Extraordinary. In focusing on the specific family dynamics of one family, Tolani Akinola exposes a vast human experience.

Leave Your Mess at Home is a novel about a family with such heartache, guilt and past mistakes that I was begging this family to spill their hearts, tell the truth and forgive each other. I was also screaming at these characters to stop making such bad decisions.

This book has a mother, father and four siblings who are now adults living under their parents’ thumbs, except the black sheep of the family who is the most innocent of them all. This book takes you through each character’s current life and how the past has formed who they are today. Each character must find their own way in the world and realize that parents are not always right.

I enjoyed hearing each character’s point of view about the same event but did not really root for any of the characters. It was an interesting story and kept my attention until the very end.

Thank you, NetGalley and Viking Penguin for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. #NetGalley #LeaveYourMessAtHome @VikingPenguin

Out April 14th, 2026 Cover not yet revealed
Through this book, you get the sense that Akinola isn’t interested in tidying up the emotional chaos of life. Instead, she invites you to sit with it, laugh at it, maybe even dance with it in your living room.

Her writing is sharp, observant, and deeply human. There’s a rhythm to her storytelling that feels like spoken word—intimate, immediate, and unafraid to be messy. She doesn’t write from a pedestal; she writes from the floor, where the crumbs and confessions live.

If this book is any indication, Akinola is the kind of author who sees the beauty in broken things and the poetry in everyday absurdity. She’s not here to fix you—she’s here to remind you that you’re not alone in the mess. And that’s a kind of magic all its own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman Books for this ARC!

Akinola's writing is excellent and her family-drama debut was captivating and kept me glued to the page.

This book was incredibly entertaining and very relatable. I found things I related to in each adult sibling. I was laughing at so many moments as I read. It’s not just about family drama about the drama we each have in our own personal lives as adults - from relationships and parenthood to secrets and resentments. The character development was beautifully done. This book is a great reminder to that cliche quote that no family is perfect and everyone has their own “stuff”. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review will be posted on Instagram and Amazon on pub day and links added to NetGalley.

I really liked this story of the four Longe siblings: Ola, Sola, Anjola and Karen. Their parents are Nigerian and the four adult children are negotiating ther identities while straddling Midwestern, Nigerian, and black culture. Ola is a successful finance guy about to become a father, but longs for his former girlfriend. Sola has been estranged from the family. Anjola is a resident who is in love with her best friend Neil, and Karen, a college student, struggles with defying family expectations. Great characters and a heartbreaking 'twist' which pulls all the threads together..

Leave Your Mess at Home offers a lively and layered look at family drama, cultural identity, and personal growth. The premise — four estranged Nigerian-American siblings brought back together under tense circumstances — is compelling, and the mix of humor and heartfelt moments makes for an engaging read.

Sola’s return sparks a cascade of revelations, and each sibling’s storyline touches on relatable struggles, from love and identity to the pressure of family expectations. While the pacing occasionally feels uneven and some character arcs could have used more depth, the novel shines in its portrayal of sibling dynamics and the complicated blend of love and resentment that comes with them.

It’s a solid debut — sometimes messy, sometimes moving — much like the family it portrays. Readers who enjoy contemporary family sagas with a mix of drama and warmth will find plenty to connect with here.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is one powerhouse of a story with a lot to unpack. Throughout the book, we get an intimate glimpse of the
lives of an immigrant family at Thanksgiving. Right away, I enjoyed the unfolding of the plot and the interesting characters. The writing is exceptional and held my attention as I savored this gem. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This debut is soapy in the best way—a sharp, emotional, laugh-out-loud portrait of a Nigerian-American family imploding (and maybe healing) over one unforgettable Thanksgiving. When disgraced influencer Sola Longe returns home after a decade, her reappearance sends shockwaves through her siblings’ already-messy lives. Secrets come spilling out, old wounds reopen, and every sibling is forced to reckon with who they are, who they’ve become, and what they owe each other.

The story orbits around the Longe siblings, four grown Black Nigerian-American kids with very different baggage and absolutely no boundaries. Sola, the eldest, is a fallen influencer ​returning home. Her reappearance becomes the spark that reignites a decade’s worth of unfinished conversations, sibling rivalry, grief, and guilt.

Anjola, still aching for the best friend who just got engaged to someone else, is trying to keep her career afloat while denying everything she really wants. Karen, the baby, is in a swirl of college confusio​n​, finding herself all while trying to hold the family ideal of “the good girl” together. And golden-boy Ola, who’s done everything “right,” is now terrified of what it means to raise a Black son ​a​nd become a full adult in a country he was not born in.

Each sibling gets a spotlight, and what I loved is how real they feel—not just because of their flaws, but because of their contradictions. They’re funny and infuriating.

The writing is sharp and conversational, full of sly humor and gut-punch lines that sneak up on you. ​Here's a family you aren't soon to forget #vikingpenguin #leaveyourmessathome #tonaliakinola

To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ms. Akinola, I greet you at the beginning of a great career.

LEAVE YOUR MESS AT HOME is a triumph. Tolani Akinola has written a powerful and profound book about the struggles of a lower-middle class Nigerian-American family living in Chicago.

The novel is emotionally devastating. While reading, I was at times angry, devastated, and euphoric. Several times I broke out in tears. The prose is impressive, and the character development is exceptional as I hated and loved every member of the Longe family.

Akinola expertly explores themes relating to family and identity. Ultimately, LEAVE YOUR MESS AT HOME is about responsibility: The responsibility immigrant parents have to their children; the responsibility of the second-generation to their parents and each other; the responsibility of Nigerian Americans to their culture; the responsibility of Nigerian Americans to Black culture in America.

Fans of Teju Cole, Dolen Perkins Valdez, Z.Z. Packer, Toni Morrison, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kelly Yang, and Taylor Byas will love this book.