Genre Fiction: romantic thriller.
Blurb “From Dosun Adeleye comes another enthralling romantic thriller – Hearts of Clay.
The human heart is so fragile, yet strong enough to make or break relationships. This is the lesson learned by our heroine, Grace, on her journey into true womanhood. With beauty and compassion compared to the Goddess Oshun, and a fiery, intelligent spirit, Grace is ready to take on whatever life throws at her.
When a deep family secret is revealed, it both answers long-forgotten questions from her unsettled childhood and also unravels a new mystery. Grace sets off on an adventure from the UK to Lagos, Nigeria, in a quest to solve the family secret and prevent the same destiny from happening again.
However, the web of lies she uncovers is far more complex and dangerous than she could have ever dreamed of, and it catapults her along the very path she was trying to avoid. When her fate meets with the destiny of others, and fractured families collide, Grace finds comfort and passion with the men she sees as her allies. However, who can she really trust?
Join Grace on her adventure, from the hands of rogues to the Palace of Ikoko, in a tale of intrigue, love and peril, which crosses continents and generations. Is Grace destined to repeat the mistakes she blames her mother for? Is blood thicker than water, or will love prevail?
Find out in Hearts of Clay, a romantic thriller which will make your heart race.”
Dialogue Written in English with smatterings of Nigerian Pidgin and Yoruba. Painful to read and seemed forced as it didn’t always ring true.
Themes Family, Quest for Discovery and Love.
Editing Some errors. Needs structural editing.
What worked? The plot, with the heroine on a quest to discover her birth parent and in the process, uncovering family secrets, is familiar. It reminded us of Golibe by The Fertile Chick which we reviewed in 2018.
The titled chapters, as they summarised what each chapter was about.
What didn’t work?
Lady B This turned out not to be a good pick for Valentine’s Day. It’s my first Did Not Finish (DNF) review at Page 49. As I didn’t finish the book, I can only comment on what I read but reading up to page 49 was a chore. The better part of the time was spent rolling my eyes at the utter ridiculousness and implausibility of the storyline.
The narration is in the first person from the perspective of the character whose story is being explored. Grace is kidnapped by a criminal gang for ransom. Her time in captivity is not properly fleshed out. For instance, the story talks about her being fed by her kidnappers but there is no mention about whether she was allowed to use a toilet throughout her time in captivity.
She manages to escape her first captors with the help of their cook, in the company of another captive, Felix, but their saviour, the cook kidnaps them to steal their identities so he can travel to the United Kingdom with their passports. Whilst in captivity for the second time, Grace and Felix develop feelings for each other and start making out, though their arms and legs were bound with ropes. All the while that was happening, I kept wondering if they were not smelling as there had been no mention of toilette for both characters, one of whom had been in captivity for a month.
The straw which broke the camel’s back was when a random woman she met at her second captor’s house, turned out to be her sister (or at least, that was where it seemed the story was heading). I called it quits at this point.
Mo The plan was to review a romance novel because this week is all about love. We decided to give this book a shot. The story is about finding love, second chances and losing love.
I’m not sure anything worked. It was a painful book to read. The narration is pedestrian, while Lady B thinks it’s secondary school standard. I was exhausted before I could even finish the book.
Number of pages 279.
Publisher Nielsen UK.
Damage $5.21 on Amazon Kindle.
Rating 3.5/10. Do not recommend.
Literary Everything 
1 reply ›