SYNOPSIS

Azere is on another bad date set up by her mother, who is pushing for her to get married to a Nigerian man. After all, she’s 25 and getting older. After the date, Azere spots someone at the bar. He comes over and they talk all night. She learns he’s in town for a job interview. The night ends with her in his hotel room for a one night stand.

A month or so later, the same man, Rafael, pops up at Azere’s job. Turns out he is her new coworker.

What could happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

This is a standalone romance book written in the first person. We get both Rafael and Azere’s perspective, but most of the book is from Azere’s perspective.

Azere is the oldest daughter in a Nigerian family living in Canada. As a child, she felt she had to be obedient to set an example for her younger sister and is always trying to please her mother. Her father passed away when she was young and she made a promise to him to marry a Nigerian man. Her mother constantly reminds her of this promise and it is why Azere keeps going on dates with men her mother sets her up with, men she isn’t interested in.

This book revolves around an unplanned pregnancy. Azere finds out after the first few chapters and it surprised me because I didn’t know that was what this book was about. On top of being unwed at twenty five, a crime to her mother, she is pregnant, and fighting her attraction and feelings towards her coworker, who she had a one night stand with before they knew he’d be her coworker, all while trying to be a good daughter and uphold the promise she made to her parents.

Azere was in a lose-lose situation and coping by ignoring her own feelings and wants. Putting those aside for so long, eventually causes her to blow up from the pressure, and I understand the decisions she made. The third act break up hurt me, but Azere was going through a lot internally.

There may be a tiny bit of instalove in the beginning, but the book also gives fate and invisible strings by the end. I loved Rafael and Azere together, even when Azere was fighting her feelings and Rafael wouldn’t open up.

This book is sad, tense, and funny, with twists and turns that had me thinking I knew what was going to happen, only for me to be shocked as I continued reading. It got to the point where I was live reacting on Instagram, because what do you mean??

Her mother is awful, I’m sorry, and Elijah was pissing me off. He needed to take several steps back. I get why Rafael was scared to open up, but Azere sacrificed a lot, so I don’t think it was fair of him. I don’t have much to say about Rafael to be honest. Azere was the story for me.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. I loved the author’s writing style and I can’t believe it took me this long to actually sit down and read it because once I did, I was hooked.