Category: romance

african author, african stories, Black Authors, Fiction, LGBT, literary fiction, Nigerian Author, romance, We Chit Chat

We Chit Chat – Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh

twonightstands

“It’s one thing to love a child, but it’s an entirely different thing for the same child to feel loved. A home is the last place a child should feel conditionally loved.”

Leggy: I remember seeing this book months ago on Bookstagram. An Asian content creator popped up on my feed talking about this book and I sent it to you and suggested we read this.

Taynement: Yep! It was a book by a Nigerian author being spoken about by a non-Nigerian and it piqued my interest because something I always talk about is wondering how people who aren’t familiar with the culture digest books about Nigeria.

Leggy: This book follows Obiefuna, who was born into a lower middle-class family in Nigeria. His peculiarities make him the black sheep of his family and when his father finds him in an intimate position with another boy, he ships him off to seminary school.

Taynement: To be clear – his peculiarities to them were the fact that he loved to dance and wasn’t particularly good at sports but in reality, he was gay. Obiefuna was a rainbow baby after his mother suffered many losses. He turned out to be a golden child, and his parents attributed their successes to his birth, and he held a special place in his mother’s heart. His father makes the sole decision to ship him off after finding him in a compromising position with a male apprentice without letting his mother know the reason why.

Leggy: This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I think what makes it so impactful is how quiet and not exaggerated it is. Every time I thought the author was going to make an outrageous choice he always chose something different. And I think the quiet choices make this book even more powerful because you recognize the characters. You know this would absolutely happen in Nigeria. There’s no exaggeration to pull you out of the story and other Obiefuna’s humanity.

Taynement: Yes, it was very realistic, and I agree that it was quiet and not exaggerated. It’s funny because some other books that I have as my faves this year share those same characteristics.

Leggy: What did you think about his experience in boarding school?

Taynement: I think it was true to form. I chuckled when his dad chose that as a form of punishment because it was almost predictable that he would explore his sexuality there. I would say though that I had my heart in my throat the entire time because I kept expecting him to be raped especially when he built a connection with Senior Papilo.

Leggy: Exactly. I was like sending your son to an all-boys school because he’s gay is a choice. That’s something I loved about this book. I thought Senior Papilo was going to rape him as well but that never happened. The author never made any shocking choices and that choice would have been expected.

Taynement: But again, another reason I liked this book is also showing how flawed our parents’ generation was in parenting. They just did not have the tools. His dad thought he was doing his best. Another way that this manifested in the book is when Uzoamaka (Obiefuna’s mother) visited the hospital with Anozie (Obiefuna’s father) and the nurse makes the comment about him being a good man because he accompanied her to the hospital when most men wouldn’t. Anozie loved his family, and he was showing up for his wife.

Leggy: I do believe Anozie genuinely loved his family. He even tried to hide the fact that he found out Obiefuna was gay from his wife because he thought it would break his wife’s heart. When they finally had the discussion in the open and she told him where else would a boy like him be loved if not at home?

Taynement: I do think certain threads were left loose or maybe I did not pick up on their usefulness to the story. The two most prominent were – Ekene’s (Obiefuna’s brother) plot purpose and when Senior Papilo takes him to a brothel.

Leggy: I think Ekene served as a juxtaposition to Obiefuna.

Taynement: I get that, but I don’t know if it was well done. The juxtaposition didn’t seem to have any effect on Obiefuna? Basically, if he was left out of the story would it have affected my understanding of Obiefuna?

Leggy: It was because of him that Obiefuna even came in contact with any traditional masculine things. He would have never gone to the football field if Ekene did not exist. Also, even though Ekene was not that smart he was left in the private school while Obiefuna was moved to seminary school because of his gayness leading the private school to have a meeting with Uzoamaka inquiring why Obiefuna was moved.

Leggy: I also expected Obiefuna’s brother to turn on him at some point because he was portrayed as so macho and being complete opposite of him, but they actually stayed closer than I expected them to. When Obiefuna comes back from holiday and Ekene sings for him to dance. I thought that was such a touching scene.

Taynement: The scene where he tells Obiefuna to dance, do you think it was him acknowledging it? Ekene just seemed to be in the dark about a lot of things.

Leggy: I absolutely think he knew. And I think that scene was a way for him to acknowledge it without having that conversation especially from someone considered traditionally masculine. He was never going to confront it head on.

Leggy: Also, about Senior Papilo taking him to a brothel, honestly, I thought Papilo was gay the way he gathered all those young boys to himself, the way he treated them and the way they competed for his attention. So, when the brothel happened, I was confused. I was actually relieved that the boys just went to a brothel. I genuinely thought they were leaving the school to do something more sinister like armed robbery and that Obiefuna was going to get caught up in it. I was so relieved that that wasn’t the case that I didn’t even think about the brothel anymore. But I think it speaks to how straight men initiate younger boys into what they believe manhood is.

Taynement: Interesting. I do think Papilo is gay but wasn’t going to “give into it”. Papilo is one of those Nigerian men who will marry a woman and live a straight life and a part of me wondered if he was giving Obiefuna an out by taking him to the brothel.

Taynement: And something that struck me was up until the end of the book had Obiefuna actually had sex? He mentions touching and rubbing and we never really going into the nitty gritty of his relationship with the artist.

Leggy: They never described his actual sexual relationship with the artist. Only that he did a lot of drugs with him and I was so worried because obviously Obiefuna was depressed and grieving and I was worried about the path he was heading down. But he never had actual penetrative sex with the long-term boyfriend that comes after the artist.

Taynement: Overall, I think that is the beauty of this book. It was written so well, and it maneuvered from topic to topic so deftly and the story just flowed.

Leggy: This book culminates with the 2014 law that criminalized gay relationships with a hefty 14-year sentence. That was devastating to read about.

Taynement: It was a good balance of reality. I liked the fact that Obiefuna found a community because they do exist in Nigeria.

Leggy: And then when one of his friends was kitoed. By the way, this is an actual thing that happens in Nigeria and that’s when straight men pose as gay men on dating apps to lure gay men out and then they get beaten up, videos are made of them confessing to be gay and then they are robbed while law enforcement looks the other way.

Taynement: All in all, this was a fantastic, well-written book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Leggy: Such a fantastic book. I loved it so much and it was an easy read.

Book Related Topics, Fiction, Historical, LGBT, literary fiction, Memoirs, romance, women's fiction

3 for 1 Book Reviews

twonightstands

It’s been a minute, so figured I’d do a three-fer before the year runs out. The reviews features a beloved author, a memoir and a Booker Prize winner.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid: If you have been a long time reader of the blog then you know how much I love me some TJR, in fact I ranked all her books here. I was excited to read this one but it pains me to say that it didn’t hit the way the other books did. One of the things I like about TJR as an author is how versatile she is and how she doesn’t have a formulaic writing style. This one centered around Joan who is an astronaut. Based in the 80’s it showed how she had to fight to be recognized in her field but it was also a book about Joan’s sexuality at a time when she couldn’t necessarily be loud and proud. In hindsight, seeing how much praise this book has received, I am wondering if I’m the problem. Now don’t get me wrong, the book was not bad at all but I do think it was all over the place. There were so many storylines and timelines and didn’t seem well put together as is typical of TJR. It took me a minute to get all the characters right and remember their respective timelines. It also felt like I was being forced or told what to feel and I’d rather it be organic.

Flesh by Davis Szalay: FOMO got the best of me, and I had to see what all the fuss was about and even after reading it, I still don’t get it. Listen y’all, I am trying to get used to this new wave of abstract writing. The book follows Istvan from when he was a teenager in Hungary where he experiences something traumatic and then we follow him to London as he gets older and lives a completely different life, almost as if the incident never happened. As he gets older and has all these different experiences, I keep thinking they would have some connection to each other but the more there didn’t seem to be one, the more confused I got about what the point was. I do think it is a very character driven book (which aren’t usually my favorite) so that could be the explanation for that but if the character didn’t seem to be processing all the things that were happening to him and doesn’t seem to care, it’s very hard for us the readers to be invested and care as well. The ending felt like walking into a glass door because I didn’t realize that was the end. It was very abrupt. Someone needs to explain to me why this was the winner of the prize.

Accidentally on Purpose by Kristen Kish: Kristen from Top Chef fame wrote a memoir and she is such a lovely person (and a hottie) and that was probably most people’s motivations for reading this book and unfortunately it was just okay. I know everyone wants to write a memoir but if you are not willing to be VERY open or share salacious details then it’s okay to just leave it in your journal. Kristen does the thing where you share but you aren’t really sharing anything. Even when she gets to certain points, she doesn’t name names. You do get the sentiment of the title where it feels like everything just fell into place for her in her career, even though she has the talent, there was still a great deal of luck on her side, and I appreciate her owning that because sometimes successful people feel like admitting luck diminishes their hard work. I also liked how she admitted not having a desire to find her bio parents (she is adopted) and not really looking into her Korean roots until later in life. Kristen does share her deep love for her wife, and you can see it come through. There is a point in the book where she is talking about her and we hear sniffles and honestly, it felt put on (don’t hate me!). I don’t think there should be one formula for a chef’s memoir, but I will say that there wasn’t that deeeeeep passion for food that you usually hear from other chefs, and it just seemed like something that’s part of her life. It felt like there was more of a passion for hosting (and that’s okay). I listened to this on audio. Overall, I don’t think it was terrible, but I don’t think it was very good either.

So there you have it. Have you read any of this? What did you think? Do you want to check out any of this after reading these reviews? Let me know!

Taynement

Chick-Lit, Fiction, romance, women's fiction

Book Review: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

twonightstands

“It occurs to me then that in my effort to be positive, optimistic, and understanding, I might’ve made myself into an unreliable narrator of sorts, someone who can’t easily be trusted not to sugarcoat things.”

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist who is trying to get a big break in her writing career. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning writer who wrote the biography of a very famous singer dying of cancer and is now the most sought after biography writer in the world. Margaret Ives used to be a famous tabloid star born into one of the most storied and scandalous families of the 20th century who ended up marrying a very famous rock star and then disappearing from the limelight after his death. Margaret invites Alice and Hayden for a one-month trial period at Little Crescent Island to compete to write her story after which, she will choose the person who’ll tell her story.

I was a bit hesitant to begin this one because I had come across criticism about how this one isn’t as good as the other ones, so I went into it with trepidation. A lot of people think this book should not be sold as romance but as women’s fiction because they think the romance was not the point of the book. I actually agree with them, but I also think this is why this book worked for me so much. I really enjoyed Margaret’s story a lot. I loved listening to her family’s history, how the tabloid fame came about, her sister’s story and her love life. I think balancing her story with Alice and Hayden’s interactions on the island worked for me. The mystery of why they both were selected made this book compelling to read.

Alice is the typical manic pixie optimistic female characters that we are so used to in romance books while Hayden is the typical smart and grumpy yet soft for the female, protagonist male character that we are so used to in romance books. Did I still enjoy them? Yes. But I think I enjoyed them because they were barely on the page. I enjoyed the forced proximity, the small-town temporary living, the hometown visit, and the baring their souls to each other in order to fall in love tropes. Also, Alice falls in love too quickly with Hayden and if I had to read more of their romance than what Henry gives us, I think I would have been annoyed.

Emily Henry releases a book every year and I think it might be time for her to slow down. I enjoyed this one, but I think if it was purely romance as all her other books have been, I wouldn’t have. Also, there really isn’t much to say about this book but I’m reviewing it because I have reviewed all her other books and want to stay a completist. All in all, I gave this one 3 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

african author, african stories, Black Authors, Fiction, literary fiction, romance, We Chit Chat, women's fiction

We Chit Chat: My Parents’ Marriage by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

twonightstands

Leggy – I’d never heard of this book before you asked for us to read this together. Also, I thought it was a nonfiction book about the author’s parents’ marriage, and I went into it without knowing anything about it.

Taynement – Yeah, I saw it on Instagram from a follower, and it looked interesting. I love me an African family drama plot. I found it quite interesting, not necessarily because of the writing but more from the human psychology aspect.

Leggy – I ended up finding it deeply fascinating. Also, this book is compulsively readable.

Taynement – Yes! I found it to be such an easy read.

Leggy – I started it yesterday and finished it in 24 hours. It’s hard to put down.

Taynement – The author kept it simple and didn’t overwrite it which I think you would expect because of the complexity of the subject matter. To break it down – the book centers around Mawuli Nuga and how his sexual indiscipline affected his many families, but the story is told through one of his children – Kokui and how her quest to beat the cycle of her father’s actions landed her into a different kind of cycle.

Leggy – Yes, she kept it simple and actually showed you the story, the family and the men without having to spell it out to the readers. She didn’t hit you over the head with any agenda.

Taynement – The book does start with a family tree which means nothing to you before you read the book but makes all the sense when you’re in it.

Leggy – Yeah, I skipped that family tree. It’s just like fantasy books that start with a map. I never study those. I think that if you do your job well, then I’ll know what is in the family tree or in the map after I’ve read your book.

Taynement – Like I always say when we do this, I always wonder how non-Africans ingest a book like this because it makes sense to us, but it must seem so strange and bizarre to them. Mawuli kept making babies and swapping wives like underwear with nary a thought of how they felt. We see the different ways the wives/mothers handled it with Kokui’s mother choosing to go back to her home country but choosing to still stay a legal wife for her children.

Leggy – And then accepting him as a husband once a year when he comes down with the kids for Christmas.

Taynement – While the current wife chose to ignore his indiscretions with the hope of getting his assets upon his death. Thing is, it’s so common for Africans to find out they have outside siblings that I can see how Mawuli didn’t bat an eyelid.

Leggy – Nothing about their dad even fazed me.

Taynement – Children are a sign of success.

Leggy – And he accepted and trained every single child, even the older Antony guy who he disowned. He still paid his way to London and paid his fees till he dropped out.

Taynement – The main fascination of this book was Kokui. Before we get into her, I did wonder why the author chose to make her sister a side character and not do a side by side.

Leggy – I’m glad we just focused on one person. I think a side by side might have made the book more bloated, but I also think she just wanted us to follow one person and see if the person can break the cycle.

Taynement – That’s fair. It was just a floating thought.

Leggy – It’s so easy to run your mouth about all the ways your parents are doing life wrong until you’re having to make those same choices.

Taynement – Kokui was so determined to not be her mum and thought her mum was basically an idiot which I understand, but what I didn’t understand was the swiftness in which she wanted to marry her husband. It was so immature and… idiotic?

Leggy – I actually didn’t think her mum was an idiot. I understand why her mum stayed. Her mum thought her staying would secure her children’s inheritance. Their mother told them that their dad promised her that one of the two of her girls would be appointed to run his company. She felt like she had made a shitty choice in marrying him and was trying to salvage it as best as she could. But yes, I found Kokui to be such a dumb and stupid character. I also went from not liking Boris to being as irritated as him about Kokui’s decisions and naivete.

Taynement – I think she was immature and tunnel visioned. You have to remember that she was privileged. A privileged kid who didn’t seem to realize how privileged she was. She thought her father’s indiscretions gave her a ticket to say she had a hard life. Which part annoyed you the most?

Leggy – The way she kept saying she wanted a job that would give her a spark. Like girl, you are working in New York illegally. Where would you get that job?

Taynement – Lol. Again, naive. What did you think of Boris in the NYC days?

Leggy – I understood him completely. He was being realistic about their lives. They needed to save. Also, he made the right decision not to rent an apartment for those first 6 months before they left for school but to stay on Sammy’s couch. That’s how they saved so much money. Also, Kokui staying and helping out with babysitting was always the logical thing to do.

Taynement – So even before they left for New York, I think there was an underbelly to Boris. He wanted the benefits of her dad but was uncomfortable with it.

Leggy – I felt that from the second they met. That’s why I was so annoyed by her being so fascinated with him. You could tell there was an anger at her for having an easier life. Also, her desperation to marry him and to have a better marriage than her parents was insane. I would think the more logical thing would be not to marry at all. Why did she not dread getting married? Why did she run so fast towards it?

Taynement – Indoctrination. She thinks she’s so above it all but could not fathom rebelling against the norm by just not getting married. Another aspect I found fascinating is they both disagreed on a lot of things but were on the same page when it came to kids.

Leggy – That was such a relief that they were on the same page with kids and even birth control. Imagine bringing a kid into that and overcomplicating the relationship before you’ve had a chance to figure out how it’s all supposed to work. Also, at least Boris was hardworking and smart. Honestly, my fear was that he would become abusive. That’s also why I liked this book so much. It wasn’t cliche in the way I was expecting.

Taynement – Yes, exactly. His deference to Sammy annoyed me.

Leggy – I think he was just grateful to how much Sammy helped them those first 6 months in New York City. Do you think Kokui succeeded in having a marriage better than her parents?

Taynement – I think it was too soon to tell and another tick for the author for me. I like how she didn’t make Boris bad or good and truly showed the complexities of a relationship. I was fully with Kokui wanting to leave but then her seeing that he was ambitious and was there for her through the big thing that happened, it wasn’t so clear cut. I honestly didn’t consider her parents’ marriage a marriage. It was an arrangement. At least Kokui and Boris cared for each other.

Leggy – I think it was a marriage. Remember they were together for 12 long years before the big reveal which then led to the rift that we see in the book. I agree with you about Kokui and Boris’ marriage. I like that it wasn’t black and white, it was very complex. And nobody is ever going to give you that perfect marriage. There are things that should be deal breakers and then you should just try to live with the ones that are not.

Taynement – I actually think they can make it work. They need time, maturity and money.

Leggy – Yes, I think their marriage is going to be fine. It won’t be the fairytale marriage she envisioned but it will have the messiness of what a real life actually consists of.

Taynement – Were there aspects of the book you didn’t like?

Leggy – Honestly when I started this book, I was so annoyed by the characters but after finishing it, I just felt like there was no misplaced word. All the things I thought I did not like from the beginning became a piece to the puzzle that we could not do without. I didn’t think it was the best written book ever, but it told a very simple story in a compelling way.

Taynement – Yes, the bones of the story were good enough to get away with such simple writing. Would you recommend this to someone?

Leggy – Yes but honestly probably just to other Africans.

Taynement – Ha. If we do have any non-African readers, I’d love to know your thoughts on this book.

Black Authors, Chick-Lit, Fiction, literary fiction, race, romance, women's fiction

Book Review: Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan

twonightstands

“The world isn’t designed for women like me. Women who’d rather be single literally for years than settle for a partner not worthy of her”

The third of the Skyland series, this story focuses on Hendrix Barry. Hendrix is a great friend, a good daughter, thriving in her career in the entertainment industry and is also happily single with no interest in having kids. Everything is going well until her mom is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As Hendrix is trying to adjust to this new reality she meets Maverick Bell.

Maverick Bell is a tech billionaire fresh off a public breakup from a relationship that ended because he doesn’t want any more kids. He is also still grieving the loss of his grandfather to Alzheimer’s as well. The two meet at a party hosted by his ex-girlfriend and it’s an instant connection and attraction. Seems easy but one catch is Maverick’s ex-girlfriend, Zeze have a budding friendship and is Hendrix’s business partner for an upcoming TV show. Does Hendrix stay loyal to a new friend or pursue this once in a lifetime connection? (spoiler alert: she chooses the man)

“Last night, was Maverick asking me to give up my dreams? Or asking to run with me while I chase them?”

I like Kennedy Ryan’s writing and this was no different. Ryan finds a way to infuse real life into romance with a sprinkling of steamy and a dash of fantasy living and this book is no different. As someone who doesn’t really read romance, she serves it in a way that I can digest. We get to read the book from both Maverick and Hendrix’s view point and it was good to know what the other was thinking. Ryan made sure to let us know that she had first hand experience with Alzheimer’s and I think she did a good job of showing how much this disease affects a family both from the person who has it and the caretakers involved. I appreciated how much care she took with the subject matter.

“You said being whole means acknowledging all our parts. And that there were parts of me that wanted to be held, want to be needed and loved.”

Ryan has always been consistent with her characters cherishing strong friendships where the women are always there for each other and encourage each other and I appreciate it. Another thing she did in this book was provide representation for curvy women who are confident in their body and a man who appreciated it. Hendrix is also a woman who was not opposed to being partnered and lived a full life and I liked how it was okay for her to pursue that when she met someone she considered a partner. Her choice to not have children was also good to remind people that it is possible to have that choice.

“I want you to believe that. Every love isn’t forever. We can love people along the way. Relationships can begin and then end.”

Now I liked this book and as a stand alone it is good but I think I’ll say this was the weakest of the trilogy as it was formulaic for me. I am not knocking Ryan for finding a formula that works – Protagonist meets man, there is mucho attraction, they overcome obstacles and decide to jump in, they have hot sex, there is usually an illness/death (which I know she draws from personal experience) and then they live happily ever after with lots of hot, steamy sex. But not without the love and support of good family and good friends – but by the third book the novelty has worn off for me and I know what to expect.

As with most romance novels, I think you have to suspend disbelief for certain things for the story to move along. Some may consider dating the ex of an associate a little messy but maybe the whole point was sometimes you have to be selfish and go for what you want. Overall, it’s a book with a lil’ something for everyone and it works. It’s just that I wanted to love it but only ended up liking it enough.

Taynement

Fiction, literary fiction, Mystery, romance, thriller

Book Review: All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

twonightstands

“When it comes to marriage, love is merely a visitor over a lifetime. Respect and kindness, they are the true foundations.”

It’s 1975 in Monta Clare, a small town in Missouri, and girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted and is saved by a local, partially blind boy – Patch, the lives of everyone associated with him will never be the same. Patch and those who love him, discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. Everyone’s search for answers will lead them to years of sadness and unexpected paths.

“At ten years old he realized that people were born whole, and that the bad things peeled layers from the person you once were, thinning compassion and empathy and the ability to construct a future. At thirteen he knew those layers could sometimes be rebuilt when people loved you. When you loved.”

This book was published last year, and the hype was insane. I actually requested this book from my library countless times and just never took the plunge to read it. I kept sending it back and requesting it again and again because there was something about the blurb that told me I would not enjoy it and that thing was absolutely right. This book finally checked out to me while I was away on holiday, and I finally took the plunge. It did not live up to the hype for me at all. All the characters did not feel like real people, they felt like literary characters that can only exist in a book. I don’t expect to relate to characters; I just want the author to convince me that that character exists somewhere on earth and Whitaker failed on that account for me.

“God is a first call and a last resort, from christening to death bed. In between is where faith is tested. The mundanity. Anyone can drop to their knees when they’re facing crisis, but doing it when everything is steady…”

Let me first say that this book is extremely well written. I can quote you a million lines that show you that Chris Whitaker is a damn good writer. I also think you would like this book better if you know what to expect. So, I’m going to tell you what to expect – this book is a sloooooowwwwww character driven drama. Yes, it is a mystery but it’s not a traditional mystery. This is a book about what happens after you’re saved from what could have been a terrible tragedy. Whitaker takes the scenic view to get you to the end. Which would be everything you hoped it would be, except the journey there is so circuitous and meandering that you just want it to end.

“The shrink they make me see, she taps her pencil and frowns at me. And she talks about how we construct our ideals out of our own past mistakes. And I wonder what exactly a mistake is. A thing we should not have done, right? But if learning is built on trial and error there can be no mistakes, only rungs on a ladder to someplace better.”

I never understood Saint’s motivations to do what she did. I think her whole life was dedicated to Patch and I never understood it. It felt like Saint was absolutely in love with Patch while Patch did not feel an inkling of romantic love for her. Every decision Saint took was to the service of Patch and I understand doing that when you’re young and he’s your only friend. But when Patch comes back and Saint remains utterly devoted to him, I just did not understand her motivation. Patch never did a single thing to deserve all that and it’s like the author realizes that at the end and just decides to have Patch make a stupid decision and then claim it was for Saint.

“Saint knew that for some it was written in the stars that no matter how hard they fought their road did not lead somewhere good.”

This book was 597 pages. It did not need to be this long. I gave it 3 stars purely because of the writing and its satisfying ending.

Have you heard of this one? Have you read it? What did you think of it?

Leggy

Fiction, literary fiction, romance

Book Review: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

twonightstands

“Sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can’t be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn’t their fault and it’s not yours either. You just needed something they didn’t have in them to give you.”

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties while his brother, Ivan, is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player whose career has stalled before it could even take off. In the wake of their father’s death, they each deal with this tragedy the best way they can – Peter over medicating himself and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women while Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman and becomes intensely involved with her. Rooney follows these two grieving brothers and the people they love or try to love through a period of desire, despair, possibility and growing up.

“what if life is just a collection of essentially unrelated experiences? Why does one thing have to follow meaningfully from another?”

When the blurb for this book came out, everyone went on and on about how this is Rooney stepping out of her comfort zone and writing about brothers. Actually, this is very typical Rooney, she is still exploring human sexual and romantic relationships but this time her main characters are brothers. Like all her books, people fall in love and engage in toxic relationships or less than ideal relationships so that the book suddenly becomes literary fiction instead of plain old romance. I feel, at this point, I’ve accepted that as much as Rooney annoys me, and I genuinely believe that I hate-read all her books, that she has become a must read author for me. Rooney releases a book, and I read it, she just writes books that I enjoy ranting about. I do not even know if I truly enjoy any of her books.

“Yes I would like he thinks to live in such a way that I could vanish into thin air at any time without affecting anyone and in fact I feel that for me this would constitute the perfect and perhaps the only acceptable life. At the same time I want desperately to be loved.”

This book has no quotation marks. That’s probably why you’re reading the above quote and wondering if I made a mistake, but I didn’t. There is just no quotations or commas in the entire book. I came across a clip of Rooney on Instagram in which she said she enjoys exploring different human relationships and accessing what it’s like to need people. I think that clip made me enjoy this book more and I intend to find the full interview and listen to it. Maybe if I listen to her perspective, I’d enjoy her books more. That being said, I ended up appreciating this book even though I started out completely annoyed by the structure. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between the brothers and the relationship they have with their mum. I think this is one of Rooney’s books that I’ve appreciated in a long time.

“Didn’t human sexuality at its base always involve a pathetic sort of throbbing insecurity, awful to contemplate?”

I never recommend Rooney to anybody because even though I will be the first to say that she is a fantastic writer, I still think her books are sad girl aesthetic. Her books are about nothing or about sad people being sad and having sex with each other. It is about people of a certain class, navel gazing about things the rest of the world barely thinks about. Rooney is good at fucked up relationship dynamics, but Ivan and Margaret were just cringe to me. I can’t believe Margaret listened to Ivan chatting like a 12-year-old as opposed to his 22 and still made the decision to sleep with him. Ridiculous. I liked Peter more than Ivan. I found him to be a more complex character but then Rooney decided to wrap everything up in a bow and everything was just tidied up at the end. I found that completely disappointing.

“Nobody when they’re rejected believes it’s really for extraneous reasons. And it almost never is for extraneous reasons, because mutual attraction — which even makes sense from an evolutionary perspective — is simply the strangest reason to do anything, overriding all the contrary principles and making them fall away into nothing.”

Overall, I liked this book better than I did her last offering. I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads. Am I going to read the next Rooney book? Who am I kidding? Of course!

Leggy

Best & Worst, Black Authors, celebrity memoir, Fiction, literary fiction, Memoirs, romance

Our Best and Worst Books of 2024

twonightstands

Another year of reading is coming to a close and as always, we share with you what our best and worst books of the year were.

Taynement’s Best:

“I think of Constance’s hushed voice whenever we were cleaning together. Once some things get dirty they can never be clean again and once some things are broken they can never be fixed.”

I stumbled upon this book randomly. I sometimes go to the bookstore just for a happy high and I take pictures of the featured book display and go down the list to see what is available in my library. Sugar, Baby was and from the moment I read this book it has not left my mind and that’s why it is my favorite read. I couldn’t stop gushing about it to Leggy. I love books that remind you that life isn’t black and white. I don’t think enough promo was done for this but here is my review. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Some other faves:

  • Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr (another underpromoted book, I couldn’t even find it at the bookstore. The book asks the question “What defines a mother?”. Full review here)
  • Here One Moment by Lianne Moriarty (I never thought I would have a Moriarty book on my “best of” list but here we are. Full review here)
  • How To Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair (What a memoir. Full review here)
  • A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo (Enjoyed these collection of short stories)
  • Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi (Listen, I am just as surprised as you are to see this here)

Leggy’s Best:

“In the rare hopeful hour, I tell myself this darkness has a purpose: to help me recognize light if I ever find it again.”

I heard such good things about this book when it was released in 2023 but I never got around to reading it. Finally, I cracked it open in 2024 and I understood why it was recommended so much to me. Read my full review of this one here.

Some other favorites:

  • The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I read this last month and really, really liked it. I feel like everything might have been wrapped up too neatly but I still really enjoyed my reading experience. This will probably be my first review of the new year.
  • Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Rich people being badly behaved will always have my heart in literature. You can read my review here.
  • James by Percival Everett . You can read my review here.
  • Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell. I think this is my favorite romance of the year.

Taynement’s Worst:

I tried but I couldn’t get over the premise. Maybe it is possible, but it’s hard for me to imagine that someone would fall for the identical twin brother of the person who raped and impregnated her and have that child have an Uncle/Dad relationship? I know I say life isn’t black and white but this was not it at all.

Leggy’s Worst:

This book was just badly written and just bad. This was also the only book that I gave one star this year soooo it earned its place.

Thank you so much for sticking with us this year. Let us know your best and worst books of the year in the comments. Happy Holidays, everybody!

Taynement & Leggy

Chick-Lit, Fiction, romance, women's fiction

Book Review: Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan

twonightstands

“When I’m quiet I can hear my heart yearning for impossible things. I want a perfectly pared-down home, and I want to hang on to every scrap of the past. I want a break from my kids without missing a single minute of their lives. I long for a partnership, and I long for freedom. I long to be enmeshed with someone without losing myself. I want all of it.”

Ali is trying to start living life again. It’s been two years since her mother died and one year since her husband left her. She has decided it’s time to take off her wedding ring, actually go through the divorce and start living life again. So, no one is more surprised than Ali when the first time she takes off her wedding ring, she meets someone. Ethan is completely taken by her after her dog pees on him at the dog park. After a weird ending to a first date, Ali discovers his identity and decides to have a fun summer with him and then move on. Everyone loves a summer romance: it’s always fun and ends just in time for no one to get their heart broken.

“It’s a lot easier to work through other people’s problems. I think I must be very attached to my own.”

Annabel Monaghan wrote one of my favorite romance books of 2022 – Nora Goes Off Script which we reviewed on the blog. Her follow up, Same Time Next Summer, I thought was not as good as her previous offerings. I reviewed it on Instagram when it came out last year (follow us on Instagram – nightstands2) and found it quite juvenile. I think with this her latest offering, she has returned to what I liked most about her writing in Nora Goes Off Script. I think Monaghan is at her best when her characters are matured and have lived life. She writes women who are leaving old love and meeting news ones very well. Also, she writes kids really well. The kids in her book are never annoying or obnoxious in a way that makes you wonder who is the kid and who is the parent.

“I am the architect of my own experience.”

Everyone knows romance novels follow the same formular. Two people meet, they fall in love, something happens in the last 20% of the book to drive them apart and then they resolve it and live happily ever after. One thing I liked about Summer Romance is that what is going to keep them apart is immediately obvious and not dumb at all. So, I never felt that dread of getting to about 80% of the book and suddenly a misunderstanding pop up and drives the couple apart. It’s a summer romance, we know it’s destined to end after the summer. Ethan the main character should have been more annoying to me, but I think I liked Ali way too much to be annoyed by him. I just wanted her to be happy and if she loved it, I loved it too.

“And now I can never unknow the truest true thing – the intensity of the love you feel will match the intensity of its loss. This is practically physics.”

Her relationship with her ex-husband and all the ways she let herself go in the marriage was fascinating to read. I really enjoyed those parts of the book. It is fascinating to see the many ways marriage is sustained by community and how it ultimately fell apart after Ali’s mother was no longer there to pick up the parts of the marriage that her ex-husband refused to be an equal partner of. Anyway, I quite enjoyed it. It’s an easy book to get through. It is well written and a good book to read during the summer. I gave this one 3 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

Fiction, race, romance

Book Review: Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

twonightstands

“I will never stop vomiting with shame.”

The Gresham family is hosting the wedding of the century. Their oldest daughter, Augie is getting married but there is so much more going on. The wedding is being orchestrated by the matriarch, Lady Arabella who is heavy on maintaining appearances and spending money. Money they do not have as her husband is hiding the fact that they are in debt. Besides planning the most extravagant wedding, she is also trying to marry off her son, Rufus who is in love with the friend of the family, Eden.

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination”

When I tried to write the summary of the book, I had to pause for a minute because there was SO MUCH going on in this book that I don’t even know what the primary story is. The good thing about Kwan is that he has a formula and if you have read his Crazy Rich Asians trilogy then you know what to expect because it is basically the same format and feel. You can expect over the top characters, opulence out the wazoo and insufferable characters. I believe that whatever you felt about the 2nd and 3rd book of the series, is how you will feel about this book.

‘I don’t know the Philippines. I believes some of the maids we had growing up came from Cebu.”

Now, the bad. Kwan is quite the tedious writer to me. Much like the over the top characters and events in his books, I find his descriptions over the top as well. I find the annotations at the end of every chapter annoying even though I feel he probably thinks they are quirky and funny. There were so many storylines to follow and I don’t even know if it was necessary. I don’t know what genre Kwan identifies with but he is basically a romance writer and I think maybe he adds the extra storylines to not fully qualify as one.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU BITCHES IS MY MOTHER?’ Cosima said with a sneer.”

Speaking of insufferable, noone tops the Gresham matriarch, Arabella. She is Asian but seems to have some kind of self-hate? Kwan does allude to racism and discrimination and I can understand Arabella’s motivation to be someone in the upper class. But me thinks she went too far. Kwan didn’t delve really deep into what I call Arabella’s insecurity but my take on it is that’s why she married a white man – to dilute her kids so to speak – so they weren’t looked down on like she was and she looked down on Eden who was Asian. Even though I know this is how it is for some, I felt dissatisfied that Arabella never reached a place of self introspection and truly was just insufferable to everyone around her and especially awful to her children.

“You are also getting too much sun and people will think you are a peasant.”

So basically, if you couldn’t tell, I wasn’t really a fan of this book. It was convoluted, I didn’t care for the characters, the characters had no growth and every reaction – bad or good was just extreme. I can caveat that if you love romance novels, there might be a payoff for you but in my case, that didn’t work in my favor. I think Kwan needs to learn to streamline, have a focal point and just put more into the characters so we actually care about them. Let me know what you think if you have read it!

Taynement