This is a beautifully uncomfortable book about a woman working towards this idea of a new future while working through the grief of her past.

I will say when I went into this read, I knew nothing. So when I learned, after finishing it, that this book is often categorized as a contemporary romance, I was actually surprised. Although I understand why it is there, my experience reading this felt more like a literary fiction with a romance. Because, despite there being a romance present in this book, it has a heavy emphasis on the rawness of grief, not just grief for the person lost, but for the way your life would have looked if that person had not died. And as much as romance is involved, this story, to me, felt less about that relationship itself and more about Feyi’s personal journey to get there.

One thing I absolutely love about this book is the painful reality of how messy life is. That there is no perfect anything. How the choices we make affect people for better or worse. And that people make mistakes even with the best intentions.

If you go into this book hoping for simple answers and clear lines of good and bad, you will be disappointed, as Emezi excelled at highlighting the complexities of life, grief, and love. Providing a compassionate take for all characters, acknowledging that just because we make mistakes, just because we hurt and are hurt, does not mean that is all we are.

This book was an uncomfortable look into Feyi’s journey and all the messy, wonderful, and not great parts of being human. And that uncomfortableness of it is what made it just so beautiful to read. I have no doubt I will be reading this again!