I don’t know if it was just me but I felt like there were too many pov’s and it made the story feel like it dragged out. I would still give this author another try in the future.

This was a highly anticipated book for me and I wanted to love it, I just....didn't.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. The characters were whiny and I just didn't care about them.

The sun sets in singapore is a wonderful story told from many different perspectives. It details friendship, love, betrayal, and status told through the eyes of four Black women living in Singapore. As the women attempt to navigate their individual struggles, they come together as companions. The prose of this book brought you into the world of these women. You could feel the rollar coaster of emotions, empathize with the characters, and see some of the dramatic irony that allows us to see things about these characters before their own self-discovery. This was a novel built on character development, and it delivered.

This was a fun read. A group of Nigerian women who have come to live in Singapore and this is pretty much where the similarities stop. Dara, the ambitious lawyer, Amaka, the banker, and Lillian, a professional pianist, are all effected by a handsome newcomer.

This is a character-driven plot and quick to get through. It was filled with drama and read kindof reality tv-ish, but I think that was the point. I def NJ itelybkept reading for the drama, but if you’re looking for something empowering/uplifting, this isn’t it.

This was fine?

For a book with such connected characters you'd think I would have eagerly devoured this book, but honestly I had to restart this a couple times to get myself to care about the story I was reading.

I might have imagined this, but I believe an adaptation of this is in the works?? Again, could have been a hallucination, but it definitely reads like a book that would be better served in a visual medium.

For one reason or another this group of Black women have found themselves in Singapore and in search of community have found their way to a Black woman book club where they can get together and read and share in their lives. Like any good book club mess within the group is quick to form. There are marriage troubles, belief that a person could be the reincarnated version of their late father, a woman eager to prove to the people at the law firm where she works at that she is worth being made partner.

It's definitely the kind of story that you will enjoy in the moment, but very little of what transpires is deep enough to make a reader invested to the point where the narrative will stick with you long after the story is over. With summer right around the corner I think this could be the perfect selection to pass the hot months with. It was one of the Celebrity Book Club picks so I'm sure a lot of readers have already been exposed to this one, and if it happened to be one of the selections they skipped I can't say they missed anything but they won't be disappointed if they one day decide to circle back around to this one.

I just reviewed The Sun Sets in Singapore by Kehinde Fadipe.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ebook ARC.
I have been reading this book intermittently over a few weeks until I got to about 1/2 way through, then I could not put it down and simultaneously did not want it to end. I have no experience with many of the main themes , the legal world, living in Singapore, or being Nigerian. However the underlying story is relatable, relationship struggles, betrayal, being a foreigner/a different religion with the prejudices that can bring and doubting our choices in life. A really great debut novel. I look forward to more from this author.

This was fun, but it wasn't great. Fadipe does well at representing Black women and not doing it in the ways readers may be accustomed to but it still was just an average story. It felt a bit too much like a soap-opera was trying to make an appearance and it could've used a bit of humor to tie it together.

Super quick and inspirational read, even being fiction! Loved the way that Dara, Amaka, and Lillian navigated their own challenges and interpersonal challenges even in a work environment constructed to work against them. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

📣📖 Book Review: The Sun Sets in Singapore by Kehinde Fadipe 📖📣

I snagged a "Read Now" copy of this on Netgalley last fall after it was announced as a Read With Jenna pick, and I finally got around to diving in. This book tells the story of three very different women of Nigerian descent living as ex-pats in Singapore. Circumstances that brought them there vary, but the women find themselves in the same social circles. The ways their lives intersect and the bonds they make and break are brought to life on the page with drama and conflict. Some thoughts:

What worked for me:

🌅 The women show growth and character development, and each has her own arc that resolves in a satisfying conclusion.
🌅 The book club scenes, listening in on the characters' colorful commentary about books I'm interested in, drew me in.
🌅 Reading a story from perspectives entirely different than my own - of black immigrants in Southeast Asia - was interesting and made an impression on me.
🌅 The cover is gorgeous!

What didn't work for me:

🌄 It irks me that despite these being interesting women to read about, everything turned on their involvement in some way with the same man. This book is not for fans of the Bechdel Test.
🌄 It's melodramatic at parts, which felt Soap-Opera-esque.
🌄 The setting of Singapore and its culture wasn't really made significant or central to the story. I felt like these characters could have been ex-pats anywhere. Also, the depictions of Asians seemed a bit shallow or underdeveloped. I realize the focus of the story was the characters of Nigerian descent, so maybe my complaint here is misplaced, but with Singapore being in the title, I expected more exploration of the culture and maybe more nuance about the experiences of living in a completely different society and culture than one's own.

This book has mixed reviews and I can see why. Even so, I enjoyed it overall. Would make a good beach read. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for my complementary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The first 20% of the novel should have been workshopped. It was mad boring and slow. But then it got really intense and really deep, which I loved. I fell in love with each of the characters and their friendship. What I also appreciate is the depth this book brings to the world of Singapore and it’s chase for wealth and luxury. The book is critical and not just all CRAZY RICH NIGERIANS IN ASIA. I do really wish that would have been brought to the forefront of the book a lot sooner bc I almost DNFed it after slogging through the first 15% for a month.

First off, this cover is beyond stunning! And the book itself more than lives up to the art.

I enjoyed this story of Nigerian ex pats living in Singapore. There was lots of soapy drama and the food talk made my stomach rumble. Fadipe's writing is vivid and lyrical and this look at women's friendship kept me entertained throughout. Would make a great beach read!

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the copy to review.

This was 100% want to read because of the cover - it’s gorgeous! Did the cover live up to what was inside? It was a good tale, but the pacing was slightly off. I found myself getting very into a character’s arc only for it to be set aside for a slower moment, and my interest had waned by the time I was back.

It was interesting to learn about life as expats in Singapore, but sometimes, I couldn’t decide whether I was interested in the details of life or the characters.

I liked the descriptions and alternating PoVs enough to read another book by Kehinde Fadipe, but not enough to keep this one on my shelves.

Thanks, GCP and Netgalley, for the arc!

•

Content Warnings: infertility, familial death, infidelity, racism, misogyny, classism

The cover of this book is so beautiful and what initially drew me to this one. The story started out so good with all the drama and the POV of the 3 women; however, it began to become too much. After about 25% I began to loose interest in the characters and it didn’t seem to hold my attention. I think the most interesting character out of the 3 women was Amaka. I seemed to like her sides of the story more than the others. The humor of the story was the best parts. I would have loved to have more of that. I did have some laugh out loud moments and enjoyed them while they were there.

This book has a LOT going on. At first I sort of got Wahala vibes, with all the friends and the drama, but then it veered off and on audio it was hard to keep track of everything.

We get the POV of three women, but then they have a bunch of other friends, and then there’s the spouses, boyfriends and work rivals and it’s just a LOT of characters.

Each character has money issues, family issues, mental health issues, so much drama.

The book wasn’t bad, it was just a lot and I wasn’t sure where it was going and I feel like the message gets buried in everything going on around it.

In the end each of the girls has bettered themselves in someway which is good, they overcame whatever obstacle they needed and came out in the other side, but in audio it was tough to follow. Also the accents were all over the place in the audiobook, sometimes they were there, sometimes they weren’t. It felt inconsistent?

Overall, this was just okay.

Thank you @netgalley and @grandcentralpub for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book took me by surprise; I was expected a lighthearted romance with some cultural narratives. While pieces were this, and it was a fun read, it also explored darker themes of grief and identity, which were very well done. Excellent insight into multiple cultures and enjoyable approach to the different characters; very enjoyable read.

Kehinde Fadipe presents a busy novel with some dynamic characters. At times I did need to go back and reread as it did get a little confusing. However, their 3 lives were intertwined and very well developed. I found it a beautiful realization of family relationships, I can see this being a great book for a book club as there would be a lot to discuss. The realistic view of Singapore was poeticly created and was enjoyable to read. Dynamic female relationships make this book a must-read.

This book was just “meh” for me. I felt like I was reading it because I had to finish it instead of reading it because I wanted to finish it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was.

Book Review: The Sun Sets in Singapore💐

Author: @kehinde_demilola_fadipe
Publisher: @grandcentralpub
Release date: out now (October 31, 2023)

⁉️: Do you prefer city, small town, or in the suburbs or rural areas?

I lived in Singapore from the early 1990s to 2001, and I continue to consider Singapore my second home. We tend to visit every two years. During my graduate days and before I started seeing Mike, my dream had been to move back there. However, the Singapore I knew of the 1990s has transformed radically since early 2000s. The prices of hawker center food, though affordable, have risen drastically, malls have changed, and stores that used to carry cut fruit have also reduced greatly. At least, that was my observation last year when we were there for a week in 2022.

So, when I learned that there was a book set in Singapore, I knew I had to read it. In the novel, we meet three women: Dara, a workaholic lawyer from UK, Amaka, a banker from Nigeria, and Lilian, a former pianist who is described as the “trailing spouse” from the US.

This richly crafted and immersive novel paints a complex picture of the old and new in the cosmopolitan Singapore, especially through the ideas of the diverse populations who make up the country. Fadipe, in particular, focuses on the Nigerian community that is based in the country. Reading the novel felt like a journey back to my hometown, mentioning of names of familiar locations, the intensity and pressure that people who work face that often does not encourage work/life balance and the nuances in the accents captured by the author made the novel come alive in my imagination. It is indeed true that books can transport you around the world without a flight ticket needed.

I wanted to thank @grandcentralpub for the finished copy.

#KahineFadipe #TheSunSetsinSingapore #GrandCentralPub #bookstagram #shnidhi

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that was as good and messy as this one. Amaka, Dara and Lillian, the main characters of the book, were a trip! All three are incredibly interesting women, each very different from one another. But once Lani, a Nigerian lawyer recruited to push Dara to the side at her law firm, he walks into a storm he unconsciously creates.

Each one of these women have a lot going for them, but their pasts have developed flaws in them that eventually brings everything to a head. By the time I was done with the book, I felt like I had been put through an emotional roller coaster.

I have to admit, I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the characters at first, but they all were written very well. I did roll my eyes about Lillian a couple of times, but when I understood why she reacted the way she did, I felt for her so much.

I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

Dara is a highly successful lawyer in line for a partnership and the only Black woman working at her Singapore law firm. She's best friends with Amaka - a banker from Nigeria who has a secret shopping addiction and a lot of family drama/baggage. The friends then meet Lillian, a Black American woman, nursing secret trauma, who is in Singapore with her husband. When Lani, a super hot British Nigerian lawyer joins Dara's law firm, he throws the lives of the three women into unexpected chaos.

I really, really wanted to love this (the cover alone!), but it ended up being kind of slow yet simultaneously very soap-opera-y in a way I didn't super enjoy. It felt very Sex in the City/90s "chick lit" (I absolutely hate that term, but it gets the point across, I guess). I'd definitely read another book by Fadipe in the future because her perspective as a Black woman and ex-pat living in Singapore is fascinating. I do think this would make a great book club pick because there's lots to discuss (and I love that the three women are in a book club together)!