“Vanessa doesn’t believe in serious relationships. Come to think of it, she doesn’t believe in any kind of relationship. But when her casual fling with Harrison ends in the ultimate betrayal, she’s out for revenge.
A leaked video that’s got everyone talking. A mysterious (and hot) new guy at school.
A payback plan. What could go wrong? And what might go right?
The Wrong Side of Kai is a story of broken hearts, forgiveness, trust and vulnerability – and the breathtaking exhilaration of falling in love.”
As the author of this book is from Peterhead which is relatively close to Aberdeen (30 miles), I just expected this book to be set in Scotland. Possibly even set locally! Imagine my surprise and confusion to find that this book took place in Ohio in the USA. It took me a shamefully long amount of time to realise that the book wasn’t set in Scotland. The first hint should have been that the house party was not referred to as an ‘empty’.
I don’t think I would have picked this up had i known it was a US teen drama book. However I did have a good time with this. It was very dramatic and reminded me of so many teen comedies from the 2000s that I enjoyed. I’m particular, it gave me John Tucker Must Die vibes.
The characters were all pretty one dimensional- Vanessa was a party girl who didn’t do relationships, Kai was a bad boy, Chyna was quiet and ridiculously smart, Hunter was an arrogant rich kid. I didn’t like any of the characters, I just felt that I didn’t get to know any of them. There were a few moments where a some character development was hinted at but just felt a little lacking.
The premise of this book was that Hunter leaked an intimate video of Vanessa. Vanessa then embarked on a quest of revenge with Kai. The revenge grew dramatically more and more…illegal. My issue here was why did Vanessa not go to the police? Her dad was a police officer. She had an intimate video leaked without consent and she was underage. That’s two crimes. I know her dad had some issues so she didn’t speak to him but Chyna’s parents? No?
I was very intrigued to know Kai’s reasons for helping Vanessa. I was thinking it may be related to his father’s accident. I found it very unrealistic that Kai would be so willing to break a whole bunch of laws for the reason he did. The revenge felt extremely out of proportion for Kai. For Vanessa, I understood. Personally I’d have been getting him charged and he’d lose his scholarship (rightly so)
The romance in this book was cute. I really enjoyed it and I bought it. I saw those two falling for each other. Predictable? Yes! But also adorable and sweet. I was rooting for those kids!
The level of drama in this book made for a very exciting book while being utterly unrealistic. This was a very fun read and I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Thai was a very quick read and it was nice to read something by a local author.
Kapowski Reads 
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