Yinka, Where is Your Huzband?: ‘A big hearted story about friendship, family and love’ Beth O’Leary

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So when her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences 'Operation Find A Date for Rachel's Wedding'. Armed with a totally flawless, incredibly specific plan, will Yinka find herself a huzband? A witty, feel-good love story, it centers on a high-achieving Nigerian woman in Britain navigating the maddening world of nosy aunties bearing down on her to get married.”

Stewart, Kristen (January 1, 2022). "Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?". Library Journal . Retrieved February 7, 2022.A total joy to read – it's hilarious, insightful and so uplifting' Beth O'Leary, author of The Flatshare A warm, witty and joyful novel bursting with charm and unforgettable characters, Yinka is a story about friendship, family, romance, and the most important quest of all--loving and accepting yourself’ Lauren Ho It’s difficult finding stories that embody relationships, both familial and romantic ones, while continuing to center the importance of the “self” in a story like this. But Lizzie did just that. I especially enjoyed the depiction of family and relationships, and how often tight-knit families (Nigerian in this story, but relatable for people from all different cultures) can sometimes be too involved in your life. Yinka is a 31-year-old woman who is unmarried, unemployed, and in her mind, unwanted. Her mother and all of her Aunties are constantly praying for her to find a huzband. However, Yinka spends majority of the story trying to convince her family she’s perfectly okay being single.

Yinka is too old to be learning that it’s not okay to lie to your friends and family and it’s wrong to “borrow” your roommate’s clothes. She also felt entitled to her love interest’s affection and behaved deplorably when he didn’t return her feelings. Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is "Yinka, where is your huzband?" I love everything this book stands for, and how the issues with identity (being too dark/not light enough to be beautiful) were also brought up. Lizzie wrote the book that Yinka needed growing up, basically. I feel like I’d have more tolerance for her behaviour if this was a coming of age story. But such behaviour from an otherwise well-adjusted woman in her thirties was bizarre to me. Maybe I’d have felt differently if we were given a reason for her being a late bloomer, or if she’d had that Bridget Jones charm.This was not what I was expecting. It wasn't the "sweep you off your feet" romance I wanted to read, but it was definitely refreshing, funny, full of warm moments, modern, and overall a great story of family, friendship, and ultimately love. For the romcom part, I don't think I was too invested in who Yinka ultimately chose - easygoing Alex, supportive Derek, needling Donovan, ex-boyfriend Femi. Yinka gamely trying to acquire skills in both Yoruba and Nigerian cooking to impress Alex rang true - as descendants of immigrants, some of the culture and heritage will be invariably lost/diluted. The side detail of Alex's deceased twin sister didn't really go anywhere despite some tantalizing clues, my guess had been that both Alex and his mother took to Yinka because of the resemblance with his sister. Also, I wish that the author had explained that in Yoruba culture, twins are traditionally named Taiwo (firstborn) and Kehinde (second-born), instead of just calling it Alex's 'Nigerian name.'

Soon things get worse when another cousin announces her engagement and Yinka is made redundant (let go) at her bank job. If she thought her mum and Aunties were laser focused before, now they are hyper determined and trying to set up Yinka with any man they know. Trying to keep from being questioned and lectured by her mum as well as dealing with other family and a Ghanian roommate, all with opinions about her life, Yinka might have made a few omissions and white lies. But she’s got a plan to find a date before the cousin’s wedding in six months. That is if her life doesn’t fall apart before then. this novel follows yinka through a tried-and-true character development arc, from inciting incident ("where is your huzband????") to rising action (poor choices, self-sabotage, wallowing, changing oneself for the guy, neglecting friends and loved ones, generally figuring out what it means to love oneself) and finally the turning or breaking point when she digs herself out of the conflict, with lessons learned, hard truths faced, and growth claimed. Beautifully observed, warm and deeply human, Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is a meditation on family and friendship, on love and self-love. Feel-good, funny and clever, it's got smash-hit written all over it!" - Josie Silver, New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December The best thing about Yinka, Where is Your Huzband is the amalgam of interesting and fully fleshed out characters that really bring the story to life. Each with its own eccentric personally, adding deph and humour to the story.

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The novel charts Yinka’s urgent search for a plus-one when her cousin Rachel announces she is getting married. The summer wedding date gives Yinka around six months to find herself a boyfriend. An academic overachiever who works for an investment bank in the City, she draws up a meticulous and very specific plan (complete with key performance indicators to monitor progress) and launches into “Operation Wedding Date”. But things do not go smoothly. Firstly she gets made redundant, then she runs into her handsome ex who—wouldn’t you know it—has just got engaged to someone else. Although she does meet someone at church who looks quite promising… Yinka's Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she's too traditional (she's saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that's a whole other story. But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right.

Ron Rash is renowned for his writing about Appalachia, but his latest book, The Caretaker, begins ... Das Buch fand ich echt super: Ehrliche Unterhaltung, wo wirklich niemand verschont wird, allen I’ve seen Yinka referenced as an updated Bridget Jones and I’ll certainly allow it. Like my darling Bridg, Yinka is a bit of a lost soul. At 30-something the man she was with for three years and was positive she would marry has dumped her. Her sure-to-be promotion has instead resulted in her termination due to redundancy. Her best pals all seem to be moving on to different phases of their lives, leaving her in the dust. Not to mention her pregnant sister has Yinka’s mother beating the dead horse asking “where is your huzband?!?!?!?!?!” A non-existent man in a non-existent marriage whose whereabouts is often questioned, usually by Nigerian mums and aunties to single British Nigerian women Yinka, Where is your Huzband? is such a delightful read! Set in South London, Yinka is a woman in her 30s who is still unmarried. Her British-Nigerian family is constantly asking about the whereabouts of her huzband, even going to such lengths as to praying publicly for her to find one. Yinka, annoyed by the pressure, sets a goal of trying to find a date for her cousin’s wedding in the summer. We follow Yinka as she navigates the 30+ dating scene, struggling between making compromises of who she thinks she’s supposed to be and staying true to herself.You know that feeling when it’s extremely hot outside and you finally get to taste that first sip of ice cold water and everything ends up feeling right in the world? This story is that first sip of fresh cold water. Yinka represents a lot of women who don’t have a lot of self-confidence. Because of her early life experiences, she has been led to believe that she is to be blamed for her singleness. This book really kept pushing it with my emotions because it was so frustrating that she couldn’t see that she wasn’t the problem. Nevertheless, her feelings were pretty realistic and it was comforting to see her have a superb growth by the end. I’m glad that she discovered that the root of her problems could also stem from the kind of people she is surrounded by. Her friends weren’t the best but it was super cool to see them all grow together. We usually see growth focused on the main character, but a lot of characters in this one had some growth which was amazing. I mostly am just disappointed that a perspective like this didn't get the treatment it deserved. A religious heroine respectful of other's choices who believes sex is sacred could have been really interested to read about! Experiencing nuanced family dynamics through the clash of cultures, also could have been really interesting. Experiencing a by-choice virgin dating men in a misogynistic world, also could have been interesting. None of that was mined for conflict. Some of it was touched on, but barely. Instead, we get a plot about Yinka "changing herself" (she barely changes) and one time she lies about going to counseling, and one time she blurts a secret about her cousin at a wedding shower. Her friends then treat her to an intervention and act like she's started murdering animals in the street. Feel good, funny, and clever, it’s got smash-hit written all over it!”–Josie Silver, New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December I don’t have an MA in creative writing,” I whined to God after I read the bios of previous winners. “I don’t stand a chance.”