A Love of Convenience

by Adesuwa O'man Nwokedi

Ezioma is finally marrying Dili, the man she has loved for almost all her life. Except it's not a real marriage, but one arranged for Dili to get his Green Card. It all seems straightforward...except for the fact that Ezioma is still head over heels in love with him, while his heart is with his fiancée back home in Nigeria.

It is a recipe for disaster.

Or is it?

Genres: Romance

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2023

About the author

The Writer, who became an Engineer, who became an Investment Banker, who became a Fertility Spokesperson, who became…a Writer.
That has been the journey of A. T. Nwokedi, aka The Fertile Chick. A self confessed hopeless romantic, when she is not creating new characters, she devotes her time to creating memories with her husband and their three children.

Reviews

[Rasheedat]

Well written but I struggled a lot with it due to the premise - a love based on infidelity and hurting a third party isn't a love story I'd be excited about. This is my first read of this author, had heard great things about them. Here's to hoping my next is better.

[Amaka Azie]

Phew! A rollercoaster of emotions 😩❤️❤️❤️

Not your typical boy meets girl love story!

I enjoyed this storyline. A love story between Dili and Ezioma that endures immigration issues and breast cancer.

I read it years ago and loved it, now reading the revised version, I love it even more!

Ezioma is the other woman in this relationship and at first, I found myself judging her, upset about her bad choices, and then I despised Dili for putting her through it.

I had to ask myself why I was judging Ezioma more than Dili, and then I realised I’m doing what society does in these kinds of circumstances, put the blame on the women.

And that’s wrong. Sometimes, we are harder on women for doing the same thing men do.

I digress…

About A Love of Convenience…

The love between Ezioma and Dili was so heartfelt, enduring immigration issues and breast cancer.
I felt all the emotions— anger, irritation, sadness, righteous indignation and then relief.

The ending was soooo sweet! Loved it.

Highly recommend for lovers of realistic African romance.

Possible Triggers- Infidelity and cancer (in depth description of illness and treatment)

[Daisy]

Yenyenyen Yenyen! First Adesuwa’s book I’ll be hating. I hate hate this book. I hate how stupidly in love Ezioma is. I hate how delusional she is. I hate she acts like an old fool. I hate that Okwudili didn’t really seem to worth all that stres. I hate that this book is about cheating. I hate that I’m somehow expected to love these two despite Okwudili’s cheating. Is Onyeka leaving him for another man supposed to justify it cause it ducking didn’t?

I hope and pray authors can stop writing about cheating partners cause NOTHING justifies cheating. Absolutely NOTHING!!

[Lola]

lol

[Obiageriaku Onugha]

I found this love story, utterly refreshing. My emotions were all over the place. I mean Adesuwa O'man Nwokedi is doing the damn thing.

[Toluwanimi Odebode]

What exactly is so great about Okwudili?!

[Frances]

Ezioma is exhausting! I got tired of the number of times they fought and made up, one big fight is enough. It also dragged a bit towards the end and I just wanted to get it over with.

3.5

[Youcee Anaekwe]

Ezioma has Loved Dili almost all her life but at the back of her mind she knows he will never notice her, or so she believes.
Many years later she runs into him and offers him a life saving opportunity, she thinks ,finally she will get her happily ever after but life has other plans.

—
Beauty is only skin deep.
I loved this book because many women go through life deeply insecure about their bodies and worry they aren’t pretty enough. This was deeply rooted in Ezioma as she always saw herself as subpar to others without realizing that she was the real deal.

This book deals with social issues like Inferiority Complex and self esteem issues, Immigration, Marriage and family and most of all people battling with cancer.
—
I trust Adesuwa to wring you dry with emotional rollercoaster.
My highlight of this book for me was when Ezioma went from worrying about not having a husband at forty to staying alive the next day. It goes to remind you how fickle and unpredictable life is.

Thank you for the amazing music collection, you make reading so enjoyable 🥰.

P.S: this takes me back to our Okada and Bambooks days 😊😊😊

[Chimandbooks]

DNF’d at 24%
Why am I reading a book where the FMC thinks of herself like this? The MMC is poor and she has loved him since they were 5💀
Why is she offering to help him with getting a green card and for free? Why is she thinking he will fall in love with her (while he has a fiancée in Nigeria) even though she isn’t his type?!
Why did the MMC mistakenly say she wasn’t pretty? I’m not sure when I’m supposed to start liking him.
I thought it was just going to be a normal marriage of convenience but this is not it.
Saved myself by googling the end, yay they ended up together🫠 Anyway, I should have DNF’d sooner.

[Excel Edwin]

I'm still riding the emotional rollercoaster from this book! Ezi delusions had me frustrated, and Dili's confusion was like, what?! 😩Their constant fights and miscommunication were draining, I was like, "Just talk it out already!" 😂 But then, the breast cancer subplot hit me like a ton of bricks 💔. It was so raw and detailed, I couldn't help but tear up. The music, though... 😭 it was the cherry on top. It just made the whole experience more real. Despite Ezi being super annoying (I wanted to shake her sometimes 😂), I'd give it 3.5 stars.😄

[Gracie Wandyte]

As a music lover, there’s no way I wouldn’t have fallen for this book.
I enjoyed it so much and no part was boring.
It was savage!!! most especially that part where onyeka said (… dry old suya).
Ezi was acting all childish 🤦🏻‍♀️, but I felt sorry for her.
Dili was acting like a confused human being 🤦🏻‍♀️, it would have been nice to read his POV.
I love how Seth carried his bag and left 😂

[Russell]

4.5 ⭐️
What can I say?

Adesuwa can do no wrong. I need to know how many hours she has in a day, because it is certainly not the same as the rest of us.

[eniola_reads]

An arranged marriage trope that begins with an unrequited or a one sided love soon turns into something more for Ezioma but is the feeling mutual or is she alone in her feelings, read to find out. As usual, Adesuwa manages to blow my mind every single time.

[Nelly]

A 0.5 review because it was very triggering for me. I don't understand why Dili had to leave his fiancee of SEVERAL YEARS for Ezi in the name of a stupid love that came after he got engaged to another. Msteeeeewwwwww

[IyanuOluwa Olorode]

Grab a box of tissues for this one. It will melt your heart.

[Feyi Aina]

My absolute favourite book by Adesuwa. I wept, I laughed, I was invested in the story.

Thank you for gifting us with this story.

[Uche Ezeudu]

In this beautiful book, the Queen of Romance takes us on a romantic journey of a love that seems so unlikely—convenient, even, if we go by the title. It is a story that relies heavily on music as a tool to convey the heart when ordinary words simply won't suffice.

We meet Ezioma, a high-flying career woman in her late thirties based in America, who is living her best life, single. In a chance meeting, she reconnects with her childhood crush, Dili, who is currently at his wit's end trying to find a foothold in America while facing possible deportation. Ezioma, an American citizen, offers Dili an innocent marriage proposal to fast-track his journey to citizenship. At first, it looks like a decent arrangement, save for the fact that Ezioma's childhood crush on Dili never really went away. Dili, on the other hand, is unwilling to see her as more than the girl he grew up with, especially with a fiancée waiting for him back in Nigeria.

For all it's worth, there are no good or bad people here, just humans who are inherently flawed. I cannot categorically cast aspersions on Ezioma's character. It is easy to say she should have steered clear of someone else's man, but he who brings home ant-infested firewood has surely invited lizards to a feast. Told solely from Ezioma's point of view, we get a front-row seat to the emotion and the reasoning behind her actions.

The author brings several deep themes to the fore, starting with insecurity and low self-esteem. Despite everything Ezioma has achieved, she harbors a deep insecurity about not being pretty enough. Comparison is truly the thief of joy, making her feel unworthy and willing to settle for crumbs. Another theme detailed so well is women's health, specifically breast cancer awareness and familial risk. It reads as a masterclass on awareness without ever feeling over the top as we follow Ezioma's health journey.

At its core, unrequited love forms the pillar of this book, capturing how exhausting it feels to love someone who doesn't love you back. While the main leads usually end up together in romance, I honestly couldn't see the possibility with these two. Can one really choose love in the face of morals and obligation? Love is hard work and completely unpredictable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially how seamlessly the author infused her love for fashion and music into the narrative. It created an entirely new, exciting world, and I was at my peak joy reading this masterpiece. I absolutely recommend it.

[Mimi]

My emotions are all over the place and I fear I might find it hard to express myself properly while writing this review.

I genuinely, sincerely love this book so much, even beyond my own control. To think I was so close to DNFing this book because I couldn't immerse myself into the characters quickly like I wanted. I started reading this book around eleven something at night with Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith playing most of the duration of reading this book on repeat.

This book follows a marriage of convenience between Ezi and her childhood crush Dilli so he can get a green card. What starts as a marriage of convenience develops into a love story of time.

Reading this book felt like I was in the characters' lives. I know them so well, the only problem is they don't know me while I know practically everything about them.

I'm not really a fan of the infidelity trope, but I really loved this one. I just wanted Dilli and Ezi to end up together, even though I know that's kind of selfish because Onyeka also deserves better.

I resonated so well with the breast cancer subplot. As someone who has undergone breast lump surgery at an earlier stage of my life, this was so emotional. It brought back memories of my pre- and post-surgery time in the hospital.

As much as I loved this book, there were things I didn't like as well. The whole miscommunication between Ezi and Dilli was so frustrating, especially on Ezi's part. I'm not a fan of the twist with Onyeka. It just felt like a sort of excuse to make her look bad, which I didn't like at all.

That being said, this book explores infidelity, immigrants' lives, breast cancer, self-esteem, and many other themes.

[MOmo]

this book made me be in all of my feelings

I started This book today, I absolutely did not expect that I was going to finish it today as well. I started reading it with the reminder that’s OK I will take my time. I will read drop it and then pick it up again and all of that but guess what I couldn’t stop myself from reading at the point I had to just take a break from the activities that was involved in to just finish reading this book. I read this book and I would say it broke me. Seriously I felt so strongly about the story it’s a love story. It’s about passion. It’s about you know marrying for sacrifice at the same time is also about you know betrayal it’s about finding love in later in mom‘s life and it’s really touched me. Please note that I am writing this review using Dictation so if there’s any issues with spelling, that’s what is happening, but honestly, I also cried while reading this book, I can’t remember the last time I cried while reading a book. I loved this book and I encourage everyone to read it. I am happy to add a happy ever after my goodness I cried it’s this book is also about finding one self after experiencing pain trauma, sickness, and illness. It’s about how low true love is when it seems like all of his loss and then that person shows up it was such as touching story

[Munis Bukola]

Review: 3.5 Stars

Ezioma isn’t conventionally pretty, but she’s brilliant. Dili, on the other hand, is undeniably handsome. She had loved him since she was five years old, but he was in love with his long-term fiancée back in Nigeria.

When Dili needed papers, accommodation, and work, Ezioma married him “to help with the papers and stuff,” even though she loved him deeply. Despite her feelings, Dili constantly raved about his beautiful fiancée in Nigeria. Realizing he would never fall for her, Ezioma gave up hope. Yet, as events unfolded, they somehow fell hopelessly in love.

My Opinion:
• The cancer subplot felt unnecessary—it shifted the story from a light, easy read to something unexpectedly dark.
• Let’s be honest: Dili is a red flag.
• Ezioma clearly struggles with self-esteem, which she really needs to work on.

Overall, while the story had its moments, certain elements made it feel uneven.
Not Adesuwas best work.

[tomi sanni 💕]

I have to start by saying I'm not a fan of cheating tropes. I don't like stories where someone has to get hurt for two people to end up together, and that's exactly how I felt while reading A Love of Convenience. Even though Onyeka made some terrible decisions, I couldn't completely hate her because she was hurting too. The cheating wasn't romantic to me. It just left a trail of hurt, and I kept thinking about everyone caught in the middle.

That said, this book completely pulled me out of my reading slump and reminded me why Adesuwa is one of my favorite authors. Ezioma stressed me out so much because she kept self-sabotaging every time life started getting better. And after everything she put Dili through, did she really think he was just going to welcome her back with open arms? Girl, be serious. Despite all my frustration, this was such a beautifully written, emotional story that I couldn't put it down. It's an easy 4 stars from me.

[Divine Parker]

I really had a hard time getting through this book, honestly. (And that pains me to say as a hugeee Adesuwa fan)

A love story based on infidelity is one I can't and WON'T embrace. It was morally questionable and mentally draining in more ways than one

But what pissed me off the most was her (The author) using Ezioma's cancer as a redemption arc for Dili. She just needed a quick escape, something to justify his unruly behaviour throughout the book and prove to us that he is indeed a good person at the end, oh pleaseeeee😒

I think I would have rated it a little higher if it had a tragic ending befitting the bizarre storyline instead of a happy one.

[Ifeoluwa Shobande]

My heart goes out to everyone suffering from cancer one way or the other. The pain she went through, I felt all all her pain, her love, and everything. I understand why some people go through things and not tell anyone about it, I said I understand, but I don't like the secretive part, but I understand. Thank God she finds her sense at last.

Thank you, Adesuwa O’man Nwokedi, for this painful experience and love.

[Neny Opeodu]

This was a great read. Finished in one sitting, because the story was so nicely written. However, I’m holding back one star because I didn’t like how she used the same endearment for Dili that Onyeka used. That gave me the ick a little bit.

That aside though, I like how the love developed and particularly how I felt the pain she went through every step of the way.

[Chichi]

Honestly, it’s like this author dislikes women deeply. In all her works I’ve read, it’s glaring. Yes, women aren’t perfect individuals. But the level of stupidity they show in her books due to lack of common sense and low self esteem is quite something.

Sometimes this can work in making a somewhat interesting story, but most times, in cases like this one, it just doesn’t.

[Micky]

I exclaimed out loud when I finished this;
Adesuwa is a brilliant woman 👏🏾 a) for coming up with a story like that, b) for being so thorough, b) while being a mum herself, d) a working woman, and e) for getting me sucked up in the story although I am not very pro romance👏🏾

What a lovely and heartbreaking story. It feels so mature and real.

[Priscilla Obaseki]

Amazing read

Amazing read! Finished it in less than 24 hours. Adesuwa is an amazing author! This is my second book from her and she had me hooked all through the entire time. I’m a sucker for romance novels and this one was equally amazing!

[Azula]

Quite an emotional read,4/5 amazing writing.

[Sunnie]

Well written as usual but I dropped it midway. A “love story” based on infidelity just isn’t my cup of tea.

[Dorcas Eduk]

What a rollercoaster
Omggg