kayaj's reviews
513 reviews

The Will of the Many by James Islington

5.0

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

emotional

4.5

 I have a confession to make. Up until now, I have been against mainstream booktok books. But I’ve recently realized the error of my ways! If I just ignore Colleen Hoover and the countless smut, then there are actually quite a few gems that booktok hypes up. And Divine Rivals is one of them. 

 

Divine Rivals is one of my favorite new releases of the year. Iris and Roman’s letters are full of beauty and rich, romantic prose without ever feeling too flowery. The atmosphere is so subtly written that when you finally tear yourself apart from the book, you feel like a stranger in your own home*. After years of putting her releases on my lists, I finally read a Rebecca Ross book. And it was worth the hype.

*or subway. or office. or wherever you read

This book follows Iris and Roman in the middle of a war reminiscent of World War I or World War II. However, the author did create an original mythos instead of directly setting the story in one of the World Wars and the war is between gods. Iris’s brother Forest is off fighting in the war, and Iris’s only comfort is her mysterious penpal whom she writes to through her magical typewriter.

Roman Kitt, on the other hand, knows exactly that he’s writing to Iris Winnow, his rival at their shared newspaper. And for some reason, he can’t stop writing to her as he conceals his identity. 
 

THE LETTERS THEY WRITE TO EACH OTHER ARE SO ROMANTIC. They’re brimming with longing and yearning and beautiful, beautiful prose. Surprisingly, the fictional war-torn setting works very well with this You’ve Got Mail pitch. I was pulled into these characters and this world from the very first page.

I’m not a big historical fiction girlie, so I didn’t always connect with parts of this book. There was a part in the middle that dipped a little for me. But I really did enjoy the rest of this book. If you’re not normally a YA reader, I’d still highly recommend this book! It reads very in a very mature style and the characters are older. I deem Divine Rivals worth the hype! 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

dark

2.25

meh. suspense was good, ending was bad, middle was long.

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

 

All The Dangerous Things shows several small streaks of brilliance. I have read (too many) thriller books, and the best kind is when you’re shocked by the ending. However, after closer inspection, you realize that the clues were laid all along for you to figure out all the different twists. It’s just a matter of hiding them cleverly enough that you didn’t quite connect the dots until it was too late.

We follow Isabelle, who hasn’t stopped searching for her son Mason ever since he disappeared from his crib a year prior. She’s lost friends, family, even her husband in pursuit of the truth. She hasn’t slept properly for a full year, only subsisting on the bare minimum needed to survive. As a last-ditch effort, she teams up with a podcaster who begins unearthing truths about her childhood that cause Isabelle to begin to question herself. And not at the least because she’s forgotten one important detail: she’s a sleepwalker.

now this is what i call a solid thriller.

It’s not overly high-stakes the way some thrillers are (Behind Closed Doors and Survive The Night come to mind). However, it does an incredible job of sowing seeds of doubt in your mind, in stealthily ramping up the tension, until you realize that your breaths have shortened and you’re completely unsure what to believe.

As we dive into Isabelle’s fragmented childhood memories, as well as reports of what happened the night Mason went missing, we begin to suspect her. But it’s not just her who is unreliable and complex. Almost every character in this book is entwined with this story one way or another, and none of them are perfect. I believe the author comments on this in her foreword but All The Dangerous Things really comments on the pressure mothers face to be perfect. Everything they do is judged, and they’re immediately regarded as terrible humans if they do not feel endless love and joy towards their child at all times. This book does a truly excellent job at drawing aside the curtain and reminding us as a society that there is a difference between taking care of a child properly and lashing on moms for the little things, the little feelings.

That being said, this is a twisty little jewel of a book! It has a steady pace that balances great reveals with excellent foreshadowing. It takes the psychological route instead of the suspenseful one, while keeping you on the edge of your seat. I cannot recommend this book enough if you’re looking for a new thriller!

So that’s it! I’m not sure how my next thriller read will top that in terms of intricate characters and fantastic twists but hey, you never know! 

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

fast-paced

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

5.0

Maame by Jessica George

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

Maame is a book I was terrified of reading. Simply put, I rarely ever reach for literary fiction. I find the highs to be about halfway up a mountaintop, while the lows are the Grand Canyon. However, occasionally one literary fiction book comes along and hits every emotion on the spectrum in the best of ways. In case you haven’t caught on yet, Maame was that book for me.

We follow Maddie, a woman whose mother spends most of her time in Ghana, leaving Maddie the only person to care for her dad with Parkinson’s disease. When her mother finally returns home, Maddie jumps at the chance to move out into the great wide world of London, England, and take risks like she wasn’t able to before.

This story is tragic and joyful, relatable and clever. It deals with racism and family, being torn between cultures and worlds. Maddie’s family is Ghanian, and so many of the white people she’s around fail to understand that part of her. George writes with raw honesty, and Maddie is a character that you desperately want to root for. You’re cheering her on as she experiences the new, and you’re heartbroken by the things she’s heartbroken by. Now that’s powerful writing.

If you’re like me and worried that you’ll be bored, don’t be. Every event has a purpose and that is to flesh out Maddie’s character arc. And guess what? It works. I truly am surprised with how invested I ended up being in this little story full of big thoughts. Also, I cried so there’s that.

Overall, this is a standout debut for 2023! A huge thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Did not finish book.

it didn't grab me!

Seoulmates by Susan Lee

medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

 

Seoulmates really, really, really made me want to reread XOXO by Axie Oh. Or Once Upon A K-Prom by Kat Cho. It’s not a bad book…it’s just a bit repetitive.

We follow two ex-best-friends named Hannah and Jacob who reconvene one summer and try to fulfill a bucket list of things to do before Jacob has to go back to Korea. Since he’s, you know, an up-and-coming K-drama star!

I really loved how Hannah learned to love her Korean heritage, whether it was through appreciation of Korean food or love of K-dramas. At the same time, she doesn’t deny her American environment and the way that it has shaped her. Watching her balance these two truths of her identity was so impactful to watch.

I enjoyed aspects of Jacob and Hannah’s relationship! They had some really sweet moments, and I loved how their friendship was such a central part of their romantic relationship.

One of my issues with this book is that I felt like the perspectives didn’t match up. For example, Hannah would act a certain way when we’re reading from her perspective. Then when we’re reading about her from Jacob’s perspective, she acts differently. I don’t know if it’s a me thing or what but I just felt like the characters had personalities that were completely dependent on who POV I was seeing.

I guess my last complaint(?) is that I WAS JUST KIND OF BORED OKAY.

yeah uh.

I feel guilty for saying this (and yet I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt whaling on Parisa earlier this year smh*) but I just didn’t feel invested in anything that was happening. This is one of those dreaded purgatory books, where nothing is overly wrong, but not really right either. Like, the plot was fine. The characters were fine. The romance had some sweet highs. It’s definitely a book I’d recommend to people who enjoy a cute romance! 

How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine

dark mysterious fast-paced

 

How To Survive Your Murder was shockingly enjoyable. From the moment I found out that the main character, Alice, loves horror movies (and immediately began referencing them with abandon) I knew that this was going to be a gem. I read this in a day and did not predict that ending!

okay so, hang with me because this premise might be a tad complicated.

We follow Alice Lawrence, who adores her older sister Claire, her best friends, horror movies, and a certain Wesley James Hanson III*. On Halloween night, Alice witnesses her sister Claire’s murder, and her life goes to pieces. One year later, she’s preparing to testify against the murderer as the sole witness in the trial when she’s knocked out by a Sidney Prescott lookalike. Suddenly, she’s back on that fateful Halloween night, and she only has until midnight to prevent her sister from being murdered, and discover who the true murderer is.

*am I the only one who immediately thinks of richard gansey iii

THIS WAS SO GOOD.

Look. I just recently read Riley Sager’s Final Girls and I wanted a slashing good time, but instead I got a rather boring story with occasionally interesting moments. How To Survive Your Murder was what I wanted Finals Girls to be. It’s thrilling, brutal, and fast-paced. You don’t see everything coming. Best of all, it is 100% aware of its cliches but accepts them head-on.

I just need to add in how I loved that Alice and her friends were planning on making a podcast combining true crime cases and horror movies??? Like, I would have downloaded those episodes so quickly audiobooks would have never stood a chance.

Ahem. Anyways, I liked how they pointed out aspects of how BIPOC are treated both in criminal cases and in horror movies. It added a sense of awareness that I really appreciated.

One of my favorite things about this book was how unexpected the twists were. I usually hate how YA books can sometimes be more focused on romance, and the characters make stupid decisions for no reason. And yeah, there were a couple of dumb decisions made during this book, but I never felt like they were too terrible.

While I didn’t see the ending coming, I definitely felt like it was a bit…out of nowhere? There’s a little bit of foreshadowing, and perhaps I might pick up on more of it if I reread the book, but I just couldn’t really reconcile the sudden changes in certain characters that I was seeing.