Of Kith and Kin: Chronicles of the Threlphax Book 4 by Laura Lee Dooley follows Tae-hee, a nurse at the Community Care Hospital, who encounters her supposedly dead twin brother on a bus after almost a decade. She never thought she would see Tae-soo ever again, but when a strange man sits next to her on the bus, everything she knows falls apart. What’s even stranger is that the man looks and sounds nothing like her brother but knows everything he did. Could this man really be her brother, and if so, why does he look nothing like the person she remembers?

Of Kith and Kin by Laura Lee Dooley is definitely a unique story that follows twin beings known as threlphax. Dooley explores the nature of these beings and their unknown abilities through Tae-soo, now known as Kit. I found the story development from Kit swapping bodies to his eventual romance with Jong to be riveting. I felt as though Dooley kept me on my toes with every page. Kit’s journey of rediscovery and adaptation is filled with emotion, while Tae-hee’s skepticism and eventual acceptance create a heartfelt tension that drives the narrative. Jong-hyun and Sameer each bring their level of depth and contrast to the story, highlighting different aspects of trust, friendship, and love. The relationships are genuine and emotionally resonant, and the stakes feel personal as much as fantastical. Overall, I found this to be such an engrossing read, and despite this being the fourth book in the series, I easily read it as a standalone.

~  Miche Arendse