This story has it all, a rich heritage and immigration story with the painful backstory of slavery and oppression. It is tragic and wonderful.

“You’re a lucky girl to have a mother who cares for you so much”

In ‘Lucky Girl’ we meet Soila, who objectively is lucky. Despite the tragic passing of her father at a young age, her mother and aunts have raised her and given her a protective, well-financed life in Nairobi, Kenya. However, the strict rule of her mother has become too much for her to handle and she sets off to start her dream life in college in New York. But life away from home in NYC is not the fairytale she dreamed of and we see Soila battle between her life in Kenya and her new life in America.

“— the joy and pain of life were unforeseeable... much of our lives would never make sense to us, even if we lived three lifetimes”

I loved this story. I read this within two days. It reminds me a lot of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (one of my all-time favs) so if you loved that book I think you’ll enjoy this one too.

This was a great blend between a coming-of-age story with romance. It covered so many great topics from navigating different cultures, complicated parental relationships, grief, empathy, love, friendships, race dynamics, and carving your own life.

Soila had to unlearn a lot, especially about Blackness in America through her friends which I felt was a very honest and interesting conversation. Her best friend (who is arguably the best character) was also Letitia which had no influence on my rating whatsoever hehe

We learn about her father's secret tragic passing and the effects secrets can have on a family. I loved how much she grew and the ending was a little bittersweet. Relationships are challenging, especially with parents that can appear unforgiving and unrelenting in their expectations for you. Soila seeks her mother's love constantly and it is tough to see her battle the feelings of feeling responsible for the opportunities her family gives her while balancing the passions and the life she wants to live.

loved it and I am so happy with who she ended up with!

Other quotes I liked:

“You’re never going to regret going for what you really want in life. It’ll be hard at first, no doubt. But in a few years, you’ll be out of the trenches, and you’ll be fulfilled in so many more ways”

“I see now that ’30 under 30’ lists are there only to make adults feel hopeless and unaccomplished when the truth is that most of us are late bloomers. But when we finally bloom, we bloom beautifully”

“Here we were, all of us the same skin color, the same dark-brown eye color, the same hair — but our histories were so starkly different”

I felt this was a book with a lot of feelings. The main carachter had life struggles with her mom, and found out a lot when she move to NY from Nariboa. It was a good story and kept my interest.

Rounding up to five stars. This is a sweeping and moving debut that kept me hooked. It reminded me of the types of literary fiction novels I read in my youth and there was a comfort in that cadence and pacing. Interestingly, it was the second litfic novel I've read this year that centres on a young woman with a complicated relationship with her mother moving to NYC with an interest/aspiration to be a photographer (The Light of Eternal Spring was the other one.) To an extent, this is a simple book that is really about Soila's coming of age between her home in Kenya and time in NYC. Her journey is familiar and relatable in many ways - helping the reader work through some of the same issues that Soila is facing. At the same time, it is uniquely Soila's story - about her experiences and relationships with her mother, family, friends, career and love life. I enjoyed spending time with her and was rooting for her along the way.

Content warning for some pretty heavy stuff: sexual assault, religious trauma, parental emotional abuse, suicide, racism, abortion, 9/11, dementia.

Soila was a young girl growing up in Kenya with her Mother and her Mother’s sisters. Soila’s ila lmother was grooming her to take over her many businesses but Soila had other plans. She always dreamed of going to America and studying Art.

After a lot of hard work and defying her Mother Soila was accepted to a college in New York. There was adjustments to the American lifestyle even after coming from a privileged background. Soon she was making friends. Part of the deal for going to America was that Soila was to study business but the Art classes were calling to her.

Her family in Kenya is never far away and Soila is feeling guilty about leaving her Mother and aunts.
She is very torn.

This is very interesting story about being true to yourself and also to your family and your traditions.

This is a compelling coming-of-age tale that follows a young Kenyan woman’s journey to independence despite her mother’s controlling presence. Soila, raised in a relatively affluent Kenyan family, grapples with profound traumas during her childhood, including her father’s passing, further exacerbated by her emotionally distant mother. Her deepest desire is to pursue higher education in the United States, a dream she pursues against her mother’s wishes.

The book effectively explores the contrasting perspectives and experiences of racism among African Americans and Africans.

Despite its concise length of around 350 pages, the narrative felt quite extensive. While it unfolds with significant events, it also delves into numerous everyday moments.

Overall, this marks a strong debut and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was so good and so strong, and the writing was wonderful. It was one of those books that when I next sat down to read I was sad I wasn't reading it any longer. It's in the running for my favorite book of 2023. It gives a thoughtful comparison of the Black immigrant experience and the racism American born Black citizens experience. Something White people don't often think about, if at all. Read it; you will be happy you did.

If you’re looking for the next good book you found it!!! I loooooved this story so much it was an interesting experience watching Soila’s journey to independence and the various challenges she faced while living in the United States. It was bold and beautifully-written, the beginning has a slow build but the deeper you get into the novel the more connected you become with the MC.

It follows Soila a young Kenyan woman from Nairobi who lived a sheltered life and was raised by a stern and dictative Catholic mother along with her aunts and grandmother. Soila always longed for independence and freedom after years of dealing with her mothers strong beliefs and controlling ways. When she finally made it to New York Soila realized the US was not all it claimed to be and begins to challenge all her beliefs about race, love, and family.

The author did a great job getting the reader emotionally invested in Soila’s life. Most of the book I sympathized with her character and found that she self-sabotaged a lot because of her mother’s behavior. So many times I wished she would finally stand up to her mother and do what was best for her own life. I really wanted her to tell her mother what Father Emmanuel did just so she would shut tf up. When her mother was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s I hated watching Soila break off her engagement and move back to Kenya to care for her. Not because I didn’t like her mother because I didn’t lol but I felt Soila finally found happiness yet she still chose her mother over it.

Overall, the book was amazing it provided a fascinating exploration of finding independence and the cultural differences between countries. A few family secrets are also revealed and there are a few trigger warnings surrounding sexual assault, suicide, and abortions. The flow and atmosphere of the book also meshed well with the character development. Special thanks to the author & @thedialpress for my gifted copy!!!

Unfortunately, this one didn't quite work for this reader. It falls in the vein of other books I've read, like "Girl, Woman, Other" and "Behold the Dreamers", so perhaps it was that the content of the story felt repetitive for me. The biggest issue with my experience was the pacing--the beginning felt slow with a lot of explaining, and when it did pick up, it never really hooked me. While I did enjoy watching Soila's life unfold and there was plenty of dramatic/tense moments, I never really connected with her as a character, which made it difficult to make it through. The writing style was good, but I don't think this was the right book for me right now.

Soila grew up in Kenya, raised by her mother and aunts. As time goes on, she decides to move to NYC for university, which is not what her mother wants for her. In NYC, Soila finds a whole new life and way of doing things, and finding and discovering for herself what she wants to do in her life. With such a heavy presence of her mothers raising, it is hard for her to do as she wants without her mothers voice in her head.

I loved this coming of age and self-discovery book. It deals with the clash of cultures and the need to reconcile how one will handle living in a new place that behaves differently than you are used to. I really loved getting to "know" Soila and rooted for her in finding her way!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback for the e-copy of this book.

Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu is the story of a Kenyan girl, Soila, who comes to college in America to escape her overbearing mother. As a young new adult living on her own she navigates many experiences of life and love as she learns her way in the world.

Prior to reading this book I read Maame, which is also about a girl from an African country coming into her own adulthood as she moves out for the first time. However, where Maama was more lighthearted, at least until the last third, I found Lucky Girl bittersweet throughout.

Soila experiences an assault early in the book at the hands of a trusted family friend that leaves her with emotional scars that affect her relationships throughout the story. She also struggles with her identity as a black woman, her perspective as a Kenyan being very different than the perspective of the black friends she makes in New York. Last, Soila struggles mightily to balance her newfound independence and separate life in America with the expectations of her mother and family in Kenya.

I enjoyed all the thoughtful cultural commentary and watching the ARC of Soila's growth. It felt very authentic and gave me insight into her experience and the differences in family life and expectations of African girls.

I did find this book quite heavy overall, but Soila finds bittersweet happiness and purpose at the end of the novel. I appreciated that she was given some lasting happiness in the end.

Overall I rate this book 4 stars. It was a lengthy but meaningful read. I'd recommend it to others who are up for a bit of heaviness or to read in conjunction with Maame. These two were very interesting together.

Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu has written a book that I found very thought provoking. This is a story that I found to challenge my beliefs about race and privilege and will stay with me.

Soila is a young Kenyan woman that desires to get out from under her mother's rule. As an only child of a widow, Soila dreams of a bigger life than her mother wants for her. Her mother wants her to stay in Kenya and get a business degree to take over the family business. Soila wants to go to America and study art but finally compromises with her mother and will study business in the US.

Soila thinks she knows all about race, class and privilege but finds her beliefs challenged and stretched.

This book tugged at my heartstrings and put a lump in my throat. I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to be challenged in their beliefs about race and privilege.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Possible triggers: Parental loss, suicide, abortion, molestation, sudden loss, 9/11

Thank you Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review! Thank you to PRHAudio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

This book is beautifully written! I was swept away by the story. While I wouldn’t necessarily call this a coming of age story, Soila really comes into her own. She craves her independence and once she has it, she takes it into her hands and finally makes her life her own. “Lucky Girl” discusses topics like racism, cultural differences, and family dynamics. I loved the way the author had the characters navigate and discuss these topics through the book. “Lucky Girl” is insightful and beautifully written. If you have the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, I highly recommend it! The narrator does a fantastic job at conveying the emotions of the characters.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. It's not a fit for me at the moment so I will put it aside for now.

Soila is a young woman who wants to leave her home in Nairobi and follow her dreams in NY. She is smart, her family has money and she wants more opportunities. Only problem is her conservative mother doesn’t want to let her go. Doesn’t want to see her go. She believes Soila should stay with her and follow the family business. You see Soila’s father passed away and her mother has kept it all together since he died. She is fiercely independent and doesn’t believe Soila has to leave her home to find the same independence.
Soila though can’t be convinced and plans her exit, by taking the prep tests and applying to her dream college, without her mother knowing. When it’s time to tell the truth her mother, the the help of her aunts, allows Soila to go. Soila immediately loves her new city, school and her best friend. It’s all different, fun and scary. She isn’t as lonely as she thought she might be. She excels at school, finds so many cultural differences and actually finds love. All while her mother hopes she is living according to her faith. Although the city isn’t paved in gold there are as many opportunities as there are problems. Racism is so new to her. The economy in the 90’s is shaky as best. Things aren’t always as they seem. As Soila balances all of these things she makes a life for herself. She makes friends, has some losses and has to decide how and when she will explain this all to her mother. This was a well written story. Soila is definitely a character that is pushing all the limits. I loved the story between her and her mother and how everyone had opinions. The banter was realistic, when personalities are so different. I kept reading to see how Soila’s life played out and I wasn’t disappointed.. this was a four star read for me. I want to thank Netgalley and Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu for my copy of Lucky Girl for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review this book. I hope you enjoy it as munch as I did.

This book made me sad, but it was beautifully written. I loved learning about a culture different than the one in which I was raised, from a new perspective than one I've yet been exposed to.

Lucky Girl was a look at how a Nigerian woman views life as she moves to New York to pursue her dreams. With the strong beliefs that she grew up with at war with her trying to live her life to her desires, Soila has a hard time knowing what to do. Through the ups and downs of life in the big city, she finds what she should do and what she wants to do are two very different things. This book was emotional, intelligent, funny, and heartwarming, all rolled into one. Soila's story will leave you with a desire to live to your heart's fullest. 4 stars. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC.

This is a coming of age story about a Kenyan woman who comes to the US. It spans several decades (the 80s, 90s, and the aughts) and deals with a LOT of themes and some of them are discussed in ways that seem heavy-handed occasionally. Despite that, this is the type of story that starts with you.

What stood out for me was that the MC's beliefs, upbringing, and culture were not the same as other people's. As she starts to understand her own prejudices, she understands others better and her relationships become less stereotypical. This is a debut author to watch.

Let me just start by saying this would make an excellent book club selection as there is so much to unpack and digest in this beautifully told story of Soila navigating life between two different cultures. While this is a love story, it is so much more and I love that I was able to get a glimpse into another culture while considering different perspectives along the way.

Good book. I read it about 6 months ago and I don’t have a lot of details. I am so sorry! (Life got in the way.)