Racism, Classism, Microaggressions, Adultery, Alcoholism, Discrimination, Sexism

Ghanaian-American, Queer, Panic Attacks/Mental Health

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Valentine PR, Gallery Books, and Nana Malone for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Oh boy, I have not written a full length review in a long time, and I’m so glad that I get to write one for this book! I got through this one so quickly and I absolutely loved it! Let’s see where to start.

One of the things that I really liked about this book is that even though Cole made sure to call people out on their bullshit. Seriously, whenever someone made some microaggressive comment towards Ofosua that had no merit at all, no matter if it was a friend, coworker, or family member, he made sure to call them out. I think there was maybe one instance where he didn’t call out his uncle, who was the head of Drake Publishing, since his aunt was more in the background, and he really should have… but Ofos made sure to tell him so. It made me really appreciate that Cole was not taking his privilege for granted and not just sitting back and saying “well, what am I supposed to do?!” or have some sort of weaponized incompetence coupled with his ignorance.

I also appreciated that Ofos was clear in that she already deals with that kind of behavior from so many people every single day at any given time, that she’s tired of having to deal with the emotional labor of teaching people how to behave correctly. It shouldn’t fall to her, and I agree. As a Black woman myself, who knows what she’s going through and has had to deal with that, and has also been told that I should stand up for myself and educate people on how they should behave, I’m over it! So I appreciate Ofos for standing her ground on that once she felt comfortable enough to do so with Cole – because she really didn’t need to until she trusted him – and for Cole seeing that and accepting it without fighting her on it.

Something that Ofos had to deal with that hit close to home for me was when her wedding was cut short because her groom was caught cheating with someone else. Well, she heard him getting sexual with someone else but didn’t see who it was with, and even though he was at fault, the rest of the Ghanaian community seemed to make it her problem because she “wasn’t satisfying her husband” or whatever. I was so angry for Ofos with all she had to go through, and was so glad that she was able to get her divorce even though it took eight whole months – which we didn’t get to really see, but we know it took that long. I was proud of her for standing her ground on that, and even though it was embarrassing for her family and they felt “shame”, she didn’t allow that to dictate her being in a bad marriage where she and her would-be husband wouldn’t be happy.

It’s also been a few days since I last read this book and I’ve since been reading some other books but for the most part, this has to be one of my favorite books of the year. I loved both Ofosua and Cole, even though I think I love Ofosua more. I loved Ofosua’s cousin and her roommates, I feel like they were a really great support network for her and helped her get through things even though she was at odds with her mom on some things. I also really liked that once Ofos and Cole actually became a working team, they worked really well together and he supported her as the Editor of her own imprint. I kind of wish that he fought his uncle to keep the name of her imprint, but overall, how this book ended was actually really great. Loved this story and I loved Malone’s voice in this book.