I’m not going to lie. I really, really tried to ignore this book. It didn’t seem interesting to me and typically when something is hyped up, it disappoints. However, as seems to be the theme this year, the hyped up books are worth the read!  In my opinion, anyways! 

A good friend of ours insisted that we simply HAD to read this book and then forced us into borrowing it. Her love for it seemed pretty genuine and then she talked about their being a movie..and I didn’t want to spoil it, so I caved. I’m glad I did! 

I think I felt a strong connection to Kya as I’ve often in my life felt like the outcast though instead of just loving myself and being who I am unapologetically, I’ve always tried to conform to societal norms. I love watching strong female characters just blossom.

I loved that it touched on education not being as important as true, valuable life lessons. You can still turn out to be a remarkable person despite lacking higher education. 

There was a touch of suspense to keep it interesting it’s a side of mystery and trying to solve who did it and what happened to the people Kya loved? And just enough romance to keep it from becoming a sappy love story. 

It all talk about isolation and dealing with that as a person and though the book was published in 2018, I didn’t read it until 2022 after having lived through a pandemic where isolation was a very real thing. I think that also allowed for me to be more invested in the story and come out with a deeper love and understanding for it.

Definitely a classic case of don’t judge a book by it’s cover and just do the damn thing and read it!