Sociopath: a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.
💻
Jane Morgan is living a lackluster life with her boring husband and her mediocre writer career. When she sees a NYTimes article about her best friend from college coming out with a new book based on their friendship, it sparks something in her she hasn’t felt since Thalia disappeared from her life years ago. All Jane wants to do now is find Thalia and be around her again, but, like in college, a death ruins everything Jane has planned. All she wants to do is be the best friend she can to Thalia…can’t she see that?
💻
Wow. I’ve loved @jesseqsutanto since I read Dial A For Aunties (my favorite cozy mystery ever) and I also adore her YA books as well, but this adult thriller was not only a new genre for her, it’s actually bumped up to my favorite of Sutanto’s. It kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat the whole time. Did I want to stay up late to finish & see how it ends? No, I HAD to. This is sure to be a hit when it releases August 22!

CW: death, murder, misogyny, physical assault, blood, prison

This one is told in dual timeline, which I think added to the storyline.

Jane and Thalia met nine years ago while attending a Masters program in writing at Oxford. Their friendship was fast and very intense. It's alluded that something happened, although we don't know what, but they haven't seen each other since then. We are taking along on that timeline.

Currently Jane is married to Ted, but it appears to be a strange relationship. Jane is a struggling author. She stumbles upon the fact that Thalia is now a NY Times best selling author and her book appears to be based on their story.

Jane finds that Thalia will be at a Con in NY soon and decides she is going. And then the story really takes off.

I wasn't sure what to believe in a lot of this one and the twists were wild!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jesse Q. Durango is really out here just trying to corner every aspect of the mystery/thriller genre and I am here for it. This dip into suspense, while vastly different from Dial A for Aunties or Vera Wong, is still a wild, exhilarating, fun ride. I love books that make me go “oh! Of course!” when I figure something out, and I had that a couple of times in this book. And the characters weee just so delightfully twisted. A nice, quick, thrilling read.

I'm giving this three stars, even though I DNF it. It is probably a good book, just not one for me. The book revolves around Jane, who is a sociopath. She is married, but her husband is portrayed as controlling and manipulative (but since the narrator is unreliable, who knows?). She is in love (still) with Thalia, who was in her creative writing master's program many years ago. She decides she'll get to New York to see her at a conference, no matter what she has to do.

I love Sutanto's other books, but this was just too dark for me. I like my books to convey some sort of hope, and this one just depressed me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

I love the title and the cover of I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto. That’s what grabbed my attention in the first place!

This book centers around the toxic friendship of Jane and Thalia, who were close friends back at Oxford. The problem now, many years later, is that Thalia is a famous writer and Jane is an author who is struggling. This is a dual timeline of the women’s friendship in their university days and the current day.

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.

A twisty, dark novel that is out on August 22!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC! In I'm Not Done with You Yet, Jesse Q. Sutanto takes a dark turn from the humor that was Dial "A" for Aunties, and delivers a suspenseful tale of intigue. Jane is a struggling writer who feels stuck in her lackluster life. That's when she discovers Thalia, her college obession, is now on the bestseller list and Jane sees this as a sign. As Jane begins to infiltrate Thalia's life, glimpses of the past reveal that not everything is as it seems in the present. Twisting and thoroughly engaging, I'm Not Done with You Yet is the perfect summer suspense!

The brilliant Jesse Q Sutanto has done it again. And by 'it', I mean deliver a deliciously wicked novel that will keep you absolutely riveted the whole time and leave you hungry for more. This is my 7th book by her and truly, she never misses.

There's so much I loved about this twisty thriller:

👊 The author's trademark wit and dark humour

👊 Her insight into the publishing industry e.g. how it's all about 'the market' these days, how being non-white is suddenly the latest trend, author circles and communities and platforms.

👊 Complex female friendships and dynamics
👊 Deep dive into feminine rage, but minus the man-hating
👊 Intriguing exploration of sociopathy and other disorders
👊 Fascinating Oxford setting + unexpected but hilarious mention of Singapore
👊 Cultural insight into Crazy Rich Chinese-Indo families

It's impressive what a versatile writer Sutanto is. The stakes are much higher here than her previous works – and so is the body count 👀

The 3 female leads are well-written and all shine in their own way, keeping me so enthralled that I couldn't help but keep turning the pages. While the first half of the story wasn't exactly a big surprise, things get WILD. I had no idea how it would all play out and loved the way everything unfolded. The last few chapters were so satisfying and I found myself not wanting the book to end!

Jane is struggling with her marriage and her writing career when she sees that Thalia will be at Suspenscon. Since the end of their first semester at Oxford, Thalia has disappeared and it has weighed on Jane since. She knows she needs to get to the con in New York to finally see Thalia and make sure she doesn’t lose her again.

Dear @Jesseqsutanto - I need a sequel to this one like…yesterday! Seriously how you gonna end this book like that on me? If this isn’t a planned series we are going to have to have a talk friend! For real though, Jesse Q. Sutanto can do no wrong. Every book she writes is just fantastic and with how quickly she puts them out, I really can’t complain about having to wait for the next! This book was the toxic of all toxic friendships from page one and I could not stop reading. My heart certainly went out to Jane because she was so obviously self conscious, but I also wanted to shake her sometimes when she fell under Thalia’s spell. This book switches between current day and their time at college which helped really drive home how toxic these girls were. I don’t want to give too much of the story away but I highly recommend this one!

It’s not every book that can have a self described sociopath as its main character and work. But I’m Not Done With You Yet drew me in right from the first pages and kept me engaged throughout. Jane is equal parts lacking in self-confidence, obsessed and festering with anger. This is one of those books that totally gets the creep factor right.
Jane and Thalia met nine years ago at a MBA writing course at Oxford. Thalia was everything Jane was not - beautiful, charismatic and self assured. The book flips back and forth between then and now. Now, Thalia has written the current blockbuster, while Jane is a midlist writer, barely getting low four figure advances for her books. But Jane is determined to reconnect at a big suspense/mystery convention in NYC.
I loved that in the beginning, I was thinking how I really related to Jane. But as the book goes on, I was pulling back, thinking, no, this gal is bat-sh** crazy. And then, there are several nice twists. It becomes absolutely deliciously devious.
This is a fun, entertaining story for those who have a penchant for dark characters.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

I have loved this author's other books but this one just isn't as good. I love the cultural diversity and family in her other ones. but this one reminds me of Colleen Hoover's writing, which coming from me is not a compliment.

This is another twisty tale of a toxic friendship between two women, both more than a little unhinged and neither of them sympathetic or totally believable. The author already has a following, and those people will love this new book, but I'm burned out on this type of story, so it wasn't for me. I appreciate the opportunity to try it..

The best time of Jane’s life happened when she scrimped and saved to attend a Master’s program in creative writing at Pemberton College at Oxford University. The first person she meets is Thalia, who is everything that Jane is not. The other people who play a pivotal role in the story is Ani and her brother Ivan. Two people who Jane loathed because she wants Tallia’s undivided attention.
Well, this was a twisty one. Told from multiple perspectives in the now, the past, and the time these women spent at Oxford. I found it to be a little slow in the beginning, but around the 50% mark it just took off like a rocket. I was suddenly questioning everything I believed, and as the chapters flew by, I discovered that there was much more going on here than I realized.
It seemed like a fairly straightforward story about an insecure woman, Jane, who will do anything to make sure that the beautiful Thalia who everyone loves, will belong to Jane and Jane alone. She does something that ends in a terrible tragedy, and her time with Thalia in her life comes to an abrupt end.
I don’t want to give too much away, but the story is told in three timelines. Present day Jane, past Jane during her time at Oxford, and also the distant past. I was sure I knew where this plot was going, until I realized I made too many incorrect assumptions.
I just flew through the chapters, needing to know what was really going on with these women. When I finished this book, I realized how seriously twisted some of these characters were.
Hello, perfect beach read!

I’m going to keep this real short because simply put, this book was . . . . not good.

If you’re looking for a brainless “thriller” this summer, then maybe (?????) add this to your TBR, but for real don’t ever attach my name to the recommendation. I’m Not Done With You Yet was the basic bitch of fatal female friendship stories. There’s a little obsession, there’s a wibbly wobbly timeline, there’s (not even kidding) 34 mentions of being a sociopath, but there’s oh so very little plot and even when the narrator changes the voice was so similar I had to backtrack and see that I was indeed reading from a different perspective.

Good news is, Jesse Q. Sutano has already written about obsession (literally – the title is The Obsession) and it was a pretty decent YA approach to a story like You. Even better news is you can skip her additions to the thriller genre altogether and go on one of her zany murder mysteries instead because both Vera Wang and The Aunties are laugh-out-loud funny.

This one leaves itself open for a sequel, but please god no.

Book enthusiasts love to read books about writers! This title takes you on bit of a wild ride as our narrator attempts to reconnect with a friend from the past. Very different from Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers, this spooky thriller is a sure bet for a fast and enjoyable read.

This gave me Single White Female met You vibes.

Jane is a self diagnosed sociopath. She's also a middling author, living in a disillusioned marriage, unable to reach the level of powerful writing she attained when at Oxford, in another writing program attendee's, Thalia, orbit. After Oxford, Jane has lost contact with Thalia and after receiving an email about Thalia's new book and her upcoming appearance at a publishing event, Jane decides to go, regardless of the fact that she has no invitation, nothing to get her there or see her through once she goes. Obsessed with Thalia, Jane has no desire to let her get away again.

Engaging from the start, this one kept my attention despite the repetition in much of the story.

Repetition aside, it kept me turning the pages.

But… I found the ending far too neat and far too unsatisfying. This was an unhappy example of 'what I was expecting' versus 'what I got'.

I'm rating this one at three stars - I did enjoy it but for the ending.

This was my first novel by the author and I do plan on reading more of her work.


Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the DRC!

I loved Jesse Q Sutanto's YA thrillers, but this is a step above. Jane is a bitter, unlikeable, and unreliable narrator as she hunts down Thalia for her own ends. Between the constant twists and turns and the flashbacks to the Oxford MFA program, it's truly unputdownable. It's simultaneously spooky, sapphic, and suspenseful. While I predicted a fair number of the twists, I didn't see the big one coming (and I looooooooved it). It truly goes to show the power of perception and stretches the limits of the thriller genre. I'd recommend this to fans of If We Were Villains and The Secret History (or people who wanted to read those but found lit fic super intimidating).

*Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Thanks to Berkely and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first, I was psyched: a book about a sociopath who's obsessed with her female classmate! It sounded like something I could get my teeth into. But it doesn't really take off, veering between 9 years ago and current day. Jane is the aforementioned sociopath, and Thalia is the object of her obsession as they both start a grad program in Cambridge. But she's really only focused on how Thalia looks, there's very little interest in Thalia the person, other than she's "magnetic," and a good writer who somehow inspires Jane to be a better writer. Several references are made to "that night," so you know something awful happened at school.

In the present day, Jane is unhappy in her meager little life as a not very successful lit fic author. She gets wind of Thalia having published a suspense novel about a toxic friendship that's a bestseller, with the publisher having pushed the boat out for the marketing. Jane is by turns jealous and then re-obsessed, as Thalia is going to be leading a panel at SusPens Con, a NY based convention for suspense writers. She decides she HAS TO go and see Thalia, even though it means flying across the country for a trip she cannot afford, and lying to her hapless husband, Ted, who insists on tagging along.

What follows is believable enough, until we get to a chapter told from Thalia's point of view, then the narrative flies out the window. For another author, this would be enough for me to quit, but Sutanto is a gifted writer and I wanted to see it through while I drove through the plot holes in my truck, lol. JK, there weren't really many holes, I just could not suspend my disbelief is all.

Solidly entertaining, not very believable.

A darker, twistier Sutanto! Loved the writer nemesis plotline and the slow reveals of this one. I'm a sucker for MFA culture examinations, and Sutanto's peek into complex female relationships in a grad program and beyond hit well for me. I was thoroughly invested in the voices here. The husband relationship felt a bit pat at times, but the voice and pacing here were excellent.

I wish I had liked any of the characters in this book. I could not sympathize with any of them in their lots in life. The protagonist was a woman so insecure in herself, horrible in her relationships, especially with her husband, I could not summon one ounce of reality in her. The antagonist was equally horrible in her personality, but also unrealistic to me.
I imagine that this book will find readers because the author is established and well regarded. I am afraid I will not be recommending it.

I’m a huge fan of Jesse’s books and I would love to interview her on my podcast, Raise Your Words. This particular book is a lot darker than her other ones but I really loved the plot twist in it.