Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end and had a very hard time putting it down. The beginning scene definitely caught me off guard but the rest of the book was absolutely beautiful.

This book is more than just a romance. There are so many deeply rooted themes of love, loss, art, fame, and family. The prose was just so beautifully written and created a fast paced novel that had me wanting to know more and more about the story and what was going to happen to Feyi next.

I would definitely recommend this book if you're looking for a fast paced romance read.

PS: if you read and review, the author uses they/them pronouns so please be mindful of that!

{3.5 stars}

I was absolutely floored by Emezi's The Death of Vivek Oji, I don't think I'd ever read a book that left me so shattered. So I was quite looking forward to their new book. Feyi is an artist who lost her husband to an accident and is in a state of stasis. She has avoided relationships and even hook ups. Her best friend convinces her to go out and when we meet her, she's having her first physical encounter and testing the waters of her emotions. The trauma is still fresh and she does everything she can to push people away. She is pursued by a lovely guy who agrees to take it slow and just be friends until she is ready. Unfortunately, when she is ready the person she has her eye on is in his inner circle and some serious drama ensues. The story really focuses on Feyi's journey coping with grief and finding hope in love again.

My main issue with the book is that it was quite graphic with the sex scenes, that's just not my style. I understand that is what makes romances sell these days but there was so many layers to Feyi that filled the page with much more entertaining and probing details. The descriptions of Feyi's art, gorgeous descriptions of the island and mouthwatering cooking scenes. There were times where I was really annoyed with her choices but I think she got there in the end. This was an enjoyable read that I got through in one sitting.

Check this one out if you liked Queenie or any of Farrah Rochon's books. 

Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.

“He loved people being messy as fuck—he said it was one of the best things about being human, how we could make such disasters and recover from them enough to make them into stories later.”

Lets start with this cover..it is absolutely stunning. I was immediately drawn to it and new this would be a must read. This is my first book I've read by Emezi and it is clear that their writing is beautiful and daring. 

This book is Scandalous and so sexy. I mean from the first line, you know this is going to be juicy. But it is also so much more than that. It is a beautiful story of grief and finding new connections. 

Feyi is a beautiful and complex character. She is fierce and timid all at once. She is aware and kind to others feelings but also sees the value in going for what you need and want. 

This book was hard to put down. Once I was immersed in Feyi's life, I wanted to see where this story would go. This was such an intense story- full of alot of emotions. This would be a wonderful book to discuss, it has so many thought provoking subjects to tackle. 

This was a definite 5 star for me. Now I'll be reading all of Emezi's backlist.

In "You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty", Feyi is a Black protagonist who is searching for the purpose of living after a devastating loss five years ago.

Feyi doesn't always make the most sensible decisions and occasionally she's a bit annoying, yet she is definitely a messy main character that will make you feel alive. Through her, we are reminded of the need to focus on ourselves sometimes and strip off unselfishness. It is no wrong pursuing your own happiness, even if it involves taking hard steps. The author raises interesting discussions about grief, personal and complex, which doesn't always fade with time. The author also touches on queerness, friendship (we all need a friend like Joy) and shows the transformative power of art in someone's life.

Steamy, dramatic and vulgar at times, this is about a forbidden and not romanticized love. Feyi's healing journey is chaotic yet I ended up empathizing with the whole process considering how realistic it was. In addition, by evoking some delicious food and with confident writing, the story left me wanting to know what happens next. Although I wasn't attached to the characters, I enjoyed the reading experience. There is a great amount of cursed language. Lastly, the constant use of "sweetheart" made me cringe at times.
I recommend this book even if you are not a romance reader like me.

I was expecting a sad, tough read from Emezi but instead they wrote a romance that read like a guilty pleasure. I was drawn to the story of a woman in New York City grieving her dead husband while trying to date 5 years after his death. When the setting moved to a Caribbean island and the lives of the rich and famous, I couldn't put it down.

Ooof. This was my first read by Emezi and based on the reviews of their other work, I made the wrong choice.

While the writing itself was beautiful and I loved the location and vivid scenery description, I absolutely hated the plot and dialogue in this story. It made me physically cringe almost the entire time I was reading. It was just not for me. I honestly probably should have DNF it.

*spoiler alert/trigger warning for domestic violence*

I thought this was an interesting book. I thought some of it was difficult to digest because some of the relationships are super intense and one of the characters is almost abusive but then everything is fine at the end with Faye and him like he didn't verbally and almost physically abusive her. I liked elements of this novel because life is messy and things don't always go smoothly or in away that makes everything happy, but that one scene was triggering for me. I still enjoyed the book, but I wish his abusive behavior would have been addressed a little more than it was.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi is a beautifully written love story about Feyi Adekola. Feyi lost her husband in a car accident five years ago, and she wants to start dating again. She has an amazingly supportive best friend, Joy, and she's an artist with her own studio. Soon she ends up on a tropical island in the beautiful home of a celebrity chef, and she realizes she has feelings for him. There's one problem: she's actually there with the chef's son. How does she navigate this difficult situation? This book was so raw, honest, emotional, grief-filled, and amazingly written--I truly loved it. The way the author spoke on grief and emotions was so real and powerful. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

3.75 stars

I’ve been meaning to try one of Awaeke Emezi's books for years, ever since I read Ana Grilo’s review of Pet for Kirkus. The book sounded really good and really different, but somehow, I never got around to reading it. However, when that Emezi heard that you’d written a romance, I knew I had to jump on the ARC. Also, there was the gorgeous title.

It’s been five years since the death of Feyi Adekola’s beloved husband in a car accident in front of Feyi’s eyes, and Feyi still sometimes wishes that she, too, had died. She and Jonah married young and only had one year together, but he was the love of her life.

Feyi is an artist and much of her work is painted in blood (pig blood, not human, of course). She relives the accident that shattered her life over and over in dreams. She knows she will grieve forever but also that she needs to live again. Recently Feyi moved to New York with her best friend and one-time lover, Joy, in the hope that maybe she can figure out how to do that.

The book opens with Feyi having hot sex in a restroom with an attractive stranger, Milan. At a rooftop party, Feyi’s gaze connected with Milan’s and she was very direct when she drew him away from the party. It’s the first time since in years that Feyi has had sex with anyone, but she came to the party to make a conscious attempt to do that.

Feyi and Milan begin a casual friends-with-benefits relationship. They don’t really get close, and the heat they felt the first time they had sex settles into something that is more comfortable than sizzling. Soon into this, a friend of Milan’s, Nasir, comes on to Feyi despite her and Milan’s relationship. Feyi thinks Nasir is a player and puts him in his place, but he then apologizes and says things that suggested to me, though not quite as strongly to Feyi, that he fell for her on the spot and now can’t forget her. The intensity of his want lingers in Feyi’s mind and she breaks up with Milan (he doesn’t mind that much) to get together with Nasir.

Feyi doesn’t fall into bed with Nasir. This thing with him feels like something that could develop into a real relationship and after the loss of her beloved Jonah, that’s scary as well as (in her mind) possibly disloyal. She wants to take it slow and just be friends at first. She tells Nasir as much and he agrees—his longing for her is such that he’ll agree to anything.

When Feyi tells Nasir about the accident and about Jonah’s death, he tells her of his mother’s death when he was very young, but his understanding of her grief doesn’t seem that deep. Eventually she trusts him enough to show him her art.

Nasir tells Feyi that his father is an art collector and a friend of the curator in the National Museum on the tropical island where Nasir’s father lives (I don’t think which island is specified). One of the participating artists in an exhibit on Black Diaspora artists has pulled out and now there is an open slot. Nasir’s father got Rebecca Owo, the curator, to consider Feyi and Rebecca chose her. Nasir is going home for a few weeks anyhow, and he offers to bring Feyi to vacation with him so that she can also participate. He brings friends there all the time, he says; his dad is loaded, has a huge house with lots of rooms, and loves hosting artists. Feyi can visit not only as an artist but also as Nasir’s friend; his dad will host her and fly them out.

Feyi is skeptical about the “just friends” aspect. It’s a big thing to do for someone who has only been a friend for a month or so even if they both hope that it will eventually develop into more. Nasir however says that his friends have come out there with him multiple times. Feyi says she needs to sleep on it, but she kisses him. It is an emotional, vulnerable moment for Feyi but Nasir is gentle. Then she asks for less restraint and her heart starts beating fast. What Nasir represents—the possibility of life after Jonah—is scary, but the kiss is also good. Feyi later decides to go, but begins to feel a little pressured by Nasir’s big gesture and the strength of his need.

This only gets more confusing for Feyi when Alim, Nasir’s father, picks them up at the airport. Alim is a famous chef who was on a reality show, and is not only wealthy but highly attractive. Before she meets him, Nasir attempts to reassure Feyi (it reads more like a desperate need to reassure himself) that his father isn’t gay. Feyi notices a little bronzer on Alim’s face and later on, painted toenails. Eventually we learn more about his sexuality. Regardless, Alim is widowed, polite and generous to Feyi, but no more than that. She is nevertheless wildly attracted to him, more than she has ever been to Milan, Nasir, or any man other than Jonah.

Feyi finds herself torn between the son and the father, her head and her heart, and her emotional struggle with this is the theme of the rest of the book, in addition to the primary one about her grief and her reawakening to life. To say much more would be to spoil.

This book was unusual and after Feyi reached the island and the triangle began, engaging. My main problem in reading it was that I went in taking into account the statement that the book was a romance, and while there’s a big romantic subplot and a HEA, it reads more like Women’s Fiction. Women’s Fiction isn’t a genre I read often because I am not really that interested in it most of the time.

One reason You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty didn’t read like a romance to me is that it is, more than anything, a book about Feyi finding herself in the wake of her husband’s death. That comes ahead of the romance.

BIG SPOILER

Also, Feyi ends up with Alim at the end, but Alim doesn’t show up on the page until the 33% mark, and this is another reason why I don’t consider this book a romance in the romance-genre sense.

This is a partial review. The entire review can be found on Dear Author, here: https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-minus-reviews/review-you-made-a-fool-of-death-with-your-beauty-by-awaeke-emezi/

I thought this would be a fluffy romance but it was SO MUCH MORE. The story and characters were fantastic. I look furwsrd to her next one.

This book just was not for me- I had to DNF at about 30% - it was difficult to get past the language, vulgarity and having sex with random strangers. Apparently I'm not the target audience for this book.

Thank you to Atria Books for the gifted copy of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty!

Grief has a funny way of making us believe the choices we’ve made were right. Hindsight is 20/20 and I believe Feyi will see just how wrong she was.

Alim is even worse IMO, because Nasir was his son. This wasn’t love, this was trauma and grief grabbing hold of two people. They bond was formed through their grief and it led them to make some pretty shitty decisions. My heart goes out to Nasir but overall complex characters, entertaining storyline and a train wreck bound to happen!

I’d recommend!

Come for the lush, beautiful writing, stay for a unique take on romance. Feyi is just beginning to come out of the grief that has entrapped her, even since the loss of her husband five years ago. With the help of her best friend Joy, she cautiously tip-toes into dating again, only to meet a kind, understanding man and his family and begin another type of journey. A short, entrancing tale of learning to forgive yourself for past mistakes and embracing your future, this is not your typical love story, but one with deeper resonance and beauty that will stun you with its insights and its lyrical language.
My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this book prior to publication.

Trigger warning: Death of a spouse, car accident, drowning. If you don't care for cursing language, be warned there is quite a bit of it. Personally it doesn't bother me a bit.

Five years after her spouse was killed in a car accident, which she was also in, Feyi is ready to meet men again. Not to date, but rather for sexual pleasure. When she meets Nasir she has an instant connection with him and agrees to take their relationship slow including no sex and don't even kiss right away. Feyi is a gifted artist and Nasir has connections, which leads to showing her art on the tropical island he's from. Nasir offer's to bring her to the island all expenses paid and host her, as friends, which she accepts after talking it over with her best friend, Joy. When she gets to the island she meets and is overcome with emotions for the one persons she can't have any feelings for. This connection could cost Feyi everything.

This is my second book by Akwaeke Emezi after reading their debut novel, Freshwater. Just as with Freshwater I love their writing. Although You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty is being marked as a romance it's unlike any other romance I've read and I've read a lot of them, especially since 2020. This novel feels more like a tale about overcoming grief and finding one's self after losing the love of their life. The romance almost feels like a secondary story and only started to really pick up with the last few chapters. I did enjoy that the love story was between two bi-sexual characters adding even more nuance to the characters on top of the characterization they already had. Although the romance wasn't as prominent as in other romance novels, you could feel the heat that was radiating between Feyi and the other character.

I will read anything Akwaeke Emezi writes! Their stories always amaze me.. Every book is so different and takes us down a complicated but heartfelt road. Beautiful story about loss and never settling for less than you deserve no matter how heartbreaking it may be. LOVED this!

Akwaeke Emezi is a genius and finds it impossible to miss, it seems. You Made a Fool is an absolutely brilliant piece of contemporary literature that will endure far beyond its publication date.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Don’t be fooled by the beachy vibe of this novel’s cover. Emezi has astounded once again with a searing novel about grief and the messy business of moving on after the death of a spouse. #partner @atriabooks

Set against the lush backdrop of the Caribbean island, this story finds Feyi traveling to stay with Nasir, whom she is sort-of dating while exhibiting her artwork. But when she meets his father, famed chef Alim, her interests are torn.

As she tries to heal away from her life in Brooklyn, her life becomes messier than she could have imagined. I loved Emezi’s raw prose about grief and was thoroughly entertained by the story they wove.

This book has forever changed my expectations of the romance genre. Beautiful, thought-provoking, juicy, messy. Compulsively readable. Akwaeke Emezi is unstoppable, and their ability to knock it out of the park for every genre they write in is incredible. This book has made me fall in love with Emezi, and I can't wait to read their backlist.

This is hands down, one of the best books I have read this year. Emezi is outstanding in their first romance novel, is there anything they cannot do?

The writing as usual was perfection, lyrical and lovely and woven with sharp contemporary dialogue. The descriptions of the island in all it's lush beauty, the Black culture, the FOOD, the sex, the heart-wrenching conversations about grief. IT WAS EVERYTHING. If you buy one book this summer make it this one.

Incredible. I could not stop reading this book and definitely sobbed. I love Emezi's writing and their ability to write complex characters and emotions.