4.5★s
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is the first novel by British-Nigerian author, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. After a humiliation at her sister’s baby shower, where her youngest aunt led a prayer for her to find a husband, Yinka Olajedi decides a plan is necessary: Operation Wedding Date will ensure she has a date for her cousin Rachel’s wedding. And prove to all the Nigerian aunties and cousins that she won’t still be single at sixty.

Her job as operations manager at Godfrey and Jackson investment bank gives her the perfect skills to set out her Objective, Task Deadlines and KPIs. If she doesn’t meet someone at Rachel’s engagement party, she might go to her mother’s All Welcome Church to meet Alex, the man her Aunt Debbie has singled out; online dating will be her absolute last resort.

At the party, though, she discovers that there is no chance of reviving her relationship with Femi Ajaye, the man who broke her heart three years earlier by going to a job in New York City; she’s too upset to interact with any other man by then. So the church it is.

Meanwhile, having bragged about a coming promotion, she’s lost her job, so is reluctant to share that news, hoping she’ll have another job before her mother finds out. Pressure from this Nigerian mother to achieve, to utilise her education, is legend, almost as heavy as the weight of finding a husband.

Alex looks to be perfect, says and does the right things, and Yinka wants to impress. But will he want her, as black as she is? And changing herself to win his attention, is that wise, long term? Or should she stick to her best friend, Nana’s tattooed motto: “I am who I say I am.”

As well as the straight first-person narrative, the story is told with emails, Whats-App messages, internet search history and voicemail transcripts. It looks at values and self-worth, being true to oneself as well as achieving balance between tradition and contemporary attitudes.

Blackburn’s depiction of the London Nigerian community certainly feels authentic. Her characters have depth and appeal, quickly endearing themselves to the reader. There’s plenty of humour in the banter between the characters, and even if the astute reader has Yinka’s ultimate hook-up figured out early on, the journey to that reveal is lots of fun. A very entertaining debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.

I really enjoyed this book! I took to the main character, Yinka straight away. I liked the plot, I thought it was well written. There are a few different characters, but it was really easy to keep track of who was who. It’s all from Yinka’s point of view, and written in the first person. I thought the story flowed well, and would definitely recommend this book. Thank you #netgalley

Yinka is 31, Nigerian and single, and her mother never fails to ask when is she going to find a husband? Everything starts to go wrong for Yinka and she becomes obsessed with finding a partner to accompany her to Rachel's wedding to stop the question. Funny, sad and enthralling, will her life turn around and provide her with the happiness she craves in her life?

If this isn't on your TBR it needs to be. The books’ title is taken from the question that thirty something Yinka is asked by her mother and aunts every time they see her. In their eyes, Yinka’s successful career and owning her own home is putting men off. Either that or she is too fussy Yinka gives into the nagging by her family to find a date for her cousins' wedding.

Yinka approaches the task like a work project. Unfortunately, as soon as she decides to look for a husband, she is made redundant from her investment banking job instead of getting the promotion she wanted.

Encouraged by her aunt Yinka volunteers with a charity where she once volunteered and reconnects with the annoyingly but attractive Donovan. When her close friends notice Yinka’s attempts to appeal to men seem to be changing her personality they stage an intervention to encourage her to remain true to herself.

The authors' light-hearted tone helps deliver heavy thoughts on colourism, cultural differences, and the benefits of therapy, as the story moves toward a happy ending. If you enjoyed the way, The Other Black Girl, provided a great story peppered with enlightenment on the different skin colour can make to a person’s life you will enjoy this.,

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

This felt like a book where the author tried to hard. To be extra funny, to be extra witty and so on. I had a hard time with it.

Yinka is the stereotypical young, unmarried Nigerian woman who is under pressure from her family (blood and extended) to find a "huzband"
As a modern woman Yinka has been focused on her career but when things start going wrong she struggles to realise that she is good enough.
The moral of this story is about learning to love yourself, when Yinka faced racism and felt she was too dark to be loveable my heart broke, this is a reality for many women and I wish they could see their innate beauty.
Between her faith, family and friends, Yinka learns how to move on from past trauma and seek out what she truly wants from life.
Lots of fun moments throughout, a great writing style and flow.

Yinka Where is your Huzband? reads like Jane Austen reimagined for the 21st century London Nigerian community.
Yinka is 31, she has a degree from Oxford, a great job and a fantastic group of family and friends. However, all that seems to matter to her mum and Aunties is that she isn’t married and settled down, and they won’t rest until they help her find the one.
When an unexpected career issue throws up a crisis of confidence Yinka tries to take control by dealing with the boyfriend issue, more specifically who will accompany her to her cousin’s wedding?
It soon becomes clear that there is a lot more that Yinka needs to address, will she listen to her friends and turn her life around?
This is such a fun, relatable book with a great cast of characters. It is quite old fashioned in a rather sweet way and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to #netgalley and #penguin books for allowing me to review this ARC.

"Yinka..." is reminiscent to Candice Carty-Williams' "Queenie," but it's not as complex, either in tone, themes, or writing style. It's a bit like Queenie Light. That's not a criticism of the book or its author. I think she shows a lot of promise as a storyteller. I'd just like to see her take more risks. The heroine's problems are real, if not a threat to life. Her biggest issue is basically lying and trying to change herself for the "better." I liked that Yinka's friends called her out on some of her foolish behaviour (which many side characters never seem to do in novels) even if the intervention seemed a bit extreme. Religion can be a tricky topic for novelists, but Blackburn handled it sensitively. I was disappointed that she felt the need for Donovan to explore attending church at the end. I would have appreciated it if the romantic lead could have been accepted as he was - an atheist. It also felt like Yinka's family was real, as I recognised some of the same behaviours in my own immigrant family. Yinka's family did begin to change their behaviours rather quickly once starting therapy, however - if only all families were so lucky! This book feels like a great story for high school students or people who don't read all that extensively. I'd recommend the book to a friend from high school who is busy raising kids and teaching and wants to escape for a bit in a comforting read.

Yinka is a single 30 something British Nigerian Christian who lives in London. She works in the finance sector and is hoping for a long overdue promotion but instead unceremoniously becomes redundant. To top it all, her friend has just announced her engagement and her younger sister has settled, married and about to have a baby.
Her family and friends valued how successful you are in life by being married. I'm not sure if they put the same value on being gay but clearly being single makes you worthless.
Most of the time, these views made may feel uncomfortable, maybe this was the authors aim and thankfully brought in the contrasting opinion of her roommate and friend Nana who happily declares herself as aromantic. Thankfully, Yinka's insights are a little balanced with women not having to be married to be happy or find self worth and does see how feminists (probably why I reacted in the way I did to the book) may think she was acting desperate and sad.
Thankfully, she does go on a journey of self discovery and learns that she is just as entitled as the next person to defend herself and that's where she starts to find self worth and happiness.
We can't forget how appalling and shallow some men are by stating that she is not their preferred shade of skin from a fellow British Nigerian. Racism and sexism in one foul swoop.
I would like to thank #Penguin General UK -FigTree, #Hamish Hamilton, #Viking, #Penguin Life, #Penguin Business and #NetGalley for the preview digital read. #Yinka
I would recommend this book for readers of general fiction, romance and women's fiction.
The book will be published on 31st March and this review is also published to Goodreads and will be published with Amazon and Waterstones on 31st March 2022

omg that felt like such a chore to get through. in no way is this a romcom, maybe if i didn’t go into it expecting one i wouldn’t have disliked it as much as i did. in full honesty, i skim read the last 20%

- i really disliked yinka. whilst this was probably the point, i wasn’t even rooting for her to find herself
- there as a lot of telling us about conversations rather than just including the dialogue
- i liked the concept, and the inclusion of important topics like colourism, texturism and faith. but none of this was incorporated in a way that had any impact. it felt like a disservice to this amazing concept. a 31 year old British-Nigerian navigating life as someone who’s waiting until marriage, learning to love herself in spite of what society wants? ugh i would’ve loved this if the writing style packed any sort of punch

very disappointed i didn’t enjoy this one :( thank you to netgalley and viking for the digital arc

I enjoyed this book so much. Very refreshing to read a book of this genre. Such a well written book gave me the giggles at times but, it also gave me an insight to a different culture. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be like, it was witty, funny and I kept thinking about Bridget Jones as I read. Its fun with drama in it, what's not to love about it !

Imagine being a thirty-one-year-old British-Nigerian woman. You have a good job with an investment bank. You have bought your own home. You are expecting to get a promotion soon. Today, you are attending your sister’s baby shower. All of your aunties and cousins are there. So are a fair few strangers; your sister’s friends. Your mother calls everyone together to say prayers for the safe delivery of your sister’s baby. And then one of your overzealous aunties gets up and reminds everyone they also need to pray for you. More specifically, they need to pray for your release from singleness. A whole group of people stand up and pray that you find yourself a huzband, and soon.

Welcome to the life of Yinka Oladeji.

And the worse thing is that it isn’t as if Yinka hasn’t tried to find love. Whilst she enjoys her job, she wants to get married and have kids. But it’s hardly her fault that her long-term boyfriend, Femi, had other plans and waltzed off to New York. And Yinka can find love on her own, thank you very much. She definitely doesn’t need to go and meet the ‘suitable’ young men her mother and her Aunty Debbie keep finding for her at All-Welcome church. And she absolutely doesn’t need to get on Tinder. Does she?

Yinka’s quest to find love is, ostensibly, the plot of Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s lively debut novel, Yinka, Where is your Huzband? As we soon discover, however, Yinka’s problems extend far beyond her lack of a man – and it’s possible that her over-bearing family may not be the entire cause. Because, despite the obvious comparisons to Bridget Jones’ Diary, what Yinka really needs is to be happy with herself. Thus begins a journey in search of a huzband that rapidly becomes a navigation of the multiple pressures faced by young women in the social-media age: friendship, careers, relationships, generational differences, cultural pressures, and societal expectations.

Yinka herself is a delightfully engaging – and wonderfully fallible – narrator. For every time that I burned with rage for her, there was a time when her poor life-choices had me raging at her! For me, this depth of character was one of the major strengths of the novel. Lizzie Damilola Blackburn isn’t afraid to make her characters unlikeable or frustrating but, a few pages later, you’ll find them being charming, thoughtful, and caring. Yinka, her family, and her friends felt like real people to me which, in turn, gave a realistic voice to their experiences.

Readers expecting a traditional rom-com might be slightly disappointed with the focus of Yinka. Although Yinka’s love life – and her quest to find herself a date before her cousin Rachel’s wedding – is a key thread, the real heart of the novel is upon Yinka’s relationship to herself and to her re-evaluation of the expectations placed upon her. As such, Yinka is more about the nuances of family dynamics, female friendship, generational clashes, and cultural expectations, and the way in which these feed into Yinka’s quest to find love.

I did find myself getting slightly frustrated with the characters at times. Yinka’s Mum – and some of her aunties and cousins – can be quite toxic in their efforts to ‘help’ Yinka, and the novel is unflinching in displaying the cultural pressures that come with having a dual identity, including tackling issues of self-confidence and internalised colourism. That said, I also loved finding out more about British-Nigerian culture and, despite everything, we do eventually realise that Yinka’s extended family and friends are trying to love, support, and help her in the only ways they know how.

It was also refreshing to read a novel above love and dating that features a religious heroine. Yinka’s faith guides her throughout her life and the novel is unafraid of tackling the challenges that come with trying to date when you don’t really drink and don’t want to have sex before marriage. Yinka’s strong convictions in her faith are an important part of her character but, importantly, the novel never felt preachy about this. Instead, her faith is simply portrayed as an important part of who Yinka is, and how she engages with the world.

Packed with equal amounts of humour and heartbreak, Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? is an engaging and accessible debut that, although initially appearing to be a romance, quickly expands into one woman’s personal journey to find – and accept – herself. Touching on issues of self-confidence, generational divides, family secrets, and cultural and societal pressures, Yinka is a fast-paced contemporary read that is sure to appeal to fans of Candice Carty Williams’ Queenie and Nikki May’s Wahala.

I got about half way through this before calling it, I enjoyed the writing but there were some formatting issues with my copy so I struggled to understand some aspects.

What a great read!

Yinka is a 31 year old black woman who is single and struggling to come to terms with why she hasn’t found love.

This book explores self worth, family, cultural pressures, media pressure and so much more.

The characters are brilliant, Yinka is surrounded by so many strong women, yet we learn that most of them are not a together as Yinka assumes.

This book is so relatable, the struggles women go through in coming to terms with themselves.

A great read

We meet Yinka (and her family!) at a bit of a crossroads in life - she’s hoping to find love, she’s just lost her job, and her cousin has just gotten engaged. She launches ‘Operation Find a Date For Rachel’s Wedding’ to try and find a date for the big day, without her family’s involvement!

I read this on my flight home for Christmas and enjoyed it so much - Yinka was such an excellent character to spend time with, and I loved getting to know her, her family, and her friends.

There’s also so much covered in this novel, and Blackburn’s ability to weave together each strand was absolutely fabulous and a joy to read. Every time I’ve thought about the book, it’s been about a different facet of the story, which is a testament I think to how well they’re written!

The absolute highlight for me was how much each piece of the story resonated. From Yinka realising that someone she likes actually likes her friend, to the friendship highs and lows, to the joy and stress and love Yinka feels with her family, all of those emotions were ones I felt in my soul.

I also really appreciated the storyline around Yinka’s decision to wait until marriage to have sex; I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a romance book before, and I think it’s an incredibly important thing to bring to more people!

I can’t recommend this one enough if you’re looking for a new book to pick up - this novel is hilarious, heartwarming, and beautifully told!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

An amazing debut novel. Not what I was expecting to read, in a lovely way.

It was a feel good, funny, story. Throughout reading the book I learnt a lot about the culture of Nigeria. You can’t help but feel for Yinka, but you also feel angry too.

I highly recommend this book and will look out for Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s future books.

Thanks to Penguin books, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily and have not been compensated for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fresh and hilarious book about a young British Nigerian woman who is struggling underneath work, family and life pressures while trying to maintain the core of who she is. Yinka is smart and successful, but since her breakup with her boyfriend 3 years ago she has struggled to feel beautiful or attractive. Her friends are getting married and having children but she doesn't seem any closer to finding the one. It doesn't help that her mother keeps pressuring her to find a husband, her friends and family are judging all of her choices and she doesn't look like the feminine ideal of beauty that the media bombards her with.

This book was not only funny, entertaining and moving - it was a little glimpse into British Nigerian culture and an analysis of what makes us feel valued. The other characters in this book, mainly women, are vivid and complex people and Yinka is at turns frustrating and endearing in that special way that real people are. And don't get me started on the food - I absolutely need to find a Nigerian restaurant in my area.

I loved it and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this copy of Yinka where is your huzband

Enjoyable book with Bridget Jones’s Diary vibes. Story follows 31 year old Yinka who is successful but single - and boy doesn’t her mum and aunties let her know it. I liked the Nigerian culture references and the food sounds amazing. I would like to see if Yinka finds her huzband and hope that there is a follow on book in the near future

I'm afraid this didn't do it for me. None of the characters were likeable really, certainly not the protagonist. Not for me.