An absolutely cracking book, builds the tension so subtly to begin with but then it grabs you by the throat and makes you stay up passed bedtime to finish it.

#NoSpoilers but the depiction of female and family relationships is absolutely on point and the characters resonate throughout.

An incredible debut.

Highly recommend.

What a way to start 2022, what a fabulous book!
Wahala is Nigerian for trouble and that’s what Ronke, Boo and Simi are walking right into.
They are 30 something university friends, united by their Anglo-Nigerian heritage, utterly comfortable in their London life style yet nothing is quite perfect….
Into this tight-knit group crashes Isobel, an old friend of one of one of them. She is extremely wealthy and seems to know a little too much about them all. Is she friend or foe?
I literally devoured this novel. It’s so well written, original and drags you in. None of the characters are completely likeable but they are believable even as their lives spiral out of control I loved the authenticity of the Nigerian food, restaurants and parties, down to the recipes at the back of the book. . I’m so excited that it will be a TV series, it will be amazing! Thank you to #netgalley and #random house for allowing me to review this ARC

This is a bitingly fun read infused with sharp observations about female friendship, emotional competition and group dynamics. I was completely addicted to the story of lifelong friends, Ronke, Boo and Simi and the impact glamorous and rich Isobel has on their relationships as she sweeps into their lives.

The characters are so well developed and their individual personalities shine through. The narrative is witty and full of insights into culture and lifestyles. It is told from the viewpoints for Ronke, Boo and Simi and they have unique voices. This has the added bonus for the reader of being in the position to see the whole picture and how each character develops their own perceptions and misunderstandings of what is taking place. I really enjoyed the way the drama unfolded and the plot developed.

In summary, this was a terrific book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is everything. I started it 24 hours ago and genuinely could not put it down! It’s thrilling, fast-paced! Everything you want in a book about the fragility of female friendship.

Wahala is a page turner, each chapter is centred around one main character, we enter their thoughts and feelings about each other. Ronke is such a loveable character, naive and pure, fiercely loyal to her father's memory but unlucky in love. Simi is rich, successful but lonely since her husband has been working away. Boo, desperate to ignore her Nigerian heritage but bored of her life... feeling stuck in the mundane world she has created for herself.

Three best friends who met at university and now in their thirties their friendship is as strong as ever, even if their lives are very different from one another.
Until Isobel returns into Simi's life. Glamorous and beautiful Isobel wants to rekindle their friendship, and connect with Ronke and Boo but is that what she really wants? Or does she have other ideas.
Cracks start to show, the girls aren't talking to each other, except Isobel. What is her deal?

Sex and the City meets Killing Eve but set in London with Anglo-Nigerian leads.
I found this book so wonderfully written and exciting. I was gripped from start to finish. The perfect amount of mystery and intrigue. Constant twists to keep you wanting more! A must read for everyone.

Publication date 06/01/2022

Wahala is already receiving rave reviews a month before publication date, so of course I bumped this one up my TBR pile to see what all the fuss was about. On one hand, I loved this book but unfortunately there were a couple of things that stopped this book being a 5 star read, more about that in a while!

The book is about the lives and friendships of three mixed-race friends, Boo, Simi and Ronke who in London, she paints a vivid and vibrant picture of their lives. Lunch dates, shared evenings over a bottle of wine, they laugh, they cry and share each other’s highs and lows, these women share everything! until Isobel a glamorous friend from the past turns up, and their lives take a turn for the worse! Secrets are revealed, and friendships and relationships are tested to the limit.

Nicki May has created a dialogue between the friends that’s sublime. Like a fly on a wall, you are listening to their conversations; you learn the gossip, their hopes and fears. It’s the part of the book I enjoyed the most. The paranoia that inventively comes with having a close-knit group of friends was captured perfectly. I liked Ronke, and I felt a great deal of empathy for her. The relationship with her friends felt one sided. I really disliked Boo and Simi. Their air of ‘self importance’ grated and the way they treated the People they loved the most was awful.

I really enjoyed gaining insight into the British-Nigerian culture and the focus on Nigerian cooking, including some recipes, made my mouth water. I thought that the ‘thriller’ aspect came a little too late, and it felt like the author added it as an afterthought, so the ending felt rushed and underwhelming. Despite a couple of niggles, I enjoyed the exploration of the three women’s friendship and the changing dynamics when Isobel joined the group.

A funny and gripping read with characters that are incredibly real and relatable. The thing I loved most about Wahala was the authenticity of its characters as well as it’s portrayal of Black British culture. An exciting debut from an extremely talented author!

What a great book about 3 friends of mixed race and how their friendship is tested to the limit when Isobel turns up and totally upsets the close relationships they have.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and kept me guessing right to the end how it would work out.

Compulsive stuff! A searing look at friendship and betrayal, at the end of the day trust is one of the most important things we can have. We love our friends and families, ev though we may not always like them. We all have secrets and what we need are friends that we can trust to keep them and keep us safe.
I loved the characters, especially Ronke, and I was especially pleased to see her recipes in the back of the book. In fact I loved all three of the friends, they all had their strengths and weakness, and I can't wait to see the TV series when it's released.
I'm choosing not to talk about Isobel, you'll meet her for yourself soon enough!

An enjoyable read and interesting look into three women's relationships be it frendships or with their partners. I enjoyed the snapshot into Nigerian culture and the nice touch of including recipes of some of the food mentioned in the book. Somehow I felt that the actual driving storyline of the friend from the past resurfacing to disrupt the three friends lives was a bit forces at times and not totally necessary. There was enough material in the three separate characters' lives and how they relate to each other to make the story interesting. The plot twist reveal so close to the end with little else after it that it just felt a bit forced. But I still throroughly enjoyed reading it.

This is a pacy debut, which draws the reader in with a clever mix of gossipy and topical dialogue. Nikki May writes strong female characters with great humour. Perhaps two or three central characters' journeys may have been slightly easier to follow in third person prose form.

Really enjoyed this book which is the story of 3 Anglo Nigerian women, Ronke, Simi and Boo, who met at school and bonded through their shared heritage and have stayed friends since. But along comes Isobel a friend of Simi's and tries to be part of their friendship group but her behaviour threatens their loyalty to each other.

"Im not jealous of her, I'm sick of her. There's been nothing but wahala since she arrived"

I really loved reading this book! Three Anglo-Nigerian girls, friends from University are now in the their 30’s and living in London. Ronke, the dentist and foodie, maintaining Nigerian customs and searching for a man who will live up to her idolised father. Simi, the fashionista, married to Martin, together they make the Golden couple, but she’s hiding her contraceptive pills from her husband, reluctant to start the family he is yearning for. Boo, married to the doting Frenchman Didier and with young daughter Sophia at school, feels suffocated at home and attracted to her hot boss. When the super wealthy Isobel attempts to ingratiate herself with the trio, the close knit friendship starts to derail. This is a hugely entertaining book with characters you really develop a close affection for. I can’t wait to see the BBC mini series!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the chance to read this book in return for an honest review.

Wahala by Nikki May tells the story of friendship amongst three Anglo-Nigerian friends drawn together by a shared heritage. Everything seems to be swimming smoothly, regular lunch dates, shared secrets and burdens until the arrival of a fourth "friend". Boo (Bukola), Simi and Ronke are three thirty-something-year-olds successful and mostly happy ladies. They were all put through the wringer with the arrival of Isobel. Isobel is a childhood friend of Simi who forced herself on the other two. The word Wahala means trouble in Yoruba (a Nigerian language). It will be an understatement to say Isobel is wahala personified. Nikki May's heritage is evident in this very relatable book. The characterisation is three dimensional. The plot is engaging. What a debut!!

‘Three’s company. Four’s a crowd’ - USA cover tag line.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Transworld Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Wahala’
by Nikki May in exchange for an honest review.

Wahala is a Yoruba word meaning trouble and in this lively comedy-drama wahala walks into the lives of Ronke, Simi, and Boo, three Nigerian-British friends living in London. They have all experienced racism in their day-to-day lives though haven’t allowed it to hold them back.

Now in their thirties, they each face new questions about their futures. Ronke is keen to settle down though insists any potential husband be Nigerian; Boo is finding marriage and motherhood a strain; while Simi, working in high fashion, is frustrated by her boss constantly referring to her 'urban vibe'.

Then Isobel, a glamorous friend from Simi’s past, arrives in town and quickly inserts herself into the women’s lives. It’s not long until she’s creating waves and even if the friends are unaware, it’s clear to the reader that she’s trouble with a capital W. Still, no further details to avoid spoilers.

‘Wahala’ celebrates the fusion of British and Nigerian cultures in relation to its protagonists’ lives. I found this a highly engaging novel that is a brilliant exploration of friendship. Of the women, Ronke was my favourite though someone needed to sit her down and talk to her about body image. Being Size 12 is not ‘huge’!

I felt that ‘Wahala’ was wonderful. It is funny and heartwarming in places, poignant in others, and also delivers on plenty of tension, mostly through witnessing Isobel’s machinations, and some twists.

In its opening chapter, titled ‘Aftermath’, Nikki May is very clever in planting a number of clues before moving back in time four months to chart the journey to those events. Each subsequent chapter cycles through the viewpoints of Ronke, Boo, and Simi. May finishes with a few recipes that had featured in the novel.

There has been a great deal of prepublication buzz about this debut novel and I felt that it was definitely warranted. As a result, I have preordered my own copy and plan on recommending it for inclusion in our County Libraries’ Reading Group Collection as I feel that it is likely to prove popular with such groups as it is well written, readable, and provides plenty of opportunities for discussion on its themes.

Very highly recommended.

An absolute triumph! I loved it from cover to cover. The last book I read was terrible and seemed to drain me, this has restored my faith in a decent, gripping plot.

Thanks to netgalley for arc of this book
I absolutely loved this read. 3 friends at very different stages of their life doing very different things. Some really raw, hard hitting moments, and also contrasted with rich Nigerian culture, set against the London background thriller sneaks up on you ever so carefully very cleverly written fantastic first novel by Nikki May would make excellent film

Wahala is one of the most entertaining and original novels of 2021. This is the story of Ronke, Simi, Boo, three mixed-race friends living in London, coping with the usual pressures of work, family and relationships. Each women faces their own challenges and their race plays a significant role on their lives. Then, the dramatic Isobel crashes into their lives. A childhood friend of Simi from her time in Nigeria, Isobel is high-octane, thrill-seeking, and may well is less of a friend and more of a enemy.
Each chapter switches between Ronke, Simi, Boo, so that we get to see their perspectives equally and gives us an opportunity to understand their motives and just how easily they can be manipulated by Isobel. The reader is also given the chance to see how their friendship mirrors many in the real world - supporting friends whether we agree with their decision, giving advice, etc.
Although the story moves rapidly from the arrival of Isobel to the end pages, their is a slow burn initially as the author builds up the tension and the feeling that a disaster is imminent.
I also loved the focus on Nigerian cooking within the novel and the inclusion of some recipes at the book of the book - definitely a reason for another star!

Life is best enjoyed with good friends by your side and in Wahala it’s ALL about the friendships. Meet three Anglo Nigerian women, Ronke, Simi and Boo, friends since university who are navigating their way through life’s inevitable ups and downs. Ronke is a dentist and an amazing cook with a penchant for men who fail to stick around. Simi is career driven, super stylish and simply too cool for words whilst Boo who has settled for marriage and motherhood is already yearning for something altogether more exciting and fulfilling. To put it plainly from an outsiders point of view there’s one woman who’s got it all, one who wants it all and one who hasn’t a clue what she wants!! But you barely have time to register their presence when with the force of a hurricane in blows a friend from Simi’s past. Suddenly this well established threesome quickly becomes a newly established foursome.

Bold, lively, dramatic and surprising this novel is bursting with colour, flavour and fragrance transported straight from the heart of Lagos to the streets of London. I loved the fusion of Nigerian culture, dialect and traditional cuisine which compliments the storyline brilliantly, adding context and texture to all the drama that unfolds. In the blink of an eye Nikki May drew me into this circle of friends, who for all their imperfections are immensely likeable. Ronke Simi and Boo are smart, sassy, funny and sexy and I found myself wishing I could be part of their gang. The author spoils you with a fantastic mix of personalities who all come together to provide you with drama worthy of primetime TV. Out of all of them I reserved a soft spot for Boo’s adoring French husband Didier and their daughter Sofia who’s definitely a daddy’s girl and a delightful little mademoiselle.

I think what makes this such a brilliant page turner is the dynamic which exists between the three very different women and the ways in which they not only cope with their own personal dilemmas but how they make room for a fourth member of the group and the impact it has on them individually and as a whole. Revolving mainly around relationship dramas but incorporating family history into the plot this is a riveting and highly entertaining storyline involving scenarios many of us will be horribly familiar with. Uncertainty over the direction our lives are taking, desperation over the search for the ‘“Mr or Mrs Right, and fear of missing out as well as that misguided belief everyone else is living a better life are all issues affecting this trio of friends. I had the best seat in the house privy to the most intimate details of Ronke, Simi and Boo’s lives as they either make some dubious choices or behave totally out of character. As the food flows as freely as the conversation it soon becomes apparent that despite their shared history all three women are withholding secrets from one another, secrets which if given room to fester can morph into dangerous ticking time bombs. In the wrong hands these secrets can be used as ammunition with the potential to ruin lives and that’s when life gets really interesting and messy! However, regardless of all the tension and anxiety that’s clouding the atmosphere there’s a great deal of humour to be gleaned from these pages. I loved Simi’s sometimes inappropriate fashion choices, Boo’s ridiculous attempts at reinventing her image and Ronke’s efforts to ensure she retains the title of best godmother of the year!

I’m amazed I didn’t cotton on to the meaning of the title until I finished the book (duh!) but it makes perfect sense in hindsight. I was so immersed in the trials and tribulations of this posse of friends that I clean forgot the author was leading me down a one way street where all that awaits is trouble! Depending on your outlook that can be seen as a positive strength or a major downfall. For the most part I felt as if I was eavesdropping on conversations that could be heard between groups of women everywhere, a gossipy vibe running throughout the narrative which I found appealing. It’s not until the latter stages that the “thriller” aspect comes into its own, creeping up behind you and taking you by surprise even though the clues are staring you directly in the face! To say the ending left me gobsmacked is an understatement and I still can’t decide whether it was good or bad, disappointing or inevitable. I immediately felt angry at Nikki May’s choice of character most affected by what I’d consider to be a far fetched final twist but if nothing else it will divide reader opinions and possibly be the most talked about aspect in what is otherwise a fabulous debut. All in all I’d describe this novel as a delicious sweet treat that leaves a bitter aftertaste! I heartily recommend it.

My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant insight to friendships and how people are not always what they seem to be.
Isobel, Simi, Boo and Ronke share a bond, and a link, but what’s in the surface is not all there is to know. With deeper hidden backstories, their friendship will unravel in front of their eyes.
A great insight into Nigerian culture, this cast of women will have you reading past your bedtime.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review.