Kismet

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. My review is unbiased.

I had high hopes for this book given the setting, and I do think it probes at the fraught wellness and spirituality industries popular in Sedona. But, the writing and character development was a struggle. I just had a hard time taking many characters' decisions seriously, and it verges on elements of horror and supernatural at times, which might feel jarring for traditional thriller readers.

That said, it's a fast read and one that would translate well on screen, so I'd recommend it to a reluctant reader or one who's looking for a rut-buster.

I had hoped this would be funny, but it was, in fact, extremely tedious.

Finishing this and then coming here to check out the reviews has been super disheartening. The amount of straight up terrible takes is fucking astounding.

Like, if a book has a minority protagonist, and that character experiences racism, and you take that as a personal attack? You might need to take a look in the mirror. Jesus fucking christ. So much disingenuous bullshit. I feel really bad imagining Amina coming here and browsing these reviews :/. Y'all should be ashamed.

So when a story about a secretly wealthy young person who gets rescued and told they're special and is taken to a beautiful secluded land with strange people in robes casting spells and waving magical stones where they can self actualize and develop into a badass stars a Pakistani girl, the book is “shallow and vapid and can't shut up about its liberal politics” but when it stars a little white boy it's “the best selling book of all time”. Ok.

I loved this book. Breezy thriller with a great emotional core. I absolutely loved Ronnie and her self-actualization journey. I loved hating the villains, I loved the ravens, I loved the friendships, I loved the writing. Straight up devoured this book, can't wait to check out more of Amina's work.