A review by sarah984
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was really loving this book until about the 70% mark. Feyi was a great character with tons of personality, and even the side characters sparkled. The landscape descriptions were lush and the food descriptions were amazing (I read in the end notes that the author commissioned a menu from a pro chef to fit the characters and it shows). I loved the idea of Feyi getting messy and taking some risks to try and get her life moving again after her husband's sudden death in an accident.

However, the actual romance was bad. Alim just wasn't an interesting character to me. He was so bland despite his history, and he had this self conscious way of talking that made it sound like he was constantly vying for an A in therapy. He's in love with his son's girlfriend in like 3.5 seconds and he doesn't even have the excuse of being star struck.

Also in the second half the writing just gets really Wattpad-ish and bad, which I wasn't expecting from this author. Feyi "let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding" and I almost screamed.

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