A review by breadsalot
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What Worked: 
  • It’s very rare for me to be genuinely interested in everyone’s story in a book with multiple POVs and timelines, but this book did that so well. The 90s timeline sucked you right in and set the stage for the rest of the events throughout the book, and the present-day POVs of Grace and Shawn were equally captivating.
  • It was so hard to put this book down. The historical (and current day) backdrop of this book really raised the stakes and kept me turning pages wanting, or rather, holding my breath to see what would happen next.

What Didn’t Work:
  • N/A. I have 0 complaints.

Recommendations/Final Thoughts:
  • Anyone who wants a book that feels real, raw, and heart-wrenching. It’s a heavy book for sure, but completely worth the hype.
  • Being from LA and having grown up hearing about the LA riots, this book touched on local history in such a beautifully written way that piqued my interest the first time I heard about it. Living in the Valley now also added another personal element that connected me to this book.
  • If you’re from LA, if you like books that touch on race, class, immigrant stories, incarceration and policing, you’ll want to check this out.