First off, this is one of the few books I finished reading in less than 24 hours. It was that captivating and HILARIOUS to say the least. By the way, how's your week going? A happy new month to you! This is my first book review of the year. Yay! I'm just trying to hang in here...I was a bit disoriented last week but I'm much better now. My phone is beginning to give me issues, the camera refused to come up all through last week, most of my apps are giving me error messages. My phone's operating system is low and cannot be upgraded.*sigh*. I don't even want to think about getting a new phone yet because prices have almost doubled. This recession isn't a joke. Now back to the book.



29, Single and Nigerian is a novel written by anonymous blogger, Naijasinglegirl. This book is one of the items on my wishlist and I didn't waste time to jump at it when I saw it on sale on OkadaBooks for 900 Naira. As much as I dislike reading soft copy versions of books, I didn't mind at all this time as I was really itching to get my hands on this book.

DESCRIPTION ON OKADABOOKS-  Edikan is naive, materialistic, incredibly thirsty and bordering on delusional. This lady has nothing going on for her and is completely unprepared for 'adulting'. You would think the reverse would be the case, considering her background, but it turns out growing up in poverty doesn't necessarily make you realistic.

I know a lot has been said about this book but let me add my own thoughts and opinion to the lot. This book highlights a host of societal issues we're currently facing in Nigeria. The pressure on single ladies is too real. Edikan finished her NYSC at the age of 28 and is already been pressured to bring a man home. She has no job, no skill, in fact, she practically has nothing. It's as if marriage is the gateway to a 'better' life but society would still be the one to blame you if rush into marriage and end up rushing out. It's absurd.

One interesting theme in this book is the myth of having so much fun and a hitch free service year as a Lagos corps member.

A text Edikan got from her friend posted to Lagos. LOL!

The hype about the orientation camp and the mami market. I can relate to this part because I felt the same way before my NYSC. If you feel this way, let me tell you that serving in Lagos isn't as much fun as you think. If you're genuinely posted there, fine. But by no means try to manipulate it. Edikan was so bent on serving in Lagos and ended up been duped by someone who promised to 'work' her posting.

In the search for a job (and husband), Edikan meets George who is a successful business man and in a short while, they kick off a 'relationship' which was more of a sexual relationship. But Edikan was briefly blinded by the money and gifts she was getting from George until she realized she was his mistress aka side chick. It's sad how most ladies tend to change who they are to suit the standards of a partner in a relationship. It's good when your significant other brings out the best in you but when it starts to feel like you're losing yourself, just like Edikan did by wearing nose-rings, then there is a problem.

I would give this book 5 stars. Yes, it's that good. The writing style was excellent and captivating. The humor was on point! I can't remember how many times I burst out in laughter while reading it. Naijasinglegirl did too good a job capturing the many issues that surround the Nigeria youth. I recommend everyone, both old and young to read it.

This is a book worth shelving so I would definitely get the hard copy, read it again, and then display it on my shelf.

PS; My very good friend Ebere got me the Cassie Daves 2017 Blogplanner as a birthday gift! That's another item off my wishlist. Yippee!! I'd be doing a review of the planner in my next post so stay with me please? My next read is "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate" by Alexander McCall Smith. I'd share with you my thoughts in March.

Be back soon.
Evita, x.

Hiii guys! *waving frantically* How are we doing? This is my first post this month so permit me to wish you a happy November. Hope your weekend turned out great? I had an amazing time because I got to attend a wedding and it was so much fun.  Now, let's dig into the book review.


'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. There's just something I like so much about the book title. So, who's a wallflower? Wallflower: a person who is shy or unpopular and who stands or sits apart from other people at a dance or party. This is a very suiting description of 15 year old Charlie who's a high school student and the main character in the book. 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' was published in February 1999 and is set in the early 90s (1991/1992).

Charlie is very quiet, an introvert and also very intelligent (which he's not aware of). The book is a sum of all the letters he wrote to a stranger, telling him/her about his life. Charlie happened to have one good friend, Michael, but then he committed suicide just before they got into high school. This incident traumatizes Charlie because this is the second closest person he's lost in his life, the first being his aunt Helen.

He also has 2 siblings who are always at loggerheads with each other.  He has no friends but suddenly becomes friends with 2 seniors, Sam and Patrick. They are step siblings and they quickly become fond of Charlie. Charlie's English teacher, Bill, is also quite fond of him because he noticed he was very good at writing essays and interpreting literary works. This made him give Charlie books that were outside the school's curriculum and he enjoyed reading and writing about them.

Patrick is in a secret relationship with the captain of the school's football team, Brad, while Charlie has a major crush on Sam. Charlie informs Sam about his feelings towards her and she made him understand that they couldn't possibly become a couple. Although, Sam gave Charlie his first kiss and when asked why, she said she wanted it to be from someone who loved him. This stemmed from the fact that she was sexually abused by her father's friend when she was much younger and she didn't want Charlie to experience his first kiss in that sort of horrible way.

Hanging out with Sam and Patrick also meant attending parties with them and mixing up with their other friends. It was at one of such parties that Charlie was termed a 'wallflower'. Because he sees things and knows things but doesn't say anything.

This book has a lot of themes which includes rape, domestic violence, drug and sexual abuse, first time sexual encounters, music, homosexuality, depression, suicide and loneliness.

For me, I felt the sexual content was the most predominant theme and it was the one thing I didn't like so much about the book. Asides that, it was an interesting read. It reminded me a lot of my teenage years and the search for one's identity and true self. Although, because of cultural differences between the author and myself the reader, I couldn't relate with the aspect of a teenager committing suicide because his parents were having issues at home. What sort of issues though? The author fails to mention except that his parents had a divorce after his death.

 Another thing I didn't quite understand was Charlie's level of naivety. I get that he's very shy and all but at 15, he was oblivious to a whole lot of things which made him sound like an 8 year old most of the time. Still, he was able to read books like "How to Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee and write an excellent essay about it. At some point I began to assume Charlie was probably an autistic child but then, the author mentions nothing about it except that he had a psychologist whom he visited occasionally.

The writing style was one thing that made this book stand out for me. It was pure, relatable and honest. It's one of those books that while reading, you feel this sort of bond with the narrator who in this case was Charlie. My favorite quote in the book is from the epilogue and it reads;

"So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them." - Charlie.

Out of 5 stars, I would rate this book 4 stars and recommend everyone to read it. There's a movie adaptation of it and I'm going to get it soon so I can actually watch the characters come to life.



So, the book for this month is 'I've Got Your Number' by Sophie Kinsella. If you've read 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' then you should know Sophie. She's one of my favorite authors.

If you've read 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', please share your thoughts with me in the comments section below. Your feedback is always appreciated.

I'll be back soon. Have a super productive week ahead.
xo, Evita.

Hi guys!! How's your week going and hope you're in good health? This post was supposed to go up last week but I don't even know what happened. Anyhow, I'm here now so let's go right into it.

Last month, I started my bookclub and our first read was 'The Icarus Girl' by Helen Oyeyemi which was published in 2006. I chose this book because I stumbled across some reviews of Helen's work and I was quite impressed. 'The Icarus Girl' happens to be her first book and she was 19 years old at the time it was published.



This book is about an 8 year old girl named Jessamy (Jess), born to an English father and a Nigerian mother. She struggles with issues of isolation, race and a very wild imagination which makes her somber, withdrawn and often results in tantrums.

For the first time, Jessamy visits Nigeria with her parents to see her mother's relatives which turned out to be a life changing experience for her. Here, she meets a girl her age named Titiola, whom she nicknamed TillyTilly. They become fast friends and TillyTilly embraces Jess which made her feel less weird and very comfortable with her. It happens that TillyTilly is either a ghost or an imaginary friend of Jess who has come to life because she's only seen and heard by Jess alone.

On returning to England, TillyTilly appears at Jess's doorstep on the day she resumed school and their friendship was continued. Now, who is TillyTilly exactly? Based on her supernatural abilities like being able to open locked doors without keys and sitting in the midst of people without being seen, I concluded that she's indeed a ghost and not just a mere fragment of Jess's imagination. Later on, it was shown that Jess was a twin who had lost her twin sister during birth. This sheds more light on the appearances and being of TillyTilly whom I dubbed to be Jess's dead twin, given the fact that in her mother's native Yoruba culture, twins have a certain powerful bond.

The first 6 chapters of this book held me spellbound but along the line, it all became flat right up to the end. TillyTilly's struggle to wreck havoc in Jess's life became quite boring as she kept tormenting Jess to a rather rushed and abrupt end.

I was expecting to see more of a comparison of both English and Nigerian cultures between Jess's parents as they dealt with her emotional and psychological problems but this was poorly represented throughout the book. The author tried to capture the mythology of twins in Yoruba culture but it got mixed up till the very end.

A member of my bookclub said she found the book entirely boring and would never again pick it up.lol. I would say the same except that the story started really well but lost its whole essence somewhere in the middle. Would I read it again? I think not. But I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it except that you might find the end a bit disappointing.

Although, I must say Helen is a good writer. For the fact that this is her debut novel, her writing style is impressive and I would want to read other books written by her.


So, our book for October is, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky and by God's grace, I'll share my thoughts on it by the first week of November. Feel free to join the club. New members are very much welcome.

If you've read 'The Icarus Girl', please share your thoughts with me in the comment's section, It's always a pleasure reading your feedback. And also, if you have any book recommendation(s), let me know as well.

Do enjoy the rest of your week.
xo, Evita.

Hey darlings!! Hope you're having a fantastic week. I'm doing great and I'm super grateful for life, family and friends. Last week was like the worst week I've had in years. It seemed as if some forces were just out to see my downfall but nahhh, I came out stronger by God's grace.

Y'all know I have mad love for books but recently, been struggling with reading because I have so much to do which has been weighing me down a bit. I joined a book club some months ago but due to reasons beyond my comprehension, it folded up even before we had time to discuss our first read. Sad. I made another attempt to join another book club but it just didn't work out because all its members asides me reside in the USA and they physically exchange books. *sigh*


It'll go like this; I'll choose a book for the month. Even if it'll take 3 days to complete it, I'll leave it at 3 weeks for completion so everyone has ample time to finish up. Then we'll have our discussion and review on Whatsapp which I'll in turn publish on the blog. The aim is to read one book a month. With time, we might increase it to 2 books a month.




Now, who's with me? Please guys, help me out here. Even if you know someone who might be interested, hook us up. You can send a mail to enwefahogochukwu@gmail.com to indicate your interest and we'll pick it up from there. Location is not a barrier. As far as you have a device that can connect to Whatsapp, we're good. My fellow book lovers, where y'all at??? We need to keep the reading culture alive.

Looking forward to an adventurous journey ahead. Have a splendid day?

xo, Evita.