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Writer's pictureEzioma Kalu

Book Review: Wahala by Nikki May

Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2. kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father).


Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends.


Boo has everything Ronke wants—a kind husband, gorgeous child. But she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be.


Simi is the golden one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by impostor syndrome and tempted to pack it all in each time her boss mentions her “urban vibe.”


Her husband thinks they’re trying for a baby. She’s not.


When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, it seems at first she’s bringing out the best in each woman.


(She gets Simi an interview in Hong Kong! Goes jogging with Boo!) But the more Isobel intervenes, the more chaos she sows, and Ronke, Simi, and Boo’s close friendship begins to crack.


A sharp, modern take on friendship, ambition, culture, and betrayal, Wahala (trouble) is an unforgettable novel from a brilliant new voice.


My Review of Wahala by Nikki May

Wahala reveals the world of three mixed race friends, Simi, Boo and Ronke, and the three of them takes turn narrating the story, chapter by chapter.


These friends have a similar root, a Nigerian parent, and they become inseparable after meeting in the University. They live in the United Kingdom, each with her life, problems and secrets.


For Ronke, she wants a happy ever after relationship with her Nigerian boyfriend Kayode. Though her friends do not quite approve of her relationship, because she had not really been in the best of relationships in the past, she is quite convinced that Kayode is 'the one.'


Working as a dentist, she's kind hearted and sincere. And easily my favorite character of all the three friends.


Boo is the character I greatly despise. She complains about virtually everything. She doesn't like being a stay-at-home wife, she always thinks her husband Didier and four year old daughter Sofia are against her.


Simi on the other hand is the fashion enthusiast and the most sophisticated of the trio. She has the life they all think is perfect, but do not know she has very dark secrets she's hiding from everyone.


She's married to Martin, who lives in New York and who has ceaselessly been trying for a child.


Their lives experience an interesting turn, when an addition, Isobel is introduced to the group.


Isobel is Simi's childhood friend who comes from a ridiculously wealthy home. She makes herself the life coach, who wants to know everyone's problems and secrets.


She is intentional, and her motives would later be known by the trio. Wahala explores the themes of race, friendship, secrets.


Wahala by Nikki May book cover
Wahala by Nikki May

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