Welcome Back, Booklovers! It's summer which means it's time for new YA romance releases. I read and enjoyed Kristina Forest's previous books so of course I had to check out Zyla and Kai. Thank you Penguin Teen for providing me an arc.
Zyla and Kai are both working at Sailor Joe's Amusement Park for the summer. After a blow up with his ex girlfriend, Kai is assigned to the games section with Zyla. Kai has a reputation for being a player because he's had a lot of girlfriends, and Zyla isn't interested in becoming anyone's girlfriend any time soon. But the mutual attraction is there and the more time they spend with each other the more the closer they get.
Family relationship were a big part of this book. Zyla has a complicated relationship with her parents. They get caught up in new relationships and usually neglect her when that happens. Her mother is at least around day to day but her father is living out of state and she's been doging his check in calls. Her Aunt Ida is still bitter about the way her relationship with her husband turned out and is constantly warning her about how men are good for nothing. So it's no suprise Zyla pushes back on the idea of being happy and in love. She can't wait to just graduate so she can move as far away as possible for fashion school.
Kai lost his parents at a young age and lives with his Aunt Brenda and Uncle Steve. He's been regularly seeing a therapist for years and he has standards of perfection he wants to live up to. His dream is to attend Morehouse like his parents.
I thought Zyla and Kai were fully fleshed out characters and I enjoyed their chemistry together. This is the first YA I've read in awhile that also focused on the school life of the teens which made it feel more realistic. Though I did think we got a little too much of Kai's day to day it was nice to see how he was involved so much at school rather than just hearing about it.
I thought this book was a little too long. It felt like it was dragging too much which wasn't an issue with Forest's previous novels. While I saw the vision with the mystery aspect it just didn't live up to the build up. I felt the side povs didn't add much and made other sections somewhat repetetive. And when we finally got to the climax everything was resolved entirely too fast. This book also takes place over the entire summer and school year so the monthly check in added to the length.
I still highly recommend checking this one out. Kristina Forest always writes these cute and fluffy stories that make you a believer.
Enjoyed the review. I like the premise for this story. Family life definitely shapes what you want out of relationships, and Idk how frequently it's talked about for people whose parents died at a young age.
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