Women Rent Men and Secrets Here

by Damilare Kuku

‘Kuku’s stories are delectable and fun.’ – GUARDIAN

‘Queen of the banging book title . . . I loved it.’ – NIKKI MAY

‘Sharply observational, funny and profound.’ – BOLU BABALOLA

Ara Ikoyi is out of time. Three bestsellers behind her, she has no new story – until her neighbour, Juicy Mbelu, is accused of killing her sugar daddy.

The scandal has everyone talking and Ara knows it’s her next hit. But Juicy will only talk on two Ara must trade secrets with the women of their Lagos estate, and she has to tell the story exactly as it is.

As whispers turn to revelations, Ara is pulled into a web of buried truths, dangerous power dynamics and ruthless judgement.

Can she tell Juicy's story without destroying them both? Or are some secrets too deadly to uncover?

Genres: Fiction, African Literature

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 30, 2026

Reviews

[iyinolaoluwamide O]

I’m just upset after reading this . Makes absolutely no sense .. like the plot was there … then it wasn’t…

[Nana Ama]

I hate the fact that I bought this book with my hard earned money because now I have to see it sitting on my shelf as I can’t just get rid of it. If it’d been an ebook, I’d have had the pleasure of deleting it from my device.
The ending was so weird and made no sense. It feels like the author was forced to submit the ending of the book and just wrote some nonsense.
I skipped to the end after getting annoyed with all the gossip a few chapter in so I didn’t get too excited or involved at least. I’m very disappointed. I expected better.
Her editors should be ashamed of themselves for the part they played in this book being released. Everyone involved in the making of this book should’ve done better.

[Auggie]

I finished reading Women Rent Men and Secrets Here over the weekend, and it was the perfect Friday read that kept me company indoors.

The story follows Ara, a writer living in House 21 Estate in Ikoyi. She’s deep in a serious writer’s block with both her Nigerian and US agents breathing down her neck for a new book. Just when she’s about to give up, her neighbour Juicy gets accused of killing her sugar daddy, and suddenly, there’s gist everywhere.

From that point, peace left House 21. Secrets started flying, and Ara was such a ride! Bold, nosey in the best way, and unafraid to chase the truth, even when it got messy. Those secret-for-secret moments? My jaw was on the floor. The tension, the confessions, the drama! It was like Lagos gossip in book form.

Damilare Kuku knows how to write women who feel alive, funny, flawed, daring, and sometimes a little messy. And that ending? A huge cliffhanger. I closed the book and just stared into space like, excuse me, ma’am? We need part two.

Solid 4 ⭐️ from me. It’s dramatic, fast-paced, and full of juicy twists. Definitely a fun weekend read.

[G_occasionally_reads [semi-hiatus cuz work]]

Another Nigerian author I want to read more. This was such an interesting read.
Some reviews (yes, I had the unhealthy idea of actually reading a few reviews before starting it) argue that the book ends abruptly, but I do not agree, and actually I could have done without the last chapter, although ok, that would have left me wondering.

🇳🇬 The book revolves around a Nigerian novelist (who is our MC and tells the story in first person) who meets the other tenants of the same residential estate and finds they are all women.
🇳🇬 The novelist then learns that a tenant is in prison for killing her “sugar daddy” (the author’s words, not mine - I am too caucasian to take liberties with these words), and she decides she’ll write her next novel about her story.
🇳🇬 From there, a series of absurd events and shady characters are introduced. What all these characters have in common is strong opinions on women’s role in Nigerian society and being noisy as hell (including our MC, let’s be real).
🇳🇬 The book got better and better. We get a glimpse into Nigerian society, esp. Lagos. We also get a glimpse into how women are treated by men and other women, while we follow the MC in finding who killed the man.

Entertaining. Enjoyable. And a wonderful narrator.

[Frances]

The best way to describe this book is with a graph 📉 it had a really strong start and was a real page turner, but the ending fell flat, it felt rushed and anti-climatic.

[nyakhakhu_]

4.25

What a ride, but the ending was underwhelming?

[Nemereads]

3.5
Is the author aware that it is a novel and not short story?!? What is this ending? Ughhh. Everything was great until the end and I’m tempted to reduce my rating

[Maria-Faustina]

Damiluru Kuku knows ball! This was just perfect read !!


Amazing suspense to keep you going, couldn’t let go.

[Sonia's Tales]

I wrote this review immediately after finishing the book because I didn't want to forget anything.

This book follows Ara Ikoyi, a writer stuck in a serious writing slump. However, when news breaks that a sugar daddy has been murdered by one of her neighbours, Juicy, in House Twenty-One Estate, she regains her mojo. But her quest to turn the murder case into a compelling story forces her to dig up secrets and confront a past she has long tried to bury.

First off, this book is a 3.5⭐ read for me. I actually battled with rating it, so I went on Goodreads to read reviews and check other ratings and, honestly, the mixed reactions are justified. This book had the potential to earn a 4.5⭐ from me, but the ending was disappointing. I expected more!

If you love gist, secrets, drama, and even humour, you'll definitely eat this up. I absolutely love Damilare Kuku's sense of humour and the way she captures the reality of Lagos in her writing; it is brilliant.

Talking about Juicy, she is incredibly resilient. I loved the way Damilare wrote her story. She carried the burden of her family from such a young age, and honestly, I kept wondering what her parents were doing. Juicy's mother irritated me because why would you put so much on a child? Juicy's character symbolises strength and the silenced voice of the innocent because why was she the one to take the fall? And the way the other women neglected and hurled insults at her? Too bad.

However, some things didn't quite land for me:

1. Some of the“secrets," despite being shocking, can't really be called secrets. To me, they were mostly gist, and some felt irrelevant to the plot. I think that could have been dedicated to strengthening the ending instead.

2. Ara's character wasn't fully developed. Beyond being Ara Ikoyi, running helter-skelter in search of justice for Juicy, I wanted more depth. I especially wanted more insight into her second personality and how it tied into the overall plot.

3. The major plot twist (the killer's reveal) happened too casually. I wish tension had been built up the same way it was when the women spilled the secrets.

4. Like Ara herself questioned, what exactly is the relationship between Yele, Njoku, Nicholas...and even Farouk? I genuinely believe there was something deeper there, and I really wish it had been explored further.

5. Lastly, the question on everyone's lips: what was that ending? The ending felt rushed. I want to believe it's a cliffhanger and there'll be a sequel. Cliffhangers mess with my reading experience, fr.

Beyond the secrets and drama, this book also explores themes of identity and becoming, greed, domestic abuse, corruption, power, and prostitution. It also raises questions about parenting patterns and the long-term effects they can have on children.

Overall, this book is good, but it could have been better. What I especially loved were the pacing, the short chapters (my favourite), the humour, and the relatability. There were moments I shouted“Jesus!" while reading, and honestly, I wanted to enter the book and become a character so badly. I even wrote all over the pages of the book because there was nobody to rant to (my bookish bad habit 😂).

I quite enjoyed this book, and I don't even know if this review convinces you to read it, lol. Whatever you decide, that's on you, but if you do read it, please let me know your thoughts too!

[Haddy • haddyreadsbooks]

⚠️ This review is a bit long ⚠️

I just finished reading Women Rent Men And Secrets Here, Damilare Kuku’s third book, and I am honestly at a loss for words.

This is one of those books that stays with you long after you close the last page. The kind that lingers in your mind, makes you pause, reflect, and sit with uncomfortable truths. I already know this book will remain with me for a very long time — alongside other deeply moving reads that carry weight, grief, and depth

This story is layered with secrets — dark, gut-wrenching, and deeply disturbing secrets — all tied to the women living within the same estate. Discovering how these secrets intertwine was shocking and, at times, overwhelming. These women have endured terrible experiences, and those experiences have shaped them into people driven by survival rather than empathy. Kindness, love, and compassion have been replaced by self-preservation — and the results are devastating.

What makes this book so compelling is that while you are horrified by the characters’ actions, you are also forced to confront how they got there. Their descent into depravity wasn’t sudden or linear. It was a slow accumulation of abandonment, systemic failure, exploitation, and repeated trauma. And that makes the story deeply unsettling — because it feels real.

This book raises painful questions about society:
About power, greed, and corruption.
About how easily systems fail the vulnerable.
About how people in authority can destroy lives without consequence.
About how survival, when prolonged and unsupported, can strip people of their humanity.

It also confronts parenting in an unflinching way — showing how some children are forced to grow up too soon, burdened with responsibilities they never chose. Children are not solutions, not emotional crutches, not breadwinners. They are children — and this book makes that truth painfully clear.

Damilare Kuku once again demonstrates her ability to address complex societal issues with subtlety and depth. Themes of trafficking, prostitution, greed, lust, corruption, and violence are woven together with care and intention. Layer by layer, the rot within the system — and within people — is exposed.

This was not an easy read. I had to pause multiple times to process what I was reading. But it was a necessary one.

Women Rent Men And Secrets Here is haunting, thought-provoking, and emotionally heavy. It is easily one of my top five reads of 2025. I know I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

[Sheila Mongare]

The book is well written, captivating and capturing the reader’s attention from the beginning.
I give it 3 stars for the ending that felt too abrupt and didn’t give any closure on the story.

[oyin_reads]

Damilare Kuku did fantastically well with this one. My mind is actually blown. Great work.

[Maniki_021]

Ara, a successful writer struggling to come up with an idea for her next book, suddenly finds herself with a story when her neighbour, Obiageli “Juicy” Mbelu, is accused of killing her sugar daddy.

Unfortunately, this didn't quite live up to the expectations I had going in. The book started off really slowly, but I appreciated the short chapters, so I soldered on. Around page 70, things finally started picking up and I became much more interested in where the story was going. The premise had so much potential to be messy, intriguing and layered, but for me, the execution didn't quite get there.

1. Ara's character:

Ara was one of my biggest disappointments. She's at the centre of everything, yet I never felt that I really got to know her. We learn pieces of her history, or how her past shaped the way she interacts with these women and approaches the story she's trying to uncover. For a character who is essentially our entry point into everything happening at House 21, the book failed dismally.

2. Njoku and the women of House 21

I wanted much more history here. How did these women come to know Njoku? How did they all end up at House 21? What were their individual relationships with him, and more importantly, with each other?

3. Njoku's death and Edith

For such a pivotal event, Njoku's death didn't create the sense of urgency I expected. It felt oddly underplayed considering how much of the story revolves around him. I was particularly curious about Edith. Did she know what her husband was getting up to with these women? How did she know them? Did she ever confront them or him? I wanted to see what the fallout from all of this actually looked like but it never really materialised.

4. Ara's past

Ara's story about growing up in an orphanage and having her baby taken away was one of the parts I really wanted more of. These are significant experiences that could have added so much emotional depth to her character. I almost wish this had been introduced much earlier, perhaps even in the prologue, and then gradually unfolded as the story progressed. Instead, it arrives much later and left me wondering whether there was supposed to be more to it. Is there going to be a sequel? 👀

5. Njoku, Farouk, Yele and Nicholas, how do these 4 fit together ????

6. Then there's Juicy's release. Her lawyer manages to get her out, and I'm sitting there like… okay, but how? 😭 After everything that had happened, how did the lawyer actually make that happen???

7. The whole secret-sharing thing, quite underwhelming.

There were also a few chapters where I found myself wondering what their purpose was and where exactly the story was trying to take me. Some scenes felt like they were sitting beside the main storyline rather than moving it forward.

8. And then… jiki jiki… chapter 47.

We're suddenly in the future??? Haibo Kuku sana ????

Beautiful cover though.

[Takyiwaa]

I have read all Damilare’s books and I must say I do enjoy them. I liked the elements of the different women and how it showcases how you little people know about their neighbours. I found the writing really engaging and easy to read.

The ending was a bit rushed for me as there were lots of things happening at once and so quickly as well. I do wish there was a bit more explanation with the characters that popped up at the end and how they came along for example her son who she gave up for adoption and her suddenly getting a husband.

I still enjoyed the book, just wish the ending gave us a bit more to work with.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC!

[Gloria- The Lazyy Scribe]

Kuku relies heavily on shared cultural knowledge, creating an ‘if you know you know’ dynamic that rewards the culturally attuned reader. It’s a typical high-tier roman à clef! The ending was rushed. There was still room for a few more chapters. I enjoyed reading.

3.75⭐️

[Bookmaniac_60]

I finished this book a while ago, but it lingered with me longer than I expected — the kind that keeps replaying scenes in your head even when you’re no longer reading.

Women Rent Men and Secrets Here is fast-paced, funny, and soaked in suspense. Damilare Kuku has a way of pulling you in gently and then tightening the tension without you noticing until you’re fully caught. The writing is smooth and accessible, which makes the unfolding chaos even more effective.
Ara, in particular, felt incredibly real to me — flawed, curious, and constantly teetering between doing the right thing and getting completely consumed by it. I also really enjoyed the use of multiple POVs; they added layers to the story and made the secrets feel heavier, more dangerous. And trust me, the secrets in this book are oshelegen. I found myself annotating reactions more than observations — there were moments that genuinely made me shout “mogbe.”
Emotionally, this book puts you through stages. There’s shock, there’s anger, and then there’s that moment when you realise the story is ending… and it’s ending on a cliffhanger. I won’t say much more than that, except that Damilare Kuku owes us a second book, and I’m saying that with love.
One thing I can’t ignore is the women in the estate. If you’ve read this book, you already know what I mean. The audacity. The decisions. The “they did what, to who, and where?” energy. At some point, I genuinely decided that I don’t want to hear anybody’s secrets again — because in this world, secrets are never just secrets.
As Ara digs deeper in an attempt to prove Juicy’s innocence, she becomes more entangled in a web that keeps tightening. Whether she manages to escape or gets completely devoured is something the book leaves you thinking hard about.

[Adaora]

This book follows Ara Ikoyi, a writer who’s drowning in writer’s block and life pressure, until her neighbour, Juicy Mbelu becomes the centre of a scandal so wild that the entire country is talking. Juicy is accused of killing her sugar daddy, and before she even gets a chance to speak, everyone has already judged her guilty.

Then, she finally offers Ara a chance to hear her truth. But, for Ara to get that access, she has to trade secrets with the other women in their estate, and that’s where everything becomes complicated, emotional, and honestly…painfully real.

What I Loved

1. The women in this book are so real. Flawed, bold, scared, ambitious, messy, but still trying to survive the world the best way they can.

2. The Lagos setting? Perfect. Gossip, judgement, double standards, wealth, secrets…she captured it so well that you can almost hear the estate WhatsApp group buzzing.

3. Juicy’s backstory broke me. I love how the book refuses to reduce her to “just a sugar baby.” You see the circumstances, the vulnerability, the fear, the ambition, everything that makes her human.

4. Ara’s internal struggle felt extremely relatable. That conflict between doing what’s morally right and doing what benefits your career? Whew. Many people won’t admit it, but it is real.

5. The theme of trading secrets was brilliant.
It shows how women carry things quietly just to keep going, and what happens when silence becomes too heavy.

This book is bold, messy, unapologetic, and deeply thought-provoking. It’s a story about the economy of affection, how society judges women harshly, the weight of survival, and how truth can both save you and destroy you.

[Ndeapo Haimbili]

Is this a novel or a short story?? There was a disconnect between the characters and some parts feel like they were thrown in there for word count sakes. The writing style kept changing, and that ending?? What was that?? 2 stars because they wrote a book i guess.

[Ife]

Ending felt too abrupt for me. I wanted more closure. The twists and turns were gripping. Nice and quick read. Very interesting stories for all the characters.

[Aisha Ahman]

You know that feeling when you pick up a book expecting the usual, and then it surprises you in a way you didn’t even know you needed? That was me with Women Rent Men and Secrets Here.

It follows Ara a writer who’s deep in the trenches of serious writer’s block until her neighbour Juicy, becomes the talk of the entire place after being linked to the death of her sugar daddy. And just like that, Ara’s curiosity switches on like generator light.
Half the time she felt like a one-woman investigative unit. The way she moves around the estate trying to understand the story had me hooked like I was right there peeping through curtains with her. And the funniest part is how the women in that estate act like they don’t want to talk… but they’re the first to drop information if you squeeze them small. The chaos that follows Ara everywhere? Honestly, it was giving ...this Lagos will show you shege and still give you a story worth telling.

What I loved is how the whole thing unfolds without feeling forced. Ara isn’t some perfect heroine, she’s just someone trying to get material for her next book and somehow finds herself knee-deep in drama she didn’t sign up for. And the women she meets? My God. They’re loud, soft, dramatic, secretive, loyal, everything at once. It felt like watching different layers of womanhood peel open one by one, in the most unfiltered way.

And even though the book revolves around Juicy, the girl who killed her sugar daddy and turned the whole estate upside down, the story isn’t really about murder. It’s about the things women carry, the secrets they live with, the pressures they carry quietly, the things they hide even from themselves. Ara becomes this lens we see them through..

It’s fast-paced in the best way. I didn’t feel bored for one second. I was literally eyeballing everything, side-eyes flying up and down because you know how Damilare Kuku writes, drama is never far away. And she did not come to play with this one. This book gave me everything I thought I was going to get and then added extra pepper on top.

If you want a read that pulls you in with gist, layered characters, and that kind of chaos that feels both familiar and addictive, this one is definitely worth picking up!

[Riam Adams]

I just finished reading Women Rent Men and Secrets Here, Damilare Kuku’s third book, and I honestly love it .... the opening statement made me more curious to know what is next aside the catchy title.
"a tenant has killed someone in the estate, so we need to increase the rent"
Women Rent Men and Secrets Here is a gripping, fast-paced novel that explores secrets, judgment, and the hidden lives of women in a Lagos estate. Through gossip, mystery, and shared confessions, the story exposes how society quickly condemns women while ignoring deeper truths.

The story develops through a slow unraveling of secrets as Ara Ikoyi investigates a shocking scandal in her Lagos estate. What begins as curiosity and professional ambition quickly deepens into a tense exchange of confessions, with each woman’s story revealing layers of betrayal, power, and social hypocrisy. As gossip spreads and judgment intensifies, the narrative builds suspense and emotional weight, showing how hidden truths shape relationships and ultimately redefine Ara’s understanding of truth, loyalty, and womanhood.

The characters in Women Rent Men and Secrets Here develop through the gradual exposure of their secrets and vulnerabilities. Ara Ikoyi evolves from a detached, ambitious writer into a more self-aware and empathetic observer as she becomes emotionally involved in the women’s stories. The supporting female characters are revealed in layers, moving beyond gossip and stereotypes to show their fears, desires, and survival strategies. This progression highlights how judgment, power, and societal pressure shape their choices and identities.

I would recommend this book because it is engaging, thought-provoking, and culturally rich. It gives strong, realistic female perspectives and tackles important themes like double standards, power, and survival in a way that feels honest and bold. It’s an easy but impactful read that stays with you even after you finish.

[Lee]

I genuinely don't know whether to applaud Damilare Kuku or ask her why she enjoys stressing innocent readers.

Women, Rent, Men and Secrets Here is one of those books that reminds you that life can be painfully unfair. I kept hoping Ara and Juicy would somehow find peace after everything they'd endured. Instead, the story kept reminding me that being a victim of circumstance doesn't automatically earn you a happy ending. Life simply doesn't care.

The ending? Haba. We never even find out if Ara survives. We're left hanging with more questions than answers, and maybe that's exactly the point.

My theory is that Njoku's wife orchestrated his death. Solomon may have started it, but the women in that estate finished it. It felt less like revenge from one person and more like justice served by women who had finally had enough of an abusive, cheating man.

One of my favourite moments was when Ara finally dealt with the house mother. I don't usually celebrate violence, but that woman had it coming. Some people spend years creating monsters and then act shocked when those monsters fight back.

Juicy's mother, on the other hand, frustrated me from beginning to end. So many of Juicy's problems could have been avoided if the adults around her had made better decisions. Poverty can push people into impossible situations, but sometimes people also make terrible choices all by themselves.

This isn't a neat story with heroes and villains. It's messy, uncomfortable and deeply human. Every character is carrying pain, and that pain keeps spilling onto someone else.

By the final page, I wasn't just thinking about Ara. I was thinking about how easily people become casualties of other people's decisions.

A heartbreaking, unsettling read that refuses to give easy answers.

[Idinma Temple]

Damilare, girl, I love you, but this isn't it.

The book is actually a 2.75, but I rounded it up because half stars aren't a thing on Goodreads. I'm not exactly sure where things went wrong here, because the premise was good and so was the initial execution of it. I feel like it fell off somewhere in the middle.

There were a lot of mini working parts that never came together in any meaningful way. I honestly had to go and check if this was book one in a series because so much was left unanswered and not even in a good way. I have read books where the readers are meant to fill in the blanks of what happened with their imagination, but it doesn't seem like that's what's happening here.

Ara Ikoyi, our main character, through whom we see the rest of the world, is neither interesting nor particularly memorable. I had a hard time rooting for her partly because her story is told in fragments; when we finally get the two big reveals, it's too late in the book to care.

I would have forgiven all that if the ending were worth the wait; it was not. The ending felt so rushed; I couldn't believe it. Not only do we not see how Juicy's case panned out, but we also do not see what happens to the other women or the sugar daddies. We are simply transported into the future, and everything is magically solved.

That being said, I love Damilare's writing; she's genuinely hilarious, and her works are such easy, bingeable reads. She has this tone that I have dubbed "Serious-Joking," where she talks about all that ails Nigeria as a country while actively poking fun at it, and this book is no different. She explores power, greed, corruption, and the multiple ways Nigeria fails to protect its youth, and for that alone it's worth the read.

[Nolia Reads]

I picked this up randomly for a flight and at first I was like… yeah I ate with this choice 😭

This follows Ara, a writer in Ikoyi dealing with serious writer’s block, when her neighbour Juicy gets accused of killing her sugar daddy and suddenly there’s gist everywhere. She decides to write about it but to get the full story, Ara has to start trading secrets with the women in the estate… and that’s where everything starts getting messy.

Let me start with what worked because I was INVESTED.

The writing? So easy to read. Very engaging. You open one chapter and you’re already in it. And the premise?? So fresh and different, I loved that immediately.

Also Ara as a character really carried this for me too. Messy, curious, always digging… she made the whole thing entertaining and kept me turning pages.

But somewhere along the way, it just lost direction.

It started feeling like too many ideas thrown in with no real direction. Secret after secret, twist after twist, but some of them were just so unnecessary 😭 like what even is that secret and why is it a secret please be serious. Instead of adding to the story, it just made everything feel scattered.

And the ending?? It felt rushed, incomplete, and honestly confusing in a way that wasn’t intentional. Not even a proper cliffhanger — just vibes and then it ended. Like we built all that tension for what exactly?

Which is so frustrating because this had everything to be a 5 star. The start was THAT good.

I’m not even mad at the book, I’m mad at the wasted potential 😭 but I can’t lie, it was still entertaining.

[Corrie Mwende]

This is a deliciously dramatic tale of women with secrets, the kind you whisper, trade… or swear you are taking straight to the grave.

The book has got sugar daddies bankrolling lifestyles, an influencer socialite (sugar baby) tangled in a murder conspiracy that lands her in jail, and her unlikely savior: the brilliant, decidedly unsocial neighbor-author who steps in, not entirely out of kindness, but to cure her own stubborn writer’s block. Honestly? The audacity lol.

The secrets in this book had me clutching my imaginary pearls. Anyone who observed me reading the book, would definitely read my facial expresions. They say sharing secrets lightens the burden, but whew… some of these confessions felt like lifelong subscriptions to silence. I was equally shocked and thrilled.

The ending? How dare it. I am absolutely going to need a Part 2 because I require closure. Immediately. Damilare please!!

The writing is effortlessly engaging, fun, sharp, and wickedly witty. And let’s just say this book sold me a plane ticket in my mind. Lagos, here I come.

Shoutout to Nuria Bookstore for gifting me this gem, that’s yet to be officially released!!.. and congratulations on securing the publishing rights!

To Damilare Kuku, after Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad completely wowed me, this one seriously competes. The range? Impressive. If you love glamour, scandal, secrets, and an easy read, this is it!

[Vanessa]

EYE think damilare kuku’s strength is her ability to craft truly creative & interesting worlds, stories, characters. i think she’s an ehhhh writer, but a creative storyteller. & i guess this is why i keep reading her books even tho i’m always left feeling empty, like it’s giving stockholm syndrome. atp, i just have to conclude (& this might be unnecessarily deep) that she’s just a lazy writer. each book, she pulls you in with an entertaining plot but the execution always falls short & i don’t think it’s because she can’t do the work.

the story unfolds with a sugar baby being accused to murdering her sugar daddy. i’m a big fan of excluded characters narrating a story about people around them so i was immediately intrigued about the residents at house twenty one estate, the fact that they are all women, the renting of secrets. but as i continued reading, i could tell kuku didn’t put much thought into it. the origin & motivation behind renting secrets wasn’t well-explained. what stops people from lying & revealing your secrets? some of the secrets exchanged weren’t even proportionately egregious. & that ending, idg? it was a lot to unpack & it was left very unpacked.

this is not an unentertaining book but it could have been much better, some reworking to make the story tighter & push it to excellence. & there are many modern nigerian books like this. what are our editors doing?

[MsSutania]

The secrets, boy, THE SECRETS! 😂
In usual Damilare Kuku fashion, this was a messy and entertaining read with somewhat comedic elements throughout. What I enjoyed most was how layered the women were. Each of them had a past, their own motivations and things they were determined to protect.

I especially enjoyed discovering how all of the women were connected. As the story unfolded, those connections became clearer and added another layer to everything happening within the estate. Just when you think you understand someone or have figured out what's going on, another secret comes to light and shifts the picture again.

My biggest issue was the ending. After such a dramatic climax, it felt unfinished. The story jumps forward without really exploring the immediate aftermath, and I was left thinking, but what happened in between?! I can see how that may have been intentional — so much of the story is about secrets and never quite knowing everything that is happening within the estate — but I still wanted more closure before we moved forward.

Overall, I liked this one but didn't love it. It had layered characters, plenty of drama and more than enough secrets to keep me interested, but Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad still remains my favourite Damilare Kuku.

[Rayo Reads]

Reading the acknowledgments of this book, the author wrote that she grew up watching a programme on LTV 8 called Nkan Be. I watched that show too, sometimes with my mom. And at that time, I was young... and when I listened to what was uttered on that show, it felt as if cold entered my body. You know that feeling when a shiver passes through your spine? Exactly—that’s what I felt when I watched the show and read this book.

I cannot count the times I closed the book and thought about what I read, the times I felt that feeling I described earlier! Crazy things are happening in House Twenty-One estate, o—crazy, crazy things!!! Things you read, and you begin to imagine how the author imagined it all and wrote it down. The secrets in this book will make you scream, “God, abeg!” And not to scare you, but prepare your mind!!! Don’t say I didn’t tell you, o!

Aside from the secrets, this book made me think of what women go through, the weight we carry on our shoulders, the secrets we are keeping within our deepest bellies, and the fact that the men in these women’s lives failed them! The way the book ended... Omo, I need more! What happened to Juicy las las?! And I have a lot of QUESTIONS, o! Damilare Kuku overdid herself with Women Rent Men and Secrets Here! In fact, shivers are still passing through my spine 😬.

[BookishCreativebyElsie]

It’s like Damilare doesn’t like joy and happiness oo… because… what is this?!

Women Rent Men and Secrets Here is an interesting, unputdownable read. The pace isn’t too racy, yet it keeps you fully engaged, you simply want to meet the different characters and uncover the worlds they inhabit. Along the way, Ara and Juicy’s stories begin to unfold: similar in some ways, yet different in how their lives and choices play out.

I found myself wanting more at the end, a clearer resolution. I kept wondering whether that final moment was truly an accident or an attempt on her life.

The themes are heavy, relevant, and unsettling: teenage pregnancy; young girls pushed by family members into prostitution to support the home (Juicy’s mother is the worst); sugar baby–sugar daddy relationships and the complications they bring; and secrets, secrets and more secrets!

Ha! What a book.
Would I recommend it? Of course!!!

Ps: Now what I don’t get is why Njoku was murdered. What was the trigger? Did Edith know Juicy was pregnant? But if she knew that then she’d also know of the other guy? I’m struggling to get the why….

[Amaka Azie]

I really enjoyed this story. The writing was engaging, with a vivid and often funny portrayal of the lives of sugar babies in Lagos.

The premise follows a writer battling writer’s block who stumbles into a story far bigger than she expected—the murder of a sugar daddy connected to someone living in her apartment complex. As she tries to uncover the truth, we also get glimpses into her own past and the complicated lives of the other kept women around her.

The book was engaging, funny, and well written overall. However, the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying. After such a strong buildup, I expected a resolution that tied the mystery together more clearly, but instead we’re left with more questions than answers.

Why was the sugar daddy killed?Who ordered the murder?Did Juicy ever get justice?

The cliffhanger left me feeling robbed after investing so much in the story. I’m honestly hoping there’s an extended epilogue or sequel because I need closure.

Cliffhangers are so evil. They rarely ever work for me.

Still, despite my frustration with the ending, I’d definitely recommend the book.

Side note: I truly realised I’m from a different generation while reading this. Back in my day, being a sugar baby was something people hid. Now, infidelity and “runs” seem so normalised, even romanticised in love stories. I was genuinely scandalised at parts of this book.

Maybe I’m really getting old 😩