Review- Understudy by Denise Kim Wy

Goodreads Summary:

Adam Wharton died on his birthday, and to make things worse, Kat feels partially responsible for it. But when Adam suddenly appears in the woods, she starts to wonder if she has finally lost her sanity - which she realize is a small price to pay if it meant spending more time with him. And if that’s not enough, Eric, Adam’s identical twin brother enters the picture, throwing Kat’s already dysfunctional life out of balance.

Eric has a dark secret himself and going home to a place where everybody seems to hate him doesn't make things any easier. But Adam’s death forces him to do so, and as strange as it may sound, he feels it’s his duty to take care of Kat. That is, if she even allows him to get near her. Because for some reason unknown to Eric, Kate hates him with burning passion.

Understudy is a YA fiction novel dealing about two young people's struggle to let go of the past and forgiving oneself. It's a love story that transcends death as the living tries to cope with the uncertainties of life and the challenges of living it.

REVIEW:

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Understudy by Denise Kim Wy in exchange for an honest review. We thank Denise for the book! 

I had read and really liked author Denise Kim Wy's Please Stay, so I was pretty excited when we were contacted to read and review Understudy. The book has such a pretty cover and the story sounded quite different and really dazzling to me and that's exactly how it turned out to be. For me, Please Stay had turned out to be shockingly and surprisingly good since the theme of it was new to me but I now know how Denise is fascinated by this particular phenomena so I was prepared for Understudy.  

Kat is the protagonist in Understudy and she is in a steady and supremely sweet relationship with Adam who dies in an accident on his birthday while Kat survives it and she blames Adam's twin brother Eric for her boyfriend's death as Adam was trying to answer Eric's call while driving on that fateful day. Besides blaming Eric, Kat is also suffering from survivors' guilt, out of nowhere she can still see and meet Adam, she has a love-hate relationship with Eric and all of that makes her an emotional mess.  

I liked Kat overall and even though I understood all the turmoil she was going through, I felt that was she was being too dramatic at times, but then again, I get how difficult it must have been for her to cope with everything. Her best friend Sara was a great girl who was similar to Kat in more ways than one and their friendship was really strong. Adam was a well mannered and really good guy who loved Kat and wanted to see her happy. He and his twin brother Eric shared a very complex but totally amazing relationship. Eric was the typical mysterious and quiet guy who I love to figure out. There were a few small chapters in the book from his point of view but I really wish his side of the story, especially his past, was explained in more detail. 

I really liked how a school play was an integral part of the plot of Understudy. That kind of a set up always makes for an interesting and fun read even when the main subject at hand is quite serious. Author Denise Kim Wy has a way of making the ordinary seem extraordinary in a beautiful way and her simple and smooth writing makes Understudy an easy and quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed and that left me smiling long after I finished reading it. 

RATING: 

Review- Please Stay by Denise Kim Wy

Goodreads Summary:

Kym isn't really thrilled about the idea of coming home if it isn't for her Dad's fiftieth birthday. After all, the reason she left seven years ago was to get away from the lie she told Ethan Richards, the boy she loved which happened to be the very same boy Kym's bestriend, Michelle loved as well. 

Now, as fate would have it, a chance encounter with Ethan brings back all the memories from their childhood along with bittersweet memories as they visit the places that witnessed their progression from childhood friends, to awkward teens dealing with love, peer pressure and entering the real world. As the day draws to an end, the question remains, has Ethan already moved on, or is he still waiting for Kym’s real answer to his question?

Please Stay is a young adult romance novel filled the awkwardness of young love, regret and second chances.

REVIEW:

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Please Stay by author Denise Kim Wy in exchange for an honest review. We thank Denise for the book! 

That ending. Oh my God, that ending... 

I immediately accepted author Denise Kim Wy's request to review Please Stay as it sounded good and when I read that the book ends on a sad note, it sounded even better. 
I loved this book. I held onto my own hope and I had pictured the ending in many ways. But somewhere along the way, I had a feeling about where it was going and I was devastated. 
I usually don't go much into characters details in my reviews, but I have to do it this time, simply because I found myself understanding and comprehending and at the same time sympathising with each and every character.  
Please Stay is the story of childhood best friends Kym and Ethan, and Mitchell, who later joins the original duo. When Kym realises that her girl best friend has feelings for her guy best friend, she decides to let them be, in spite of her own feelings for Ethan and from there, everything changes. 
Kym has her own aspirations and I was glad to see that she firmly stood by what she wanted to do in life and went for it. Her love for Ethan was clearly visible even though she tried to feign ignorance. While I did like Kym as a person, some of the decisions she made and the things she did really made me want to blame her for her own sorrowful situation. Even though she had her own reasons and she wanted to protect the ones she held dear to her and I could easily feel bad for her about her mom's death,  it was really upsetting that she didn't even try to do something about her feelings and just left off, leaving her dad, her best friends and her town behind. Mitchell, Kym's best girl friend, was an okay person. It is so easy blame her for the sudden rift between Kym and Ethan but it is unfair on Mitchell's part to believe so. Like I said, Kym had a huge role to play that she didn't play so well. 

Ethan was an amazingly sweet guy whom I adored. He's been Kym's best friend ever since the two discovered their love for books and reading in school one day. Ethan was the one who pointed out to Kym that she'd started her period. He was a smart and funny guy who I wish had had a better and more fulfilling life. He really was an amazing person and friend. 
Please Stay, as a story, takes place in the course of a day. A lot happens in this one day and I loved reading every bit of it. The present description almost always ended on a cliffhanger and the next part took us to some really sweet memories that only showed how strong a friendship Kym and Ethan shared. I enjoyed reading the snippets from their past. 
Author Denise Kim Wy's writing is  clean, neat and understandable. Although I did find a lot of grammatical errors and confusion between tenses, I must admit that it was easy to ignore it all because of the simple beauty of the story. 
Please Stay is a beautiful read that had me feeling happy and sad and good and bad, all at once.  Another bittersweet tale about family, friendship, love and relationships, Please Stay, although it may seem like it, wasn't like anything I'd read before and I mean that in a good way. I loved this book much more than I thought I would although the end had me feeling depressed and tragical. Please Stay is a very beautiful story that I wish had ended differently, but the way it ended was amazing nonetheless. 

RATING: