Hell misses a scorned woman because love is volatile, and the GPS routed her to Dallas.
For Aisha, the protagonist featured in 52 Weeks A Party of One1, being jilted by a first-time true love is merely the mountain. Losing said love to a long-term best friend is the iceberg. Finding out said best friend is pregnant is the avalanche, not the tip, forcing life to crumble downward.
True to millennial form, Aisha nurses her broken heart with recreational marijuana, a haircut, and a rash decision to leave town. After burning her sorrows, she torches all photo reminders, changes her phone number, and erases her social media identity.
Once all responsibilities are tabled, the savings account is drained, and she hits the road. With chance on her side, the journey ends eight hundred miles later allowing Aisha’s self-imposed discovery period to begin.
This indie-published work is a voice-driven narrative about residual anger and the resentment resulting from parental/childhood abandonment. It features a protagonist antagonized by fear of emotional attachment.
An exposition-heavy account of the 30-year transition, this portrayal of a child-free, newly single woman uses internal monologue in lieu of sensory details to demonstrate solitude as anti-social behavior.
Written by Bianca Pensy Aba, a Cameroonian-American, this turn of gaze on promiscuity as an antidote for betrayal deserves punchier dialogue, quicker pacing, and clear delineation between the mother-daughter tension and the absentee-father-daughter conflict.
Fans of contemporary women’s fiction may not find this work immersive enough. On the other hand, discarded lovers will appreciate Aisha’s tenacity and ability to release the past without resorting to violence.
Rating: ★★★
Not yet published, expected April 23, 2025; an ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.
You’ve given us a clearly articulated view of the book, the hits and misses. Thanks for a very thoughtful review.