I devoured this book on my trip to Tanzania. So many times I had to hold back tears. The character development and way the story came together kept me interested throughout. Will absolutely read all future books by Ibeh.

I cannot give more praise to this novel, it was a really fresh and beautifully crafted book. Will be one of my favourite reads of the year.

Can my review just be a bunch of crying emojis?

There’s a moment in this book where our main character, Obiefuna, is amongst his found family—-and all I could think about is how this is a story about wanting a simple life. Just a quiet, easy simple life full of love, laughter, authenticity, joy and safety. Basic human rights. The freedom to just….be.

But the world won’t accept that’s all Queer people want.

Obiefuna is a complex character. He makes choices against those who would be in his own community out of fear for his own life. He’s not the hero but he is many of us. Fear is a powerful thing. I want us to live with less of it.

✨E-Arc Book Review✨
Blessings - Chukwuebuka Ibeh

Thank you to @penguinrandomca and @vikingca for the NetGalley digital copy of one of my anticipated releases!

This book mainly follows Obiefuna from childhood through to young adulthood and surrounds his experience growing up as a gay man in Nigeria in the early to late 2000’s.

The other main focus of the novel was his mother. She is devastated when Obiefuna’s father sends him away to a Christian boarding school for boys after catching him in a precarious situation with their house boy. We spend most of our time at the boarding school with Obiefuna after this point.

The writing was so well done and the characters were all so real that I truly felt connected to them throughout. I also could not put this book down even though it was not very plot heavy, I just really wanted to be on the journey with them the whole way through.

This was a fantastic debut. I had a couple picky thoughts about the pacing and the ending but otherwise I would highly recommend picking this one up.

4.25/5⭐️ for those who love an lgbtqia+ coming of age tale that highlights the eye opening realities of being a part of the lgbtqia+ community in a country where it is widely unaccepted.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for giving me this eARC in exchange for a review! Blessings follows Obiefuna as he grows up secretly gay in a homophobic Christian community in Nigeria. The book was beautifully written and emotionally evocative. The rich descriptions really made me feel like I was inside the story.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, Viking for this e-ARC in exchange of an honest review. Chukwuebuka is a very talented writer and Blessings reminded me of so many of the Nigerian greats! I was not a fan of the third and fourth part of the book which felt rushed and simple compared to the rest, but overall I definitely would recommend.