This book has a lot – racism, colonialism, sexual assault, 9/11, grief, illness (to name a few). It’s the story of Soila, who grows up in Kenya with an overbearing and controlling mother, her aunts and grandmother. Over time she learns family secrets, goes to college in the US, forms deep friendships, becomes an investment banker giving up her dreams of photography, falls in love and faces her mother’s decline into Alzheimer’s.

It’s a beautiful story with interesting discussions of racism and family history from different perspectives. I enjoyed watching the characters develop. Soila spends much of her life balancing what she wants and her mother’s expectations. Is Soila a lucky girl? I think it depends on perspective and to me that is what the book is about. I enjoyed this novel and think it is definitely a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for providing me with the chance to review.

Lucky girl is about Soila, who grows up very privileged but extremely sheltered in Kenya, and moves to America for school to get some freedom from her overbearing mother.

She struggles a lot at first to understand the African American experience and relationship to blackness and racism because it's so different from her own African experience. I really admired the way that although she had a hard time understanding where her friends were coming from, she quickly recognized that there were things she didn't understand and that she needed to put in effort to learn and view things through different lenses and let go of her own biases and misconceptions. She struggles with this throughout the book but you can also see her making huge progress with it. As a white Canadian, the difference between the African immigrant and African American experience isn't something I've ever given much thought to and it was super eye opening for me. I definitely feel that I gained a greater understanding of both cultures through Soila.

Soilas struggle with her mother's expectations was portrayed so well, it was so difficult for me to see her hurting herself and giving up things that were important to her in order to make her mother happy, but I was able to understand where she was coming from even though there was a lot I would have done differently. I loved the people in her life. Her aunts, grandma, friends and partners were all so loving and supportive and they all added so many different things to her life.

Lucky Girl deals with so many things in such a short book; racism and colourism, terrorism, sexual assault, grief, and a lot more than that too. It deals with a lot of heavy subjects and I definitely shed a few tears while reading, but it was also such a beautiful and hopeful story I honestly feel privileged to had read it. I can't believe this is the author's debut novel, I definitely can't wait to read more from her in the future. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Lucky Girl is a book that touches on a wide range of topic including poverty, racism and assimilating to a new country. The author's descriptions of Kenya are vivid and she is able to convey the warmth of the people. The challenges and difficulties of immigrating to the United States are also presented and includes the discrimination faced by people of color. This is a moving story that readers who have faced adversity will relate to. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lucky Girl

4.5 ⭐️

I am so glad I got to read this story. Lucky Girl is a beautiful story about a Woman from Kenya finding her own way. She navigates through college in New York, relationships, racism as an African in America, grief, and caring for a terminally ill parent. There is so much in this story.

Though this book at some very deep topics, I thought it was handled with such grace. Soila’s bravery as so navigates her relationship with her mother at the end was inspiring.

Thank you to @netgalley for this ARC.

Lucky Girl is a well-written novel centering on Soila, a young Kenyan woman, and her mother. Soila's mother supports her extended family and has high expectations for her daughter. When Soila leaves Kenya to study in the US, she encounters the inevitable clash of the two cultures. I was rooting for Soila every moment of her journey through young adulthood as she encountered racism in the US, had her heart broken and eventually decided to follow her own dreams. There were a few points where the narrative lagged a bit but just as I was getting concerned that the story would bog down, a major event occurred to pick up the pace.

First, thank you to publishers Dial Press Trade Paperback and Random House Publishing Group, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of LUCKY GIRL.

WOWZER! This book is amazing and just pulls you in immediately to the family drama and just can’t wait to see what happens next.

Soila is raised in Africa and has one controlling mother who pours on the Catholic guilt while withholding affection. She is surrounded by aunties who love her and try and act as a buffer between her and her mother. She is haunted by her father’s death and longs to know the truth. It is a tragic story her mother finally reveals and it is gut wrenching to hear of her father’s suicide.

Soila longs to go to America and study and start a new life. This part is beautifully written and eye opening as she talks about being in New York and what she sees, thinks and feels. I never thought about what a hard transition it would be coming to the US until reading through her eyes. The author did this magically and made you think and feels things from a new perspective.

The struggle with how to have a relationship with her mother and be her own person and find her own happiness is so well written and you can feel the struggles she faces and the turmoil that it causes her between trying to do the right thing for family and wanting to do what she loves and be true to herself.

This book is such an emotional read but so worth it! Must read!

A profound, truly emotional journey of a young woman as she makes her way from her home in Kenya, to her new life studying in NYC.

Soila, an only child to a single mother in Kenya, is raised in a tough love style where she desperately wants affection from her mother but also wants to make her own path in life. Going to Columbia in NYC is that step for her, but as she makes her way on her own for the first time, the expectations set up for her by her mother never truly leave her conscious. This story, which winds its way from when Soila is a young girl throughout her life, is heartbreaking and so emotionally wrought, I just wanted to reach out and hug Soila as she lives through stupendous trauma and coming into her own.

I cried multiple times, there are some trigger warnings for sexual assault as well as terrorist activity, but I loved going with Soila on her journey. My empathy for the character grew with every page and I hope other readers share in her incredible journey. I also really appreciated how the author used Soila as a foreigner to examine complex understanding of race relations in America, and it’s a great POV in order to learn from and sit with some of the prejudices that Soila comes to the US with.

I thought this would be a solid read alike for His Only Wife, its definitely much more class conscious than that title. A solid purchase for most mid to large size libraries.

4.5 stars rounded up

Lucky Girl broke me in the best way possible. This book follows Soila who grew up in Kenya. She has a mother who has worked hard to provide Soila everything she needs, except for love... at least in a way Soila sees. Anxious to get away from her overbearing mother, Soila leaves Kenya to attend college in the US. It's during this time that we see Soila struggle - struggle to become her own person, struggle to understand what it means to be black in the US vs black in Africa and struggle to really let go of her past.

This book is beautifully written. I found myself feeling for Soila and her struggle to try to figure out who she is, where she belongs and how she balances the relationship with her mom. I am so thankful I got my hands on this ARC.

Thanks, Netgalley!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. Can a book both move too fast and too slow? Apparently for me the answer is yes. I've really enjoyed books by some of the authors who blurred this book like Maame and Black Cake, but I really struggled with this one.

If I had to pinpoint it, the main character was pretty dull to me. Especially compared to every other character in the book who were all bursting with personality. Solia -- and I honestly forgot that was her name several times -- was very uninteresting to me. I found the setting and time period for her time in New York interesting since I'd also moved the the city around the time she had, but she felt like such a blank slate to me.

She spends so much time pushing back against her mother only to do a 180 later and turn herself into a martyr. Maybe I found it hard to relate other family dynamics but that doesn't usually hold me back from enjoying a book like it did here.

However, I fully expect I'll me in the minority here and that many more people will have enjoyed the book. This is just one person's opinion and in this case this book was not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC: Lucky Girl chronicles the coming of age of Soila who is raised by a hard working but emotionally rigid single mother in Nairobi. Soila's extended family of grandmother and aunts provide the affection she craves. Soila is privileged and is able to come to the US for college. The book chronicles her struggles with pursuing her artistic dreams vs. the business training her mother desires. She befriends and becomes romantically involved with Black Americans and struggles with the differences between African attitudes towards racism compared to American Blacks. Ultimately her family ties create a pivotal moment. Although the book covers a lot of topics and Soila's coming of age in detail, at times the characters felt barely realized--especially towards the latter portion of the book. Overall, this is a promising debut.

Lucky Girl is a very compelling novel that speaks on all the things that one person has to endure to be with the person they love even with an overbearing parent. This is a story of loss, love, friendship, sisterhood, family, racism, and career.

A great novel that take you from Africa to America and the differences in the culture.

⭐️: 4/5

Raised in upper class Kenya by her conservative mother and loving aunts, Soila yearns to find her place in the world. After an assault by a family friend, she leaves Kenya to attend college in New York City. Once at college, she is shocked by the different culture in America, and the very different legacy of slavery and Blackness plaguing Black Americans. When she falls in love with an artist and a man who her mother would never approve of, she is forced to choose whether to honor her Kenyan roots or forge a path for herself in a foreign country.

First off, I wish I had a physical copy of this book just due to how beautiful the cover is. I love a good, colorful cover. For a debut, this book was really good. It brought light the dichotomy and contradictions that exist in America between those who identify as African American and African immigrants. Although I try to read a lot of coming of age, immigrant stories, I think this is the first one that really highlighted that dynamic, as opposed to the more commonly covered one of foreigner v. white America. Although the dialogue discussing these race issues is heavy handed sometimes, I think that in this context, for the purpose of conveying the message that the author is trying to communicate, it is a necessary amount of explanation. Soila is a frustrating main character to read at times, due to her naïveté towards the beginning of the book, however I think that makes the evolution of her character that much more moving and interesting to follow and read about. The dialogue in more general terms could use some polishing, especially including the overuse of the exclamation of “argh” actually written into the quotations, instead of using some sort of qualifier before or after a character speaks, such as “she groaned” or something. I really enjoyed this unique, coming of age story, and I might just buy a physical copy when it comes out because of the cover!

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Soila has much to learn. She is eager to leave home and persevere. She wants a life that is different from family traditions. Her trauma informs her to advocate for herself.

The conversations about the differences between Black Americans and Africans do not find a resolution. The conversations keep happening but are lost in how crucial they are, which stalls Soila from being informed about her experiences and upbringing.

Leticia is Soila's roommate who becomes family. She is not a sounding board or a teacher. She compliments Soila while being her own person.

New York City is written well. Kenya could have been written more richly. Each character gets a completion but not quite an arc. The book has a steady timeline that builds given the book is under 300 pages.

Lucky Girl is a story that will transport you to Kenya and then New York as you follow Solia on her life's journey. Born in Kenya and raised mainly by a mother who is a devout Catholic with rigid rules that Solia must follow.

After overcoming obstacles, she attends college in New York City. There she makes new friends, discovers love, and goes through some of life's most difficult challenges. She will also have to war with her own desires versus her mother's expectations.

There was so much to this novel. It addressed racism in America and highlighted cultural differences in Africa. The novel was set in the 1990s and 2000s and I was about the same age and new to NYC as Solis, so I identified with her experiences. This was an inspiring novel that anyone will enjoy.

I just reviewed Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu. #LuckyGirl #NetGalley

4.5 stars.

Thanks to Corina Diez, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published May 2, 2023.

This book was wonderful. Soila lives in Nairobi with her controlling mom and four aunts. She wants to leave and go to college in the United States. Her mom pressures her to become an accountant even through she really wants to be a photographer.

The book is divided into four parts, each highlighting an aspect of Soila’s life. She attends college in New York City, meets her best friend Leticia, graduates, gets a job and starts dating an artist. But then her life shatters after experiencing 9/11 and a family illness. She is torn between living the life she wants in NYC and caring for her mom back in Africa.

No spoilers here but it’s an emotional and difficult read at times. I felt the pressures Soila was feeling being pulled in multiple directions. Race and family secrets play a big role in this debut novel by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu. Soila is indeed a Lucky Girl.

Soila, raised in privilege in Kenya by a strict, controlling, Catholic mother, lives in a matriarchal household with her mom, aunts, and grandmother. Soila wants to go to college in the United States but her mother is against it. Her mother finally consents and she's off to Barnard College in NYC for a business degree. Her mother intends for Soila to return to Kenya and put her education to use in the family business [although her passion is photography].

Starting in the 1990s, through 9/11--where "Something bigger than losing sunlight had darkeened the city--and beyond.

There is so much in this book: family, secrets, culture, racism, friendships [particularly Leticia], choices, heartache, expectations, love, guilt, sexual abuse, abortion, dementia, and more--too much? I didn't care. Add in the banking culture on Wall Street--where Soila works after graduation.

Soila does not find out about the circumstances of her father's death until she's 10 [?]. And learns she has a step sister! This is another whole part of the story.

A huge eye-opener for me was the explanation of differences/culture clash between being an African in Africa, an African in the United States [as an immigrant], and an African-American in the United State.

I sensed a trajectory early on [correctly] and didn't even mind the somewhat neat and tidy ending [no spoiler from me]. I enjoyed this book sooo much that I couldn't wait to return to it. In fact, I was captured at the start.

A couple of descriptions that I liked: [her aunts] "... came at me like high-speed trains"
"...hairline that mushrooned unflatteringly... sized me up like a cow at auction."

Four parts, each one with a somewhat different tone [it seemed to me].

Debut novel; can't wait to see what she does next!

4.5, rounding up.

This novel by debut author Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu reads like the story of Muchemi-Ndiritu’s life. It is the story of a black Kenyan woman, Soila, grappling with the demands of a strict and distant mother. At the same time the woman is also dealing with what it means to be a black African immigrant in the USA vs being white or a black slave descendant.
The book covers so many themes such as family, race, friendship, mental health, abuse just to name a few. It gives the reader a clear picture of the difficulties that even a wealthy Kenyan woman faces in her homeland and that even wealthy Black American’s both recent immigrants, their descendants, and the descendants of slaves face.
Definitely a book worth picking up and reading.
Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for my advanced readers copy of this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Dial Press for the opportunity to read this ARC and provide my honest feedback. I wanted to love this book, but it fell really flat for me. The author took us on a journey where there were decisions made and actions taken without so much as a second thought (at least on the page). The MC's journey from Kenya to NYC and her "growth" as a young adult finding herself was very uni-dimensional. It felt like the author gave us her bullet list/outline of the book without filling in the spaces with the complicated messiness of finding oneself; everything, especially the writing, felt very underdeveloped. The characters were not particularly compelling....though, I really loved Soila's aunts and I think that's where the book shined. I think I would have loved a whole book dedicated to the aunts; their life journeys were far more interesting to me. Soila's best friend was also a breath of fresh air. The main love interest...well....I just didn't buy it. He seemed rather mature and interesting, which is a far cry from the MC who was quite the opposite; I don't see how the love interest was so smitten with her. Finally the conversations in the book that centered on what it meant to be Black in America...especially the difference between the African-American experience versus that of an African living in America...felt like perfectly crafted talking points on a high school debate stage. Those messages could have resonated with the reader if the characters and story weren't so stunted. Overall, I enjoyed the book enough to finish it and not question why I was finishing it. So while the writing and the story lacked nuance and complexity, it's still an important story to tell. However, I think I now need recommendations for a more developed immigrant story!

Lucky Girl
I feel myself the Lucky Girl, receiving a complimentary copy of this thought provoking novel. Is Soila, the main protagonist a lucky girl? She was brought up in Kenya by a strict mother, four doting aunts and her Kokoi, her beloved grandmother. She was given everything and had a sheltered life under her mother’s constant hovering and rules. Her father died when she was 5 years old, hardly remembering him.
After a horrible assault by a trusted family friend, she escapes to New York for college. Is she still the Lucky Girl in New York dealing with new customs, the racial strife, new friendships, customs and love? Soila has to find herself in this new environment, dealing with discrimination,disappointments and finding out family secrets. When she falls with love with Akhenaten, an artist with dreadlocks, she knows her mother would never agree to her being with him and indeed her mother shuts her off completely. When her mother needs her to take care of her, she has a huge choice to make? Does she abandon her mother who has given everything to her or does she stay with her love? You have to read the novel to find out. A definite 5 star for me, who hardly ever gives 5 stars.
I received a complimentary copy of this book, opinions are my own.