QUICK TAKE: loved this coming-of-age story of a British-Ghanaian woman who finds herself at an intersection in her life and must take control of what is most important to her in the wake of the death of her father. Powerful, emotional, funny. An easy favorite of 2023 so far!

Maddie (aka Maame to her family) lives in London with her father with Parkinson’s while her mother spends most of her time in Ghana. When her mother finally returns home, Maddie can move out and start to live her life without worrying about her father’s care. I’ve seen so many rave reviews of this one, but unfortunately I didn’t love it. A lot of that is more about me as a reader than about the quality of the book. On one hand, Maddie’s father’s illness hit very close to home, and her grief, which was well-written, was beyond devastating to read. I had to put the book down at times because it was more than I could handle, so I would urge caution if you have anxiety or triggers around parental or familial illness. On the other hand, a lot of her coming of age was difficult for me to relate to, maybe because I’m old enough that I’m too far removed from that stage of life. As far as the book itself, my biggest complaint is that it felt too heavy handed - basically anything that could have gone wrong in Maddie’s life did. I also wanted Maddie to get better mental health support. While this wasn’t a book for me, a lot of people have loved it, so if you want a devastating, messy, coming of age story, it may be worth picking up Maame. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

⭐️⭐️
IDK what all the hype is about with this book. I struggled to finish. There were variety of topics such as caring for a parent, racism, peer pressure etc. I felt there was a lot going on for one book and those topics where being forced. It was all over the place and not solid. Thank you NetGalley and St.Martins Press for ARC read in return for my honest opinion.

The back cover literally says “the debut everyone is talking about” and scrolling through your Instagram feed has likely already confirmed that, and it is for good reason. I am beyond impressed that this is a debut novel. @jessicabgeorge wrote a book that is raw, authentic and serious but never felt overwhelmingly heavy or preachy. It is very much character driven over plot which is almost always my preference when it comes to contemporary fiction because you feel invested in their lives as you read along. Our MC, Maddie, has spent so much of her life focused on pleasing those around her and we get to see her explore what life might look like if she works on loving herself as fiercely as she loves others. This is such a moving book that I think will resonate with many people! I do want to point out that I think when we hear moving pertaining to a book we automatically assume heavy and this remains very lively throughout. I wish the ending had just a bit more to it and then it would’ve been a 5-star read for me.

Overall, Maame is interesting and an enjoyable read. As far as debuts go, this was a great start and I cannot wait to see what else Jessica George surprises us with in the future.

Maddie, our protagonist, is a British-Ghanian women in her 20's. I love stories from immigrant daughters, especially one that is coming-of-age.

While Maddie does depict a lot of her Ghanian culture in a negative light, I can see why she does so. It fits in with her experience in life so far: she is sheltered and wanting more, and so it is fitting that she associates all she knows negatively. I did hope that towards the end we would get more of a character arc where she can distinguish between the positive and negative but the story falls short in that.

Maddie's inner dialogue is pretty funny, even through her absurd dependence on google, but hey, modern times right? She's also not perfect, and this is a huge strength of the book. Maddie is shown to be intelligent and dutiful and on the flip side she is a push-over and gullible, a dichotomy that makes sense, in general, but can sometimes be frustrating since she is 25 years old. But I have to remind myself that she is lacking in so many experiences that of course she is like this. The frustration with Maddie made her feel even more real.

This book is being marketed as Women's Fiction, not as the Contemporary Romance that it is. Therefore, I am reviewing it as Women's Fiction which is usually considered as having a more literary feel.

At this point in my ten years of book blogging and reviewing, I am beyond rating books based partially on subject matter because there are plenty of fabulous POC and diverse authors out there writing high quality novels. This author isn't one of them. It's funny because she describes her own writing in this story...

"'It was beautiful and raw and written so . . .' Kenny smiles. 'Sparsely.' 'It’s called economical language.' 'Aha! And who coined that phrase, dear Madeleine?' Kenny asks. 'A group of actual readers or her publicity team who couldn’t think of another way to say: my writer lacks a little imagination.'"

The book also hints that this is what most women prefer to read and men are just being lofty.

"Economical language" writing, the first cousin of "all vibes, no plot" writing; making plain unskilled writing "trendy" so basically anyone can get published, and maybe even get enough social media hype to become a bestselling author.

This title is an example of a book written solely for salability. Books like this are getting published more and more. Too many characters with severe mental health problems and no resolution/remedy, check. A lot of LGBTQ content for no other reason than being able to sport a LGBTQ hashtag, check. Bad parents, check. An overload of obscenities, check. Cheesy sex scenes, check. Supporting and legitimizing 21+ year olds acting and interacting like teenagers, check. Painfully simple vocabulary for quick reading, check.

One thing I really loathed about this author is she is a fence sitter writer. She writes about controversial subjects in a way that both sides can think she's supporting their opinion. The MC rarely made her feelings known. This broadens a book's relatability and therefore, salability with no effort required.

The main character is a college educated twenty-five year old and her friends are similar in age and education, but they make decisions like high schoolers and interact like teenagers. Authors need to stop normalizing this. Reading about the relationships with her flatmates was like reading about sixteen year olds at sleep-away camp, and her sexual escapades were immature as well. There was also quite a bit of high school "do you think he's ugly" type talk, and happiness/"depression" was many times based on whether the character had a boyfriend or not.

There was some acceptable representation of depression and anxiety/panic attacks, but the majority of it was skewed more than a little bit. The author gave the impression that "real depression" needs to be based on something in most cases, like the death of a family member, or loss of a job; which is not true. And then to confuse things even more... some of the MC's "depression" was in reality just sadness and normal grief, and her actual depression symptoms were passed off as sadness. One of the flags for clinical depression is when the depression is not related to any life events or environment. It was irresponsible of the author to send mixed messages like this. There was also a description of manic depression being presented as normal everyday happiness/sadness feelings.

I won't even go into the misrepresentation of a gynecological disorder described in the story.

I loved this book so much that I've been trying to write a review of it for well over a month and keep coming up short. It was beautifully written, so funny, so smart, so moving without being maudlin - it was perfect.

I feel like anyone who doesn't love this book is deeply confused.

Such a indepth family drama. This book had it all. love, family, grief, growth, self discovery and second chances.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were some characters in this book (who are part of the main characters family) who I down right LOATHED. I mean let me get this out right away. Maddie's Mother?? Oh come on, it was like she expected some sort of award for finally showing up and taking care of her husband (who has parkinson's by the way) given that Maddie has been taking care of him for years.
For the first time in her entire life, Maddie is "free" so to speak and can finally experience things that most 25 years have already experienced. (wearing make up for the first time, drinking etc). But of course, things don't go exactly how Maddie thinks they will.

There were part of the book, that drove me a little crazy, but over all I really loved this book. It took a close look at families and how dsyfunctional they really can be.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley and St. Martin for the ARC

This was a wonderful debut novel about a young woman who had to grow up quickly and become the caregiver for her father who had Parkinson's disease. She is struggling with her identity as a young adult and how to form relationships amongst friends and also lovers. I loved hearing the thoughts inside Maddie's mind and how she grew to understand what love means. Five Big Stars for me!!!

I loved some parts of this book and then others felt so disjointed to me. Sometimes Maddie's character felt like two different people based on the maturity and what she was asking of google

great book and such great characters. I enjoyed the mystery and some romance. I also enjoyed the journey of the characters. I didn't know what to expect with this book but I enjoyed it .

Maddie’s life is not fully her own. She is taking care of her father while her mother has gone off to Ghana and her brother is busy trying to live his own life. Maddie is in a job that she isn’t fully happy in and is walking around on eggshells with her boss. She rushes home to take care of her dad every night after work, so her social life really isn’t there. Her mother continually asks her for money.

I really enjoyed the story telling in this book and what was going to happen. Would Maddie finally start living her life?

Thank you #Netgalley for the advance copy

When I read this over the summer I knew it was going to be big - and now it’s a #readwithjenna and @bookofthemonth pick!

Maddie is a Ghanaian millennial living in London, working at a dead end job and carrying for her father. When her overbearing mother returns from Ghana, Maddie needs to balance her parents’ expectations with her desire to find herself and what she really wants from life. I really enjoyed this! Thanks to @stmartinspress for the #gifted copy!

Thanks so much for the review copy. I can see why this is a book club favorite. Thanks again for the review copy.

In this lovely debut novel, Jessica George captures the uncertainty, and anxiety of Maddie Wright, a woman in her mid twenties. She is a people pleaser who earns the nickname Maame (“the responsible one”) from her family. She has a dead end admin job where she is often “the only Black person in the room,” and while her older brother, James, lives his life as he wants and her mother spends most of her time in her homeland of Ghana, Maddie becomes the main caregiver for her father who has Parkinson’s. As her social life dwindles, she worries she’ll always be a virgin. Maddie begins the “slow descent into a dull existence.” Then her mother finally comes back to take care of Maddie’s father, and Maddie moves into a flat with two roommates who are determined to help her start to live “a larger life”. But just as she’s getting a taste of independence, tragedy strikes at home and at work, and she’s forced to confront the anxieties she faces in daily life.
This books joy is in the gutsy portrayal of Maddie as a complicated, sharp, and vulnerable person who is trying to figure out how to adult! Highly recommend!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press and of course to Jessica George, for a warm and inviting read!

If you can’t afford therapy, I would prescribe this book for anyone who wants to learn more about grief, depression, anxiety, intergenerational trauma and so much more. There are some really solid lessons the main character experiences in the course of reflecting on her role as “Maame” or “mother” in her family, even as the youngest daughter. Jessica George crafted excellent characters that are complex and believable. Reading this writing gave me the impression of effervescence, a bubbling up that was unexpected at times, but overall intriguing and pleasing. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

I received a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. I also listened to the audiobook.

For a debut novel, this coming of age story of a British Ghanaian woman sure packs a punch. Maddie is responsible for caring for her ailing father while trying to find her own way. Her mother is in Ghana half the time and her brother selfishly chooses his own pursuits over helping with family responsibilities. I was impressed with the way George was able to address such sensitive topics with lightness and humor. It was well done, and I found myself cheering for Maddie amongst the chaos of the hand she was dealt.

Maddie is a likeable heroine who feels guilt for choosing her own life when the weight of family expectations seem so heavy. I enjoyed learning more about the experience of being a Black woman in London, and how she found her own voice to go for what she wanted. I especially enjoyed how she used Google to navigate the questions she had. It was so relatable and had me cheering her on to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Jessica George for an early copy of the book.

5🌟 - I loved it!

I loved this one so much! It’ll definitely on my favorites list at the end of the year I already know it! I can hardly believe it’s a debut novel 👏🏻

This was such a good coming-of-age story that explores friendships, complex family dynamics, grief, relationships, careers, identity in culture, mental health, and navigating your 20s.

Touching, relatable, and charming this is one that needs to be on your radar!

Maame is such a great story about finding your path and overcoming the challenges that we all face at one time in our lives. Maddie learning to deal with her grief over losing her father to Parkinson's while simultaneously tryhing to live up to the expectations her family has for her (specifically her mother and brother) was so relatable.
Maddie is such a well written character, and her experiences and failures pull you in immediately. She longs to be her own person instead of what everyone else wants her to be, but she seems thwarted at every attempt by the people in her life. This ultimately makes her growth as a young woman, and her character arc as a whole, incredibly satisfying. Watching her stand up to her mother and brother and attempting to forge new relationships and boundaries, not just with them but with her extended family and friends as well, was masterful. You can't help but to root for her, even when she's holding whole conversations in her head or googling random questions about dating, sex and whatever else pops in her head.
I appreciated the therapy sessions that played out in the book. Maddie going to therapy was such a pivotal decision and led to her growth as a young woman and I loved that it wasn't just glossed over.
This was such a great debut. It was witty, vulnerable, emotional, and relatable and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. A beautiful and honest portrait of a woman as she faces issues of race, class, sex, family and friendship and emerges with a newfound perspective on all. I loved being inside Maame's head and felt incredibly strong emotions as I journeyed with her. All of the characters are well-written and there are many passages that are incredibly and surprisingly funny. I would highly recommend.