Hello Best of 2023 list!

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the advanced readers copy. This title was an absolute gem and left me thinking about it days after finishing. The author painted a relatable and strong main female POV who is navigating through many of life's struggles. I highly recommend it fo your next fiction book and it would be great for a book club discussion!

I loved this charming and captivating debut novel. It has stayed with me since I finished reading the last page. It captures the sacrifice and love of a daughter seen through the culture of Ghanaian immigrant parents. Maddie is the main caretaker of her father in London and her journey of finding herself is very real, raw, funny and sad. It's a powerful book and definitely a favorite of the year for me. I highly recommend it!

I tandem read and listened to the audiobook which had a fantastic narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital copy of the book to review. All opinions are my own.

Maame is the story of Maddie who is single and living in London with her disabled father. Her brother is nearby but absent. Maddie's mother is in Ghana helping with the family business and seldom comes home. Maddie's led a serious life and it's time for her to come out of her shell and get a real life. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens. She doesn't have a boyfriend, then she has one and then she doesn't. She lives at home and cares for her dad, then moves in with roommates and then she moves out. She has a job, then she doesn't, but then she does. This is a good story....about life, love, family, maturing and facing life in the real world. We've all been there and gotten through it. I know why its on the bestseller list now. BTW, I would like to know the proper pronunciation of the word "Maame".....

I absolutely loved Maame! It is one of the best books I have received through NetGalley. Maame grabbed my attention from the beginning. I was rooting for Maddie as she grappled with very relatable issues that 20 somethings face.

I would read anything that Jessica George writes in the future.

Poignant coming of age story of a British Ghanaian woman. Maddie takes on he responsibility of care for her ailing father, endures her absentee. Miner and brother, and tries to hold together a full time job. She dreams of a release from the box she’s made of her life, and slowly she breaks free.

A tremendous debut novel.

Maddie’s mom calls her Maame which means woman. It not only feels like a nickname but an expectation even when she was a young girl. When we meet Maddie she works full time and takes care of her father who has Parkinson’s. Maddie is the responsible one while her brother Chase’s his dreams and her mother is gone for a year at a time.

Soon Maddie gets the chance to figure out who she is outside of her role in her family. I loved following Maddie on her journey of self discovery and figuring out who she is and what she wants. She deals with mental health issues and grief. It felt relatable and honest. The pressures placed on Maddie by her family and society are heavy. The book touches on racism and what it’s like being a black women in a predominantly white society.

This book and Maddie will stick with me for a while.

Oh my goodness, I absolutely loved this book! The responsibilities that Maddie handles without any family support seem overwhelming to me. She is a twenty five year old girl who grows into a woman (what Maame means in the Ghanaian language of Twi) who manages to finally live her own life and definitely lives up to her nickname of Maame.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this excellent book.

The story started slowly and rather boring to me. I struggled to get into it at first. Once I did I couldn’t put it down. I absolutely couldn’t stand Maddie. She ended up growing on me. I wanted to yell at her so many times. I think the story developed really well. The beginning background was the only part I didn’t vibe with. I also wish they would’ve explored how interracial her world was. I feel like that contributed to her stressors. It wasn’t lost on me that the new people who came into her life and made the best impact were black (Sam and Angelina). I like that the story ended realistically. Maddie became likeable or maybe this was written in such a way that it pulled empathy out of me. I was happy she got to find some happiness versus just existing. She finally got to be the main character in her life.

This was a good story. I was really rooting for Maddie. Her journey was heartbreaking at times, but there were also parts that made me laugh out loud too. Grief and growing up are complex and so was this story, and yet it was simplistic and easy to read at the same tlme.

This was a book I didn't know I needed and wish I read sooner! Maame, or Maddie, grew up shouldering the responsibility of keeping the family going. At the ripe age of 25, she's responsible for caring for her father, who suffers from Parkinson's and feels pressured to "go out" and live her life. When she finally takes that advice, she deals with major guilt and regret. I love the connections to Ghanaian culture and upbringing. Though I hated the dates, I appreciated reading about horrendous dating experiences (because it's good to know that literary works parallel life). Sometimes Maddie frustrated me, but her humanity is also what compelled me to continue reading. I LOVED the book and will likely read it again in the future!

I love this book! It had all the feels as you navigate life and growing up with Maame. It’s infuriating at times as you read and watch her go through the trials of life that most of have felt or experienced. It makes your heart break and soar at other times as you are filled with hope for her character. The journey of family, friends and relationships both in the working world and every day life are so real and humanistic. The story is a true one of the heart. Her relationship with her parents and brother as they navigate their culture and the implications of how they have combined the two into their lives and how they live. Overall, great read. It will make you think and hopefully pause and take in what other peoples lives can be like because at the heart of the story are very real and true experiences and how they impact the individual.

Maame tells the story of a young woman, Madeline, who is of Ghanaian descent, living in the UK in her family home, caring for her ailing father by herself. Her mother has a business that she runs in Ghana and only returns yearly while her older brother checks-in infrequently by phone but is checked out of the family's relationships and needs. Maddie becomes depressed, feeling stuck as a caregiver while working in a job she hates. Losing that job and then being freed from caregiving duties gives Maddie the chance to finally explore the world as a young adult and grow to find her voice, not only for her vocation but within the family and within romantic relationships. Despite her depression, Maddie demonstrates preservation, strength and determination as she creates a new life for herself, despite setbacks. She also begins to heal relationships within her family, forgiving herself for mistakes and opens up her very private life to new friends. A lovely, heart warming book, that deals with the grief, insecurity, and loneliness that many of us feel. This is the first book in a long time that has brought tears to my eyes as it touched my heart. The book also reveals how immigrants can feel out of place in spaces where their customs are not understood, while also having trouble connecting with the countries they left behind. A beautiful coming-of-age story with a hopeful conclusion for a better future for Maddie and her family.

Maame does everything for her father who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Maame’s mother spends most of her time in Ghana working for her family’s old hotel, and her brother is too busy living his best life to help out. Maame is left to do everything, which leaves her with little time to dedicate to herself. When her mother tells her she is coming home, Maame decides to move out and start living her life. After getting fired from the theater Maame lands a job at a publishing company, and is so excited finally put herself first. She’s enjoying hanging out with her roommates, starts dating and is finally feeling like the 20 something she should have always been. Life is going well until tragedy strikes, and everything starts to fall apart. Maame goes on a severe downward spiral and it’s going to take all she has to get out of it and get her life back on track.

I was skeptical first as Maame seemed like such a pushover, and it was frustrating, however I was so glad as the book progressed to see her growth. This book explored the microaggressions Black women face in the workplace and when they have friends of different cultures. This book also touches on how Black women always have to bear the burdens amongst their families, friends and relationships. I definitely recommend this read,

Thank you St Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC #SMPInfluencer

I am so rarely persuaded by the fanfare around a newly released book, especially for contemporary fiction, but folks - this one is it. Maame introduces us to Maddie, a young woman whose life is very much at a crossroads. As she navigates her ties between her immigrant family and the possibility of a full life in London, we cringe with her at awkward moments, mourn devastating losses, and celebrate small victories alongside her. Jessica George has created full, cohesive characters and a narrative that the reader feels personally connected to. Bravo.

I was excited to read an early copy of this book, and wow! I cannot believe this was a debut. A realistic coming of age story with a huge helping of family drama, I could not put this down. I fell in love with the majority of the characters, their deep but complicated relationships, and Maddie's winding journey to self discovery. I really appreciated the author's handling of grief, depression, and complicated family dynamics, and found it so easy to root for Maddie. I laughed, I cried, and I didn't want this book to end (mainly so we'd get more Sam content!). There were a couple of predictable twists, but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book overall. Highly recommend, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what the author does next. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book was fantastic! It’s about a young woman who is 25 years old named Maddie, and she is living at her parents’ house in the UK taking care of her father who has Parkinson’s while her mother is in Ghana running a family business. When her mother returns home, she moves out of the house and gets to live her young 20-something life - dating, living with roommates, navigating her career and Googling her way through it all. Then, something happens and she has to deal with her complicated family life head on.

I loved this book so much. I loved Maddie, googling her way through early adulthood, navigating this new world of freedom the best she could, learning throughout the book. I loved her friends and how they wrapped her up in love when she needed them. And I felt for her mother, despite how difficult she so often was. All of the characters were brilliantly written.

This novel was just a beautiful second coming of age type - one of my favorite genres. It had the same 20-something-year-old feeling chaotic energy as other books I’ve loved like All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathew’s, NSFW by Isabel Kaplan and Sally Rooney’s books, but Jessica George brought and fresh voice and incredible writing to the sub-genre. I can’t recommend this one enough!!

Maddie is a twenty-something Londoner learning to navigate between her family's traditional Ghanaian expectations and her own hopes and desires. She has been obligated to take on huge responsibilities and carry a great deal of weight for her family while still trying to figure out her place in the world and "come into her own". Her character's development throughout the story is well-done; she deals with a number of relatable situations, including struggles with grief, friendship, love, sex, and career.

This book made me cry, smile, chuckle, and even cringe, so it definitely delivers on emotions. The reason for my one-star deduction is that I felt like it moved very slowly for the first 60%.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me early access to the ebook version of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Congratulations on your debut book being a hit! I was immediately drawn into your skillful world building, and found myself laughing out loud multiple times. Maddie, though sad for the majority of the book, was incredibly relatable. It was great to witness her character development throughout the story and how we got a glimpse into her hopefully happy ending. Also loved how you explored Ghanian culture/and the challenges that come along with being children of immigrants. Great writing!

Maame by Jessica George is a unique debut that is fantastic! You will root for Maddie as she finds the life she was always meant to have and leaves the “limited life” she was living before! Loved this one and recommend!

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Maame might have just moved up to one of my top three books of the year. It is the story of a woman who is confronted by her family histories and relational identities after she moves out of her father’s home and her father passes away soon thereafter. She has to suddenly reimagine herself as adult child navigating her career, dating, friendships, and her relationship with herself. This is a beautiful story of searching, healing, reckoning, reimagining, fissioning and reconnecting. I absolutely loved it. I also listened to the audiobook once it was released and would highly recommend it!

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance e-copy.