When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other...
Description taken from Goodreads.
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This book was totally a 'bookstagram made me do it' book. I'd seen so many reviews of it on bookstagram, and so when I saw it for £1 in a secondhand bookshop, I knew I had to buy it and give it a try.
And I have to say, I'm quite disappointed. I was really excited to read a dark thriller set somewhere different, but it didn't really live up to my expectations. The book was fast-paced and easy to read, but I found the plot didn't have an awful lot of depth, and the characters weren't particularly likeable. It's a real shame, because I was really hoping to enjoy it, but it just wasn't for me.
Rating: ✫✫
The Story
When I first started reading, things were looking good. It's a really fast-paced read that is delivered in short bursts, and that made it incredibly easy to read. Even though I wasn't particularly enjoying it, I still managed to finish the whole book with ease in just two days. I also did think that the tone of the book made it feel original. It had a very dark tone to the story that wasn't unwelcome, but I really don't think the pros of this book were made the most of.
I had two main problems with the book; the first being that the story had very little to it, and was therefore unexciting and predictable, and the second being that the few characters included were not likeable at all. These are two things that really bother me when I'm reading, so this did bring my enjoyment down quite a lot.
The plot just had absolutely nothing to it outside of the bare bones of the story. There was no sub-plot, and events happened very predictably, were written about bluntly, and had very little creativity in them. I would have liked to have seen some more meat to the plot to fill it out a little, and there was definitely space for it! I think the plot had some serious potential, and making more of it would have done wonders for my enjoyment when reading.
There are also only a couple of characters of note in the book, and those we do get to know are not very likeable, not very well drawn, and have very little development from the beginning to the end of the book. I don't understand how everything can end up exactly the same from start to finish; there was just very little point in it at all. If I felt like this was a specific plot maneouvre to make some sort of point, I wouldn't mind so much, but I think it was down to the writing. It was just a little careless in my mind. I really wanted to enjoy it, but I found too many things that bothered me.
The Verdict
Fairly early on, I knew this book was not going to be one for me. The plot was minimal, there was very little to get your teeth into, and the characters weren't particularly likeable.
However, I do think a lot of this is down to taste. I know a lot of people who really enjoyed this book and took a lot more away from it than I ever could. At the end of the day, it just wasn't for me.
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