3.25 ⭐️
In Your Head pulled me in immediately. The prologue is both kismet-laced and deeply unnerving in context, and the opening chapters drop the reader straight into Katherine Pearson’s grief-hazed isolation with confidence. The decision to place her in the very room where her father died, paired with her self-diagnosis, emotional numbing, and subtle hints of suicidal ideation, creates a compelling and uncomfortable contrast with her professional identity as a psychologist. From the start, there’s a strong sense that something is off in the best possible way.
One of the most effective moments early on is the flower callback to the prologue. Kat’s instinctive decision to press it between the pages of her book without fully understanding why *chef's kiss*. That sense of déjà vu and subconscious recognition was beautifully handled and genuinely memorable.
That said, Act 1 struggled with pacing and emotional distance for me. Much of the early narrative relies heavily on internal monologue and sequential reporting—I did this, I thought this, here’s a reminder that I’m struggling—which caused momentum to stall. Rather than letting us see Kat through action, choice, and interaction, the story often tells us who she is, either through her own narration or how Bea talks about her to her. As a result, I found myself feeling oddly detached from her, despite the intimacy of the POV.
There are also noticeable gaps in where and when we’re allowed access to Kat’s life, particularly her professional world, which initially felt disorienting. I wondered if this was intentional, perhaps a way of positioning readers to observe only what Kat’s stalker can observe? However, the lack of early context clues about the intersection of Kat's work and her personal trauma made it harder to fully understand the roots of her nightmares, her fixation on death, or the depth of unease surrounding her living alone.
When Zayn’s POV enters the story, everything sharpens. Chapter 6 was a turning point for me and easily the strongest chapter in Act 1. Zayn feels fully realized, grounded, and purposeful, and through his eyes, Kat finally comes into focus as a more dimensional character. His chapters consistently felt more engaging, and the chemistry, banter, and tension between them began to feel earned once both perspectives were regularly in play.
Act 2 benefits from increased momentum. The danger escalates, the stalker threats clarify, and the dynamic between Kat and Zayn becomes genuinely compelling. Their irritation, attraction, and mutual pull are well done here. However, much of the plot and romantic tension resolves a bit too quickly. I found myself wishing certain moments had more time to simmer, while other scenes lingered without adding forward motion which created an uneven sense of urgency.
The final act is where the story felt most rushed. While the comeuppance and reveals are satisfying in concept, key moments unfold too quickly to fully land. Several revelations raised questions I wanted more time with, rather than answers delivered at speed.
From a craft/style perspective, the prose sometimes lacks rhythmic variation, leaning heavily into straightforward subject–action sentence construction, which occasionally hindered immersion. Dialogue formatting and pacing also made some scenes harder to follow, requiring rereads to reorient speakers and emotional beats. The story has all the right elements, but finessing the connective tissue between those beats would allow tension to fully build before release and draw the reader in deeper.
That said, In Your Head is undeniably compelling. It checks many of the boxes dark romance readers look for: an obsessive, morally gray MMC; psychological tension; kink-forward intimacy; and layered danger beyond the romance itself. Despite my challenges with pacing and immersion, I was desperate to know what happened next—to Kat, to Zayn, and to the secrets buried beneath her father’s death—and that speaks to the strength of the premise and the pull of the story.
TL;DR: An addictive debut with an intriguing premise, an excellent MMC POV, and genuine dark romance appeal—but uneven pacing and rushed resolutions kept it from fully delivering on its potential for me.