This book gave everything I wanted and needed and MORE! A thriller with a splash of romance is so up my alley!! I enjoyed this story so much! The drama and the suspense had me on the edge of my seat! I loved every second of this story. And also that COVER! WOW so beautiful!!! Aleema Omotoni your writing was incredible I can't wait to read other books by you!

OH MY GOSH. This book is SO GOOD!!! I love the mystery and how you learn little bits and pieces that lead you in different directions until it all comes together at the very end, and the ending was SHOCKING! Completely unexpected plot twist! I would one thousand percent recommend!!

This book handles so many topics so well. Its written amazingly and the mystery is so fun! I really liked how things wrapped up. Community was such an important part of this book and that particular part was done just so fantastically.

I LOVED this book! A YA mystery with a little dash of romance? Yes! I also loved the preppy boarding school setting! This is filled with amazing representation, beautiful friendship and family relationships. So so good!

Black Butterflies

I love a good YA mystery. This book absolutely delivered on that. I was so invested in finding out who stole Iyanu’s photos and binder. Every time I thought I had it figured out, another curveball was thrown in. When the villain was revealed, I was so surprised. I didn’t see that coming! The story of two Nigerian girls trying to survive in an elite private school in the UK wasn’t entirely relatable for me. However, their insecurities, doubts, and fears were very realistic for so many Black girls. The racism and colorism that they had to deal with is sadly familiar. Despite those pitfalls, Iyanu and Kitan personified Black Girl Magic. They were so smart and determined. I loved how things worked out for them. In the end, just about everyone got what they deserved.

This book touched on so many important issues that young adults are facing. It turned out to be a great story with a beautiful representation of Black girls. I gave this book 4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Aleema Omotoni for this advanced copy to review. #EveryonesThinkingIt #NetGalley

As a high school teacher, and even just as a human who went through high school, it is wild, how rampant hurtful and out-of-control rumors can be in school. But those rumors have even more power when there’s even the smallest bit of truth to them, and then it said to you wondering who knew that about you to tell the rest of the world? in this book, Heather is the Queen B in all the ways that can be interpreted. When Iyanu’s photos are used to wreak havoc among a group of friends everybody within the group Hass to start confronting hard truths about themselves. For some of those people, it was their racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and just generally being a bad human. For others, it meant unpacking trauma from years ago that had kept them from moving on or continuing friendships that had been so important to them. This book has a lot in it and I know it is a book. I’ll be thinking about for days to come and one. I would certainly like to discuss with my students.

Iyanu, one of the few Black girls at prestigious Wodebury Hall, prefers to stick to the sidelines, taking photos at school events -- while her cousin Kitan has found her way into the inner circle of the popular (white) kids. After Iyanu takes photos at the school's matchmaking event ahead of the Valentine's Day Ball, her photos are copied and distributed to other students, with their secrets scrawled across the back. And when Iyanu realizes that only one of the popular students would have access to that personal information, she decides to investigate.

I haven't yet decided if I like dark academia in general, but books like this -- ones that offer the perspective of still-all-too-marginalized communities and unveil not only the racism and sexism and homophobia/biphobia/queerphobia still prevalent in academia but also the many ways that white people uphold those -isms -- definitely appeal to me. This book points out many racist aggressions, from offhand comments all the way up to blackfishing (a new term for me to learn) -- as well as how difficult it can be for BIPOC folks to push back against those aggressions when confronting the issue can lead to social isolation.

Iyanu and Kitan were a great pair of characters, showing the different tacks that can be taken in the face of such nonstop racism. Both had their own goals and their own ideas of how best to achieve them, and both of them have to learn how to deal with some really rough obstacles in their respective paths, including finding their way back to each other. Other characters -- specifically Quincy and his brothers Marcus and Jordan, Oliver, and Navin -- must grapple with racism and queerphobia in other ways and from different perspectives, so it never feels like the book has One Right Answer to solving these issues, but rather asks the reader to recognize that each person's experience is valid and can offer a different way to see how racism and queerphobia affect people. (I wish I could be more specific in talking about this, but... spoilers!)

The tension building throughout the story really kept me engaged with the action, and while I sort of guessed the culprit behind the photos, the full story had twists that I didn't see coming, and the way the plot resolved was supremely satisfying. I honestly didn't realize that the book was also a retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, but that just added to the layers of an already solid book.

An impressive debut from Omotoni, and I look forward to reading more by her. 4.5 stars rounded up.

CW: anti-Black racism, blackface, blackfishing, colorism, misogynoir, biphobia, queerphobia, sexism, panic attacks

Thank you, Balzer + Bray and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Everyone's Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni is an outstanding Shakespeare reimagining.

I loved being at Wodebury Hall, an elite boarding school in the English countryside with these very interesting characters.
I loved photography so it was a nice touch adding the camera and the big mystery of who stole Iyanu’s photos and why. And trying to figure out who is behind the stolen photos exposing everyone’s dirty laundry.
The characters were greatly portrayed throughout.
I really liked Iyanu and her style. It has a great tense atmosphere going on and worked well overall in this genre. I enjoyed what I read a lot and glad the characters worked well overall. The characters were what I was looking for and glad they felt like real people.
I thought the writing was sharp, enjoyable and fun.
Plus the big mystery! Which was engaging and had me flipping the pages quickly trying to uncover the truth.

A clever, sharp-witted UK boarding school story about family, friendship, and belonging—with a compelling mystery at its heart.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Balzer + Bray for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

It was a cool reimagining of A Mid Sumers Night by Shakespeare but it did fall flat for me. While I enjoyed the characters and the secrets being revealed, the stakes just weren't high enough to keep my interest. 2.75 stars.