Finishing a book and finding another is something I really dread. That's mostly because I like to rely on my intuition and sometimes instinct when selecting a next read. Just because this particular book was good and promising doesn't guarantee the next book will be worth it. And not because a particular book you just finished wasn't worth it, that doesn't guarantee the fact that the next one might not be shitty. It may even be shittier than the first. And all these have influenced my reading experiences.
I read this book I'm about to review sometime last two weeks. I remember starting it because I had just finished a series and wanted something entirely different from what I had just read. And with the attractive title this book beared, I settled for it. Adding to my decision to read it was the fact that the author's name has been making waves on the net and I wanted to see for myself, her works. Anyways, I read the Senator's Daughter by Nigerian author Amaka Azie and I wasn't glad I read it neither was I pleased to read it.
The Senator's Daughter is a 448 paged, 34 chaptered book that follows the story of an ex-soldier Nosa, after the death of his girlfriend. Her death was caused by a fake drug manufactured by Demoplaz Pharmaceuticals that was administered to her. Demoplaz Pharmaceutical is a drug manufacturing company owned by billionaire, Senator Obaseki. When Nosa does everything legally possible to bring the senator to admit to his crime and it all proves furtive, he decides to bring the senator down using illegal means. The illegal means being that he kidnaps the Senator's only daughter Rita as a way of getting the senator to confess. In his quest to bring the Senator to book, Nosa finds himself tangled in an emotional web of love, loyalty and regrets.
I didn't like this book! This was a hard decision for me to make because when I read a fellow writers work, even if there weren't many things to like about it, I like to find the good parts of something and center on it and not invalidate what someone has put in so much creativity and effort but for this book, I didn't find anything to like about it. It had a very nice storyline and the potential to have been more but the whole idea of him kidnapping her just to get her father to talk because his girlfriend died and he was desperate for justice was not making sense. And all of a sudden, when the chaos had settled, the author turned 360 and decided to make us believe he was a good man. Keeping logic and rationality aside, it still wasn't a delight to read. Stalker romances and kidnapping tropes aren't tropes I abhor but this book could have done with a better storyline. Not one where he brought about the idea of kidnapping her and being a gentleman out of pity because she wasn't the one involved with her father's business.
The characters. This book had characters with nice backstories. Each character with their distinct but conflicting personalities. Rita was a nice character but there wasn't really anything to like about her. She was a boring character and most of her actions were just mien. Nosa, I don't even want to talk about how weird his way of reasoning was. There's no other way to explain whatever he was doing in this book other than he was either stupid or processed things very differently. Rita's dad, Senator Obaseki was one I didn't even know what to think of. He loved his daughter so much and when you heard she was kidnapped, you were crying. Crying?!!! An able billionaire like you is crying?!!! I didn't even know what to make of that.
The author through this book tried to portray the struggles and stigmatization homosexuals face in a country like mine and how although it is emotionally distressing for the victims, it negatively impacts the environment. That would have been really nice to read about under a different storyline but the storyline on which the book was based on didn't do justice to it. I feel it could have been better under a different storyline.
This book wasn't one I really enjoyed and for my rating, I'll rate it 2/5. It disappointed me so if you're a lover of cliche and cringe plots, you're very welcome to check this book out. But it's not a book I'll recommend for someone looking to have a good reading experience in a book.
Thanks for reading
Images is a screenshot taken by me
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I got that very strong feeling that this book would be underwhelming, and somehow I take your word for it because I'd instinctively withdrawn from it as well. Billionaire crying, why?😂
The book was just too cliche. That billionaire's cry made me so weak😂😂
I made a conscious decisions to read more books from African; Nigerian authors especially but most times the quick reviews, the book titles and even the book covers are enough to make me rethink my decisions.
Thank you for the heads-up about this piece and this! this was a lovely review✨
!LUV
Some Nigerian authors are doing very well in their field but some authors works are enough to make one decide to never venture into the field😂.
Thank you so much
I can relate 😂
@oluchi31, @wongi(1/4) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
It's also one of my fear when I finished a book haha. It's like, what should I read now because there are just too many of them. I've always wondered, is Nigeria predominantly an islamic country? or is it just too overly religious that being homosexual is easily persecuted?
Nigeria isn't predominantly an Islamic country. Everybody is free to choose the religion of their choice. It's just that some religions that have quite a number of followerships preach against it vehemently. So, some of the population are against it and some are open to it.