One sentence: 

Exactly what I expected, plus so heart-warming.

Three thoughts:

• I love Adunni. She is a firecracker.
• I was so thrown off by the voice in this novel at first, but before long it flowed very smoothly and I loved that.
• Adunni’s life suuuucked, no doubt about that, but there were a few really good people helping her out. In that respect, she was lucky.

Rating

• Characters: 5/5. Abi Daré can write some characters. I swear, all of the characters in this book had such depth. My favorite character by the end of the book was definitely Big Madam. I want to read about what happened to her after Adunni left! She was terrible, but holy hell did she have her reasons to be. And somewhere inside her, I feel like there’s a good person.
• Plot: 5/5. Fantastic story, and unfortunately, way too realistic. This exact thing happens to so many young girls in Nigeria. I’m glad that there was a positive outcome for Adunni, but unfortunately, I just don’t think most girls are as lucky.
• Setting: 5/5. I’ve read several books that take place in Lagos, and knowing a little bit about it from family members who live there, I absolutely love the setting. I spent half my reading time Google Mapping the various locations in the story to see what they look like in real life.
• Style/Voice: 5/5. Narrated by Adunni, the story had a unique voice – full of Pidgin English. Adunni herself was feisty and courageous and although there were many times where I wanted to tell her to hush up, she wasn’t content with keeping her mouth shut, even if it resulted in her being beaten.
• Theme: 5/5. There’s a lot to unpack here. Human trafficking, child slavery, corruption, domestic violence… and a world in which it’s all startlingly normal.

Overall Rating: 5.0/5.0