1.5*
This book is a great lesson in ‘not believing the hype’. Fans of the Hlomu series lauded this book and called Qhawe and Naledi’s meet up the best of the series. So I was looking forward to delving into this last installment (hoping that it would be better than the last two).
Honestly, I am beginning to think that I am the problem because this book is a mess. In the style of the series, Qhawe “meets” Naledi at a mall, finds her fascinating because she puts him in his place and basically stalk’s her for weeks. Stalk; as in takes down her car number plate, tracks her work details, home details, phone number etc. and then shows up at these places and calls her out of the blue. How is this behavior romantic? Again, Dudu is romanticising behavior that is dangerous and quite frankly criminal.
Once Qhawe finally gets Naledi to agree to a date with him, he love bombs her. And in a couple of months they are engaged...taking a leaf from Hlomu and Mqhele’s romance template (without the psychical abuse).
The rest of the book is honestly not exciting, Naledi gets upset with Qhawe , throws a tantrum then leaves, then rinse and repeat. I found their cycle boring. Naledi felt like quite an immature and self-centered character. I found her the most unlikeable of the wives. In sum, I disliked this book. Having read all three books in the series, I take issue with Dudu’s representation of women who are supposedly strong-willed, independent and have agency. All these women (with the exception of Zandile) are doormats. They bend until they break for the Zulu brothers, then they put on a caste and mend themselves only to further sacrifice themselves for their husbands. That is not love, it’s abuse and it’s toxic. I think a lot of the series fans overlook this fact because the brothers redeem themselves by splashing money on their wives. None of this behavior would be tolerated if the Zulu brothers were not wealthy, if they were working class brothers, I am sure none of this toxicity would be viewed as romantic.
After reading these books, there is not a single “romance” of any of the wives that I envy.
I will get off my soap box now😬