May 29, 2026

This Is Why I Need You, by Alecsandra Kakon

Alecsandra Kakon’s debut novel, This is Why I Need You, begins with the drama dialed up to eleven: besties Zinnia, Fay, Kiara, and Valentina, are on the eve of their annual girls trip together, this time to Barbados, but Valentina has just rejected her boyfriend’s proposal, Kiara’s controlling fiance is flying all the red flags, and Zinnia and Fay have secretly become “more than friends,” even though Zinnia is married with children. None of these are spoilers, all happening at the novel’s outset, and while I had some doubts about a story being so front-loaded, whether such tension could be sustained (and it does get frothy in a few spots), the novel—which follows the women over the course of a life-changing year—was ultimately enjoyable and meaningful, a celebration of complicated friendships and messy lives, love, forgiveness, and chosen family.