Friendship, relationships, motherhood, womanhood, and identity are a few of the key themes explored in this gritty domestic thriller.

I was totally absorbed in the world's of Ronke, Simi and Boo, three thirty-something year old Nigerian-English friends living in London.

Lovable Ronke who dreams of a husband, is a wonder with children and cooks up a storm, Boo who has a husband and daughter but is wildly unhappy and Simi who has built her career in fashion and is working on the confidence to share her true feelings with her husband.

In comes Isobel like a wrecking ball, a character you love to hate. See me see trouble...one hundred percent!

I love the style of writing, contemporary feel and the balance of characters in this book. The focus on so many different aspects of womanhood, love and heritage are particularly enjoyable. The book is peppered with Nigerian culture, and strikes a great balance between exploratory and suspense-filled, keeping you on the edge of your seat. I couldn't put it down!

I didn't take to Boo at all; I think she is a character that will divide opinion as it seemed like she was just waiting to take a grenade to her life, but I think this in turn makes her a character that will resonate with some readers.

Nikki May has also done an excellent job here of writing London, and strong friendships. In terms of plot development she also sets the scene so we as readers can sense what is coming and are just watching it play out... but contrasts this with some unexpected twists that will leave you open-mouthed!

I'm re-badging this as Behind Her Eyes meets Girlfriends... witty, insightful, creepy and deliciously good! What a powerful debut, I can't wait for more from Nikki May.

Wahala is a Nigerian Pidgin word meaning ‘trouble’, and there is trouble aplenty in this
explosive debut.

A story of friendship, family, identity, race and secrets, Wahala is narrated by three friends: Ronke, Simi and Boo. Now living in London, the trio met at university in Bristol and bonded over being of Nigerian and English descent. Their shared dual heritage made them outsiders and created a connection that they thought was unbreakable. But when Isobel, a childhood friend of Simi from Lagos, comes into their lives, cracks in their friendships soon begin to appear and soon all four women are forced to confront their darkest secrets and deepest vulnerabilities. Will their friendships survive?

Wow! What a sensational debut. This book has a great vibe from the start and is full of humour, warmth, chaos and tension, it pulled me in immediately and didn’t let go until the final page. Nikki May brings her characters and their world to life in vivid technicolour, educating the reader on life in Nigeria and exploring how it feels to be mixed race while also making you laugh and feel entertained. And the food. I was so happy to find there are recipes for some of the traditional Nigerian cuisine that is mentioned as it made my mouth water and stomach rumble reading about it.

A book like this is nothing without great characters and Ms. May has created an enthralling group of flawed, fascinating and fabulous women. Ronke is a dentist who just wants to find Mr. Right and have babies. She loves cooking, especially Nigerian food, and seems to be the heart of the group. Simi is the glamorous one, at least until Isobel arrives. She likes the finer things in life and cares about what others think of her, always keen to project a picture perfect image of her life even if it’s falling apart at the seams. Boo is unsatisfied with her life and feels like the grass is always greener. She loves her husband and child but feels stifled by them and wants something more. And then there’s Isobel, newly divorced, vivacious and exuding confidence. I liked her at first but it didn’t take long for me to realise that this woman was a sniper from the side. I could see her calculating to come between these three friends but couldn’t figure out why or what she wanted. And I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure it out. They were all such fun to read and I loved how the author portrays many facets of womanhood and female friendship through these women. There is something that we can all relate to in some way.

Entertaining and explosive, Wahala is the debut that everyone is going to be talking about. I was thrilled to learn that it has already been picked up for TV because it is utterly bingeable. Read it now!

Wahala, the debut novel from Nikki May is about being in your thirties, female friendship and what happens when there is a cuckoo in the nest. It features three women who have been friends since meeting at University; Ronke a dentist dating a man named Kayode. Boo, mother of Sofia and wife of Didier, and uber glamorous Simi who works in fashion marketing and whose husband, Martin is currently working away in New York. It’s about what happens when their three becomes four, when Isobel, Simi’s childhood friend appears back in her life and changes everything.

This is an instantly endearing book. We meet Ronke on her way to meet Simi in a Nigerian restaurant in London and within a few sentences I felt I knew her. In fact this is true for all of the characters, they all leap from the pages fully formed. Ronke is perturbed when she arrives at the restaurant to find that there is another woman there with Simi; Isobel. Isobel and Simi grew up together in Nigeria but due to a number of reasons haven’t seen each other since childhood. They make up for lost time though, falling back into their natural rhythms and enjoying each other’s company, but Ronke feels uneasy. There is something about Isobel which doesn’t sit quite right with her, and believe me, Ronke is right not to trust her.

Ronke, Boo and Simi are tight. They are more like sisters than friends, each knowing the minute details of each other’s lives. Or so they think. May shows us that Boo’s life may look wonderful from the outside; a big house, a gorgeous French husband who adores her and a beautiful daughter, but scratch the surface and she is lonely and feels isolated, and her friends have absolutely no idea. Simi lives in a beautiful apartment with a doorman, has a fancy schmancy job and designer clothes, but her husband is keen on having babies, but she isn’t sure if she wants to and doesn’t know how to talk about it. Ronke is desperate to get married and have babies, but she isn’t sure if Kayode wants to commit and she doesn’t know that her friends don’t think he is good enough for her. Enter Isobel, a wolf in sheep’s clothing just poised to expose the cracks in the friendship.

May has written a beautiful book about female friendship which feels incredibly authentic. They are all facing very real issues that women in their thirties are facing, such as the matter of children and that blooming biological clock constantly ticking but also of the sense of time passing too quickly and of what sort of life you want to live. There is a point in your thirties where you realise that you’ve had your messy twenties and it may be time to settle down, but what exactly does that look like? May uses Ronke, Boo and Simi to show that there are options and that everybody must tread a different path.

It was refreshing to read about women who had differing thoughts on children. Boo loves her daughter but misses her old self and resents the drudge and relentlessness of being a mother. Simi feels selfish for enjoying her childfree life and Ronke craves children but isn’t sure she will get them. I wish more books wrote about children like this, there is often a tendency for books to see marriage and children as the happy ever after, but in Wahala the happy ever after is an ever changing thing, and the path there is more important.

Unfortunately, that path is blocked by Isobel. I won’t say much about her because I really think you should go in knowing very little, but, my word, she is brilliantly written. We’ve all met women similar to her – I know I have – and although we know her behaviour comes from a place of insecurity, and we try to look at her with sympathy, she was just so much fun to dislike. It would’ve been so easy to have made her a caricature but she is deftly and subtly written with charm and charisma, so much so that I kept doubting my instincts about her.

This is a fun read, but it addresses some serious subjects and has more than its fair share of emotional moments. I couldn’t put it down, it is so readable and I just loved the characters and how the plot unfolded. Wahala is certainly an accomplished debut novel and Nikki May is certainly one to watch.

Wahala, meaning trouble, is a super read about three friends, having meet at Bristol Uni who bonded over their Nigerian/British heritage and now in their 30’s. All three now live different day to day lives but have remained close. Ronke, (my favourite character) is a dentist, home bird and often unlucky in love, longs to get her own place and settle down. Boo, a wife and mother who has become bored and feels trapped. And Simi, a career woman, who’s husband wants to start a family but she is finding it hard to explain to him that she isn’t interested in having kids.

The story is a wonderful and often humerous look at their friendship but soon changes when an old friend of Simi’s reappears. Isobel, who seems determined to cause trouble between the three women.

I so enjoyed this novel. Wonderfully written, (can’t wait to see more from this author), the characters are superbly portrayed, rich and well formed yet all different. I loved meeting them!

The story builds at a great pace and takes a shift once Isobel comes onto the scene. I really couldn’t put it down. I found their thoughts and experiences on living in London and their current lives, along side their strong ties to Nigeria and their families really interesting. The culture and food of their Nigerian heritage really comes alive in May’s writing as does the push and pull and intertwining of their two cultures.

The story had me gripped, furiously turning the pages and absorbing me into their lives. I went from laughter to sadness and fear. Their seemingly safe world and friendship is rocked at the intervention of this fourth woman and makes for a fantastic read. Highly recommend!!

Many thanks to the publisher for my advanced copy via Netgalley.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for this early copy.

Now all thirtysomethings, close friends, Ronke, Simi and Boo, all of Nigerian/British heritage rely on each other in their varied lives, but when Isobel, a glamorous friend from their past arrives in town, everything falls apart.

Wahala is funny and heartwarming in places, poignant in others, and there's also plenty of tension resulting from witnessing Isobel’s intense scheming. Highly engaging, it's a brilliant exploration of friendship. Each character is well-drawn, whether you engage with them or not. A dark and insightful debut.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday via NetGalley and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

A little slow to start but an enjoyable read of three Friends who have Nigerian backgrounds/heritage until a fourth one tags along and the three friends find things in their life falling to pieces . 3.5 rounded to 4 stars

I loved loved loved this book.

I really enjoyed the interconnecting relationships and although I could see what was about to happen, it gave me serious nostalgia of 'being at school' and how friend groups are always on a precarious line between best friends or enemies.

I loved each of the characters for what they brought to the friend group and definitely feel that most people will be able to relate to each of them in a different way.

I would highly recommend this book! Also loveeeee the recipes at the end!

I read Wahala by Nikki May over the weekend which is published this week! I was totally hooked from the first chapter to be honest, but it certainly felt intense and at times I was furious with the characters 😅 The story is about Ronke, Simi, Boo who are three mixed-race friends living in London. When Isobel, a glamorous friend from their past arrives in town, she is determined to fix their futures for them. Cracks in their friendships begin to appear, and it is soon obvious Isobel is not sorting but wrecking. Wahala is very much a character driven novel and explores race, revenge, culture, love, family and the complexities of female friendships. Cue a lot of glamour, secrets and shit stirring 😉 It was a really entertaining and bold story with a cracking twist, and I enjoyed being with these characters despite making me feel uncomfortable and furious!! I can see this on the small screen as a fab mini series 📺 A fierce and intriguing debut! 🔥

I loved this unconventional book. Set in London, the book is about three 35 year old friends, Ronke, Simi and Boo, all half Nigerian/half English. We meet Nigerian culture in their regular meeting place, the fabulous sounding restaurant they frequent. All have different lives - Simi married to Martin who spends most of his time working in New York, their relationship always strong, until they disagree over starting a family. Boo, who's a bit bored with her lovely husband, Didier and headstrong daughter Sophia. And the wonderful Ronke, who is a complete foody and whose descriptions of the meals she cooks and eats had me drooling. Enter Isobel, a childhood friend of SImi's from Lagos. She disrupts the group, and is trouble from the start. Wahala means trouble in Yorubi, which describes her beautifully. She pits them against each other, subtly tries to break up relationships and we don't know why. The ending is explosive and the ends are pulled together tightly, very clever. A really entertaining read. #netgalley #wahala

Ronke, Simi and Boo are Nigerian-English friends in their mid 30's living in London. Isobel, a childhood friend of Simi's abruptly reappears in her life and has soon inserted herself into their lives and begins to exploit the tensions in their relationships leading to all kinds of drama and heartache.

This was a fairly quick, easy read and I was invested enough in the relationships to want to keep reading on. I particularly liked Ronke and her assistant Rafa but I felt frustrated with most of the other characters. I wasn't convinced they could be so easily influenced by Isobel and that it would take them so long to work out what was going on. From the description of the book I was expecting a thriller and that's not really what this is. I enjoyed the depiction of the Nigerian community in London - the food, the clothing, the family dynamics - and it was refreshing to read a book focused on three smart, capable mixed-race women in their 30's but this didn't really meet my expectations.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced review copy.

An intersting book about three best friends.

It was topical and well written. The characters are stong and larger than life.

I enjoyed this book

I requested this book without reading the blurb, only because the author is a winner of the Grindstone Novel Prize. The beginning promised an interesting story, but unfortunately, the book turned out not to be my cup of tea. I contemplated not finishing it, but I ploughed through and skim-read it.
It is a well-written book, but it simply wasn't a genre I would reach for, and therefore I give it 2 stars.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one but I was drawn to it for both the description and the cover and I got so much more than I bargained for!

I couldn't put this down, the flow and pace of the writing and the interwovenness of the three POVs were so spot on that before I knew it I'd been reading for two hours and hadn't looked at my phone (a rarity for me at the moment).

This felt like a family saga, but if you replaced the family with three best friends, add a dash of mystery and a dollop of thriller and you've got yourself Wahala! I didn't feel like any of the mystery or thriller twists and turns were done cheaply or simply for effect, they were true 'OMG' moments for me. I will say that most of these characters are NOT likeable, but somehow I didn't dislike them, however I did want to climb through the book and give them a shake. It also made me think a little on the idea of nature versus nurture, but in the sense of friendship - can someone really influence your poor life choices or was that sitting lying dormant within you and you just needed this person to come along and give you that final push?

It also had me thinking about long term friendships - Boo, Ronke and Simi met at university and have been best friends since. When we're at a younger age, teenagers and early twenties, our lives are usually on similar paths but as we get older we have different goals, sometimes similar, and we're often achieving things at our own pace. These three are at different points in their lives and from a readers POV, it felt like the sentiment of wanting what you don't have and not appreciating what you do. It would have been interesting to get a glimpse of their life in the 'before', to see if the cracks in their friendship and often cruel inner monologues some of them had towards each other had always been there or if this too was heightened by the addition of a new group member?

I'm so glad I picked this one up and beyond impressed that this is a debut novel!

I cannot wait to see this come to life via the BBC series later this year, I can only imagine how well it's going to play out on screen!

I had heard lots of buzz around Wahala so I couldn’t wait to read it – though I had a certain amount of trepidation as as we all know hyped books can sometimes prove to be a disappointment. Well I am happy to confirm that its not the case on this occasion and it is entirely deserving of everything that has been said about it – I flew through it, loved it from beginning to end and, as my first book of 2022, I already predict it will be one of my favourites of the year. May is to be applauded for writing such an impressive debut novel and I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

Ronke, Simi and Boo, now in their 30s, have been best friends since university – they share the fact that they are all mixed race, with British and Nigerian heritage, but all very different. Ronke is a dentist, loves to cook and keen to find the (Nigerian) man of her dreams, though her choices to date have been somewhat questionable. Simi disappointed her family by dropping out of medical school but is now working in fashion and leads an apparently glamorous life with her successful husband. Boo is also married and has a child but is bored with her life and wants something more. When an old friend of Simi’s, the glamorous and newly-divorced Isobel, joins the group, the dynamics begin to shift and suddenly there is friction amongst the women in a way there has never been.

Chapters alternate between the three women and the characters are fabulously drawn, enabling the reader to feel that they really get to know them, flaws and all, over the course of the book. There is something very real about this book – May’s writing draws the reader in so effectively to the group dynamics as the women navigate their friendship whilst juggling the pressures of life, further complicated by their heritage which they all view in very different ways. It was this that kept me turning the pages, along with a tension that builds as we see Isobel manipulate all three women for her own ends and we begin to suspect that things are not going to end well.

It's a book that leaps off the pages – from the characterization and the fabulous dialogue to the descriptions of Nigerian food and culture. A tale of friendship and so much more, so funny at times, at others achingly sad and even shocking as it explores the racism the women encounter, with the perfect amount of intrigue, it kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Three great friends and one new friend (can we say cuckoo in the nest?) people this novel which is basically an exploration of female friendship and domestic drama Loved the interplay between the characters, though I detested one of the main trio (truly, how neither of the others called her on her self-pity I'll never understand!) but a bit excessively melodramatic towards the end.

I spent a lot of time googling the food in Wahala: helpful tip, there are recipes at the end!

I requested Wahala as I was immediately drawn to the cover which is so striking and colourful and I honestly feel that this translated through to the book itself. Wahala is a bright vibrant story of 3 Anglo- Nigerian friends and their everyday lives in London. The book bring us through the trials and tribulations of the lives of Ronke, Boo and Simi and we see how they deal with the everyday dramas of relationships, motherhood, family drama and of course friendship.

The first 85% of the book is an enjoyable slow burning but drama filled women's fiction style story so I can kind of see the comparisons to Sex and the City in the marketing. These 3 girls are out living their best lives while negotiating their home lives in what seems to be a perfect balance. Until....

Cut to the last 15% of the book and hold on to your seats this ride is going to get bumpy. While throughout the book there was a simmering tension and you could certainly feel things weren't quite right, the twist and turns that come in the last section of the book are absolutely gripping.

The characters within the book are each 3 very clear individuals and it's great to see that shown from the classic married with kids to the girl who isn't too sure if she even wants kids. The book oozes with personality and vibrancy in every way. I especially loved the insight and glimpses it gave to traditional Nigerian culture but also to how these have adapted over time as people have moved about. The constant mentions of the food had my tummy rumbling throughout. I think it would have been amazing if there was a little glossary of the Nigerian terms at the back to save putting the book down and googling each time a new one popped up.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I probably would have preferred a little bit more action earlier on but that's just me. A must read think, Big Little Lies with a seasoning of My Sister, The Serial Killer.

This book was not quite was I was expecting which made it difficult for me to figure out how I felt about it.

I think the characterisation was strong- they did feel like real people as they were introduced. I'm not sure all the action of the book was quite believable but it did seem to ramp up from plausible beginnings.

It took me a long time to invest though and some of the writing felt a bit serviceable rather than anything more elevated.

Ultimately, this might not have been the book for me but I would read more from this author.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a great read!

It has been on my TBR list since I read about the acquisition and I'm so glad to have been given the opportunity to read it early as it most definitely lived up to my expectations (maybe even exceeded them).

Refreshingly told with humour, authenticity and unexpected twists and turns, Wahala is quite easily one of the books of the year. I can't wait to see what Nikki May does next.

I feel a bit bereft now I have finished this book. A fascinating insight into the mixed race culture of friends who are all British Nigerian. Three friends for years have their lives disrupted when a childhood friend of one comes on the scene. A really gripping domestic drama with a thriller element. The food, culture and dialogue makes you feel you are sitting eating with the girls. A cast of eclectic characters. I loved it.

This book didn't sit right with me. I didn't like any of the characters except Ronke and I felt there was so much missed opportunity for character development that just didn't happen. It didn't read like a thriller to be honest, only like a sex and the city novel with delicious food.
I kept asking myself why they're even friends the way they talk to each other.
Not my cup of tea, but I'm clearly the minority (it's me not the book).

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.