I’ve read Sutanto’s YA books, added the middle grade to my TBR, and enjoyed her adult contemporary stories. So you know when I saw this thriller, I was intrigued, but I wasn’t prepared for how I’d have to obsessively finish this once I started. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Jane is unhappy.
A struggling midlist writer whose novels barely command four figures, she feels trapped in an underwhelming marriage, just scraping by to pay a crippling Bay Area mortgage for a house–a life–she’s never really wanted.
There’s only ever been one person she cared about, one person who truly understood her: Thalia. Jane’s best and only friend nearly a decade ago during their Creative Writing days at Oxford. It was the only good year of Jane’s life–cobblestones and books and damp English air, heady wine and sweet cider and Thalia, endless Thalia. But then one night ruined everything. The blood-soaked night that should have bound Thalia to Jane forever but instead made her lose her completely. Thalia disappeared without a trace, and Jane has been unable to find her since.
Until now.
Because there she is, her name at the top of the New York Times bestseller list: A Most Pleasant Death by Thalia Ashcroft. When she discovers a post from Thalia on her website about attending a book convention in New York City in a week–“Can’t wait to see you there!”–Jane can’t wait either.
She’ll go to New York City, too, credit card bill be damned. And this time, she will do things right. Jane won’t lose Thalia again.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
With Yellowface vibes, I’m Not Done with You Yet is about obsession, friendship, and ambition. It’s about everything we will do for someone we love, someone we want to love us back, and for our dreams. There’s an air of manipulation from the very beginning, from the ways we have to cope walking on eggshells, and the hidden mines we have to dodge. I couldn’t stop reading this. What starts off as this book about obsession and love, sacrifice and devotion, devolves into the definition of “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift.
About all the things we feel our love, the object of our obsession, is making us do. The necessary consequences, late nights, and inadequacies. I’m Not Done with You Yet has these feelings of inadequacies, of not knowing how to fit in. That feeling of wanting so desperately to be the best friend, when we feel always second best. Mixing unreliability and changes in perspective, I’m Not Done with You Yet will be the thriller you can’t put down. A story about obsession, love, and our castles crumbling around us.
People who come into our lives when we have moved on, struggling to hold onto the past. It’s one of those books where you aren’t sure who is really good or bad and you can’t stop reading till you figure out where everyone stands. Find I’m Not Done with You Yet on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.