I'm Not Done With You Yet is a Psychological Thriller by Jesse Sutanto (Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers, The Obsession) that was published in 2023.
Jane is unhappy. Since graduating from college, she's gotten married to Ted and writes full-time, but nothing has worked out the way she wanted or hoped. She's still haunted by memories of her exchange year at Oxford, where she fell in love with the brilliant and beautiful Thalia Ashcroft. However, when their friendship spiralled out of control, Jane left Oxford forever and lost Thalia.
Until now. Jane opens her computer to see that Thalia is a New York Times bestseller with her majorly successful debut novel, A Most Pleasant Death. When she finds out that Thalia is going to a book conference, Jane vows to be reunited with Thalia - no matter what.
I'm not done with these tropes yet
- Accidental Misnaming: To emphasize that she's Beneath Notice, characters keep accidentally calling Jane "Janice" and/or "Janet."
- Always Someone Better: This is how Jane feels all the time. Thalia is more beautiful than she is and overtakes her with a single book. Her particular target is Ani, who threatens to replace her as Thalia's potential best friend, and is also Asian, but is the child of Indonesian billionaires.
- But Not Too Black: Ethnically ambiguous, anyway. Thalia is considered extremely beautiful and unlike the half-Chinese Jane and the Indonesian Ani, Thalia is described as being wholly ethnically ambiguous.
- Ivy League for Everyone: Thalia and Jane met at Oxford and a huge part of the book is flashbacks to this time. Downplayed, in that Jane went to community college before doing an exchange year for her Masters at Oxford.
- Moral Sociopathy: Deconstructed and ultimately subverted. Jane is convinced that she's a sociopath, despite some strong moral positions (for example, she despises Antoine, is very protective of Thalia, and is appalled when she learns that Antoine attempted to rape Thalia, at the point of being willing to sacrifice herself. When Ted convinces her to talk to a therapist about it, her therapist points out that Jane is not a sociopath because of her strong moral convictions, and that what she mistook for sociopathy is actually severe social anxiety.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Naturally, since it's a book about writing and publishing. Jane and Thalia are both authors.
- Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: Name-checked. When Ted asks Jane if he should get a lawyer for her after Kurt's murder, she says that only guilty people call their lawyers.
- Self-Defense Ruse: Thalia kills Antoine and then claims that he attempted to rape her. Jane genuinely believes that it was self-defense, which catches up with her when she gets interrogated about it ten years later.
- Token Black Friend: Token Asian friend. Ani is Indonesian, while Jane is half-Chinese, and both compete to be the best friend of the (white) Thalia. It isn't abundantly clear if it's Jane's head or if Thalia really does only want one Chinese friend to make herself look more exotic.
