2 stars

Oh boy. Big outlier here. This book was simply not written for me. I did not care for the protagonist (virtually always a nonstarter for me), I didn’t learn anything (bummer), and I didn’t feel anything (except the desire to finish it up). Also too much navel-gazing romance for me and too much gratuitous profanity. Lots of good reviews are in so please take a look at those before following my lead. Two stars for the author’s excellent writing skills.

I would like to thank Net Galley, Atria Books, and Ms. Emezi for the ARC invitation. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

First and foremost, thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for my ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Let’s get into it..

Feyi is a 29 year old widow that is trying to find herself after allowing grief to encompass her for the 5 years since her husband’s death. You enter the book immediately as she’s ~experiencing~ a man for the first time since the accident that took her husband and it would be all too convenient if he ended up being the love interest of this book & I believe that is what Emezi wants people to assume. I suggest continuing on with the book without reading any more of the book’s description to really feel all the twists and turns as they happen.

Reading this book was a journey I don’t know I was prepared to take. I am a lover of all things romance & can have high expectations when it comes to what I really enjoy about the genre— this was nothing and everything I love about romance.

The level of sophistication and artistry Emezi used in the language of this book was so beautiful and captivating. The grief journey alone was so eye opening and ugly and beautiful and sorrowing and uplifting all at the same time. You really feel like you walked with Feyi while she battled her own demons in the wake of losing Jonah and finding herself.

As much as I’m a fan of HEA, or spicy scenes, or anything else ~typical~ to a contemporary romance, I thoroughly enjoyed the complexity of this book. It wasn’t anything like what I expected from this book & yet it gave what needed to be given.

I am also obSESSED that this book is black af and queer af. Not a white person in sight & I think there’s maybe a handful of straight folk lol. From bi to bi m/f MC’s to a bi bestie, queer af art curators, art collectors, friends, etc. The representation is immaculate.


All in all, I will be highly recommending this book to all of my friends the moment it is published. I appreciate being offered the chance to read this book now.

Feyi is struggling to come to terms with the death of her husband, which she witnessed. She meets someone who has suffered as she has and they form a connection. Feyi wants to love again but she needs to find out who she is.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi follows Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again after the death of the love of her life five years previously. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers.

I love all of Akwaeke Emezi books I've read so far and this is unfortunately my least favorite one. That being said it's still a very enjoyable book with a gorgeous setting and a very compelling main character. I loved the way this book deals with grief. However, the romance caused me a lot of anxiety throughout (while I know that's the point it still made it harder for me to enjoy fully.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Feyi Adekola suffered a terrible loss five years ago when a car accident spared her but killed the love of her life. She is desperate to feel alive again. She is an artist and owns her own studio. She also shares an apartment with her best friend who is pushing her to date. This book is so good and highly recommend it! I loved that the prose and subject matter was intense at times and soft and beautiful at others,

I don't read romance. Or I should say, I haven't read romance since I was a teenager and I binged all of my grandmother's Danielle Steele novels over the course of two weeks. (I'll let you guess how many decades ago... ) But if anyone could make me give the genre another chance, it'd have to be Akwaeke Emezi! They're gonna make me venture out of my typical reading box more than a few times this year!
As a person on the Ace spectrum, I might not be the best judge of the content of a romance novel. 🥴 Now quality, I think I can ascertain, and you know this book is written beautifully. I liked the depth of the characters, the pacing of the story, the seductiveness of the setting. Like, that's what I vibed with the most! This book is full of vivid descriptions of lush paradise surroundings, gorgeous interior design, the most incredible food porn descriptions... Definitely a lot of @shinythegodhouse vibes, and I was transported.
This was a great 'first' romance for me, and maybe I'll try reading more from the genre. Maybe... Thanks @netgalley for the digital ARC, it was lots of fun!

It’s been 5 years since Feyi lost her husband Josh in an accident. Her bff Joy is determined that she gets herself back out there. For Feyi that mean random sex with a stranger at a party. When that leads to a sweet man willing to take things slow, but when he invites her to the tropics where his father lives, everything changes.

Not me starting this book before bed and not falling asleep until 65%…ok yes, most definitely me. This book hooked me from page one and the only reason I stopped at 65% was that my eyes wouldn’t stay open any longer I was so tired. That said….I’m not sure how I feel about the father situation. It felt very icky and odd to me, but at the same time, the story was so well written that I also was kind of ok with it? This book was fantastic and so beautifully written, I highly recommend reading this one!

First off, many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest review. The last couple of books I have received from Atria Books have been great and they are quickly becoming one of my favorite go to publishers.

Now, my review of the ARC is complicated because of how complicated this story is. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this, but I can tell this will be one of those books that so many people are going to disagree on. Feyi makes some choices throughout this book that are hard to support and hard to get behind at times. Towards the end, I couldn’t decide even how I felt about everything that happens. However, I think that was part of why I found this so engaging.

Frying was completely and unapologetically herself and she prioritized her career and her feelings above what was expected of her in a way that I found admirable and not something you see on a lot of stories.

This story completely went against society’s view on gender and sexuality and I really enjoyed that. The bisexuality in the characters was great, as I feel that bisexuals tend to be unrepresented and it was nice to finally get that viewpoint. As someone who is bisexual, I often feel we can be somewhat erased once we are in a ”heteronormative” relationship, so I was definitely happy to finally see some representation. For me, this was a great read, but I am interested to see how others will receive it.

Akwaeke Emezi does not miss. I have loved absolutely everything they have ever written and will continue to read anything they write. This story is an incredibly unique romance and unlike anything I've ever read before. On top of that, every single character is intensely interesting and well developed. I felt like I knew Feyi right away and loved watching her follow her heart. Joy is an incredible best friend and amazing character that I would absolutely love to read more about in a sequel. Alim, Milan, Nasir, Lorraine, Rebecca, Pooja and even Jonah all felt so incredibly real and compelling that I would love it if several of them have their own books. Basically, I am desperately hoping this is book one of an incredible romance series. I will definitely be recommending this as much as I can!

I had such mixed feelings about You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. I have/will read anything they write, because they are brilliant and I've loved everything I've read by them across genres. I was surprised to know this was going to be a romance and it was my most anticipated read for this year. I loved the characters and how real they felt in dialogue and candor. But the thing that feels less real is the love-at-first-sight trope that felt very a bit emotionally immature compared to the stellar writing. And yet, even with the unrealistic fairy tale-like setting (I am married to a chef who works in restaurants and on TV and we know many "celebrity" chefs with Michelin stars who have been judges and hosts of food shows...and they are not even a fraction of as rich as the celebrity chef in this book!) and kind of far-fetched plot, I still couldn't put it down and was invested in how things would turn out for everyone involved. And I was moved by some of the beautiful things surrounding art, living through/with grief, and what people give up for their families. I need to sit with this one more. Even though the unbelievable nature brought me out of it many times, I think these characters will stick with me and I want to know even more about where their stories go next.

I am astonished by how much I enjoyed this book. It is tender and raw and heartbreaking and stunning. It's not a traditional romance novel so it took me a minute to get onboard but I'm so glad I did. This book about two queer people in grief broke my heart and then put it back together again.

Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC.

CW: death of a spouse, car accident, violent men

This is such a beautifully constructed story. It begins with Feyi a very attractive young woman who went through a terrible tragedy when she lost her husband in her twenties. It is now 5 years later and she has decided to come back out of her shell and try dating again.

She dates a couple of men who both begin helping her rejoin the world. Neither man quite fills the gap left by her deceased husband but she decides to accept that and keep moving ahead. Then her beau asks her to come do an art show down in the Islands and her true adventure really begins.

This book had a really unique feel to the writing, the characters felt vivid and their conversations could make you laugh at loud at times. There is also queer exploration with the characters which gave this book unexpected depth. But be warned there is graphic language that might offend some readers.

This book is definitely an exciting and unique release for spring 2022. Highly recommend.
Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fans of Emezi will be unsurprised to learn that they are capable of writing any genre they please and leave us with a gorgeously written novel! Feyi is a beautifully fleshed out protagonist navigating the trauma of her past. Feyi and Alim are painfully easy to root for in this vibrant romance novel. In Alim romance readers will get the benefit of seeing a gentle, bisexual male love interest who is powerfully charming. If you don’t fall in love with the romance it will only be because you’ve fallen in love with descriptions of the setting, the food, or the outfits first! Thanks NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A beautiful romance novel that subverts many of the conventions of the genre. This was full of juicy drama and heartfelt moments - the conversations on grief were so tender and endearing. It took me a little while to get into this one, but once I hit the midpoint I was hooked. The characters were lovable and the plot was engaging - I loved the island setting of most of the book as well.
This was a great entry in the romance canon and I love that Emezi is experimenting with so many different genres. A fantastic read.

"I think we're just figuring out how to survive a world on fire...that it's okay to be alive."

I arrived at this book having been absolutely captivated and devastated by The Death of Vivek Oji, astounded by Akwaeke Emezi's ability to capture achingly human experience in gorgeous language that still felt accessible and went straight to the heart. In this way, You Make a Fool of Death With Your Beauty entirely fulfilled my expectations. This book is a romance centered on coming to love from a place of intense grief and pain. The messiness of it, but ultimately the decision to reclaim - reclaim life, survival, voice, sexuality, anger, and vulnerability. Feyi also reclaims her art as her career really begins to take off in this paradise, and I think that this is an incredibly powerful part of Feyi's self-expression of grief, and holding on while letting go. Feyi is an incredible protagonist as she navigates her grief while choosing to put herself out there because of the gifts she may find for herself. She finds what she didn't realize she was looking for in an unexpected, complicated place. We may not agree with where her heart takes her, but the point is that it doesn't matter. In this way, Emezi challenges us to consider our notions of romance itself.

Emezi's portrayal of grief and trauma through flashes of memory throughout the book are gorgeously written and very visceral. These moments are often quick, like flashbacks can be. Their imagery of paradise is simply stunning and immersive.

Emezi has built incredibly whole and grossly human characters. Feyi's best friend, Joy, has to be my personal favorite. The bisexual representation is brilliant and beautiful.

Akwaeke Emezi's writing is at once gorgeous, heart-wrenching, unapologetic, and ALIVE. They ask us to consider where we're coming from and where we're going as we immerse ourselves in Feyi's story, and I very much recommend reading this highly anticipated book when it is released on May 24th.

Thank you so much to Atria Books for the e-ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will be posting this review on my Bookstagram, @sammies.shelf (www.instagram.com/sammies.shelf), a bit closer to pub date.

This book left me speechless in some instances. It was moving, real, and poignant. The writing was just beautiful and mesmerizing. I read that this was the author’s first romance novel and I’m blown away by that. They wrote such real and flawed characters that I couldn’t help but root for. I might not have agreed with all the choices the characters made but I understood why they made them. I cannot wait to read more books for this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved and thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is a book that is more of an experience than anything else and I don't know if a review will do it justice. The writing is beautiful and the characters are all so multi-faceted. I hope this will not be Emezi's last romance novel because it was stellar.

Ahh - this book! Akwaeke Emezi is a beautiful author with an amazing gift to deliver both incredibly touching stories and raw emotion that leaves you glued to the book until the end. I loved The Death of Vivek Oji - it was extremely well written and pulled my heart strings in every direction. This book was no different. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is a story about loss, and the difficulty & beauty of finding yourself after the loss of a loved one. There are no words for the way the author brings the characters to life and develops their stories - you are left wanting to know more, savoring the details of their lives, and wanting to be inputted right into the story with them. This story is beautiful, and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy when it comes out - this is a story to read again and again it was that amazing.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Pub date: 5/24/22
Genre: romance, own voices, women's fiction
In one sentence: Five years after her husband's death, Feyi finally has a new boyfriend - but she can't stop thinking about his father.

I requested this book because I loved the beautiful floral cover and Akwaeke Emezi's previous novel The Death of Vivek Oji. This book wasn't what I expected, but I enjoyed it a lot. The writing is lush and descriptive, especially the sections that take place on the island. I enjoyed how Emezi explored grief through Feyi and Alim, showing how they were drawn to each other through shared emotions. Both characters were messy and vulnerable, and their struggles felt real to me. Feyi and Alim's shared creativity was also a highlight - she's an artist and he's a prize winning chef.

This book is not a typical romance - it reminded me of Seven Days in June due to its exploration of deeper issues. I think readers who enjoy character-driven stories should give this one a try. It's a very different story from The Death of Vivek Oji, but it still has the unique characters and beautiful writing Emezi is known for.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a fan of this author since reading The Death of Vivek Oji. Their latest book does not disappoint…it is beautifully-written story about healing from grief and trauma, and fighting to find oneself again and for love even when it is unexpected and messy. It took me a while to really get into it, but by 50%, I was thoroughly hooked! I look forward to more books from this author.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced reader’s copy of this book.