Ties That Tether in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 12, 2020 Nina ( picturetalk321 ) rated it liked it

Shelves: author-woman, theme-het, theme-migrants, a-reviewed, genre-romance, author-ofcolour, world-nigeria, world-canada, gorgeous-cover, author-hybridnation

This is a warm-hearted romance novel about an inter-cultural relationship in a migrant society (though aren't we all migrant societies these days?). The heroine, born in Nigeria and grown to adulthood in Canada, meets the hero of Spanish heritage but her mother boycotts this union as she is set on her daughter marrying a Nigerian man.

The hero is what I believe is called a cinnamon roll: a totally sweet, kind, supportive man. He does have a secret but it does not at all undermine his generosity a This is a warm-hearted romance novel about an inter-cultural relationship in a migrant society (though aren't we all migrant societies these days?). The heroine, born in Nigeria and grown to adulthood in Canada, meets the hero of Spanish heritage but her mother boycotts this union as she is set on her daughter marrying a Nigerian man.

The hero is what I believe is called a cinnamon roll: a totally sweet, kind, supportive man. He does have a secret but it does not at all undermine his generosity and kindness (if anything, the opposite). So if you are looking for a romantic lead without any discordant horrors, this is for you.

The best parts of this novel are the scenes where our hero is taken for a gardener by our heroine Azere's mother, and where the whole family gets together in a gathering. There is a comedy talent lurking in Jane Igharo; this is her debut novel and I hope the hilarity gets developed in future novels.

I was moved to tears by the end. There are some very sweet scenes and the theme of hybrid identity, fear of loss of culture and sense of ambivalent belonging resonates with me.

I was also thrilled to get some of the references to movies: The Wedding Party! Isoken! Nollywood movies that I have watched (and even taught) this year!

A lovely novel. There are times when the pace is slow and things meander; I did not understand why we needed his pov in a few chapters; the heroine is experiencing a major change in her life (I won't spoiler) yet there are whole chapters where she seems to forget about it. Hence the good but not stellar amount of stars.

Format: floppy US-made paperback with one of those velvet-textured covers. Sassy cover art by Fatima Baig. Ashley Tucker did the book design but why he chose the fontd he did I cannot fathom. The main typeface swells and bulges irritatingly and made the letters dance on the page, with spiky question marks (headache territory). The secondary, sans serif and faux-Bauhaus typeface is not identical with the similar-looking chapter heading font, and I did not understand the choice of this futuristic type with its Weimar vibe. ...more

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