I was hoping for a little bit more with this book. It just wasn't for me. The audio was great, but the story just didn't live up to what I wanted it to be.

Afi is a young woman living in a poor neighborhood in Ghana. She works as a seamstress but has aspirations of going to fashion design school and making a better life for herself. Her mother is a widow and they spend a lot of their time with Afi's uncle and his many wives and kids. Yes, Afi lives in a polygamous society. One day, Afi's family arranges for her to marry a well-to-do man. She marries him, but the groom isn't even present at the wedding. Afi moves to one of his several homes but rarely even sees him. It turns out he has a girlfriend with whom he has a child and he spends a lot of time with her instead of his new wife. His family is not a fan of the girlfriend situation and encourage Afi to get him to stay home with her.

This was an interesting look at the impact of what happens when a traditionally polygamous society meets feminist young women who are trying to make their lives better. Afi realizes that her situation is better financially and domestically once she is married. She lives in a nice house, isn't surrounded by her demanding uncle/aunts and is able to pursue her career aspirations. HOWEVER, she longs for love and for her husband to be hers along. She wants a proper marriage. I liked this glimpse in to modern Ghanian society.

His Only Wife

Ad - gifted - thanks to @netgalley and @oneworldpublications for the e-arc.

I loved loved this!

Set in Ghana, Afi marries Eli in a traditional ceremony, though Eli isn’t actually present for the wedding, how present will he be for the marriage?

Eli’s wealthy family has supported Afi and her mother since her father’s death, and now want Afi to be the perfect doting wife to Eli, to encourage him to leave his girlfriend that they don’t approve of.

This was such a page turner, and I am SO HERE for Afi’s character development. Watching her grow in confidence and stand up for what she wants was so amazing to see. I was rooting for her the whole way and she was such a likeable main character. I loved how she wanted to be more than a stay at home wife and wanted to develop her skills as a seamstress and realise her dream of having her own boutique.

It was also so interesting to understand Ghanaian family cultures and the intricacies of polyamorous relationships. Eli is happy to have a wife and a girlfriend, but would absolutely not accept his wife having a boyfriend.

I also really loved the setting and the contrasts shown between Ho and Accra. You definitely felt like you are there living this story.

Just to say as well, I finished this a week ago but can’t stop thinking about it, a great sign!

4.5 ⭐️

His only Wife was my first experience with audiobook in English. I’m a Brazilian reader and English Speaker. This book was a way to practice my listening. And, of course, know more about the story.

I started listening this book with great curiosity. First to know that If I were capable to understand clearly an audiobook in English and see myself interesting about the story. The title really caught my attention and the plot made me even more interested

I had some troubles in the beginning because of the character’s names but as I continued reading, I was able to understand who was who in the story with no difficulty.

His only Wife was a pleasant surprise as a reader. I felt involved with the story and the characters. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Afi, how the story was going to end. I wanted to know what the character's happy ending would be.

One of the things that most interested me in "His only Wife" was the possibility of learning a little more about the issue of women in Ghana such as: marriage, work, culture and family relationships. In the book we can see how the issue of arranged marriage, female subordination and family interference in love relationships occurs.

Afi is a strong and determined woman. She knows what she wants and has no intention of living a submissive life, especially in relation to marriage. I think her personality is one of the reasons the book is so thought-provoking.

While reading, I hated the meddling uncle, who thought of himself as Afi's father. Despite having moments of disliking too, I was able to understand the behavior of Afi's mother. I liked some characters, I hated so many others and I think that was exactly the author's intention: to have contact with different points of view about the relationship between Afi and Eli.

This is Peace Adzo Medie's first work and I think it was a very nice book. The author's idea may have been to talk a little about her country and culture and show how women's rights are there.

I hope that this book will be translated soon to Brazil, because it is a good opportunity to get to know this story, the author and also the culture of Ghana. I totally recommend this book for everyone was interesting about it.

“If there was one thing I agreed with my mother on, it was that one could never be sure about a person’s intentions, no matter how kind that person seemed.”

I think I'm officially done with striving to read all of the books on a celebrity's book club list. This is another one of those books that I read but I'm honestly not sure it was worth my time to read. Adult fiction is hard for me. I tend to either love it or slightly tolerate it and this book definitely leaned more towards the sightly tolerating it side. Can I understand why people love this book and are raving about it? Absolutely, especially in the wake of advocating for women's rights. But was this book a good fit for me? Not so much.

I really wanted to like this book more. Afi is a thoroughly enjoyable character, but I didn't feel like I really cared that much about what happened to her or to her husband, for that matter. I mean, who sends a stand-in to their own wedding? Does that really happen? I couldn't help but (internally) scream for Afi to make a different decision because even in an arranged marriage, shouldn't Afi at least have the opportunity to see her real husband? I get the goal of Afi's marriage with Eli, but it takes a lot more than an arranged marriage to get a wealthy man to do what the family wants. I appreciated Afi's individuality and her tenacity to get what she wants. I loved seeing her journey with Sarah and fashion school and I loved Afi's individuality in doing what she knows is right for her and ignoring what other people tell her to do.

TW: adultery, death of a parent, mention of abuse

This was an interesting book, that offered a perspective I hadn't read much about before and will probably stay with me for some time. Though it took me a while to really get into the story, it was well written and thoughtful and made me curious about reading more of this author's work.

His Only Wife was a fantastic feminist read about a seamstress from Gahna who enters into an arraged marraige that is far from what she thought it would be. From her husband not being present at their wedding to the mistress he refuses to leave the story is hard to put down.
The audiobook is narrated by Soneela Nankani, and she does an amazing job telling the story and giving voice to the character of Afi. This was such an enjoyable way to experience to book; I highly recommend the audio version for this one!
Thanks to Workman Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy.

The trek through a different land and navigating the social relationships was the deal for me all the way. I loved exploring the taboo subject of the world of the privilege and mother's picking wives for son. Afi found that she would do most anything to secure her mother's future. That included marrying a man she never meet and may never really get to know. Tacking this read/listen was different, new, and gave me much to think about. I loved the witt of the story. I very much found Afi a person I would like to know personally.

[2.5 Stars]

-- Thank you NetGalley and Workman Audio for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review --

I have a lot of complicated thoughts on this book. The primary one is that I found the main character, Afi, to be incredibly annoying. Having an undesirable character isn't an inherently bad thing for a book, but I did find that for this book specifically it severely degraded my enjoyment of the story. I found myself constantly exasperated and bothered by Afi's actions, choices, and thoughts. Even though I understood why she was doing what she was, I still couldn't get behind it. She was fully aware of the fact that Elikem was already involved with this other lady for years against a lot of adversity before their wedding even took place. To watch her go throughout this whole book being upset about it and yelling at him about how he needed to pick her over the other wife and that he was lying to her was absurd. Of course, he was going to pick the girl he had been with for a while now over Afi who was selected for him by his family. It just seemed unreasonable.
On top of this, there was also a moderate amount of girl on girl hate throughout the story. Primarily of Afi towards Elikem's other partner, but also just to other girls she encountered in her life, and I hated that.

Switching over to talk about the audiobook itself. I think the narration by Soneela Nankani was great. They did a great job of adding emotion to the dialogue, which I appreciated.

This was such an engaging read!

Afi is a young seamstress in rural Ghana whose family thinks they’ve hit the jackpot when the community’s rich “Auntie” chooses her to marry her son Eli, hoping to rid him of “a problem”. The problem is Eli’s Liberian girlfriend with whom he has a child. The traditional wedding happens without a groom (since Eli is away on business). Afi is then moved to the city and tasked with the job of getting Eli to fall in love with her and get rid of the girlfriend the family hates.

What a mix up!

I really enjoyed the parallels drawn between village and city life in Ghana, and how tradition and specifically traditional gender roles transcended both worlds. I loved the descriptions of the environment including not just the physical surroundings but also the people-the businesspeople and fashionistas for example.

I was enthralled with Afi! The burden placed on her was tremendous as so many players’ successes depended on her. I loved her evolution and celebrated her defiance and successes, while shaking my head at her naïveté which in spite of all her experiences she was never quite able to get rid of. Other characters evolved, or rather showed their true colours as the book progressed and played their parts in this great story

Highly recommended!

I liked the narrator of the audiobook and the story was very interesting. I liked that the main character wanted to do things for herself such as go to fashion school and make a life for herself instead of just staying home and waiting on her husband but I didn't love all the times she changed her mind about wanting him and doing everything for him then not wanting him. In the end I was a little surprised by the ending but it was still a pretty good story the main character just was a little annoying at times.

There were many things I really loved about this book, and our main character is definitely one of them. But other parts fell flat for me. I did enjoy it overall, though!

A thought-provoking and engaging book, I was intrigued from the first page. I enjoyed seeing Afi's character development throughout the book and watching her blossom into an independent woman. However, I found the plot progression rather slow. Nothing really happened until halfway.
The audiobook was nicely narrated. Soneela Nankani narrated one of my favorite series and did an amazing job, this was no exception.
Overall, I enjoyed the novel and will be looking out for more of Medie's works!

What a lovely book. I loved the setting and how vividly the author described it. Afi was a good character, a little naive at times, but otherwise one of the best character developments in my recent reading. I wish there was another chapter at the end because it wrapped up quite abruptly, but all in all a really engaging and interesting read.

Amazing book! Loved the audio and ended up buying it to read again. I enjoyed learning about another culture and customs while also learning about class and customs. A heartbreaking story with a strong female lead who stands up for herself.

What. A. Book. This is my sleeper 5 star read of 2020. Peace Adzo Medie as masterfully woven together the unforgettable story of Afi a young girl from Ghana. Afi’s Family has arranged a marriage for her to a wealthy man, Eli. Afi is confused when Eli doesn’t even show up for the wedding ceremony but instead sends his brother as a stand in. Afi and her mother are then relocated to the big city where Afi finds out she’s not living in the marital home nor does she see Eli for weeks. it soon becomes apparent to Afi that Eli‘s family has ulterior motive‘s and that this marriage is meant to throw a wrench in Eli‘s current relationship. but this does not deter Afi she has come to the big city to realize her dream of becoming a fashion designer and is willing to take advantage of her current situation. Afi is a girl on a mission and on her way to succeed she makes many friends and learns many things about herself and the world around her.

Afi completely captured my heart. She was so strong and good and true. Eli certainly was not worthy of a girl like her. I loved the growth that Afi had throughout the story. And one of my favorite friendships in the book was the friendship that Afi and Evelyn formed. such an unlikely friendship that just prove that preconceptions are often wrong. I just loved everything about this book; the sense of place, the culture, the people. Soneela Mankani narrates the audiobook and she is one of my absolute favorite narrators. I seriously pick this book up simply because she was narrating it, and what a treat I got for doing so. As always Soneela adds the perfect voice to this story.

*** Big thank you to Workman Audio for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

It took me a little while to get into, but I really enjoyed this.

The plot is engaging, the characters are lovable, and the writing is vivid.

My favorite part was seeing Afi’s character development. I loved seeing her come into her independence and strength.

I’d recommend this to any fan of fiction!

I really enjoyed this story. It gave me a fascinating glimpse into a world i'm not overly familiar with. The story was well written and intriguing and the characters were great. I loved Afi and watching her learn about herself and come into her own.

The narrator did a great job bringing the story to life. Once I started, I didn't want to stop. I definitely recommend it.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½⭐️ (4.5 stars)

“Elikem married me in absentia; he did not come to our wedding.”

What an incredible first line! I was instantly hooked the moment I heard it. Paired with its’ advertisement as a feminist West African version of Crazy Rich Asians, I knew I had to read this book.

His Only Wife tells the story of Afi, a young woman living with her mother in a small town in Ghana. Her and her widowed mother are poor, and shunned by her extended family. Luckily, however, Afi is a talented seamstress. Between these skills and her mother’s close friendship to a wealthy benefactor, they are able to get by. But soon this benefactor comes calling, and requests that Afi be married to her son – Elikem.

Enthusiastic to do her part and support her family, Afi readily agrees. But her marriage to Elikem winds up not being as perfect of a match as it first seemed. Once married, the secret comes out: Elikem is in love with another woman – one his family does not approve of. And Afi, once relocated to the city of Accra, finds herself with much more free time on her hands than she could have ever expected. And feeling empowered by her brother-in-law’s mistress, Afi strikes out on her own and to attending a school for fashion design.

But Elikem’s family is quick to reign her in and remind her of her familial duty. She must make Elikem fall in love with her – and out of love with his mistress.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started this book! And honestly, even if I had had expectations, His Only Wife probably still would have surprised me!

His Only Wife offers both interesting insights into the daily lives of contemporary Ghanian women and a feminist look at polygamy and arranged marriages in modern-day West Africa. In the main character, Afi Tekple, Adzo Medie provides her readers with the fresh perspective of a young woman, faced with the realities of married life and the complications that come with it, finally coming into her own. Throughout the story we see Afi grow and mature and change from a naive, unassuming girl into a strong, independent woman in her own right who knows her worth and never accepts less than what she deserves.

I found Afi instantly likeable and was truly rooting for her to achieve happiness – whatever that might look like – the entire time, even knowing myself that the way things were going that was unlikely – at least in the form of a loving, marriage of equality. Nevertheless, I think Adzo Medie flawlessly concluded Afi’s story. I LOVED where she took it. My jaw dropped at the reveal about 90% of the way in, and I barely was able to pick it up off the floor until after I had finished the entire thing.

This book was a quick, fun read that I breezed through without even realizing it. The prose is uncomplicated and enjoyable. The premise utterly engaging. And the plot line subtle enough to surprise you along the way; so much so that when you finally take a break from reading you realize you’ve found yourself completely immersed within its’ pages. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher, Workman Audio, and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to review.

I loved this book - the characters were so well written and so enthralling. The story was very engaging and I couldn't put it down. This is one author I can't wait to read again.