Hello!
Welcome to another review!
I read this book a while ago and I absolutely loved it, I cannot stop talking about it. If you are looking for something to add to your summer TBR, then you have found the right book. As it is mental health awareness month, this is also a fantastic book to pick up for this month.
Review
We follow Maddie who has been taking care of her father who is living with advanced stage Parkinson’s because her mother is always in Ghana. We get the impression that Maddie has had to be both the mother, wife, daughter and caretaker in the household (I can see how she is able take on these roles when even as a child she has been called Maame – Mother). I am sure that any firstborn girl in an African home can understand this responsibility. She currently has an unfulfilling job with a boss that constantly belittles her. Her ‘overbearing’ mother is constantly telling her that she should make plans to get married or at least go on dates (which she cannot go on because she has to take care of her father).
With her mother’s planned arrival back to the UK, Maddie decides move out to live on her own and start dating. So on this journey we watch her lose her job, get her first boyfriend, have sex for the first time, have a racist boyfriend, get into the world of online dating (I know, the horror), start a job she likes and get undermined and her ideas stolen and then the big one happens – her father dies unexpectedly.
She blames both her mother who she believes was out with her new boyfriend, and her brother who never comes home – and importantly, she blames herself for leaving her father (on his birthday) to her mother who never seem to care about him. This series of events really makes Maddie spiral and had to get some therapy. I love our dissecting her name and relationship with her family was discussed during the sessions. You unearth things that you are even unaware of !.Her mother, of course is not support of this because the only one who can heal, obviously, is Jesus! – The mother, obviously needs therapy herself. I really enjoyed reading how Maddie’s relationship with her mother really developed over the course of this book, lot of boundary created and I loved that for her. Believe me, African mothers can indeed suck your soul believing that it is love. Anyways, I was happy to read about her relationship with Alex who was bisexual and how that really shaped the way she came into the relationship – also having an open an honest conversation about sex was quite to see.
And finally, of course, we all love Sam. He is good with his tongue, if you know what I mean. I love her for her. She also had some really good and solid friends who were always there supporting her
Anyways, this was a deeply moving story of self-growth, complexity of relationships & love and the importance of friendship. This book was very easy to read, I basically binged it in one night and I am sure you will love it too.
Rating
I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars
Thanks for reading