Title: You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty
Author: Akwaeke Emezi
Genre: Women's Fiction
Page Count: 288
Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Hi friends. I'm back with another hot take on the latest books I've read. I'd been seeing this book everywhere. I saw it every time I went to Barnes and Nobles (which is quite often) I saw people talking about it in my Facebook groups and on Instagram. Literally everywhere I looked this bright orange book cover jumped out at me. I even had it in my hand to purchase a few times, but one thing or another led me to putting it back on the shelf. The title is certainly a mouthful and the cover is beautiful. Ya'll know that I am a hoe for pretty book covers, which seems to get me in more trouble than anything else, but will I change my ways? Probably not. Anyway, I'm doing the A-Z Book Challenge and this was my book suggestion for the letter Y. Y stands for "Y not" in this case, because why not give it a shot? After all, I did keep looking at it. Clearly the book gods wanted me to read it. So I did.
Let's get into it.
Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.
It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.
She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the overwhelming desire Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits—his father.
This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love? Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.
Yes ma'am/sir you read that correctly. Feyi gets the googly eyes for her new boo thang's daddy. I admit, I really didn't look at the description for this book before I started reading so when she mentioned the father being attractive I was shooketh. I was rooting for her and Nasir, even though they met in an unconventional way (she was a homie hopper), and I just knew they would be the love story for the ages. Honey. Let us all laugh together at my ignorance but that is not even close to what happened. The book description pretty much gives the plot of the story away, so don't yell at me for spoiling things but: Feyi starts boinking the pappy. The pappy! At this point, I felt so bad for Nasir because he was pretty head over heels for Feyi but she had already dropped him like limp lettuce. He was left looking dumb in the face while Feyi skipped off happily into the distance with his daddy. In case you hadn't gathered this bit of information on your own: this was another age gap love story.
PS. Why have I stumbled into so many of these recently?
Anyway, this age gap I didn't mind because everyone was all grown up by the time it occurred. I was more so concerned with the fact that Feyi was being a bit (read: incredibly) messy with this situation. I was not a fan of how they painted Nasir to be the bad guy in order to justify the actions of Feyi and Papa Bear. She came in and blew up this man's entire family. What was he supposed to do? Shrug and keep moving? Buy her a mother's day card since she is now technically his step-mama? Oh. Naw. Nope. I probably would have flipped a table or two myself had I been in this situation.
Let's take a closer look at what I liked vs what I didn't like in You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty
Artistic themes. I did enjoy the fact that Feyi was an artist and there were a lot of heavy descriptions about her art. It made me feel like I was actually in the room at her exhibits looking at the pieces in person.
Colorful. I loved the fact that Feyi was portrayed as a black woman who was not afraid to wear wild colors. Turquoise braids. Pink braids. Gold braids. Gray braids. Colors that dark skinned black women have been warned to stay away from in the past, she embraced. I am a firm believer that there isn't a color that exists that doesn't look absolutely beautiful against black skin of any shade. All it takes is the confidence to rock it.
Inclusive. There were some heavy lesbian and bi-sexual themes throughout this book without being preachy. I appreciate when books don't treat sexuality like it is some huge and groundbreaking thing. They treat it like it is normal every day life, because that's exactly what it is.
Trauma as an excuse. Look, sometimes life has moments where it sucks. We all have trauma of some sort. Some of us have more than others. I get that. I am living proof of that, but I also believe that you shouldn't use your trauma as an excuse to Stomp the Yard all over someone else's feelings just because you're hurt. That's not cool. Heal. Do the work and stop bleeding on everyone around you.
The Relationship. Now don't get me wrong, when you love somebody, things can get messy. Especially when you meet in ways that can be considered unconventional. I'm not mad at Feyi for getting it on and popping with Daddyio. That's her choice. I am, however, mad at the way they treated Nasir during the entire situation. Let's put ourselves in his shoes for a moment. You meet someone that you're really excited about. They want to take things slow, so you oblige. You see a future with this person, so you take them home to meet your parent. Next thing you know, they start humping said parent. How would you feel? Hmm?? They threw ole boy under the bus and tried to make him seem like this horribly violent person in order to justify their actions. Not cute. Not cool. You messy.
Overall I enjoyed the story. Four stars. Feyi is just a messy bird. The both of them handled the situation as horribly as possible and then she had the nerve to be shocked that he would react that way. She blew up this man's family. His children can't even stand to look at him now, just because you want to tickle papa's pickle.
I don't even know how I would react in that situation. I would probably be a lot more upset than his children were. He got lucky. I know my mouth can get reckless when I am upset. It wouldn't be pretty. No matter how you spin it.
Anyway, if you're in the mood for a messy and dramatic love story then this is definitely the book for you. It was entertaining the whole way through. If you do decide to give it a shot, find me on Instagram and/or Facebook and let me know how you felt about it. Did you think Feyi was being messy? How could they have handled the situation better? I can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Until then,
Happy Reading Babes! ❤