Have you bought a book you wish you hadn’t bought because reading it turned out to be an awful experience? You probably wished someone had written an honest review of the book so at least, you were more informed, right?

If this is you, welcome to our blog.

We recently started reading books by Nigerian authors and publishers. In October 2017, we bought a really terribly written book, certainly the worst book we had ever had the misfortune to come across. Thereafter, we resolved that one person would buy any book we intended to read to give the other a heads up on whether she should also buy the book. So we alternate on who to buy first. That’s where the idea to start this blog came from.

The unofficial version of events is that Mo forced Lady B to start a blog to review books by Nigerian authors and publishers. Mo prefers to say she persuaded Lady B.

Meet Us 

Lady B (@ladybreads)

Avid reader, music lover and tennis fan. I’m passionate about promoting learning and literacy. I was born and raised in Nigeria many moons ago. Find out more about me in my corner where I share my thoughts on reading and everything else.

Mo (@workalmostinprogress)

Mo moonlights as a techie during the day. She’s a book enthusiast; wishes someone will pay her to watch movies; fancies herself as a human music library.

Our blog was born out of a desire to share good books which we’ve read, in order to encourage readers to read more and non-readers to start reading. Imagine our delight when we received this testimonial on Twitter:

Special thanks to @liteverything_ @Okadabooks my book goals are coming through. 💃

— Tenny Gee (@iamtennygee) June 15, 2018

Here’s what you can look forward to on our blog – written book review posts, audio book review posts and author of the week posts introducing you to the authors whose books we reviewed. We occasionally share our thoughts on reading and other book related matters too.

Like you, we are readers; we love reading and want to share our thoughts about books we read. We want the blog to appeal to avid readers, casual readers and non-readers. So we keep the reviews as straightforward and easy to understand as possible. Similar to what we would want to read if we decided to read a review of a book before purchasing it.​

We can be reached on literaryeverything@gmail.com. We are also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Join our mailing list at the bottom of this page to get updates from our blog.

Below are some frequently asked questions from members of our community and our responses.

Why did you restrict your reviews to books by Nigerian authors and publishers?

We did it to give the blog a focus. There are so many books published already with more being added daily. We review one book a week and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet, imagine if we had to expand it beyond Nigerian authors and publishers. Thankfully, there are so many book review blogs, readers have a choice if they are not reading only books authored or published by Nigerians. It’s also our little way of contributing to the Nigerian literary scene by writing reviews of these books as well as writing posts about the authors.​

How did you decide on the genres to review on your blog?

​Those are mostly the genres we read. However, we wanted to push ourselves to read more outside our comfort zones. So, we added poetry and nonfiction to the mix since we both didn’t read a lot of books of those genres. It’s an opportunity for us to read more widely.

You have a soft spot for relatively unknown and self-published authors, does this mean you won’t review books by big publishers?

We review books by well-known Nigerian publishers, smaller publishers and self-published books. Digital books have led to a growth in self-publishing, which means many good books may never get publicised enough to reach mainstream readers. We hope to shine a spotlight on such books. Perhaps together, we may discover the next big Nigerian writer. *wink*

​How do you schedule your reading to accommodate all these books?

​We read every day, at any time we can get some minutes to do so during the day but mostly at night before going to bed. One book a week may sound ambitious but it is doable and we’ve been able to manage it so far.

​Do you sell books?

​No, we don’t. However, in all our reviews, we include information about where the books we review can be purchased.

​Will you open your platform to budding writers to showcase their work, e.g. short stories?

Yes, in time, we will publish writing from authors who want a platform to showcase their writing.