Q: What are you reading this week?
Pick up this BOTM pick from last month!
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The Sweetest Remedy
Jane Igharo
Pub Date: 9/28/21
Happy Pub Day!
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Hannah has grown up with her white American mother and never had a relationship with her Nigerian father.  He had an a fling with her mother on a work trip but he had a wife and family and returned home.

When her father passed away he wanted her at the reading of the will and so after a lot of convincing she goes. But once she’s there her father’s wife and one of her sisters doesn’t want her there. The other siblings are shocked but handling it better. They didn’t know about her but she knew about them. 

I loved the growth this family went through to accept this new sister that they didn’t want or expect. And Lawrence a man that her father basically adopted into the family after his mother passed…. She has met him in SF and he happened to be there in Nigeria. They had chemistry and being in a new place with someone you are attracted to it’s like a vacation romance.. but it was so sweet.

There was one part where one of the sisters told Hannah that none of the siblings had their Dad’s smile but she walked in with her Dad’s smile and it’s like she got a piece of him back 😭😭😭😭 From someone who lost her father that’s a big thing!

❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥

Thank you berkleyromance and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Synopsis:

When a woman travels to Nigeria to attend the funeral of the father she never knew, she meets her extravagant family for the first time, a new and inspiring love interest, and discovers parts of herself she didn’t know were missing, from Jane Igharo, the acclaimed author of Ties That Tether.

Hannah Bailey has never known her father, the Nigerian entrepreneur who had a brief relationship with her white mother. Because of this, Hannah has always felt uncertain about part of her identity. When her father dies, she’s invited to Nigeria for the funeral. Though she wants to hate the man who abandoned her, she’s curious about who he was and where he was from. Searching for answers, Hannah boards a plane to Lagos, Nigeria.

In Banana Island, one of Nigeria’s most affluent areas, Hannah meets the Jolades, her late father’s prestigious family–some who accept her and some who think she doesn’t belong. The days leading up to the funeral are chaotic, but Hannah is soon shaped by secrets that unfold, a culture she never thought she would understand or appreciate, and a man who steals her heart and helps her to see herself in a new light.

Q & A with Author

1. Tell us about THE SWEETEST REMEDY!
The Sweetest Remedy is about a woman, Hannah Bailey, who travels to Nigeria to attend the funeral of the father she never knew. While there, she meets her family for the first time, some who accept her and some who think she doesn’t belong. She also meets a love interest who helps her to see herself in a new light. At the same time, Hannah discovers a lot about who she is and who she wants to be.

2. What inspired you to write this novel?
One of my favorite Nollywood movies, Chief Daddy. It’s about the death of the patriarch of a wealthy and prominent family in Lagos. I loved how the family members—all with big personalities—came together for the funeral. It was chaotic, funny, and heartfelt. The movie just really stuck with me, and I thought it would be cool to put a spin on it and make it my own.

3. Do you relate to the heroine, Hannah, in any way?
Not entirely. But the one thing we have in common is that we’re both writers.

4. What was your favorite part of writing the book? What was your biggest challenge?
I really enjoyed writing the characters. They were all so different, and getting into their heads was a lot of fun. The biggest challenge was understanding Hannah’s insecurities and weaknesses and trying to make them believable. This was often challenging because I didn’t relate to Hannah’s insecurities as I did with the main character in my debut novel, Ties That Tether. It took a few rounds of edits to truly understand Hannah as a character.

5. What do you hope readers will take away from reading THE SWEETEST REMEDY?
I hope The Sweetest Remedy will entertain readers and introduce them to an aspect of Nigeria they might have been unaware of.