Gold Coast Dilemma is at its best when unpacking the culture, food, and family dynamics of a well-to-do Ghanaian-American family and the life of the central character, Ofosua. It is at its most infuriating when the characters face macro and micro-aggressions regarding race, gender, and mental health. And it’s least convincing when selling the actual romance between Ofosua and Cole.

This romance is told from both Ofosua’s and Cole’s point of view, but Ofosua’s is by far more compelling. Ofosua works in publishing and is prepared to marry a man who meets the requirements of her demanding mother. When she discovers her fiancee cheating on her AT THE WEDDING, she has the wedding annulled and attempts to go on with her life. She is thrilled to be offered a multicultural imprint to run – but horrified that she has to co-run it with her rival, Cole. Sparks fly, but can they make this relationship work?

This book is one that my romance book club, Between the Covers, read, and I was fascinated to see that our entire discussion barely touched on the actual romance. Ofosua is a layered, interesting character who is dealing with many conflicts in her life. She is complex and her relationships with her friends and family are complex. Ofosua experiences panic attacks and struggles with the cultural barriers around mental health care. Her mother is a constant source of tension, which is bound up in the difference between her mother’s cultural and class and generational expectations and those of Ofosua. Her friends are, in my opinion, astonishingly unhelpful. Ofosua’s work at her publishing company is fascinating, frustrating and inspiring. She expresses herself through fashion in an interesting way. In short, she’s a great character.

Cole is, in the immortal words of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “just this guy, you know?” He starts off as a collection of red flags. He’s friends with a blatantly racist and sexist guy. He doesn’t know why Ofosua dislikes him (it’s a bizarre conflict that never needed to be in the book) and that frustrates him, so he likes to make her angry so he has her attention (“Cute when angry” is a personal trigger of mine and I never forgave him for this).

A few chapters in, it’s as if suddenly the book remembers that he’s the romantic hero and his whole personality changes. I have to admit that I was very, very hard on Cole, even though by the end of the book he seems like a terrific ally in the making. I just never trusted him – also, he’s simply not interesting. He’s a rich White asshat nepo-baby who becomes less of an asshat. He and Ofusua get to a place that seems healthy and happy for them but I never invested in him as a character.

I want to warn readers that although ultimately this is a happy story (it’s a romance novel, after all), it can be very difficult to read some of this book. Ofosua’s mother was clearly parenting from a specific cultural, generational, and experiential place – I always felt like she was a whole person who genuinely thought she was doing the right thing. But this doesn’t soften the damage she does to her daughter and I could barely tolerate her on the page. It was hard to read about all the microaggressions Ofosua faces in her workplace. It was infuriating to read about the asshole who runs the publishing company and every time Cole’s horrible friend Chad showed up I wanted to scream into the void. I was so angry at Ofosua’s horrible boss, Cole’s uncle, that I could barely read passages involving him.

However, I also learned a lot from this book. I enjoyed learning about Ghanaian culture. I loved that this family is wealthy and respected in Ghana and America, and that Ghana is respected as a specific country (Ofosua often has to push back against people who regard “Africa” as a monolith). I learned about Ofosua through her use of fashion as self-expression. I also enjoyed the scenes in which Cole and Ofosua work together within the publishing company.

This book provides so many jumping-off points for discussion and thought – family relationships, different kinds of immigration and migration stories, Ghanaian culture, generational and cultural clashes, the ridiculous standards that Black women in corporate America are forced to meet, and so much more. What it doesn’t do is provide a compelling love story between equals. I cared tremendously about Ofosua and I would love to read more about her, but I don’t find myself caring about her and Cole as a couple. As a romance, this book did not work for me, but every other aspect of Gold Coast Dilemma was fascinating, thoughtful, and nuanced. It led to a lively and engaging discussion with my book club, and left me with much to think about long after I finished it.