I really enjoyed this book, although it was predictable at times, it was funny and endearing. Yinka is such a likeable character, she is under pressure from her family to find a husband. Easy reading and enjoyable.

Really enjoyed this. I couldn't help but root for the main character. She was a lot of fun but at the same time really frustrating. She felt real. She acted way younger than her age and I thought this was pivotal to the plot.

There is a strong emphasis on family and friendship in this book and I loved that.

A fun, quick read with a bit of depth to it. I really liked the writing style and thought it flowed well.

Firstly thank you for the copy on netgalley. This is a great debut and fresh new voice in fiction.

I heard about this at an online book event and sounded fantastic.

Funny and heartwarming

Insight into another culture .

Uplifting and full of wit and warmth

Published 31st March

Yinka is a thirty-something Oxford-educated British Nigerian woman with a lot going for her: a great and stable job and friends included. Yet, like many parents, her mother is always asking where is her husband? Everyone has an opinion on her non-existent love life, but Yinka decides to take matters into her own hands to find a date for her cousin's upcoming wedding.

Yinka is an unconventional heroine I related to on several levels. Namely, I'm also a single thirty-something woman whose parents would love nothing more than to see her settle down! This book is the definition of refreshing. Emily Henry noted that it was similar to Bridget Jones' Diary and I totally agree - secondhand embarrassment from the aunties included! I really appreciated how the author focused on her Nigerian culture as well.

Yinka's character growth was fantastic and while she made some interesting choices, I'm glad she stayed true to herself. Full of witty, tender and humorous moments, I encourage everyone to check out this book.

Sorry, gave up half way through, just couldn’t get into it. Maybe it is a culture thing or
Maybe my state of mind (I was recovering from ankle surgery when I started this) but wasn’t invested enough to see it through.

YINKA, WHERE IS YOUR HUZBND, by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn is a fun, feel-good rom-com everyone needs to read this summer. Yinka, tired of being asked where her impending husband is, takes matters into her own hands and gets far more than she bargained for.

Both heartfelt and hilarious, Blackburn's brilliant debut brings gives the rom-com genre a new spin.

Yinka is feeling the pressure from her mum & aunties to get married & is constantly compared to her sister & cousins.

This was a really interesting insight into Nigerian culture in the UK & the pressures on black women from within their own culture to look & behave a certain way.

I have given this book three out of five stars. I really enjoyed learning about their Nigerian background and culture, I thought it was really interesting.

Yinka was a great character whom I enjoyed watching her grow into a better person, she somewhat loses herself through the book but manages to climb her own mountain towards the end of the book. I think I would find it hard not to lose yourself when you’re under so much pressure from your family 24/7.

Learning to love yourself is such a huge part of life that I think everyone should strive to do and Yinka finally learns how to do just that.

I loved this book! It had such warmth and humour, alongside really loveable and real characters. Yet it managed to tread the perfect balance between lighthearted romance and the difficulties faced by a young Black woman when life is just not going her way. There were times when I really felt for Yinka and wished for life to get better for her.

I cannot recommend this book enough and will be passing it on to anyone I can!

Ah Yinka, how refreshing to see a fellow unmarried 32 year old represented in fiction. Thank you!
Yinka feels the family pressure to find a husband. All around her people are getting married and having babies. At least Yinka has the Oxford degree and the high flying job. That is until she is made redundant. The aftermath is messy, beautifully written, relatable and funny. Perfectly timed to get me out of a reading slump!

Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I found it a heartwarming, easy read with some extremely funny moments (although it does touch on some more serious issues).
I liked the plot, I thought it was well written. There are a few different characters, but it was really easy to keep track of who was who.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to others.

I really loved this book!

This book is fun to read and the audiobook is brilliant to listen to. What a debut novel! Yinka is a thirty -one year old virgin who is pushing back against the pressure from family and friends to get married. Yinka feels the pressure and in order to find her huzband, she decides to change herself to meet the one. We follow Yinka as she finds herself and realises that singleness is ok. This novel is not so much a romance in that she finds her huzband, but more so that she falls in love with herself again.

I could relate to Yinka on certain levels but at some points I did find her unlikeable as a character. Although we do understand her motivations, sometimes her choices were just dumb, i can't lie. This book will always have a place in my heart as a Black British Sierra Leonean babe, the struggle is real to find your huzband. I loved the way the jokes and Yinka's culture is presented in the novel. A vibrant book which explores singleness, sisterhood, friendship, relationships with your mother and this mish-mash of being African and British. I really had fun reading/listening to this book. Highly recommend! Especially for my South London babes. Books set in South London set my heart on fire lol.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. A warm, funny and entertaining novel this story grabbed my attention from the beginning. Good writing and really well developed characters make this a really great book!

At 31, Yinka is single with an Oxford degree and a well-paid job at an investment bank. Her friends think she needs to get over her ex and her Nigerian mother and aunties are concerned because Yinka is yet to get herself a huzband. As her younger sister announces her pregnancy and her cousin announces her engagement, Yinka begins Operation Find A Date for the wedding. But Yinka is about to realise that she really needs to find herself before a huzband. This uplifting rom-com has a very loveable heroine in Yinka. I was willing her to find her right path to happiness. I learned a lot about Nigerian family culture and I enjoyed navigating the slang. It added a rich authenticity to the characters, which was lovely. Ultimately, it’s about the pressures on women to get married and raise a family but with a focus on being mentally prepared for that before diving into it.

This book definitely didn’t disappoint! It’s warm, funny and uplifting and one of my standout reads of the year so far.

Navigating the sometimes stressful world of work, blind dates, online dating, and generally trying not to disappoint her family, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Yinka. A lot of the situations she finds herself in are incredibly relatable, and her voice is witty and often hilarious.

It’s not without depth though. Yinka faces appalling racism and sexism for not having the correct body shape and skin tone, as well as for failing to put out when required. The reminder this is something that women still have to put up with in 2022 was both sobering and enraging!

With thanks to Viking Books for gifting me a digital copy to review.

Browsing through NetGalley I stumbled upon this book with it's alluring title: Yinka, Where is Your Huzband?. Especially the 'z' attracted me. This was going to be a book with humor in it, but also about a different culture! Bring it on, I thought.

So what's it about?

Yinka wants to find love. Her mum wants to find it for her. She also has too many aunties who frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, a preference for chicken and chips over traditional Nigerian food, and a bum she's sure is far too small as a result. Oh, and the fact that she's a thirty-one-year-old South-Londoner who doesn't believe in sex before marriage is a bit of an obstacle too...
When her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences 'Operation Find A Date for Rachel's Wedding'. Armed with a totally flawless, incredibly specific plan, will Yinka find herself a huzband?
But what if the thing she really needs to find is herself?

I enjoyed reading about Yinka and especially about her mom and aunties. The Nigerian culture in the UK is so unknown to me, that I couldn't tell you if it's a true representation or not, but it's one that is at times hilarious and heartbreaking.

Every chapter in Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? starts with an image. Sometimes it a screenshot of messages on Yinka's phone. Other times it shows post-its with specific goals or affirmations on them. These images create a fun reading experience. It gives you a little more insight in who Yinka is and how she is approaching her life. As the story progresses the messages and post-its get more and more out of hand. Incredible funny and sad at the same time.

Author Lizzie Damilola Blackburn is British/Nigerian and was born in Peckham, where most of the story takes place. All she ever wanted to do is to tell the stories that she and her friends had longed for: stories 'where Cinderella is Black and no-one bats an eyelid'. And I have to say, she succeeded! Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? is Blackburn's debut novel.

There are so many times that I have been desperately seeking a good rom-com style book and have been disappointed. There's often too much dependence on the man, or the friend-group are side-lined, or the main character is just a nightmare. But this book delivered. There was romance, but not in the ways that you'd expect, there was resolution and bond-building, and issues of mental health and family pressure - all of which was delivered by a very relatable and sympathetic main character.

There are quite a few cringe-y moments here - Yinka's mother and Aunties praying for her to get a man as one example - but a lot of this is formed from Yinka's need to please others, to make her Mum happy and the respect that she's taught to show for her family, even when they don't always deserve it.

Other reviewers have pointed out that there were lots of other interesting topics that could have been covered by this book, rather than Bridget Jones-ing it. But I didn't read it that way (and I've read some books that are a direct lift from Bridget). I also don't want to say that Yinka is like Queenie, because they are two very different characters.

Instead, we have a woman whose sense of self and the success she shows to others is firmly rooted in her academic ability and her career. It doesn't matter that she hasn't had a long term relationship in years, because she has her job, she has her promotions. Maybe her cousins and sister are off getting married and having babies, but Yinka won't be far behind, because she has her career first.

But when she's suddenly made redundant, she tries to turn her organising and project managing skills on herself. Some of that is trying to make herself more attractive to a man she could like - getting a weave when she never has before, learning Yoruba and cooking Nigerian food, dressing differently - things we have perhaps all been guilty of when trying to catch someone's interest.

The thing is, it isn't Yinka. And it's not just that Yinka is a good Christian girl, but her friends notice her changing - she snaps more easily, has less time for them, starts lying and deceiving them, and herself. And it's actually really nice to see her worlds (her best friend and her (white) work friends) crossing over to support her, even if the way that they do it feels a little clumsy, and her own development and resolution comes very quickly at the end.

And when things don't work out with one love interest, we know Yinka has really gone off the rails when she starts ricocheting towards any man who might be interested in her. Perhaps this is more standard behaviour for a rom com - but for a woman who is saving herself for marriage, it's a big deal.

So for me, this had a lot of the things that I look for in a good rom com - personal struggles, romance that can be fixed better when someone is willing to fix themselves, forging new family relationships, and a supporting cast that do more than just cheer and antagonise the protagonist.

#YinkaWhereIsYourHuzband is a wonderful portrayal of Yinka, a 31 years old living in Peckham, British but with Nigerian roots and a LOT of aunties praying for her to find a huzband!

When her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences Operation Find A Date for Rachel’s Wedding. Will she find someone?

The characters are wonderful, hilarious and the story is so funny. I finished the book in two days. 😎

I work in Peckham and everything was so relatable. Walking down Peckham Rye I could see Yinka trying to get a new weave, commenting about the gentrification of the area and the new people wearing beanies in Costa and in the new coffee places.

This book is a great insight into the Nigerian culture, into the life and the oxymorons of the third generations - clashing between two cultures and trying to maintain their heritage.

@lizziedamiblackburn’s writing is brilliant, funny and so enjoyable! I was laughing and crying and wanting to hug Yinka so much!

It is so important to have Black literature and talk about stereotypes, colourism, representation and racism through fiction as well.

“You see, I’m responsible for my happiness.’

- Rom-com
- Black & British
- Stellar POC MC
- Family dynamics

There’s a colourful and lively cast from the accomplished MC to the concerned mother to the overbearing aunties. Everyone is pretty fleshed out and the vibrancy of the culture is felt through the pages. I also adore a woman who knows her own mind and holds fast to that.

This is a story where you’ll relate so well to the character, you won’t have second-hand embarrassment — it’ll be first-hand. I really long for the day when the accomplishments of a woman, and her own satisfaction with the life she lives, will overshadow her marital status.

There’s a Bridget Jones's Diary feel to this and you can’t help but root for Yinka.

I enjoyed this book but ultimately was a little disappointed by the ending, hence my 3/5 star rating.

I loved Yinka as a character, her vibrancy and the journey she went on. All the characters were so strong and I could really see most of the situations playing out.

The text formatting in my netgalley copy was a little skewed but I managed to work out what was happening.

It was uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time to witness Yinka’s journey of confidence and self-love.

Easy enough to read, meaning light hearted and quick.