3.5 stars

I love reading about settings I've never visited, and Singapore was an excellent backdrop for this novel! The story was filled with drama, and all of the dramatics were tied to a man named Lani. I felt that the tension between Dara and Lani was the most compelling, and the others were surface-level (Amaka) and a bit odd (Lillian). I was annoyed with each main character throughout the book, yet the final chapters warmed me to their personalities. I wanted to shake Amaka for many of her poor choices, yet she definitely grew on me toward the end. My favorite aspect was the book club - I had read many of the titles discussed and added others to my TBR! The book club discussions were enthralling. Overall, this was an interesting and worthwhile read, though the many characters were a bit tough to keep track of.

This book had a lot of promise, but I couldn't get into the story. The characters were interesting, but I wasn't invested in the story enough to keep reading.

As a reader who enjoys delving into different cultures and settings, "The Sun Sets in Singapore" by Kehinde Fadipe offered a unique perspective on Singapore, bringing it to life. The characters in the novel are well-developed and multifaceted, each with their own distinct personalities and struggles. However, while the novel excels in capturing the essence of Singapore and its people, I found certain aspects of the plot to be lacking in depth. Some storylines felt rushed or unresolved, leaving me wanting more exploration into certain themes or character arcs. Overall, "The Sun Sets in Singapore" is a worthwhile read for those interested in immersive cultural experiences and nuanced character studies.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of modern-day Singapore, Kehinde Fadipe intricately weaves together the lives of three expatriate women as they navigate the complexities of love, work, friendship, and family.

Dara, a driven Nigerian British lawyer, eagerly anticipates the possibility of partnership in her firm, the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. Meanwhile, her best friend Amaka, a credit-risk officer from Nigeria, grapples with her father's death and her evolving sense of belonging within his extended family, all while indulging in the allure of luxury shoes. Lillian, a Nigerian American teacher, relocates to Singapore with her husband in hopes of starting a family, only to find their marriage strained. Their lives intersect when Lani, a charismatic Nigerian lawyer, enters Dara's firm, igniting a series of entanglements that test the bonds of friendship and loyalty. As Lani's presence disrupts their lives in unexpected ways, each woman is forced to confront her desires, fears, and ambitions.

Through alternating perspectives, Fadipe skillfully explores the intricate social dynamics and emotional landscapes of Singapore, offering a nuanced portrayal of the journey towards self-discovery and fulfillment. With vivid prose and keen insight, "The Sun Sets in Singapore" is a captivating exploration of the transitional phase between early adulthood and middle age, capturing the essence of personal growth and transformation.

Excellent prose, also excellent storytelling and structure, although it leans melodramatic. Really enjoyed the perspective of three different expats in Singapore, on what it means to be from where you're from, on immigration and childhood abandonment and grief and moving forward and being messy and dealing, or not dealing, with your problems.

A group of Nigerian women navigate life as expats in Singapore. A wealthy lawyer, a trailing wife, and a young banker running from her family secrets all interact together and then a handsome lawyer joins Dara’s firm shaking everything up. This is chicklit at its finest except the setting and expat and race experiences in Asia make this much more fulfilling. A great vacation read.

I don’t know if it was just me but I felt like there were too many pov’s and it made the story feel like it dragged out. I would still give this author another try in the future.

This was a highly anticipated book for me and I wanted to love it, I just....didn't.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. The characters were whiny and I just didn't care about them.

The sun sets in singapore is a wonderful story told from many different perspectives. It details friendship, love, betrayal, and status told through the eyes of four Black women living in Singapore. As the women attempt to navigate their individual struggles, they come together as companions. The prose of this book brought you into the world of these women. You could feel the rollar coaster of emotions, empathize with the characters, and see some of the dramatic irony that allows us to see things about these characters before their own self-discovery. This was a novel built on character development, and it delivered.

This was a fun read. A group of Nigerian women who have come to live in Singapore and this is pretty much where the similarities stop. Dara, the ambitious lawyer, Amaka, the banker, and Lillian, a professional pianist, are all effected by a handsome newcomer.

This is a character-driven plot and quick to get through. It was filled with drama and read kindof reality tv-ish, but I think that was the point. I def NJ itelybkept reading for the drama, but if you’re looking for something empowering/uplifting, this isn’t it.

This was fine?

For a book with such connected characters you'd think I would have eagerly devoured this book, but honestly I had to restart this a couple times to get myself to care about the story I was reading.

I might have imagined this, but I believe an adaptation of this is in the works?? Again, could have been a hallucination, but it definitely reads like a book that would be better served in a visual medium.

For one reason or another this group of Black women have found themselves in Singapore and in search of community have found their way to a Black woman book club where they can get together and read and share in their lives. Like any good book club mess within the group is quick to form. There are marriage troubles, belief that a person could be the reincarnated version of their late father, a woman eager to prove to the people at the law firm where she works at that she is worth being made partner.

It's definitely the kind of story that you will enjoy in the moment, but very little of what transpires is deep enough to make a reader invested to the point where the narrative will stick with you long after the story is over. With summer right around the corner I think this could be the perfect selection to pass the hot months with. It was one of the Celebrity Book Club picks so I'm sure a lot of readers have already been exposed to this one, and if it happened to be one of the selections they skipped I can't say they missed anything but they won't be disappointed if they one day decide to circle back around to this one.

I just reviewed The Sun Sets in Singapore by Kehinde Fadipe.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ebook ARC.
I have been reading this book intermittently over a few weeks until I got to about 1/2 way through, then I could not put it down and simultaneously did not want it to end. I have no experience with many of the main themes , the legal world, living in Singapore, or being Nigerian. However the underlying story is relatable, relationship struggles, betrayal, being a foreigner/a different religion with the prejudices that can bring and doubting our choices in life. A really great debut novel. I look forward to more from this author.

This was fun, but it wasn't great. Fadipe does well at representing Black women and not doing it in the ways readers may be accustomed to but it still was just an average story. It felt a bit too much like a soap-opera was trying to make an appearance and it could've used a bit of humor to tie it together.

Super quick and inspirational read, even being fiction! Loved the way that Dara, Amaka, and Lillian navigated their own challenges and interpersonal challenges even in a work environment constructed to work against them. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

📣📖 Book Review: The Sun Sets in Singapore by Kehinde Fadipe 📖📣

I snagged a "Read Now" copy of this on Netgalley last fall after it was announced as a Read With Jenna pick, and I finally got around to diving in. This book tells the story of three very different women of Nigerian descent living as ex-pats in Singapore. Circumstances that brought them there vary, but the women find themselves in the same social circles. The ways their lives intersect and the bonds they make and break are brought to life on the page with drama and conflict. Some thoughts:

What worked for me:

🌅 The women show growth and character development, and each has her own arc that resolves in a satisfying conclusion.
🌅 The book club scenes, listening in on the characters' colorful commentary about books I'm interested in, drew me in.
🌅 Reading a story from perspectives entirely different than my own - of black immigrants in Southeast Asia - was interesting and made an impression on me.
🌅 The cover is gorgeous!

What didn't work for me:

🌄 It irks me that despite these being interesting women to read about, everything turned on their involvement in some way with the same man. This book is not for fans of the Bechdel Test.
🌄 It's melodramatic at parts, which felt Soap-Opera-esque.
🌄 The setting of Singapore and its culture wasn't really made significant or central to the story. I felt like these characters could have been ex-pats anywhere. Also, the depictions of Asians seemed a bit shallow or underdeveloped. I realize the focus of the story was the characters of Nigerian descent, so maybe my complaint here is misplaced, but with Singapore being in the title, I expected more exploration of the culture and maybe more nuance about the experiences of living in a completely different society and culture than one's own.

This book has mixed reviews and I can see why. Even so, I enjoyed it overall. Would make a good beach read. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for my complementary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The first 20% of the novel should have been workshopped. It was mad boring and slow. But then it got really intense and really deep, which I loved. I fell in love with each of the characters and their friendship. What I also appreciate is the depth this book brings to the world of Singapore and it’s chase for wealth and luxury. The book is critical and not just all CRAZY RICH NIGERIANS IN ASIA. I do really wish that would have been brought to the forefront of the book a lot sooner bc I almost DNFed it after slogging through the first 15% for a month.

First off, this cover is beyond stunning! And the book itself more than lives up to the art.

I enjoyed this story of Nigerian ex pats living in Singapore. There was lots of soapy drama and the food talk made my stomach rumble. Fadipe's writing is vivid and lyrical and this look at women's friendship kept me entertained throughout. Would make a great beach read!

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the copy to review.

This was 100% want to read because of the cover - it’s gorgeous! Did the cover live up to what was inside? It was a good tale, but the pacing was slightly off. I found myself getting very into a character’s arc only for it to be set aside for a slower moment, and my interest had waned by the time I was back.

It was interesting to learn about life as expats in Singapore, but sometimes, I couldn’t decide whether I was interested in the details of life or the characters.

I liked the descriptions and alternating PoVs enough to read another book by Kehinde Fadipe, but not enough to keep this one on my shelves.

Thanks, GCP and Netgalley, for the arc!

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Content Warnings: infertility, familial death, infidelity, racism, misogyny, classism

The cover of this book is so beautiful and what initially drew me to this one. The story started out so good with all the drama and the POV of the 3 women; however, it began to become too much. After about 25% I began to loose interest in the characters and it didn’t seem to hold my attention. I think the most interesting character out of the 3 women was Amaka. I seemed to like her sides of the story more than the others. The humor of the story was the best parts. I would have loved to have more of that. I did have some laugh out loud moments and enjoyed them while they were there.

This book has a LOT going on. At first I sort of got Wahala vibes, with all the friends and the drama, but then it veered off and on audio it was hard to keep track of everything.

We get the POV of three women, but then they have a bunch of other friends, and then there’s the spouses, boyfriends and work rivals and it’s just a LOT of characters.

Each character has money issues, family issues, mental health issues, so much drama.

The book wasn’t bad, it was just a lot and I wasn’t sure where it was going and I feel like the message gets buried in everything going on around it.

In the end each of the girls has bettered themselves in someway which is good, they overcame whatever obstacle they needed and came out in the other side, but in audio it was tough to follow. Also the accents were all over the place in the audiobook, sometimes they were there, sometimes they weren’t. It felt inconsistent?

Overall, this was just okay.

Thank you @netgalley and @grandcentralpub for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.