One of Betches’ 7 Books by Black Authors You Need to Read This Summer One of Elite Daily’s Books Featuring Interracial Relationships You Should Read In 2020 One of Marie Claire’s 2020 Books You Should Add to Your Reading List When a Nigerian woman falls for a man she knows will break her mother’s heart, she must choose between love and her family. At twelve years old, Azere promised her dying … between love and her family.
At twelve years old, Azere promised her dying father she would marry a Nigerian man and preserve her culture, even after immigrating to Canada. Her mother has been vigilant about helping—well forcing—her to stay within the Nigerian dating pool ever since. But when another match-made-by-mom goes wrong, Azere ends up at a bar, enjoying the company and later sharing the bed of Rafael Castellano, a man who is tall, handsome, and…white.
When their one-night stand unexpectedly evolves into something serious, Azere is caught between her feelings for Rafael and the compulsive need to please her mother. Soon, Azere can’t help wondering if loving Rafael makes her any less of a Nigerian. Can she be with him without compromising her identity? The answer will either cause Azere to be audacious and fight for her happiness or continue as the compliant daughter.
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I adored this book. A beautiful exploration of family values, parental expectations, and relationship struggles, all with characters I truly cared about. Plus a great love story. Highly recommended.
I don’t always read romance, but this is a wonderful read: powerful fiction about the weight of family expectations and how much of an impact those can have on our choices and happiness, if we choose to let them.
Azere and Rafael are well crafted, fascinating and credible characters, and I was rooting for both of them to make better choices, and work through a surprise pregnancy, but more importantly Azere’s hesitation at going against her family’s wishes and being with someone from outside her Nigerian background.
I loved the insights into Nigerian culture and traditions, which were so well delivered. I was googling various outfits and food along the way, which just added to the pleasure of this book.
A well-written story that keep me engaged, with richness in descriptions of Nigerian culture and traditions. A fascinating, entertaining and fun read.
What a beautiful debut by the author. Azere migrated from Nigeria at twelve years of age along with her sister and mother to Canada. She made a promise to her dying father that she would not forget her culture and she will marry a “nice Nigerian man. Fast word thirteen years later and Azere constantly puts up with her mom setting her up with Nigerian man whom she has no interest in but is too afraid to stand up to her mom. So begins this beautiful story and ask the question how does one stay true to their culture and identity and pursue a love interest that is complete opposite of your culture. This question is asked throughout the novel where Azere falls for the Spaniard Rafael and is torn between him and wanting to please her mother. Ms. Igharo does an amazing job of very descriptive life of what it means to be Nigerian and what is expected of a young woman in the culture. I felt the angst of Azere of wanting to please her family versus making herself happy. A great debut by the author and I look forward to many more of her work. Arc giving by netgalley.
4.5/5
Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo is such a fun, hilarious, and heart-warming debut and I never wanted it to tend. Igharo wrote not only a romance but a relatable and informative one at that. I love learning more about different cultures and it was interesting to get another look into Nigerian culture after reading The Girl with the Louding Voice which of course, is a very different type of book from this one. Azere was a wonderfully strong and funny female character and I loved her. I really enjoyed the mix of her viewpoint along with Rafael’s and I really liked the fact that the book is told mainly from her POV with just a few of Rafael’s mixed in. I could not understand her mother, but I tried to keep in mind that the Nigerian culture is very different from my own.
I loved the mix of family drama and romance, and there are serious topics while still being a laugh-out-loud-funny novel. Ties That Tether really hit the romcom spot for me, and also gave me the mother/daughter relationship that I love the exploration of in books. Azere and her mom have a pretty complicated relationship at times, and I feel like that is very reminiscent of the real world. I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by Nkeki Obi-Melekwe & Gary Tiedemann and I loved it so much that I would highly recommend that route if you like audio. It was a very quick listen and the narrators really brought the book to life for me. If you want a romcom with a lot of heart and relatable moments you should definitely check this debut out.
The perfect Happy Black Romance to warm up a winter night. I look forward to more form this author and I am excited about more African women contributing teh romance space!
Great romance about a Nigerian Canadian woman torn between a promise made to her family to marry a Nigerian and a powerful love connection with a new (white) man. Complications — some quite serious — ensue. A winning debut from Igharo.
An enjoyable romance from the point of view of a Nigerian immigrant in Canada, torn between her mother’s ironclad requirement for an Edo husband and her profound feelings for the perfect casual hookup turned boyfriend, Rafael. The cultural elements made it more interesting for me than it might have otherwise been, but it’s well-executed even if I had some trouble (which I always have) with the Big Secret That Complicates The Plot. A fun leitmotif was the main character’s love of rom-com movies, used throughout. I have some new movies on my list of stuff to watch now!
For me Escapism 2020 = Romance Books – boy do I need that escape. This is one of the few I have read recently where I didn’t want to smack the protagonists across the face for their relationship problems caused by just not communicating the things they should have. I loved this book because Jane Igharo’s characters might keep things from each other, and of course it causes issues, but I completely understood why and felt so strongly for them both. Definitely a page turner.
Lots of twists and turns!
What a gorgeous cover! That’s what initially drew me to the book. The the description had potential. However, for me, Ties That Tether didn’t live up to all the hype I had heard about it. Just something about it missed the mark for me. I think I was expecting something with a little more ‘meat’ to it, a little heavier, a little more educational about another culture. While some of that was there, it was more of a romance with some family drama and heartbreak thrown in. There were parts that I felt could have been expanded upon that just fell flat. I finished the book feeling like I didn’t tell know the characters – I had no connection to them. I didn’t love Azere, the main character. She was struggling to find her voice, to stand up to her mother’s demands, haunted by a promise made as a child to her dying father, and all of that could have made for a really great story. Instead, I found her to be immature and a little annoying. Constant references to a variety of romantic movies and the constant question of, “Azere, are you okay?” annoyed me.
I just finished listening to the audible book version of this book. I definitely enjoyed the story of the two main characters. The heroine has Nigerian family ties and the hero is originally from Spain, while the story takes place in Canada, so I felt like I learned a lot about at least 2 different cultures. Jane Ignaro writes a compelling story of a young woman who struggles with straddling the competing demands of her mother’s expectations and her own. Much of the novel is about her trying to reach a resolution about what she needs in order to live her own ‘happily ever after.’ She loves romance movies, so there are loads of references to those throughout the book. It is a feel-good plot that kept me turning he pages.
Before I dive into my thoughts on this book, can we just pause a second to take in the cover? I mean, WOW!
The good news is that Ties That Tether totally lives up to the cover art – this is a beautiful, complicated, funny and heartwarming rom-com that I was so invested in, I couldn’t put it down. Literally. I read the whole book in one sitting (my hungry children were not amused).
Jane Igharo’s debut centers on Azere, a Nigerian woman who immigrated to Canada as a young girl with her mother and sister after her father’s death. Before her dad passed, Azere promised him she would marry a Nigerian man to preserve her culture and she’s been determined to keep that vow ever since. But when a one-night stand with sexy Spaniard Rafael turns Azere’s life upside down, she has to decide whether to follow her head or her heart.
While all romantic comedies have a trope that the central couple has to resolve, the conflict between love and personal identity Azere faces is really unique. That she’s a huge fan of rom com movies (she regularly references them throughout the book, which I loved) makes it even more challenging – there isn’t one out there that reflects her own situation. What happens when you’re a prostitute who falls in love with your john? Hollywood has that covered but how to handle your mother threatening to disown you if you don’t marry someone Nigerian like you? Notsomuch.
The characters in this book are wonderful and I enjoyed learning more about the Nigerian culture. I rooted for Azere to find love, not only with Rafael but also with the woman she’s become, even if her happily ever after doesn’t look like she always thought it might.
Thanks to Berkley Publishing, NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy to review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo on its surface is about an interracial romance between Azere and Rafael. At its heart though I feel like this book is more of a coming of age story about a woman, whose family moved to Canada from Nigeria when she was twelve, and how she learns to balance traditional Nigerian cultural values with her real life in Canada. The story explores the weight of parental expectations in immigrant communities and the guilt that children feel as they make adjustments to fit in to the culture of their new country.
I thought the book did a great job of capturing the emotions and internal conflict that Azere goes through. As a reader at times I’d get frustrated with Azere, her mom, Rafael, and just want to yell, “Communicate people!” But for this same reason this book rang very true for me. Humans as a rule aren’t the most rational creatures when emotions are involved, and this book captures that perfectly.
If the book has a weakness for me, I’d say it is the romance portion of the book. I wanted more about their connection. But this wasn’t a deal breaker for me because I really do feel this book is more about Azere’s journey of how to balance family expectations vs her living her own best life.
This book most definitely will not be for everyone. If you go into this story thinking that this is a light and fluffy rom-com, you will be sorely disappointed.
Azere emigrated from Nigeria to Canada when she was twelve years old, and she lives in constant fear of losing herself and her culture in Canada, which is exacerbated by her father’s last wish: to marry an Edo man. This means that Azere has endured countless dates orchestrated by her mother since becoming an obedient wife and bearing children is the highest honor she can achieve (mama’s words…not mine). Well, another one of those dates ends in flames, but Azere winds up meeting and having a one night stand with Rafael (who is white). What was supposed to be a one night thing turns into something much more than either Azere or Rafael anticipated.
There are so many different facets to this story, and I know I won’t be able to hit all of them, but there’s a few that I do want to focus on.
The entire discussion around the struggle that immigrants face due to the clash of one’s home culture versus the new culture they must assimilate to was eye-opening and raw. You can tell that Azere really grapples with trying preserve her Nigerian culture, but she also knows that Canada is her home and world as well. There’s this entire examination of the push pull between old world and new that I think Igharo nails.
I loved both Azere’s and Rafael’s characters. Both of them are incredibly passionate, fierce, and loyal to their families and customs. As someone who is biracial and in an interracial marriage, I 100% related to all of the struggles and complexities that Azere and Rafael face when you have people from different cultures coming together in a relationship. Azere doesn’t want her Nigerian heritage forgotten and Rafael’s Spanish customs are incredibly important to him as well. The author does a fantastic job of showing the struggles and complicated communications that couples face when you ultimately have to address compromising heritage and customs in favor of love and happiness.
I just can’t recommend this book enough!
Thank you to Berkley for providing a review copy through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
At the age of twelve Azere promised her dying father that she would make him proud, grow up and marry a Nigerian man to preserve her culture. Azere is now no longer living in Nigeria and has migrated with her family to Canada.
Azere’s mother loves to interfere with Azere’s life and sets her up on dates with men who she thinks would be a good fit for her daughter. But the men that Azere’s mother has in mind do not usually line up with Azere is looking for in a man.
Until one evening when a date gone wrong leads Azere to Rafael. Rafael is nothing like the men that Azere’s mother has been setting her up on. He’s sweet, funny and most importantly not Nigerian. Azere believes that her night with Rafael was just that – one night together. When Rafael ends up working at the same firm Azere works at, Azere has to decide if she wants to try to make a relationship work with Rafael or obey her fathers wishes and marry a Nigerian man.
I’m going to preface this review by stating that I am a second generation Indian-American. My mom migrated to America when she was in high school and my dad migrated in his early twenties. I completely understand what Azere is going through and how she is being pulled into two directions. On one hand she wants to obey her parents wishes and do as they say, and yet she’s had to assimilate and now has her Canadian culture mixed in as well.
There were parts of this book where I had to stop and share passages with my husband because we related so much to what Azere was going through. Azere did make a promise to her father, but at what cost? Will she ever be able to make her own choices – even if her choices may possibly have her lose part of her culture and alienate her from her family?
Jane Igharo is such a talented writer. I loved the way she wove the story from Azere’s past and present. And the way she incorporated rom-coms into the books was a delight!
Read Ties That Tether if you’re looking to learn more about a culture that may be different than your own. I loved learning about Azere’s Nigerian heritage and her struggles with assimilating to her new Canadian culture.
Ties That Tether was a great debut by Jane Igharo! I look forward to reading more of her work!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.