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kelli513's review
5.0
an amazing Story of overcoming your past, making your dreams come true and following your heart. Marc and Nina have both had their fair share of hardships can they find a way to let the past go? Wonderful book.
now_booking's review
4.0
3.5 Stars!
I really enjoyed this book. It told a story that I feel like I know in real life, but I’ve never seen anyone tell in a romance. The premise is that Nina, a Malian-Belgian ballerina living with PTSD and anxiety, meets Marc, a Belgian MMA champion, when he rescues her from a robber. The two recognize the brokenness and childhood trauma in one another and strike up a friendship. But Nina’s strict Muslim upbringing and close ties to her Malian family makes any relationship between them seem almost impossible and Marc can’t understand why Nina seems ashamed of their love and what her endgame is.
This is an interesting book to rate because it’s not quite own voices (even though the author is black), but the author manages to capture the lived experiences of an African Muslim immigrant to Europe in the wake of increasing radicalization and discrimination and xenophobia against black Africans and Muslim Africans in European countries like Belgium. I think the author did a fantastic job of showcasing that discordance that many African immigrant children born in the second country feel with their parents and also with their peers in their new countries. I loved the exploration of mental health issues that might ensue from the pressure of not fitting in anywhere and also feeling fear of failing cultural expectations. I loved that Nina’s family were ultimately good people even though they were unconsciously toxic with the pressures and expectations on her. This book is trigger warning galore for severe anxiety and depression, child abuse, addiction, domestic violence, difficult family relationships especially as an immigrant... I could tell that the author lacked a bit of patience and understanding with Nina’s fear of letting her parents down but I appreciated this book and the story it told. I think this book does a lot around discussing mental health issues faced by young African first generationers (who are often raised in cultures that don’t recognize or acknowledge mental struggles or illness) and destigmatizes getting treatment- but I wish it had shown a bit more the getting help parts as opposed to making it seem sometimes like romantic love fixes everything. Ultimately, I enjoyed this and had a lot of thoughts and emotional responses to reading this. There are quite a few proofing issues- missing words, homophone issues in the Kindle version I read. However, this was so interesting and engaging and well-written that it wasn’t a major issue for my reading experience. I just think this book deserves a cleaner finishing. Highly recommend.
I really enjoyed this book. It told a story that I feel like I know in real life, but I’ve never seen anyone tell in a romance. The premise is that Nina, a Malian-Belgian ballerina living with PTSD and anxiety, meets Marc, a Belgian MMA champion, when he rescues her from a robber. The two recognize the brokenness and childhood trauma in one another and strike up a friendship. But Nina’s strict Muslim upbringing and close ties to her Malian family makes any relationship between them seem almost impossible and Marc can’t understand why Nina seems ashamed of their love and what her endgame is.
This is an interesting book to rate because it’s not quite own voices (even though the author is black), but the author manages to capture the lived experiences of an African Muslim immigrant to Europe in the wake of increasing radicalization and discrimination and xenophobia against black Africans and Muslim Africans in European countries like Belgium. I think the author did a fantastic job of showcasing that discordance that many African immigrant children born in the second country feel with their parents and also with their peers in their new countries. I loved the exploration of mental health issues that might ensue from the pressure of not fitting in anywhere and also feeling fear of failing cultural expectations. I loved that Nina’s family were ultimately good people even though they were unconsciously toxic with the pressures and expectations on her. This book is trigger warning galore for severe anxiety and depression, child abuse, addiction, domestic violence, difficult family relationships especially as an immigrant... I could tell that the author lacked a bit of patience and understanding with Nina’s fear of letting her parents down but I appreciated this book and the story it told. I think this book does a lot around discussing mental health issues faced by young African first generationers (who are often raised in cultures that don’t recognize or acknowledge mental struggles or illness) and destigmatizes getting treatment- but I wish it had shown a bit more the getting help parts as opposed to making it seem sometimes like romantic love fixes everything. Ultimately, I enjoyed this and had a lot of thoughts and emotional responses to reading this. There are quite a few proofing issues- missing words, homophone issues in the Kindle version I read. However, this was so interesting and engaging and well-written that it wasn’t a major issue for my reading experience. I just think this book deserves a cleaner finishing. Highly recommend.
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