I loved this book so much! It had the right balance of spice and female bad assery. I also loved all the inclusivity represented throughout, and the realities of being a Black woman in the medical field. This was such a great read - Angie is an awesome character with plenty of flaws (there are a few times throughout the book where you want to reach in and slap her), but she’s human and overcomes the.

Thank you, NetGalley for the copy!

Another arc from the backlog. I kind of wished this would have stayed in the back log...

I thought this book was very long for a story that wasn't very captivating. It was hard to feel sympathy for the main character because she always had this woe is me attitude. The main guy was all wishy washy and you were just sitting there screaming at him to make up his mind.

This is supposed to be a romance, but it really was lacking in that department. It also half committed to the medical side of the story. I wish this book would have just been focused on one or the other. A lot of the characters made rash decisions. It didn't feel like any of the characters were very mature. Did her roommate really decide to move out just because she felt the MC didn't care about her life? Or, was she just using it as an excuse to move in with their partner?

I could continue on with things I disliked about the book but I will leave it up to other readers to decide for themselves.

As a 3rd year medical student and intern, this book was so spot on. All the love for this one. I am so glad to have gotten the opportunity to read a FICTION novel by a doctor. Love to see it. Everything about medicine had me hooked, and the love story is so realistic and beautiful! But what I also loved is the Ghanaian traditions we get to see with Angie’s family. I am so happy to know about The Knocking ceremony and to see it played out so well in a novel. I love this book so very much.

A huge thank you to the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book. I was so excited to receive this book; however, it just missed the mark for me. I didn't connect with the main character and the story just dragged for me. Maybe I will try it again when it is published because it may have been a timing issue (mood reader problems).

I want to thank the publisher and netgalley for the copy.

I really enjoyed this story. The pacing was great and something was always happening to keep it moving whether it was issues with Angela's friend or her new beau. Enjoyed her parents and her sister. Loved the slow evolution of the relation with her mom.


The presentation she does on black patients and the prejudice could have used more in page time. Angela complains about being uncomfortable about her bum. It does not come up again in the book. I could not understand Ricky's indecisiveness towards the end.

This was a really sweet, fresh rom/com from a perspective that isn't represented very often in the genre. The writing was engaging, the story was fast-paced, and I learned a lot about cultures and communities that are different from my own in a way that still felt natural and fresh to the story. I will definitely read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for access to an eARC of On Rotation by Shirlene Oboubi in exchange for an honest review.

CW: medical content/trauma, death of a parent, child death, infidelity, gaslighting, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, misogyny, racism, sexism, gun violence, police britality, addiction, body shaming, disordered eating, fatphobia, see full list on StoryGraph

Angela Appiah is a medical student navigating ever-changing relationships with her friends and family. She is juggling a lot in her life already, and then Ricky enters the scene. Angie finds herself having feelings for someone who is seemingly unavailable. And he works at the same hospital where she is doing her internship....and things get complicated....

I was so disappointed by this one because it was an ARC that I was SO excited to read! Like, seriously, I did a little happy dance when I got the approval email. But alas....this was just boring to me....I was trying to slog through it for 6 months and should have just DNF'd it. This was advertised as a romance, but I did not find it romantic at all because the dude was a f***boy if I've ever read one. I think this could have been a much better novel if we had just gotten a story about Angie's journey through medical school and navigating her family relationships.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. I was not able to finish so won't be leaving a full review at this time.

Ghanaian-American Angie is having a quarter life crisis when she meets Ricky - a thoughtful, brilliant, and sexy man - who her parens would absolutely not approve of. However, Angie realizes that there’s one thing she can’t plan on: matters of her heart.

I enjoyed this debut and look forward to reading more from Shirlene Obuobi!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

As a current 4th year medical student, I had so many feelings with this book! It captured so much of the sacrifice and self-doubt that med school all too often brings to the surface. It does really well at showing the struggles and the joys of medicine, and I loved how Angela's journey of self-growth was both connect to and separate from medicine. Medicine can be so consuming, but I loved that she was shown as her own person making life choices that wouldn't only affect her personal life but her school as well.

My biggest issue was there was a lot of miscommunication in this book, which is a trope that always annoys me. But I did really enjoy the romance and how sweet Ricky is. They seem to really understand one another (when they aren't doubting each other), and I love the way they fit together so perfectly. Them together was my favorite part of the book, their easy banter and joy radiated from the page.

If you're looking for a sweet romance that will give you a look into the world of medicine, this is the book for you!

This was a great book and I really loved the main character, trying so hard to succeed in a tough sector, her family expectations and love and friends.

This book is marketed as a romance but there is so much more to it. And that could be a huge compliment! But unfortunately in this case, it feels like there was too much going on and the plane never landed anywhere for me.

I could not get into this book at all but pushed through. The plot was interesting, but I disliked most of the characters. I found myself rolling my eyes at the dialogue, which seemed juvenile.

I have mixed feelings about this book.

Overall it was well written novel. I just didn't like all the plot lines. I felt that the romance arc was unnecessarily pushed in the story. It's unclear if it was added, or if it was edited to try and emphasize it. It just was not great.

I would have loved the novel if it was a women's fiction novel without the romance plot.

I enjoyed Angie's voice, her focus on her residency (though maybe getting actual numbers for her STEP scores and comparison would have been better, the vagueness left me lost), and her great group of friends, her family, and her being there for her sister.

I was absolutely happy when she and Ricky broke up. Not that I couldn't see them together, but he wasn't needed. To reiterate what I had said earlier, it just felt forced. Especially when they got back together. It did not seem realistic in any way. There was not enough time that passed forv that to work for me, no matter how grand the gesture.

So while I didn't enjoy this book, I would definitely try to read another novel by the author in the future.

This was a book that was highly anticipated for me, but I just could not get into it. I love reading books written by BIPOC so I was stoked when I found out the premise of it, and I tried so hard to love it, but it just drug on for me.

The characters lacked continuity, and the love connection was almost frustrating to me because there was such a disconnect between them.

Also the footnotes drove me absolutely nutty.

Being a young woman in a traditionally male world of medicine is complex. Add to that trying to please your family, maintain a relationship and sustain important friendships and one is sure to feel overwhelmed. This novel touches on all that and how Ghanaian-American Angela Appiah, navigates all of them. She is struggling in her medical school progress. She has broken up with her boyfriend and her relationships with her closest friends are hanging on by a friend. Her family has very high expectations of her and she fears she will never meet them.

I am grateful for any novel that introduces me to people and cultures that may not be very present in my life. This one gave me a bit of insight to the Ghanaian tradition of "Knocking". While this may be known to many, it was not to me and I like it when I actually learn something in my fiction reading.

On Rotation is a book about self discovery and balancing different aspects of your life. Angie, a Ghanaian American is a medical student trying to keep up with her parents’ expectations and the expectations she has set for herself. When her boyfriend dumps her and she messes up an important exam, she needs to learn how to balance her person and professional life.
This book dives into the cultural expectations put on Angie while also dealing with personal expectations. I wouldn’t really classify this book as a romance book because the romance storyline takes a back seat to Angie’s road of self-discovery and balance.

A sweet, fun, well-rounded read. Angie Appiah has her hands full, trying to make it through med school, live up to the high expectations of her demanding Ghanian parents, and manage to have a functional adult relationship. Very early on, it looks like the relationship part of things just won't be in the cards for her. She is unceremoniously dumped by her good-on-paper boyfriend, literally hours before he is supposed to meet her parents on the occasion of her younger sister's boyfriend arriving at the family home to ask for her hand in marriage. But Angie at least has a large group of longstanding and very close friends, so it isn't as though her life is empty or anything.

I enjoyed watching Angie wrestle with all the things women do--career, friendship, family, love, and ultimately self-love. Her story was by turns funny, poignant, exasperating and affirming. I'm glad we have more books like this to read; about Black women just ... living. Not wrestling with the stains of some enormous trauma or grappling with the strain of 'living while Black', but just

experiencing the full range of what it means to be human, and coming out on the other side with their own personal version of happy. Slowly but surely, I feel like we're getting to a place where I don't have to be effusively thankful that Black protagonists like Angie not only exist, but are beginning to be the norm, but we're not there yet

I'll read whatever this author writes next, because this book was a breath of fresh air, and left me feeling much the way fresh air does--light, unburdened and just ... happy.

Recommended for lovers of rom-coms, family-centered fiction, and women's fiction.

I love a romcom with a strong, smart, sexy black female lead and this fit the bill. I loved everything about it- plot, banter, chemistry. This has it all!

- women in STEM
- strong family bonds
- medical drama

This definitely came across as more women's fiction than romance, but I still enjoyed being immersed in Angie's world. On Rotation is more of a slow-burn friends to lovers and I loved that Angie pushed back against familial pressure to pursue what made her happy. The main focus felt like it was about Angie's journey rather than the romance, which is why I think it would've been better off classified as women's fiction, but it is still an enjoyable read. I learned a lot about Ghanaian culture from Angie and her family, which truly immersed you into their family dynamics and what it was like for Angie growing up.

Following her story and character growth was frustrating at times, this book does feature miscommunication which is my least favorite trope in books with full grown adults. Overall, I enjoyed this debut and will be excited to see what Obuobi does next.