I cannot express to you how much I enjoyed this book. From the 2nd person narration, to the very timely criticisms of Big Tech all wrapped up in a thriller-esq story that had me laughing, on the edge of my seat, and also gasping at different twists and turns. Genuinely really really appreciate getting the ARC copy of this book because if I'm honest, I can't stop thinking about it. I've already told many friends they need to check it out when it comes out. I already want to go back and reread it!

In Who Knows You By Heart, C.J. Farley delivers a searing narrative that tackles identity, race, and reality in the age of artificial intelligence.

Octavia Crenshaw — aka “Big O” — is a Jamaican-American coder barely scraping by in NYC, drowning in grief and debt after losing both parents and inherits huge unpaid bills. When she reluctantly accepts a job at the mysterious tech giant Eustachian Inc., she’s thrust into a world of slick slogans, microaggressions, and surreal workplace culture.

What starts as a paycheck quickly unravels into something sinister. As Octavia navigates corporate absurdity and coded bias, she uncovers a dangerous truth about what Eustachian is really building and collecting and who it's willing to silence.

Farley fuses biting wit with sharp insights to expose the racial blind spots of the tech industry and the eerie power of AI to manipulate not just our data, but our sense of self.

An urgent, thought-provoking read you won’t forget.
#WilliamMorrow #WhoKnowsYouByHeart #CJFarley

Who Knows You by Heart shines with its sharp exploration of AI, identity, and Big Tech, anchored by Octavia, whose personal stakes made me root for her even as her choices frustrated me at times . The second‑person narrative is immersive—occasionally jarring, but it grows on you, reinforcing the emotional intimacy of her journey. The book tackles timely ethical questions and workplace culture in a predominantly white tech landscape, but the pacing slows in its midsection and the occasional crude language felt unnecessary. Despite these flaws, its emotional core and thoughtful commentary make it a solid 3-star read with plenty to ponder.

I enjoy a good workplace novel and this one delivers. Has a bit of The Circle and also a bit The Other Black Girl in parts.

C. J. Farley’s Who Knows You by Heart is a brilliant and timely exploration of identity, technology, and the complexities of modern life. Through the lens of Octavia Crenshaw, a Jamaican-American coder in Manhattan, Farley delves into the challenges of navigating the tech industry as a Black woman. The novel is a masterful blend of social commentary, thriller, and romance, offering readers a thought-provoking narrative that is both engaging and insightful.

This was one of those book descriptions that made me push aside the 20 books I currently have (that are publishing before this book) on my NetGalley shelf. Sorry. Not sorry.
The main character Octavia isn’t easy to understand. I don’t mean because of her words, but more for the choices she makes. It begins with her needing a job… Desperately. Why she left her last job is, well a story itself that will be revealed.
Octavia now applies for a job at Eustachian. A company that is notoriously hard to even get an interview. She does get interviewed and she does get the job. However, it is not the dream position she may have imagined.
I am not going to say more about the plot (the description does an outstanding job of that). I will say the pace changed often throughout the book. At least it felt that way to me. What started as a treadmill read turned into a couch read and had me flipping back more than once to reread sections. I could not help but root for Octavia even when some of her choices frustrated me. It was an eye-opening read highlighting many many real-world issues.

Who Knows You by Heart by C.J. Farley is a book about the consequences of the involvement of Artificial Intelligence in storytelling. This book showcases the hard reality many young professionals (like myself) face while trying to stick to their moral compass while also trying to earn a living in a capitalist system. This is a witty, referential, and relatable book that follows a flawed character trying to do the best she can with the information she has.

A quote from the book that hooked me early on: “You can feel the Y chromosomes coming alive in all your lady cells. CRISPR technology ain’t got shit on you.”

At times, this book felt as if I was sitting down with my friend, chatting about the intricacies of navigating predominantly white spaces. Other times, it felt like I was sitting down for a lecture in a seminar I did not remember signing up for.
I wish the book dove deeper into the sci-fi aspects of the story.

Thank you to William Morrow for providing this book for review via NetGalley.

Recently, I’ve been interested in books and articles about AI. I thought this one had promise and that I would enjoy it based on the description. Well, in my honest opinion, that wasn’t the case.

The book is written in the second person POV which was very off-putting and not a style I liked. I got somewhat used to it in the parts that move quickly, however, most of the book was slow paced. There were several crude passages and more than needed f-bombs that didn’t add anything to the story and seemed out of place and just tossed in for some effect.

The main character, Octavia, is a minority (Jamaican American) woman working in the very white male tech world. The references to the tech company where she works give the appearance of alluding to Amazon and Twitter. It will make you think about how these companies collect information and the ethical questions that go with that.

Octavia develops well-founded suspicions about the corporation. She stays for the big paycheck, which is needed as some of her past is revealed. It was hard to get past some of her questionable decisions. Octavia collaborates with the other Black coder, Wallcott, on a secret project that aims to eliminate inherent gender and race bias. Romantic sparks fly between them. I won’t spoil the twist at the end in case you choose to read this book. You can decide if it’s believable. I pushed through and finished this book to be able to give an honest review as I promised.

Thank you to William Morrow for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I seem to be on a tear when it comes to reading dark AI stories. But here we are…

After a disastrous chatbot as a newsletter deployment in a non-profit our main character, Octavia is on the hunt for a new job. She lands an interview and role at one of the biggest auditory tech companies on the planet. After she aces a scoring algorithm, that is. And by ace, I mean she brute force cracks it by acting like an overcompensating white man. Gee, who knew unchecked and unethical tech could all go so wrong. (Me. I knew.)

This entire novel is told in second person. It was jarring at first but I found myself immersed quickly and didn’t notice it. It’s clear the issues with tech companies, data collection, and AI are the main threads here and you can tell the author spent time as a minority in tech. The scars run deep. It has some deep philosophical moments that had me examining my own career and impact. And I learned a lot about contributions from Black innovators and writers that I didn’t know or only knew the whitewashed version of, which was pretty cool. It’s often eloquent and beautiful as Octavia struggles with grief after losing both her parents and her own sense of self.

But. And there is a but. It’s strangely slow for being as short as it is. At the 50% mark it felt like we were getting to the wrap up and I had to double check my progress. The pacing is a little off, it felt drawn out and clunky in places it should have been picking up. The interaction with the blind old man towards the end felt out of place. Honestly, you could lose that entire interaction and still not lose anything in the narrative. And the last chapter I have serious mixed feelings about. The concept is solid but I would have loved more breadcrumbs throughout. I guessed the “twist” easily but I can’t say that is for everyone as my background as a woman in tech is a walking spoiler here.

This is more of a nitpick than anything else. For whatever reason being this is about a big tech company dealing with DEI issues has absolutely zero mentions of any South Asian representation. CJ Farley primarily focuses on Black and white, with one fairly minor Asian character. This feels like a huge miss when discussing race in a tech environment, but again this could have been sticking with their own direct experiences vs trying to be inclusive of all PoCs in tech.

Overall, it’s a solid read and I enjoyed it. Octavia made some dumb choices, owned up to them, made more trying to make it right. The frankness in how CJ Farley writes her feels authentic and real. I’d be interested in reading more from this author in the future.

From the first chapter, I could feel the emotional undercurrent pulling me in. This isn’t just a story; it’s a layered exploration of memory, grief, and that aching question we all ask: "Who really sees me?" The writing felt intimate, like the author wasn’t just telling a story but sharing a piece of their soul. The pacing was steady, with enough tension to keep me turning the page, but also those tender pauses that made me reflect on my own relationships.

I especially appreciated how the characters were messy, complicated, and real. There were moments that frustrated me, moments that cracked me open, and moments where I just sat there clutching the book to my chest.

If you’ve ever wrestled with your identity, struggled to be understood, or questioned whether love can find you even in the hardest seasons—this book will resonate. It’s not about perfect answers; it’s about the beauty of being fully known, even in your chaos.

Thank you to the author and publisher for trusting readers like me with this early glimpse. I won’t be forgetting these characters anytime soon.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC of Who Knows You By Heart by CJ Farley. The description really drew me in, and I was excited to dive into the story. While I appreciate the unique approach, the second-person narrative didn’t quite work for me, it made it harder to connect with the characters and stay engaged. That said, I really enjoyed the cultural aspects woven into the story, which added depth and richness. There were a few standout moments, and I can see what the author was trying to explore. It wasn’t a bad read, just not quite what I expected.

I am a woman in a STEM field and so the topics in this book are ones I see on a daily basis. I also felt that the AI in this book could be possible. I have read other tech books that are very unrealistic, but this one could happen. Octavia was a flawed person, but a very real person facing very real issues and losses. The loss of her job, her parents, and even the possible loss of her very self in a world where people all have ulterior motives. While she makes some choices that are not the ones I would have made, that is what makes the book great. This book is also extremely topical in a world that is trying to eliminate DEI and replace people with technology. Read this book. You might discover what makes someone human and why that is so important.

I really tried to push through reading, the cover is beautiful and story was promising but I could not get around the way it was written. I’ve never like that style of writing from that type of viewpoint. Unfortunately it was a DNF for me.

This book truly shifted my perspective on so much. This book is a thriller/mystery/social commentary/kinda love story. The title and book cover really drew me to this book, so I went in blind and I was really glad I did.

I appreciated all the pop culture and historical references and I also thought that the DEI of it all worked, especially in the current climate we’re in. I think a lot of people would benefit from reading his book. I will say it was definitely a slow burn, and the middle was a little hard to get through. But once you get to the ending it’s a page turner for sure.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!

I love the plot and the fact that this story talks about a Jamaican American woman. Her story is relatable but not so much that it makes the story flat. Octavia’s job definitely has a refreshing feel because it’s not a common one in my life. I like that her job is just one of the many focal points of the story. The reader also gets to explore her life and her background. There was a great deal of pacing in this story but I did get confused on the second half which leads me to loosing interest. The point of view did throw me off but I could get past that for the story itself. There was a little too much information on her job in the second half and to reiterate I found myself lost and uninterested. I think I’d need to read more from this author because I believe they could be one I add in rotation.

I had a hard time getting into this book. It’s a slow burn and written in second person. I can do one or the other but definitely not both. I found all the tech and AI references harder to connect with just because I’m not in that world.
You have to be locked into several different niches to read and grasp this entire book.
I finished it for the sake of finishing it but I wouldn’t recommence it to anyone.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Artificial intelligence is the new wave of technological advancement with tech companies all over the world fighting for the right to be the first, the best, and the fastest. But at what cost? Who Knows You by Heart is an intellectual treat that broke open my biases, educated my cultural outlook, and snagged at my heart with a gripping plot that kept twisting and turning.

I immensely appreciated C. J. Farley's take on black culture and how it translated to being black in the tech world. The context of "Technoaggressions" provided a level of relatability that I appreciated. Farley just seemed to "get it," what it is like being black in a profession dominated by people who do not look like what you see in the mirror. I that regard, this was a rewarding read.

I will say, though, the narration was a bit clunky with so many references. I appreciate the ode to those who paved the way, however; the quantity and placement of the references was a bit distracting for my reading flow.

Overall, I do recommend Who Knows You by Heart. It simulated my intellect at every page, and it gave me introductions to key cultural pillars. For that, I am truly appreciative.

As a black woman in the corporate world the description of this book drew me in. However, I think the way this story was written has done a disservice to it. This story gave me a similar energy to Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, that took a peek into the publishing industry. Who Knows You By Heart is meant to be this look into being Black in the corporate world and a look into the Tech world as well.

The story is told in 2nd person POV , which is a unique tool to tell this story. While i am typically a fan of this POV, I think the story was diluted by this. I was never able to fully immerse and connect with the story. Another contributor to this, was the little anecdotes of other stories to try and build this weird corporate world or explain a reason Octavia did something. These felt very stream of consciousness and i was never sure if this was something Octavia was thinking or just stories. These stories were abundant and very long winded so they would take me out of the tale being spun.

The way that people didn’t get there actually names also confused me throughout and i wish they were just created as real people so we could relate to them this way. I just wanted more out of this story in many ways. Maybe I was not the target audience and that is okay!

Overall, I liked the premise of this story! I enjoyed the technoaggressions and related to them heavily. The play on names was funny. I liked Octavia even if she was a little slow to understanding the situation she was in.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a quick read and overall enjoyable. Slow burn with the pace picking up at the end. I am not a huge fan of second person pov. But overall a good read. Theme/pot was good and the pacing was good. I enjoyed the characters.