Here we follow Yinka a 31 year old Black British-Nigerian who has just been publicly prayed for and humiliated at her sister's baby shower. Being the only single female left in her family and feeling nothing but pressure from her Mum and Aunts, Yinka sets off on a mission to find herself a date for her cousins wedding but in reality all she really needs to find is her true authentic self.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱
- Yinka. Absolutely loved her! You laugh, cry and cringe with her all of the way
- The multi-generational ties
- Cultural links and traditions
-  The relatability of the characters
- The cover. Please do judge this book by it's cover

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱
- The toxicity in some of the friendships. I mean it made the story, I just didn't like them being mean to Yinka.
- Yinkas need to change herself
- That it ended. Honestly, I just loved it.

This is chic-lit at its absolute finest.
More books like this please!

(Huge thank you to @netgalley @penguinukbooks @vikingbooksuk @lizziedamiblackburn for this arc in exchange for an honest review)

And I thought MY mother was desperate for me to find a man to settle down with; at least she didn’t pray for me at a public gathering for all to hear…yet.

I love reading books written by, and written about, people from different backgrounds and cultures to my own - in this case, Nigerian. It really opens my mind to new characters and new ways of life. There was almost a sense of Bridget Jones’s Diary with this book, but with extra spice. Lizzie has written a love story for the modern age. A love story between a man and a woman, between mothers and daughters, between friends, and with ourselves.

I love Yinka and really feel a kinship with her; there’s a lot about her that is true for my own life too. She is hilarious and isn’t perfect by any means. She works hard and she tries, but that doesn’t mean she succeeds at everything. She’s a human being, and humans make mistakes, and that’s what makes life fun.

The writing is so clear and concise, not rambling at all. Everything and everyone is meant to be there. I think some authors, when writing comedy, end up struggling to portray the desired humour and it becomes a bit stilted. But Lizzie has found the right balance and the humour leaps off the page. The writing is so rich that Yinka instantly becomes your best friend and you walk alongside her every step of the way.

It’s hard to believe this is Lizzie’s debut novel as everything about it is so accomplished it feels like it’s been honed by many years of experience.

A fantastic read, funny and so relatable
It portrays the multigenerational ties of identity, self-love and finding your own way

I have no idea Nigerian culture at all but it seems like in every culture, you will have nosy relative asking why you are single.
I dive into this book without any expectation but this book is wonderful story of family, frienship and romance. It made me curious of some Nigerian culture mentioned in the book and I did some learning.

I picked this book up because author Emily Henry compared it to "Pride & Prejudice". And it surely is. Personally, I think it's even better.

Yinka's story was a full journey. Not only we can see ourselves in her struggles in some way, of course, if you're a Black woman like her even more, but I am enthralled by her culture. It's so vivid and colourful and vibrant and amazing. I'm kinda sad that it's not more represented.

I love that Yinka is that kind of character that feels it all, she goes from 0 to 100 and there's no error margin. She hits low and she makes mistakes but she's capable and strong to rise up and finally grow into her own. It was so inspiring to watch her manage every aspect of her life that was giving her pain as well as finally acknowledging that she's enough and lovable as she is.

Truly recommend this book to everyone.

I loved this. It's warm, funny and charming, almost like Bridget Jones brought bang up to date - all the single girl problems, all the fantastic female relationships and work pressures but minus the dated diet talk and with a great, heaping portion of jollof rice.

I found the characters all felt very real and I felt invested in the lives of Yinka’s friends and family just an much as Yinka herself.

I’ll absolutely be recommending this to all my friends when it comes out in March, and I can't wait to see what is next from Lizzie Damilola Blackburn.

I loved everything about this book. It had strong vibes of a modern day Rachel’s Holiday, with Yinka’s attempts to find love not being quite what they seem. A richly drawn community of people, with Yinka and her family at the centre, this book is a really welcome addition to the canon. Yinka is a fabulous character, finding her way to be herself within the confines of cultural and familial expectation. Can’t wait to see what this author does next.

3.5 STARS
I enjoyed this from Lizzie Damilola Blackburn and the acknowledgements made her seem like such a genuinely lovely person. The story itself lacked pace. Within the first 5 chapters, I knew how it was going to end. It was predictable but still I went along for the journey. Yinka seemed very real and personable which kept me reading. I wasn't eager to pick it back up but not all stories demand that. Overall, a good read.
I would not recommend reading this on a Kindle - the messages and post-it notes did not translate and instead where very difficult to understand/read.

Thanks so much to Penguin for letting me read Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? in advance! This is a classic commercial women's novel: female protagonist in their early 30s, living in a big city (in this case, Peckham and Denmark Hill), dealing with issues surrounding love, friendship, family and work. Yinka is a black Christian British-Nigerian woman, and she's faced with pressure from her traditionally minded family: to find a husband. This was a pretty standard and formulaic commercial novel, which isn't a bad thing – with these kinds of books, you know what you're expecting, and you get it! The characters were all well-drawn, it had a lot of personality (reason #1 why British commercial fiction is superior to American), and I mostly enjoyed reading about Yinka's life and the people in it. A few issues, though: the ending was rushed and tied up way too neatly; it did that expositional thing I hate where characters who have known each other for years explain things to each other that they clearly already know; and Yinka was incredibly judgemental at times in a way I found quite off-putting. I'm all for protagonists being unlikeable and making bad decisions, but her terrible choices and judgements were backed by her (seemingly sensible) friends in a way that I found infuriating. Do not let your friends behave that way! Please! 3.5 🌟

It’s been compared with Bridget Jones. To quote “The spiritual heir to Bridget Jones’s Diary” – Emily Henry, author, and others are saying it too. It has similarities in that Yinka is looking for love and at 31, …well, time is marching on. However Yinka is an altogether brighter, not so dizzy 30-something with a good career, an Oxford education behind her and her own place. Now if only she could find some romance, someone special to share her life with.

Yinka is constantly being reminded by her mum, her friends and her family that she still isn’t married and has it pointed out to her with annoying regularity that her younger sister has children as well as a huzband and her cousin Rachel is preparing for her wedding too.

Yinka is UK born Nigerian. The Nigerian culture is very much a part of Yinka’s life and that of her family. As the reader you get a wonderful insight into Nigerian ways of life, what is important to them with the church and Christianity being central to family life.

It was a bit of a doubtful start to the book for me, in that when I first started reading I thought maybe I was a bit too old and long in the tooth to be reading about wedding planning, baby showers and dating apps. Being twice the age of the main character, I’m perhaps a little bit past all that. However I really began to warm to Yinka and all the situations she finds herself in. Once I started to get into the book and some of the characters had faded into the background for the time being, I really started to enjoy Yinka’s story very much. It’s funny, but with an underlying feeling of what it’s like to never feel like you quite fit in. Trying to live your life to how you perceive others to want you to be rather than being true to yourself.

It is very topical of today’s issues but told with a wonderful humour and warmth. There are some great supporting characters, Nana, Yinka’s best friend and house mate who always has wise words for Yinka, not that she always takes notice. Aunty Blessing was a fantastic character and though she didn’t feature that much through the book, she came into her own towards the end. She was always the example Yinka’s family held up when warning her of what would happen if she didn’t marry. “You don’t want to end up like Aunty Blessing”, was the dire warning. Aunty Blessing was very happy with her life actually.

A really good read, which I enjoyed very much in the end and I’m so glad I didn’t let my initial doubts put me off reading this funny, insightful and sometimes touching book.

**To be posted to my blog around publication date** Shared on Goodreads today.

I enjoyed reading this book and I can definitely see the similarities to Bridget Jones. I liked the fact it covered a lot of pertinent social issues but I found the pacing of the story quite quick towards the end so it felt quite rushed for the story to be 'wrapped up'.

A brilliant book set in London. Yinka is always being asked by her mum and aunties when will she meet a man and get married. She must find her own way through the dating game. It doesn't always go how she wants it to and she loses herself along the way trying to please everyone. See if she gets there at the end? A thoroughly enjoyable book with relatable characters.

I absolutely loved this book, for the colour, the cultural insights and the food descriptions as well as the very emotive tale of Yinka and the pressure she is under to conform to societies requirement for a "huzband".
On the whole the book is very lighthearted although some of Yinka's friends and relatives sail a bit close to the wind in their commentaries and very public and humiliating prayers for her future. However, the last quarter of the book is actually incredibly heartfelt and moving (in parts in move me to tears as Yinka finds her voice). Many of us, from a cross section of cultures and societies, will have been right there with pressure to marry or settle down, have children and create the perfect future as according to our elders expectations and the author captures beautifully the emotional rollercoaster of wanting to please everyone and as a result never being happy yourself.

A great read chock full of wonderful characters.

I really enjoyed this. Yinka - a 31 year old Nigerian living in London, single and surrounded by aunties who know the best for her and regularly tell her! She feels that she must find a date before her cousin’s wedding - her hunt changes her and makes those around her question her choices and decisions. Yinka has to learn to respect herself again and make decisions for her well-being rather than conforming to the expectations of those around her.

She is surrounded by larger than life members of the local Nigerian community and is trying to balance their influence against her work colleagues. It is interesting to see her trying to work between two cultures and be true to herself. All done with humour.

A delightful read which I will be recommending.

This book is hilarious! Yinka is a successful, accomplished woman but she is not married and as a woman in her 30's this seems to be a cause of great distress and shame to her many 'Aunties'! I honestly laughed so much. When the Aunties pray for her at her sisters baby shower, I honestly laughed out loud so many times!! Its a funny, sweet and uplifting book. Yinka thinks she needs to change herself to bag a man but does she????

Steeped in culture, I really enjoyed this book so much. A fun, funny and uplifting read. Highly recommend

I spotted this book on Netgalley and requested it straight away. Chicklit, but Nigerian. Brilliant.
Yinka is single and this is not acceptable to her mother... or most of the aunties. Her cousin is getting married and she needs to find a date before the wedding, or she'll never hear the end of it. And then, just to make things worse, she gets made redundant.

Yinka is relatable as a young woman whose life straddles two cultures. I loved the scene where Yinka's friends from her two 'worlds' meet and get on. She's also relatable as someone who is navigating that tricky space between your first career and your second. Being made redundant is horrible and the way Yinka reacts is so similar to how I felt when I was made redundant.
I loved the complexity of her friendships with Nana, Rachel and Ola. Family friendships are a thing and they are always complicated.
Most of all, I loved that this was a book about a character navigating life and she just happened to be Black. The book is not about racism (apart from the way it pervades everyday life), but about Yinka. Which is exactly as it should be.

This book was charming and funny. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Despite the fact that I am a sixty-one year old white woman and Yinka is a thirty-one year old British-Nigerian woman, I could not only sympathise, but also identify with her on a number of levels.

The pressure is on from her mum and many aunties to get herself married. A failed relationship which had looked like it was heading in that direction, has left her heart-broken and her confidence low. When she bumps into her ex and his new fiancée at her cousin’s engagement party, she adds to the pressure on herself, determined to find a date for the wedding.

I absolutely loved this story. I enjoyed the insights into British-Nigerian culture, the reflections of my own issues when I was a single thirty-something, the characters and tricky relationships and particularly witnessing Yinka’s growth in learning to accept and value herself. I just wish it had been around thirty years ago.

I have no hesitation in awarding five big fat gorgeous stars!

I enjoyed this book; its refreshing to read a chick lit book where the central character is a young, black woman. It's an insight into finding a balance between two cultures as well as usual female fiction themes of friendship, love and jobs. I liked the characters and the writing style is great- it's an easy read but detailed. The characters are well developed as realistic. I'd read more by this author!!

I started this book not knowing what to expect and finished it entirely grateful that I requested to read it. Going through the motions with Yinka as she finds her true self and learns to love her has been a rewarding experience and I feel I’ve come out of it understanding more of the struggles of those considered ‘dark’ in ethnic communities

This book was a breath of fresh air.

Comedic whilst meaningful.

Offering some lessons in love and providing some much needed humour at the same time.

Yinka and her friends and family are all quite frankly, brilliant characters. Each one with their own stand out personalities, giving a unique view on love, life and dating.

I smiled from start to finish.

I'd quite like to see another book featuring Yinka and the rest of the cast of loveable people.