My Synopsis
Ronke, Simi and Boo are British/Nigerian and have known each other for years. When Isobel, a childhood friend of Simi's, joins the group, at first she appears to bring out the best in each of the women. But as time goes on cracks begin to form with the original three's friendships and maybe Isobel isn't who she seems.

My Thoughts: Can we take a minute to acknowledge that this book cover is STUNNING?! Wahala is a very character driven story with characters that the reader loves one minute and hates the next. It's a story full of secrets, lies, friendship, love, and betrayal. It's told from multiple points of view which really allows the reader to get to know each of the three main friends on a deeper level and how Isobel interacts with each one individually. It's clear from the beginning (and also in the synopsis) that Isobel is bad news. It makes the story exciting as the readers try to figure out what Isobel is up to and why. I also loved the cultural Nigerian references that were scattered throughout the book as well as all the talk about food. It made my mouth water. I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it.

***I have seen some shade thrown at the author for some of these characters being racist and while I do see where those reviewers are coming from, I can't help but think the author is drawing from personal experience in things she has seen or experienced herself. I feel like types of interactions made the story more real and raw. I do acknowledge that I am a white woman so I may be viewing this from a different lens than others. I look forward to seeing more opinions regarding this as more reviews come out***

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒎 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘/𝑪𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆-𝒂𝒓𝒄 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘. 𝑾𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒂𝒏 11𝒕𝒉.

Anyone from Africa knows that Wahala means trouble. That trouble comes to disrupt the world of three best friends, who were in a good place with each other until trouble came around.
Ronke, Boo and Simi met at university and have been best friends ever since. They were drawn to one another because of their mixed-race heritage of English and Nigerian, and they supported each other through many ups and downs.

Ronke, is an accomplished dentist, but she wants to be married and have a family. She is hoping to turn her current relationship with her boyfriend into something more serious and long-lasting.
Boo, a stay at home mom part-time, with a dutiful husband and daughter, has been feeling the strain of dissatisfaction with her mundane life.
Simi, has a glamourous job in the fashion industry but suffers from impostor syndrome. She has an adoring husband, who is mostly absent due to the work assignment that has him in the US for months. He thinks they’re trying for a baby, but she isn’t.

In spite of their differing opinions on relationships, race, class and culture, the three friends have a solid bond until Isobel, a childhood friend of Simi’s, enters the picture, and seems to be helpful and fun as the women welcome her into their circle, but her real agenda exposes their vulnerabilities and the cracks in their friendships and relationships.

Wahala is a wildly entertaining book that will spark many animated discussions. Wahala addresses the themes of female friendships, race, class and colorism. It is a true page-turner to the very suspenseful end.

I really liked this book! I enjoyed the characters and their long lasting friendships despite being so different from one another. I also really enjoyed the cultural references and descriptions of the food. I really appreciated the included recipes. I was suspicious of the "new friend" and was sure she would be a trouble maker but the final twist was truly unexpected! I absolutely recommend this book!

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC: Wahala means trouble, misery or worry, and is considered "Pidgin English"--it's an excellent title for this well written book about a core of three women of mixed Nigerian/British heritage: friends since college who are navigating early mid-life together. Their group is joined/infiltrated by a fourth woman who causes "wahala"--mining their fault lines and concerns. The book merges women's literature, thriller, exploration of Nigerian heritage and more. The moral core of the book is Ronke, a dentist who idolizes her dead Nigerian father and embraces her heritage. Food is central to book and recipes are included at the end. It took a bit of time to gain momentum and clarity, but ultimately was an enjoyable and thought provoking book.

Forced myself to finish this book. Found it to be unrealistic and most of the characters unlikable and self absorbed.

This book started out very well with the 3 friends but took a sharp turn & became too far fetched in my opinion. One character and learning about the different cultures kept it from becoming a “do not finish” for me.

The definition of a page-turner, WAHALA had me hooked from the very beginning. Simi, Boo, and Ronke have been best friends for almost two decades, but their lives are following different trajectories. Nevertheless they're always there for each other...until Isobel arrives. As she secretly pushes and prods at all their insecurities, jealousies, and judgmental attitudes toward one another, their comfortable existences are thrown into turmoil. But the women (and the reader) won't know why until tragedy strikes. I enjoyed a lot about this novel, from the exploration of dark friendships to the celebration of Nigerian culture. But there were a few things that didn't work for me, including the lack of accountability regarding Boo's racism, and the overall weak explanation for Isobel's abhorrent behavior. The author also drops a couple of comments about Isobel looking "manly" that I wouldn't call overtly (or even inadvertantly) transphobic, but which nervetheless may make some readers uncomfortable. Overall, though, anyone interested in character-driven novels with an dark undercurrent will no doubt find a lot to enjoy here.

Boo, Simi and Ronke are navigating life in their mid-thirties in London. Ronke, a dentist, is hoping that her latest boyfriend, Kayode, will be her Mr. Right. Simi is pursuing a high-flying career in fashion and struggling with the decision about kids with her husband, Martin. And Boo is growing dissatsified with her domestic life as wife and mother and growing increasingly attracted to her boss.

An old Facebook photo is what pulls the enigmatic and disgustingly wealthy Isobel into their lives. Isobel grew up in Nigeria with Simi, but they had been out of touch for decades. Seeing a photo on Facebook from a mutual friend’s wedding, Isobel reaches out to Simi to reignite their friendship. Something is off about Isobel from the start – she’s profligate with her wealth, driven around by a driver-cum-bodyguard, and lavishly bestows gifts upon the trio. It’s hardly suprising, then, that she turns out to be a sinister character. Upon her arrival, everyone’s life starts to go pear-shaped.

What I liked: Nigerian culture is infused into the story, particularly through the authentic dishes (Ronke’s favourite restaurant in London is like ‘stepping into downtown Lagos’), and other cultural customs like the aso ebi worn for special occasions – where everyone on one side of the family gets their outfits made from the same fabric. There’s also a sharp contrast between the way that Simi and Ronke connect with Nigerian culture, having spent most of their childhood there, and the disconnect that Boo feels, having been raised by her White British mother in England. We also get an insight into the way these characters experience colourism and racism within their everyday lives – like when patients come into Ronke’s dental practice and assume her (Hispanic, male) dental nurse is the dentist, or when Kayode prevents a white guy from assaulting Ronke and the police turn up to arrest him. These details enriched a narrative that otherwise fell rather flat.

The problem lies in the fact that we know everything has to come to a head – Isobel’s arrival portends this – but it takes a really long time to get there. As such, most of the novel is a slow slide into things going wrong and the characters becoming increasingly unlikeable and frustrating. The ‘thriller’ aspect doesn’t rear its head until the last 20% of the book, and it all becomes a bit cartoonish and wrapped up too quickly. I hear it’s being made into a TV series, so I’ll be interested to see how they approach that.

The author presents a modern storytelling about three Anglo-Nigerian best friends Ronke, Boo and Simi. The characters are well developed with realistic personalities. The author gives the readers a glimpse into each of the character’s perspectives, their imperfections, their fears and their secrets. I enjoyed their friendship and the closeness the ladies shared. Will their friendship still remain when (Wahala) trouble comes?

Ronke is a dentist and the cook of the group who has a boyfriend she can't depend on and a client turn stalker. She wants the happy ever after but is her boyfriend Kayode actually the one? I wanted Kayode to act right or leave Ronke alone. He didn't appear to be the strong man that she needed, so I agreed with her friends about him.

Boo made a statement “She made me hate my life.” when in fact that’s what she displayed to others. Boo seems to have the life that any woman would dream of. A husband, nicknamed Tubby Hubby by Isobel, willing to work and take care of things around the house, and a bratty 5 year old daughter. But to her, her life is boring and unfulfilled. At times I didn't like Boo, but then other times I could understand why she felt the way she did. She wanted someone else’s life, to be someone else but didn't see that what she had a lot of women pray for.

Simi is her own woman with a doting husband that craves to have children, but Simi isn't ready to have children nor share this fact with her soon to be 40 year old husband, Martin. I enjoyed the way Simi and her husband took time to talk to each other often despite the different in time zones. I wanted her to come clean with her husband on not wanting a child right now.

Even though the women were warned that the Babangari family is rotten Isobel still made her glamorous appearance befriending the ladies and in her subtle and sly way wanting to know more about them. She starts out with friendly advice, working her way to gain their trust making everyone believe she’s an asset to the group. Isobel even though I was suspicious of her to begin with had a way about her that draws people to her. As the reader, I knew what was happening and I kept reading hoping one of the ladies would figure it out. I didn't care for Isobel but her character was well thought out and written. Isobel’s winning personality was able to find the ladies weak points and use it against them.

I enjoyed reading this book. It gave such insight on various cultures, languages and recipes. Their friendship circle does remind me of the reality housewives shows. The author created characters with personal issues that many women face. She revealed to readers the characters true self, their secrets and thoughts that for some reason they haven't shared with others in their clique. At one point the ladies seem to have it all and then another they appear fragile and venerable.

The pace of the book flowed well. The author gave enough of their daily happening so it didn't drown out the storyline. A few times probably half-way the book I wanted to rush the storyline but I understood once I got to the end that it was part of the development for the ending. It’s an overall good read. It made me appreciate what I have and not take others for granted but to be open and not harbor secrets that could very well hurt others. There’s a saying ‘hindsight is 20-20’. Once the ladies world was shaken up they each wanted to go back to what they had or it revealed a different way that they could have handled things.

An impressive read layered with culture and populated by characters that are so real readers may find it hard to forget them. This isn't a housewives tale but a story of friendship, jealousy, betrayal and hopefully a tool so that you'll see trouble when it comes.

I really enjoyed this debut novel. I received an #ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Custom House, in exchange for an honest review. This is the story of 3 English-Nigerian friends living in London. I've read reviews that compares this to Sex & the City & it does have elements of that but this group of friends has been together since college days. Now in their thirties, some are married, some have careers, when a 4th friend from the past enters the group & starts to shake things up. Wahala means trouble in Nigeria. It's a pigdin word possibly of Yoruba origin. But like pigdin words that are two different languages creating something new, so are the characters in this book creating a new way to live in their London home while keeping their Nigerian roots. Although the trouble builds slowly and resolves quickly, I still enjoyed spending time with these characters. Bonus: the characters cook and eat lots of yummy sounding Nigerian food. There are recipes for three of the dishes at the end.

Part thriller, part female friendship story, I would definitely read more by this author!

3.5-3.75 stars. I will say that overall I enjoyed Wahala, I value books about female friendship and the complexities these relationships in adulthood and I welcome the chance to celebrate and promote diverse books and writers, this more than fits these interests I have. I will not pretend that I can relate to experiences with racism so any chance that I can gain awareness of how those experiences impact underrepresented and minority women is appreciated. I also enjoy twisty fast paced plots about women's lives and this book has all of those components. I am appreciative to William Morrow Custom House and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

My enthusiasm for the book was a bit lower than I expected at the start of the book as in places I felt the characters, particularly the manipulative Isobel, were a little under developed and perhaps predictable; when I gives this feedback here I mean that as a compliment in a way to the author as I cared enough to want more of her writing and her voice, her characters. At times predictable characters are alright for me with a book if they are well developed or the predictability is part of the plot or goals of the narrative but here it felt like I was missing out on fully understanding motives and complexity that would have added to understanding these women as individuals, as friends, and as perhaps victims of Isobel's behavior and broader sociopolitical structures. The plot also moved more into themes and tropes I associate with domestic thrillers (adultery, secrets, revenge agendas) and despite my enjoyment of thrillers, I tend to not enjoy domestic thrillers as much. That does not mean the book isn't enjoyable but that I would want future readers to be aware of the type of thriller themes that are in this book. I also want to recognize that I have seen some reviews from diverse readers who suggest that aspects of this book may not further needed conversations about race and gender and intersectionality; I can't speak to that as a white non minority woman and simply hope that readers can embrace this book as a chance for dialogue and growth, that readers seek out perspectives from a range of lived lives.

The book has strengths though for recognizing that women's lives can be and are influenced by unseen factors, by family history, and that women may have reason to have secrets and agendas.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved this one. Very fast paced, had me turning pages as I tore through it – I had to see how it would end. The characters were well rounded and the narrative felt believable. Wild ride.. Solid five

A story of three mixed race women ( Nigerian-Anglo) who share a long standing friendship disrupted by the sudden intrusion of a childhood friend of one of them. A “ thriller”/ suspense read on one level, but I thought the most intriguing parts involved an insight into Nigerian food/ culture. Honestly-I read it, but aside from that aspect did not find it satisfying.

I had been hearing so much about this book and was excited to read it. However, it did not meet my expectations as I was hoping. This was an adventure of 3 women from London to Nigeria. Nikki May deftly wove in aspects of Nigerian life, culture, and language to provide context and background for some of the behaviors and viewpoints of the women. This book contained a good story of friendship, love, revenge, and jealousy. The writing was good but it didn't blow me away. I'd still like to read more from Nikki May in the future.

There were several aspects to this book that made it a treat to read. To begin with, It was a cultural trip to Nigeria via London, a place that most of us will never be able to travel to. It is a story of mostly strong but sometimes fragile female friendships. It has a mystery with several far reaching tendrils to be unraveled. At the end there is even a few African recipes that I enjoyed reading. I would never have the gumption to try cooking them but would love someone to cook them for me. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this thoroughly enjoyable early read.

I loved this book! I started it as soon as I downloaded my copy and immediately got sucked in the story. It was a super interesting, fast-paced novel that I couldn’t put down, with amazingly vivid and distinguishable characters, each with a personality of their own, so well described that I could easily picture them in my mind. Each point of view added something to the picture and was hugely entertaining. Some things about the plot I could predict -without losing any enjoyment from the reading experience-, others came as surprises, some even quite shocking. It wasn’t really a thriller, it read more like contemporary domestic drama, and it is most of all a novel about female friendship, jealousy and betrayal, and ultimately love. I think it has amazing TV series material and I can’t wait to see how it will be rendered on the screen, I was overjoyed to read it will actually become a series! I expect Wahala to become a huge success in 2022 and absolutely recommend it to everyone who enjoys well-written books about friends and family dynamics. Thanks to William Morrow and Custom House for the opportunity to read it in advance, I loved it!

Thank you publisher and NetGalley for this advance ebook copy!

To be honest I enjoyed alot more than I thought I would.
I loved how this author wrote about Nigerian culture and racial issues.
This honestly opened my eyes on so many levels.
I felt to be more of a slow burn. Which I normally can't get into....but Wahala delivered and it became an incredible story!
I enjoyed following these three ladies stories and became engaged in their lives!
The writing flowed amazing and its very well done!
Highly recommend this one!

Thank you again for this ebook copy!

I decided to put Wahala by Nikki May down at 52%. I can try to pick it up again, but I doubt it. The description of “bitingly subversive” is much more apt than “darkly comic.”

I had been looking forward to reading about these three women— Boo, Simi, and Ronke— overcoming challenges to their friendship posed to them by a racist, classist world and the interloper fourth woman Isobel. Granted Isobel was introduced early on, yet despite her meddling and intrusive behaviors that were automatically suspect, I did not find myself rooting for any of the other three women or caring what happened. Boo was whiny; Simi was selfish; and Ronke was wonderful but an absolute doormat (a descriptor she uses herself)— she couldn’t help herself out of a paper bag!

Nikki May deftly wove in aspects of Nigerian life, culture, and language to provide context and background for some of the behaviors and viewpoints of the women. I especially wanted to read more about Ronke and Aunty K; their relationship— and Ronke’s flashbacks to her childhood in England—more fully shaped Ronke than any other interrelationship in the half I read. Again, though, these parts were overshadowed by the aspects of the women’s characters I couldn’t get past.

I wanted to learn about Isobel’s motivations. I was curious what additional havoc she could cause. She was so cleverly written as the undermining, ill-intentioned frenemy. I guess that will likely suffice for me, though. Maybe I’ll turn into the BBC adaption to watch how it all turns out!

Thank you to #NetGalley and DoubleDay for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of #Wahala.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley as a Read Now selection.

First, I wish the description on NetGalley matched the description on Goodreads, had I read the Goodreads description, I would have given this a complete miss. The NetGalley description made this sound like your run of the mill pool or car trip read. Something light and fun with a little wtf on the side. Goodreads description is bit more apt.

NetGalley claims the book is "inclusive" (clue #1 that something was amiss, but it's a mass published book so I generally glaze over and ignore publishers that decide inclusive is something you should describe a book as) whereas Goodreads tells us "Boldly political about class, colorism and cooking, here is a truly inclusive tale that will speak to anyone who has ever cherished friendship, in all its forms" (this would have been where I departed the train had NetGalley given me this description).

The first bit of colorism popped out at me with no warning and I did have to put the book down often reading this book and then finally looked up the GR description after someone on Twitter mentioned not liking the description.

This will contain spoilers so please do not read any further if you plan on reading or completing the book. There's a not so surprise ending which I am going to include so read at your own risk. This way be spoilers!!!!!

Boo - is a fucking racist bitch, why she has friends who are anything other than white? I can't say. She's the worst of the friends, she's married to Didier (her safe, white hubby) and hates being a mum and wife and feels bored. For no reason other than she wants to be bored. Her kid is in school, she's gone back to work twice a week but suffers from you made your bed syndrome. She's spent her marriage cocooned in the safety of having a boring husband who treats well enough but is used to her not putting up a fuss because she's been raised by her white mother, stepfather and white stepbrothers in Whiteland (I think York was mentioned) to be invisible and not draw attention to her nonwhiteness. There's brief mention of her school days and how wretched they were because she was not fully white. Her only interaction with black people (as a whole, lets not even speak of Nigerians) seems to have been going away to university and meeting the other two characters.

She has deep hatred for black men because her father left before she was born and ergo all black men are dodgy. She's almost a caricature of the tragic mulatto. She's the most taken by Isobel and ends up having an affair with her boss, talking too much of everyone's business because Isobel keeps plying her with the attention she so desperately wants. There's zero growth for her character, she spends the entire book being a racist twat and when she finds out the extent of what Isobel has done (including the fact that they are half sisters), her takeaway is "you guys are Nigerian, you're used to this craziness (paraphrasing but crazy and Nigerian were in there), I'm going to France (to get back the safe white husband who took the kid because his wife is a cheat and a twat) where there are safe, sane, normal white people).

<img src="https://c.tenor.com/dMygK5llMOcAAAAM/davonne-rogers-pretends-to-be-shocked.gif" width="40" height="100" alt="Black woman with towel on her head pretending to be shocked"/>

Simi - Dear Simi is a toned down version of Boo, slightly less tragic, no less annoying. Isobel and Simi grew up together in Nigeria and were friends while their fathers worked together. It all came to a sad end and Simi's dad lost his business, no more country and no more white wife etc etc etc (this will become mildly important later). Simi is focused on living her best childfree life but her husband is 40 and ready to pop out a few, he's unaware that Simi is still taking her birth control pills and immediately aborted the successful pregnancy. Simi loves Martin because Martin liked white women. After dating black men who only wanted her because she was mixed and white men who would have sex with anyone that failed the paper bag test.

Simi has daddy daddy issues in that her dad expects her to foot the bill for the family (especially her useless older brother) and his jaunts to London with his super religious wife who burns Simi's pots, turns her house into chaos and this is where the book became Nollywood like and I admit I glazed over and rolled my eyes through most of it. Simi latches onto Isobel due to nostalgia and loneliness because Martin is in Manhattan working. Initially she's the catalyst for bringing Isobel into the group, Isobel finds a picture of Simi on Facebook and gets her information through the NNN.

Ronke - Dear, dear Ronke is the only likable person in this clusterfuck. She's not perfect by any means and needed only slightly less therapy than the other two. Ronke and Simi both spent time in Nigeria as kids and she's the only one who fully embraces herself. She hangs onto Nigeria and practices the customs as homage to her dead father who she has built up in her head as a saint (spoiler alert, he ends up being a cheating twat *shocker* ) and her Auntie Kehinde (aka Auntie K who is the only decent character in the whole damn book) who dotes on Ronke. Ronke's mother brings the kids back to England after her husband dies and has to endure the suffering of her racist parents before she can move out (thanks to Auntie K) and get their own flat. Ronke only dates Nigerian men (looking for daddy) but she always manages to pick losers, currently dating Kayode who is to be fair, lackadaisical when it comes to dating, puts out very little effort and expects big returns. I'd ward my sisters, nieces, friends off him but Simi and Boo make sure to let Ronke know (even before Isobel) that she has absolute shit taste. Which, fair. Shit partners are shit partners. Ronke ends up suffering the most of the lot when she disliked Isobel from jump and tried her best to avoid her. Ronke is the mother hen of the group, babysitter for Boo, will cook and bake and be your shoulder but is a bit judgy.

Isobel - the biggest caricature of them all. She was just messy and see through with zero rhyme or reason. Anyone with an ounce of sense could tell she was winding everyone up and splashing money just because. The last few chapters are dedicated to being full Nollywood, Isobel pulls off this infiltration because Ronke's dad had an affair with Isobel's mum back in Nigeria and Isobel found out and told her dad who promptly had Ronke's dad murdered. The fact that she gets to murder Kayode without so much as a slap on the wrist, is just happy luck. Kayode left her when they had a fling in South Africa. Isobel never gets her own chapter so she has no voice, she's just there to move the plot of ruining everyone's life along.

If you're still here, bless you.

Now, the goodreads description of this book claims that there is to be subversion, readers, there is zero subversion. None. Just antiblack rhetoric, colorism and tasty recipes. I am honestly baffled on why this couldn't have been a domestic thriller, it is literally RIGHT THERE. Revenge mad Isobel, poor unsuspecting Ronke living in her bubble. None of the backhanded mentions towards blackness were necessary. They served no purpose. There's no lesson to be learned, unless the lesson the author wanted to convey is that God bless whiteness? The Nice White Ladies will love this book, it plays up a lot lies. I guess this was the supposed subversion? I can't say. There are no instances of any systems being bucked here. Ronke ends up with a murdered black boyfriend (who is harassed by the police after trying to protect Ronke from a stalker), Simi ends up back with Martin and Boo, fuck her, I hope her plane crashed on the way to Paris, worthless twat.

I was so excited to read this book when I initially added it after the cover reveal and the original blurb made it sound like something else. I was completely let down and to be transparent, a lot hurt. I think we can handle a lot of the topics brought up in this book without being so careless. There was so much wasted potential for what really should have been at least a good story.

Please excuse any typos, I don't care enough to reread this.

Thanks to NetGalley for saving me from wasting my money on buying this.

Read if you: Want a twisty-turny domestic thriller-ish story with British-Nigerian culture.

The ending is rather wild--suspend your disbelief and go with the ride.

Librarians/booksellers: This is a unique and entertaining addition to your modern multicultural collection.

Many thanks to William Morrow/Custom House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.