A dual-POV YA contemporary which depicts Nigeria vividly and without sanitization, and very effectively uses its multiple narrators; as the reader shifts between perspectives, it is easy to sympathize with the current narrator and vilify the other sister, but this reverses as soon as the POV shifts back. However, despite the well-portrayed differences between the sisters and the difficult but realistic depiction of their home life, the book felt very emotionally shallow and constantly moved on from major events without significant examination, including the final twist, which was interesting and somewhat surprising but felt like it came too late. Perhaps try handing to readers who are looking for something along the lines of Choi's Yolk with a more accessible writing style.

Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this read. “How You Grow Wings” is set in Nigeria, where we follow the POVs of Zam and Cheta, two sisters who are stark opposites. The author does a fantastic job of creating a backstory for the choices that these girls make. The reader can’t help but immediately become invested in both their fates. I found that the relationship between the sisters was perfectly nuanced, as was the mother-daughter relationship in a population that historically has difficulty prioritizing mental health, as well as difficulty breaking cycles of generational trauma. While parts of the story itself were heavy and tense, for me, it was ultimately an inspiring tale that I am certain will resonate with and move many young readers, across various cultures, for a long while to come.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the chance to read this beautiful story.
Where to begin, this book covers so many hard hitting topics: classism, mental health, motherwounds, generational trauma, and at the core HOW HARD IT IS TO BE A WOMAN-and the struggles and choices we have to make in order to just survive and make it out of situations that we are born into and are out of our control. This book tackles hard family dynamics and made me feel like I am not alone in my own struggles and relationship with my mother.
Please read this and IM BEGGING FOR A SEQUEL.

Sometimes I read a debut novel and have to go back and check again that it’s a debut, because it’s so riveting or well-written or beautifully emotional that I imagine an author must have several books under their belt. This was one of those, and I’m still surprised that this was a debut book!

A YA novel from the perspectives of two very different Nigerian sisters, How You Grow Wings is an emotional and beautiful story. The book covers topics like domestic abuse, socioeconomic class lines, privilege, colorism, mental health, and family trauma.

Because the book is written from the points of view of both sisters, the reader is able to see their family’s dysfunction from both sets of eyes and understand the pain, resentment, and vulnerability each sister has. I was able to empathize with the big emotions of both sisters, and I loved seeing both of them on their unique journeys.

I really enjoyed this book, and I’ll definitely be looking for future works from this author!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for this advanced readers copy!

Rimma Onoseta brings us a compelling story of two sisters whose lives are filled with abuse, contempt, internalized racism, and parental favoritism.
We begin the story with Cheta and Zam. Cheta is the older sister of the two.
Cheta is bold and outspoken and suffers physical abuse from her mother.
Zam is the younger of the two, soft spoken and timid. Highly favored by their mother, not physically abused, but abused mentally. Both girls are pitted against each other, based on their mother’s dislike of her own skin color. She prefers Zam because she is the lighter of the 2 girls.
Cheta and her mother are constantly at odds with each other, while Zam get’s bullied by the both of them.
Eventually the girl’s rich aunt Sophie decides that Zam should come live with her in Abuja. Upon arriving in Abuja, Zam is unwelcomed by her cousin Kaira, the way her Aunt Sophie had hoped she would be. Instead, Zam is befriended by the family friend Ginika. Ginika turns out to be the best thing that happens to Zam while in Abuja. She helps Zam find her voice and her courage to stand up for herself.
Kaira her cousin, finally comes around after her mother (Aunt Sophie) is kidnapped along with Zam. Throughout that ordeal we learn that Kaira too, underneath all that haughtiness, is looking for acceptance from her mother, just like Cheta.
Aunty Sophie finally explains to Kaira exactly why it is she feels the way she does towards her daughter.
Throughout this the girls become closer thanks to Ginika and her forcefulness. Uncle Emeke, then forces the girls to go to school in London, because it will be safer for them after the kidnapping.
Cheta flees her mother’s abusive ways and moves to Benin to live with her friend Chizi. However! Chizi has a job at a hotel, and no matter how hard she tries Cheta cannot find a job. She ends up selling drugs for Chizi’s cousin just to make some sort of money. When a classmate tells them about a hustle being a Sugar Baby, younger women who have relationships with rich men for money. There Cheta meets a man named Samson, but that is all a set up with Chizi’s cousin Johnson.
Johnson remembered that Cheta’s uncle was Emeke, from Emeke Oil and wanted to use her to get money from him.
But Cheta is too smart for Samson and Johnson. The more she listens to them talk, the more her plans form. This is where the book turns to “I TOTALLY DID NOT SEE THAT COMING” “DAMN!!!!!”
This book deals with PTSD with almost, every character in the book. It was good to see Aunty Sophie and Kaira receiving therapy in the book. Great nod to Mental Illness and recognition.
My favorite character in the book was Ginika. She is strong willed yet knows when to lend a hand. I like how she helped Zam find her voice and stand up for herself.
Cheta I first did not like, but she is a product of her environment. What I did like about her was, she got out of that abusive situation.

Onoseta tells a tale of basically how the rich stay rich, the poor stay poor.

She tells the story of the rich history and culture of Nigeria, filled with the different dishes and sites. It is like you are truly there.

She also shows how internalized discrimination cuts just as deep inside your own home, as it does outside of
it.

There unfortunately were some words that I did not understand that I wish I had.

There also was some dialect written that was hard to understand.

Other than that, I thought Onoseta did a fantastic job on this book.

Looking forward to her next novel.

Kudos!!!


Thank you NetGalley/Rimma Onoseta/ Algonquin Young Readers for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting but difficult book to read. At the heart of the story are two sisters who choose different paths to escape an abusive home environment. Rimma Onoseta tells an engaging story which painfully explores cycles of abuse and generational trauma and also touches on mental health, poverty and classism. Absolutely worth reading. Thanks #NetGalley #WorkmanPublishing #RimmaOnoseta

I've been very luck to receive an E-ARC of this beauty as well as the audiobook so thank you so much to Rimma Onoseta and Algonquin Young Readers!

This debut follows the story of two sisters who live in Nigeria under the oppressive power of their mother, both trying to break free on their own terms and opportunities. Cheta and Zam are two polar opposites living in the same house, one stubborn enough to put fuel on fire, the other silent through the chaos.

I haven't read many books set in Africa before, but when I did, they always left an impact. I live in Egypt, which is not that far off from Nigeria, so it was interesting to see the stark change of the culture and opportunities in both countries. Even though Abuja and the place where the sisters lived was different, it was eye-opening to see how different people lived in both places.

This story deals with classim and abuse at its finest (so please check the trigger warnings first before reading)! I liked how the author explored the different family dynamics in this story, how messy it could get, how attachment works differently for different people, how silence and loyalty can merge to become one, how ugly truths can bond people together and how in the midst of the ugliness, there's always hope.

I especially liked the relationship (or lack thereof) between Zam and Cheta, and how we follow both their journey through a dual perspective which adds so much depth and emotions to the story. I was surprised by how a twist made them meet at the end, but I found it to be the most realistic ending to that story. I have to say, it did not even feel YA to me, which just goes to show how this book has many layers you get to peel whilst reading.

I also have to say that listening to the audiobook of this story whilst reading it was an EXPERIENCE. I loved how the accents were all genuine and authentic, giving the reader the vibe as if present with the sisters on their journey to freedom. The different accents, the slang, the narrators, everything made this worthwhile and helped me fall in love with this book even more. It made the characters come to life!

I read this book in a sitting and would definitely highly recommend!

This is my first ARC and I was so excited to get it because it was also a book by.a Nigerian author. I would describe this book as Purple Hibiscus meets The Teller of Secrets in that it’s a coming of age story for two sisters, Zam and Cheta who are dealt very different lots in life and as a result make vastly different choices.

I enjoyed reading about Zam’s relationships with her friend, Ginika and cousin, Kaira, I also love how the book was written in an authentically Nigerian way, from the ways in which the characters talked to one another to how Abuja and Alihame were described, it really did feel like I was back home.

It was difficult to stay immersed in the book because the sentences were a little choppy however I think the book tells a really important story about how the families we're born into and the decisions they make can shape our lives and also how we can take charge of our lives and build them into what we want.

Themes include: colorism and skin lightening, poverty, marriage and the experiences of women within marriage, domestic abuse, the fetishization of mixed race people in Nigeria, favoritism in families.

A huge thanks to the author and Algonquin Young Readers for my complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are entirely my own .

What a moving debut set in modern day Nigeria. The story follows two sisters Zam and Cheta who grow up in a household with a difficult mother. One gets the opportunity to leave while the other stays behind to find her own path . They each have to find their own path and eventually to each other. One builds ‘resilience’ as their mother is overbearing and the other staying with the rich aunt and uncle struggles to find her own voice I cannot recommend this book enough! Help us all if you read it without ensuring your wig is fastened properly because the mother can drive a sane person bonkers

This is a story about two sisters who have very different lives even thought they're raised in the same house, by the same parents.

I loved how their relashionship (or the lack of it) is presented and how both of them have their own narrative going on - the book is set on two point of views and the way this is put helps to build the storytelling in a "keep-the-reader-reading" way.

And I don't know if it was naive of me but I didn't expect the plot twist by the end and it is just as shocking as it is great and beautiful and just... so sad. I just really liked this book and I think is a very good debut.

#netgalleyarc I had a slow start with this book but really enjoyed I as I got deeper into the story. The relationship between the sisters is one just all sisters can relate to. The writing in this book is so realistic and beautifully done. It’s a great YA read that tackles difficult topics but does in a very honest and compelling way. I’ll definitely be purchasing this for my HS library.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a powerful and twisting read!

Following sisters Zam and Cheta we follow how their lives and paths parallel and diverge throughout their young adult years. This book explores family, relationships, and what people do to fit in and survive.

This book is full of gut punches and relatable characters as we see them grow and change and make their choices. It's a hard book to put down.

What can I say about this beautiful story?

How You Grow Wings by Rimma Onoseta is an intriguing coming-of-age story that truly captures the reader and doesn't let go. Two sisters Cheta and Zam grew up in an abusive household in a small village in Nigeria.

Cheta, the oldest, gets very badly abused by their mother, and resents Zam for being the favourite, for not essentially getting that same treatment. While Zam doesn't get physically abused she still suffers from anxiety from the toxic environment.

During the summer before university, a rich aunt and uncle of the family invite Zam to live with them in Abuja, and she accepts, leaving Cheta behind.

The book goes back and forth exploring both sisters' lives, views, and some of the issues and traumas they are dealing with, giving the reader time to sit and absorb both stories.

This story is filled with both happy and tragic moments and explores the nuances of sisterhood.

The story really sticks to the characters and although this book is a small story the theme and impact are huge

While hard to read at times due to the content, I overall really enjoyed this book. This was an interesting look at sisterhood and I really enjoyed the writing style of the author.

We follow two sisters, dealing with their trauma. Zam is calm, shy, always trying to be on the good side of her abusive mother. She's also scared of her sister Cheta. Cheta is bolder and more rebellious. She hates both her mother and her sister. She hates the fact that Zam is the complete opposive of her, she doesn't stand for herself and let Cheta fend alone against their mother.
Their father disapear into himself and stay away from the outside letting his wife abuse their daughter.
This family is completly dysfonctionnal. Everybody need a psychologist. Even the rich aunty needs one.
We see how colorism strain the relationship more.
The story is interesting and we witness how family violence is transmitted. There's a lot of TW. (child abuse, panic attack, colorism, skin bleaching, skin burn by boiling water, beating, kidnapping, escorting, drugs selling...)

This was an unexpectedly great read! I think adults may enjoy it even more than teens, so I'd definitely recommend that adults don't pass over it. And here we have yet another wonderful Nigerian writer. So descriptive with characters that truly come alive. The lives of the two sisters and their relationship, coupled with their totally dysfunctional parents make for a story that has all the elements to totally fascinate the reader. I could not put it down and I appreciated the ending greatly. Don't miss this one!

"That night I dreamt Mama gouged Papa's left eyeball out of it's socket, put a straw through the hole and drank his blood." -From How you Grow WIngs

3 stars

An evocative, well written character driven book. It's due to the vivid storyteling perhaps that this book just didn't work for me. I found it a violent, disturbing read that I wouldn't have finished if I didn't have the ARC. It tackles a lot of heavy subject matter including anxiety, drug use, innappropriate student/teacher relationships, classism, and colorism. While I appreciate the project and prose, it was a bit too intense for me. Definitely a book for older teens. I can appreciate morally grey characters, but in this case it just created distance for me, preventing me from falling in love with the characters.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

as someone who chooses character-driven books than plot, i knew this book would be it for me. and it did not disappoint. i love the characters, i love the family dynamic and the rise and pitfalls of sister relationship.

this is such a beautiful debut novel of rimma onoseta, and i recommend this to everyone.

I cannot t stress how much I truly and genuinely loved and enjoyed this book. Very heartfelt and beautifully written. Thank you so much for an e-arc! Will definitely be buying a copy of this book for myself and others! The story, the characters, the growth - EVERYTHING was perfection!

Set in Nigeria, Cheta and Zam live in an abusive home, though Zam has it much easier than Cheta, who is often at the end of her mother's wrath. That cycle has created a divide between the sisters, and Zam, who is meek, and refuses to speak up, can't seem to make her sister happy. So when Zam gets the opportunity to move in with her wealthy aunt and uncle, she takes it. Anything to get her away from her mother's wrath, her father's silence, and Cheta's ire.

I enjoyed the alternating perspectives in this character-driven novel. We look at the cycle of abuse, classism, colorism, and more through each sister's perspective. With one sister living amidst wealth, and the other desperate to flee their mother, their lives take drastically different turns. This is an emotional read that touches on so many issues I feel will be beneficial for readers. Thank you, Algonquin, for sending this along.