it in the end. 

For the valentines ball Iyanu made all the pictures but now these have been stolen, and handed out to everyone with their secrets on the back. Now the question whodunit? With everyone’s dirty laundry suddenly out in the open, the school explodes into chaos. Each of the girls is desperate to unravel the mystery of who stole the pictures and why…

Omg this was such a good book. I never read anything like it. It was soo much fun!!

I really liked how you got to read both the point of view of Iyanu and Kitan and unravel the secrets. 

And the plottwist kept on plot twisting, with secrets unraveling piece by piece, the suspects kept on changing, and I never would have guessed the end. 

I also really liked the representation in the book and that there were so many queer characters. Especially also the representation of bi characters and the acknowledgement of how others often think about being bi, especially if you are either in a same sex relationship or a hetero relationship. This was executed soo well!

Besides the relationships I also really enjoyed the friendships. Especially how they were formed. 

In addition, the book highlighted a lot of complex themes, such as colourism, racism, blackfishing, biphobia and bullying. And all these themes were handled with respect and mainly to enlighten the reader that this happens. 

Further how the feelings of all the characters were written, made me really live their lives. Even though the book is written from multiple perspectives you got to emerge yourself into the lives of both main characters and learn about their insecurities, doubts and feelings. You really go with them on their journey to self acceptation and finding themselves. 

And that this was a debut, I never would have guessed, the book is soo well thought out and written. Really my compliments to Aleema 👏.

If this is a debut, you’re automatically a new auto buy author for me 🙌.