Wow! Awesome read especially for a debut novel. The book started off slow in the beginning. It took a few chapters for me to get into it. Krystle covered some deep issues in every characters life. I’m still shocked at the ending. I would definitely recommend this book and I look forward to reading another book from Krystle Zara Appiah.

ROOTLESS by Krystle Zara Appiah is the story of a woman searching for her dreams in a life and marriage gone off the rails. From the moment Sam returns home to discover his wife Efe is gone, their child alone, and money missing from their bank account, the story flows between past homeland, present life, heartfelt dreams, and the question of what happens when your happily ever after is not the life you have landed in. At one point, Efe observes “Love and regret aren’t mutually exclusive" and that pithy summary infuses the entire story with heartfelt moments, deep questions, and the unclear future yet to be created. The people, settings, and events were absorbing and kept me reading way too late at night. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Rootless is a raw, emotional story about love. Literally left in tears, this novel explores family, home, motherhood, honesty and the importance of roots. Krystle Zara Appiah has delivered an amazing debut novel.

Sam and Efe were realistic, and you could feel every emotion of their love story. Rootless is beautifully paced, drawing the reader into their world. You'll root for their love through each and every hardship.

This is truly a book you'll be thinking about once you've read its final words. The ending had me reaching for the tissues - gutted yet hopeful with its conclusion.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group for the advance reader copy.

This review will be posted on March 7, 2023 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

This novels opens with a decision followed by an action. Then, it goes back almost two decades, setting the stage for how the novel's protagonists, Efe and Sam, moved from friends to lovers and to the decision. This novel was a heartbreakingly beautiful meditation on life, family expectations, past traumas and healing, communication and partnership, and parenting. Never before has the reality of parenting been so clear cut and magnified. How isolating, difficult, wonderful, and special it is. I won't lie though. The ending left me stunned. I don't know if I like the ending or not. But, I know I'm still thinking about it and how it impacted Efe and Sam. (No spoilers!) #Rootless Rating: 😊 / really liked it
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This book is scheduled for publication on Match 7, 2023. Thank you #BallantineBooks for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The love between Efe and Sam was endearing. But I had to take my time with this; there were moments when the book had me exhausted. The book handles the themes of marriage, motherhood, and mental health in the most human and empathetic manner. Despite the rough patches and missteps both characters make along the way; you are rooting for them to find their way back to happiness and one another. I went through the motions with Efe and Sam, but that speaks to the character-driven plot as well as how well-developed they are. I was not a fan of the ending at all. Both characters had such significant revelations as individuals and had made notable strides in their relationship that I wish were able to breathe.

Rootless is a story that starts at a major turning point in one couple's life and then we go back in time to see what brought us to the current predicament. It's definitely a journey that wasn't always pretty, but it seemed real and raw and full of life's ups and downs and the sacrifices we make for others.

Sam has returned home only to find his wife, Efe has left their family home and finds her in Ghana where her family lives. From that point we go back many years in Efe's life and see everything that transpired throughout those years. Each of those chapters was about a certain year and rather brief, but filled with what made Efe, Efe. We get to see her as a teen, as a college student, a struggling young woman and in a relationship with a much older man. But the one thing that was the red thread through it all was Sam. A boy from Ghana who also ended up in the UK like herself.
I have to say that I am thankful those chapters were short, but they were just enough for us to get to know Efe and who she was as a character and woman. But after the big opening, I wasn't sure what the point was of all those past details. I almost felt like I was reading little parts of someone's diary that was narrowed down to just short glimpses. But once the years led us to the turning point/the opening of the book, all the pieces fell into place. We got to see a woman that maybe knew herself well enough, but loved so much that she gave in to people when she shouldn't have, to the detriment of herself and her health. Once she returned to Ghana and left her husband and child, I felt that Efe finally got to be who she needed to be, but she also had to give up something that could've broken her and her relationships she had with her husband and family.

Krystle Zara Appiah tackled a huge story of life, love, mental health, marriage, family and relationships and gave us something raw and passionate. I felt like I didn't need a lot of the past build up, but in the end it led me to connect with Efe more than I would have if we would've just taken it from the beginning and proceeded forward. She was a woman that many people will connect with, especially in an age where we are continuously getting our rights taken away concerning our bodies. This will not be an easy read and should come with warnings, but it is a story that will resonate with many women.

This is a poignant story of a couple’s love for each other. It tells the story of Sam and Efe and how their marriage evolves. It is well written with an air of the tragic. It is a reflection of the past as well as looking to the future.

Rootless stomps on your heart. I wasn’t prepared for the ending.
I don’t think Efe was ever really happy in her life, she did what was expected of her.
Her relationship with Sam was never on solid footing and their marriage endured some pretty hard knocks.
I felt the sorriest for Olivia.

First and foremost, let me say that this novel sent on a roller coaster of emotions.

You follow the story of a couple: Efe and Sam. But not just any sorry. Their journey of finding themselves and each other over and over again.

This romance is real and raw and true. Miss Krystle did not hold back with this story. Efe’s journey through motherhood and marriage is real. Sam’s undying love and response to it all is real. This is probably the realest yet most emotional story I have ever read.

I recommend this everyone! Thank you to NetGalley, Random House and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read this story early.

Rootless is out next Tuesday.

I was looking forward to reading this contemporary fiction novel, but unfortunately I couldn't get into the plot. The writing felt more like notes of a story rather than the story itself.

Rootless opens with Efe having left Sam and fleeing from London to her family in Ghana. The book then jumps back to 19 years earlier, when Efe is just a teenager. Each chapter is then a year in Efe and Sam's lives until it catches up to 2016, the year Efe leaves Sam. Efe and Sam both have dysfunctional childhoods. This has made Sam want a family of his own more than anything, while Efe has told Sam she does not want children. Efe ends up pregnant and everything about being pregnant and a mother is difficult for Efe. She develops an extreme case of postpartum depression while Sam revels in being a parent. Once again Efe makes it clear she wants no more children, but ends up pregnant again. The second half of the book is about how Sam and Efe feel about being pregnant again and dealing with it.

This is a story about love, marriage, relationships and parenting. I liked one year being covered in each chapter, as there wasn't a lot of extra information provided that wasn't necessary to the story.

I received an ARC of Rootless in exchange for an honest review.

THIS BOOK. It handled sensitive topics with care and empathy, and it tackled a side of motherhood we don’t see often enough. I know that it will stick with me for a long time. And for that reason it was one of the best books I read this month. It’s a hard book to talk about without giving away too much because the ending is what threw me for a loop. Talking with MINDFUL LIBRARIAN, and her reaching out to the author to see if we could hear about why she ended it that way, I was able to process my reaction and appreciate the story even more. To be clear, this isn’t an easy read so feel free to message me or look up content warnings on StoryGraph if you want to know more before going in. For fans of Seven Days in June and Patsy.

Review contains major spoilers

I am really struggling with how to write this review. The book is written really well and the characters are well developed.

The story follows Efe, a British Ghanaian woman and Sam, who she meets in high school and eventually marries. Efe never wants to have children but becomes pregnant after she and Sam marry and Sam pressures her to continue the pregnancy. She has a difficult pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience. When she becomes pregnant again after the dust has settled and she has finally developed a routine with her family, she tells Sam that she can't continue the pregnancy but he basically ignores her and proceeds as if they're happily planning for a second child. Efe panics and absconds to Ghana where she has an abortion with the support of her sister. We as the reader don't really know how Efe feels about her abortion, besides the fact that she needs it to survive, but the portrayal of the abortion itself is highly stigmatizing. The doctor is a shadowy figure and she has complications. When Sam finds out that Efe has had abortion, he is furious. Efe's mother is also furious with her. Efe never really has a voice in the discussion at all.

At the end of the book, following a long process of Efe and Sam reconnecting from afar, Efe is rebuilding her sense of self, painting and prioritizing herself. She is about to show her art in an exhibition, whereSam is planning to surprise her. But then Efe's taxi gets in an accident and they are run off of a bridge and she dies.

Throughout the book I clung to the idea that this was a nuanced, uncomfortable portrait of a woman who was forced into motherhood and had regrets, while still loving her family. But with this ending, it just reads like a warning to wayward women, or a promise of punishment if you dare to evade motherhood. I was so upset at the conclusion of this book. It took what could have been a four star read to a one star. I hate to give any book this low of a rating but I think this is honestly harmful.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

Sacrificing yourself for things you didn't want in the first place, then being asked to do so again.. selfish? At first I thought so, but maybe it’s also just life. And when things get too hard how do you handle it? With Efe and Sam perfection isn't their strong suit but their friendship is, which takes this plot from beginning to end.
The story is told in snapshots of reminiscing, you don’t get the whole picture at once, but it comes together to give you an entire story. This one was just ok for me, it was a bit slow in spots but covered many topics well.

This book had me speechless. there is no way this is a debut, that is just how well it is done and how amazing it reads.
The character development was good. only a couple of characters i felt were throw away.
the story itself was just... wow.
everything about this book is just... i have no words
this is a book i wish i could read for the first time again

Wow! "Rootless" by Krystle Zara Appiah is an absolutely tremendous debut novel! It will definitely be considered one of the best books of 2023. This book completely ripped out my heart and shook me to my very soul. And, even though I am a middle aged white woman, I felt seen! Efe's character, her desire to fit into the box society has created for women, and her struggles with motherhood really resonated with me. Not all women are meant to be mothers, no matter what everyone around us says, and it doesn't do anyone any good to pretend to be someone we are not because, sooner or later, that façade will crumble and leave destruction in its wake. Efe's husband and family ignored and belittled her struggles with pregnancy, motherhood, and mental illness simply because, to them, it was unthinkable that a woman wasn't a natural mother and caregiver. They couldn't fathom the idea that a woman might be whole without a child. It broke my heart to see Efe lose herself so completely and then have to struggle so hard to regain her identity.

This book is thought provoking and is definitely not a light read. I thought the author did a fabulous job portraying both sides of the issues and there were really no bad guys in this book, just misguided ones. I won't soon forget Efe; this is a book that will stick with me for quite some time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book, in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
On the one hand, this is a powerful debut that feels gritty and honest - marriage and parenthood are hard. But the unexpected ending and the lack of character development - Sam's, in particular - left me wanting more. In the end, I found this book depressing.

This book was a slow read, but the message was intentional. Society says that mothers automatically just have “it”, you know the “it”, the motherly instinct, the automatic love for said child. Efe shows us in this novel the struggles with not wanting to have a child, feeling alone, going through postpartum depression, and even being in a marriage that has you feeling like a ghost version of yourself. This book reflects how culturally, one is expected to be. But reality takes precedence. Efe walks out on her family and decides to take charge of her life. Sam and Olivia pays the cost. They’re left to pick up the pieces and continue life without her near. Then tragedy strikes and they have to make their recent months a permanent reality.

Wow! Rootless follows Efe, mom, wife, and art enthusiast, born in Ghana and living in London. The book starts with Efe walking out on her family, and over the pages we travel backward to discover what actually happened. While there are many amazing parts to this novel, what really knocked me to my knees was the descriptions of early motherhood. Krystle Zara Appiah expertly described the pain, hurt, anxiety, and depression that can also accompany being pregnant and having a child. Bravo!

What a sad love story. There was definitely some wrongdoing on both sides but i ultimately wanted to see Sam and Efie find their way back to eachother. This was very well written and Rich with Ghanaian culture.