Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

this book is MESSY. like, I've never read anything nearly as messy. and I'm not talking about writing execution here (although I'm having a real hard time seeing the purported 'literary merit' of this book). the main characters are awful, self-absorbed people severely lacking in empathy or a regard for how their actions will hurt others.

I thought this book had a promising beginning. I wanted it to talk about grief, queerness, money, Blackness, compulsory heterosexuality, female friendship ... the list goes on. what I got was an extremely surface level romance between two incredibly beautiful people who have an insta-lovey connection with chemistry that I personally never sensed. maybe I was too icked out by the HUGE age gap and the constant reminders that he could be her father.

it wasn't even funny. like, come on. I require a bit of banter in my romance books, even if they're not all happiness and sunshine. I firmly believe it is possible to talk about grief (in more depth, too) in a romance book and also include some humor or wittiness or cleverness or something other than just mentioning the beauty of the two despicable main characters all the time. I would have been fine with Emezi just leaning into the campness of it all and going full wattpad mafia romance (no morals there!) in a fun and unbelievable way (key word: FUN. YMAFODWYB was not fun).

I kept hoping there'd be some redemption of morality where Feyi would start calling herself out on her shit and get out of that mansion and run back to her friend Joy and call out how horrible and toxic the plot was, but alas, stereotypical romance ending I shall settle for. at least the book was short.

Content Warnings

catching5tars's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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cwerber's review

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have a lot to chew on with this book. It's billed as a romance book but it feels more like it should be in the literary genre.

Feyi is an artist who has been grieving someone close to her. She meets several people, in an effort to reclaim herself from this grief that has consumed her for the past five years. But then she meets the father of the latest person she's taking things slowly with and then the roller coaster happens.

Do I like the main characters? I don't know. Could things have been handled differently? Yes, but then a chunk of the book would've been different. What is more at the heart of this book is the way different people handle their grief. (On a personal note, I think books about grief literally keep finding me.)

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chilivanilli28's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rjansen282's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

bujoxbooked's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.5-4 Stars!

It held my attention throughout 75% of the book but towards the end, it got kinda blah. With all the hype surrounding the book, I guess I expected a good jaw-dropping ending and it was just meh to me. I enjoyed mostly everything else in the book and the main jaw drop/WTH moment was Feyi

dating/having sex with/getting with Nasir's father and Nasir's reaction to the situation! Which the book hinted toward immediately when they got there. As I was just waiting for another big moment, I start making up scenarios where Nasir or his father were somehow related to the cause of Jonah's death, but no lol too far.

I liked the relationship between Joy and Feyi where Joy just seemed to say whatever was on her mind and encourage her messy actions lol.

To make it even messier they slept together too like what!?!

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cadieallen's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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eslsilver's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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