I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Siya Kumar is done with liars.

Part of the reason Siya joins her school’s mock trial team is to honor the memory of her mother, a lawyer who was killed in a car accident when Siya was just ten years old. Her mom always told her that the truth is like a flame that burns away lies.

When Raj Raghavan, varsity soccer star and mock trial co-captain, seems interested in Siya, it feels too good to be true. Everything is golden until an overnight team bonding session, when Siya accidentally gets locked in a room with another guy until dawn. Even though Siya swears nothing happened, she doesn’t feel like Raj believes her.

At the same time, the details of the mock trial case are suspiciously similar to the circumstances of her mom’s death—which leads Siya to wonder if it was really just a car accident that took her mother’s life.

Short and Sweet Review

Siya has always wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a lawyer, so joining her school’s mock trial team feels like the perfect way to honor her memory. But when the team’s new case starts looking eerily similar to the car accident that killed her mother years ago, Siya begins questioning whether her mother’s death was really an accident. At the same time, she’s navigating a new romance with her mock trial co-captain, complicated family relationships, and the realization that the people she trusts might not be telling her the whole truth.

I really enjoyed this book. The combination of mock trial, mystery, family drama, and romance made for a really engaging story, but what stood out to me most was Siya’s relationship with her mother and the way grief is woven throughout the entire book. Siya has spent years trying to honor the memory of her mom, and watching her start to question everything she thought she knew about her death was such an interesting part of her journey. I enjoyed the mock trial aspect of the story. I don’t know a whole lot about mock trial, so I liked getting to see the preparation, competition, and drama that comes with being on the team. The actual case becoming connected to Siya’s personal life made those scenes even more interesting because it wasn’t just a competition anymore, it became a search for answers about her own family. The family dynamics were another highlight for me. Siya’s relationship with her father and older sister added another layer to the mystery because she slowly starts realizing that the adults in her life aren’t necessarily as straightforward as she once believed. I liked that part of Siya’s growth. She’s getting older and beginning to understand that the people she looks up to are complicated and flawed, and sometimes the truth isn’t as simple as she wants it to be. I loved the way Hindu mythology was incorporated into the story. The connections to Rama and Sita fit really naturally with the themes of love, loyalty, truth, and grief, and I thought it added something meaningful to Siya’s story without taking over the plot. The cultural elements also gave the book a lot of personality and made it feel different from other YA mysteries I’ve read. The romance with Raj was cute, although it wasn’t my favorite part of the book. I liked watching Siya experience her first real relationship and figure out what she wanted, but I found myself much more invested in her friendships, family relationships, and the mystery surrounding her mother. Still, the romance fit well into the overall story and gave Siya another relationship to navigate as she was trying to figure out who she could trust. My biggest complaint was that a lot of the characters felt almost too perfect. Everyone seemed incredibly driven, accomplished, and capable of balancing school, extracurriculars, and everything else happening in their lives. It sometimes made the characters feel a little less relatable, especially for a YA story. Thankfully, the book does acknowledge this in a way that helped make it feel more intentional.

Overall, Such Great Heights was a thoughtful and emotional YA mystery that balanced grief, family, romance, and the search for truth really well. I especially loved watching Siya grow from someone who wanted to see her mother as a perfect hero into someone who could understand her as a real person with flaws and complicated choices. The mystery kept me invested, but it was Siya’s emotional journey that ultimately made the book stand out for me.