Honey and Spice

January 1, 2022

In Honey and Spice, following Babalola's buzzy debut story collection, Love in Color, young Black British woman Kiki Banjo--host of a popular student radio show and known for preaching bad-relationship avoidance--gets tangled in a fake liaison with the very guy she's been citing as big trouble. From Bays, co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning series How I Met Your Mother, 2015 New York-set The Mutual Friend features Alice Quick, mourning her mother, barely managing as a nanny, and trying to make herself sign up for the MCATs even as her tech millionaire brother experiences a religious awakening. In Blush author Brenner's latest, three sisters from a Gilt-edged family in the jewelry business are torn apart following a publicity stunt gone wrong, with one sister dying in a subsequent accident and her daughter struggling to regain traction within the family. In Coleman's Good Morning, Love, aspiring songwriter/musician Carlisa "Carli" Henton's efforts to keep her business and personal lives separate crumble when she meets rising hip-hop star Tau Anderson (50,000-copy first printing). From Egyptian-Irish BBC broadcaster El-Wardany, These Impossible Things features friends Malak, Kees, and Jenna, on the verge of adulthood as they struggle to be good Muslim women yet wanting to follow their dreams (50,000-copy first printing). In Fowler's It All Comes Down To This, three sisters--freelance journalist Beck, struggling with her marriage and a desire to write fiction; Claire, an accomplished pediatric cardiologist, recently divorced; and Sophie, leading a glamorous life she can't afford--face their mother's impending death and the fate of their beloved summer cottage on Mount Desert Island, ME. In Ho's Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic, a follow-up to the LJ-starred Last Tang Standing, a hardworking career woman gives up on finding the right guy after her fianc� calls off their marriage and signs up for an elective co-parenting website so that she can have a baby--with unexpected consequences. In USA Today best-selling Moore's latest, Maine is not exactly Vacationland for Louisa when she visits her parents one summer with her three children, as she's dealing with an unfinished book, an absentee husband, and a father suffering from Alzheimer's, plus a young stranger in town trying to get her own life in order (100,000-copy first printing). In popular Patrick's The Messy Life of Book People, Liv Green forms a tentative friendship with the mega-best-selling author for whom she works as a housecleaner but is surprised when the author dies suddenly and in her will asks that Liv complete her final book (75,000 paperback and 10,000-copy paperback first printing). In Saint X author Schaitkin's Elsewhere, an interesting departure, Vera grows up in a small town where for generations women keep vanishing mysteriously (200,000-copy first printing). Vercher follows the Edgar-nominated, best-booked Three-Fifths with After the Lights Go Out, about a biracial MMA fighter aging out of his career and facing his father's end-stage Alzheimer's when he scores a last-minute comeback fight. Already a multi-award winner, Wolfe debuts with Last Summer on State Street, about Felicia "Fe Fe" Stevens and two close-as-hugging friends--a happy threesome that expands to an uneasy foursome even as the Chicago Housing Authority prepares to tear down the high-rise in the projects where Fe Fe's family lives (50,000-copy first printing).

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 9, 2022
Screenwriter Babalola follows up the collection Love in Color with a vivacious and romantic debut novel about a young Black British woman. Kiki Banjo is a second-year student at Whitewell College, and though Kiki zealously guards her own affections, she isn’t afraid to dish out relationship advice to members of Whitewell’s African-Caribbean Society (jokingly dubbed “Blackwell”). Her campus radio show, Brown Sugar, meanwhile, blends Kiki’s brand of spicy, sharp-tongued wisdom with the perfect R&B song for any amorous dilemma. But the ambitious Kiki may have met her match when her favorite professor suggests she pair up on a collaboration with transfer student Malakai Korede. Malakai is an aspiring filmmaker whose undeniable talents (and stunning good looks) hardly make up for being cocky and annoying, but she eventually proposes the two of them pretend to pair up romantically as well, their fake relationship serving as fodder for both of their professional projects. Suffused with music and pop culture references (thanks in large part to Kiki’s vast musical knowledge and her talent for puns), their repartee is quick and clever, with the verbal sparring heightening their physical attraction and making the sexy and effervescent story emotionally intimate and hilarious in turn. Babalola’s expert handling of the messy vulnerability and joyful exuberance of young love makes this a winner.

Starred review from May 15, 2022
A Black British university student explores love and friendship on her radio show in this shining romance debut. Loner Kikiola "Kiki" Banjo is perfectly content with her Switzerland-esque social status at Whitewell College. Uninterested in making any political or social waves, Kiki dedicates all her energy to "Brown Sugar," her show on the college radio station. Her college, called "Blackwell" by the school's Black caucus, is home to a number of cliques and queen bees, but Kiki prefers to stay behind the mic when dealing with any drama between Blackwellian babes and the guys she dubs "Wastemen" ("They waste our time. Waste our energy"). Armed with a sharp tongue and her producer/best friend, Aminah, Kiki hopes the show will land her a spot at New York University's elite summer pop media program, but she needs a community component to really seal the deal. Enter hot transfer Malakai Korede, a film student and "fresh manna from heaven." Despite his recent arrival, his more-than-good looks and charisma have already pitted the independent Blackwell women against each other, and even Kiki finds it difficult to withstand his effortless charm. After an impromptu make-out session spurs their unexpected friendship, Kiki and Malakai decide to combine forces and fake date to add to the credibility of "Brown Sugar" and provide audio for his romance documentary. Suddenly, the walls Kiki built around herself come tumbling down as her relationship with Malakai turns them into local celebrities, and she must come to terms with what it means to step out from the recording booth and actually be seen. Babalola's debut novel is lyrical and sincere, her prose rhythmic: "My smile had had enough of being trapped and spilled out, wide and brazen and messy, dripping everywhere. It soaked through my clothes and into my skin." Kiki is the epitome of cool; her dialogue oozes with confidence, and her biting wit rolls off her tongue with ease--leaving readers wishing they could play her clever disses on repeat like their favorite song. Smooth, sophisticated, and sexy.

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June 1, 2022
Babalola's best-selling story collection, Love in Color (2021), proved that she understands the pure magic of a perfect love story. Her first novel is the wonderfully indulgent long-form romance her readers have been waiting for. Kiki Banjo is known on the Whitewell University campus for her sharp tongue, her female-empowering student radio show, Brown Sugar, and her aversion to campus dating. So when she kisses Malakai Korede, the boy she named the "Wasteman of Whitewell," in front of the whole "Blackwellian" student body, her loyal listeners feel betrayed. A fake relationship may be the thing to save their reputations and their futures, as long as they don't allow their feelings to get in the way. Babalola identifies what it truly means to be seen, tapping into the big and small things that can cement or destroy relationships. While many love stories either pit women against one another or ignore women outside the relationship entirely, this story has a strong undercurrent of sisterhood, demonstrating that love comes from all kinds of places, if you're open to it.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from June 1, 2022

DEBUT As the host of the popular advice show at her college, sharp-tongued Kiki has plenty of relationship advice to dispense, but when it comes to her own dating life, she guards her heart fiercely. Everything changes when she meets the new guy on campus, Malakai, a sexy film-maker, whose player ways are creating waves among the Black student body. When Kiki and Malakai are thrown together for an academic project, they decide to start a fake relationship in order to ensure the success of their assignments. Will Kiki and Malakai be able to overcome their preconceived notions of each other and get to know their true selves? Will their undeniable chemistry develop into something real? Babalola, author of the short story collection Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold, has written a beautiful and witty novel that's a celebration of love, friendship and Black joy that will wend it's way into readers' hearts. VERDICT Brimming with Afro-Caribbean culture, British banter, pop culture references, and plenty of steam, this book will appeal to fans of the fake dating trope, novels with a well-developed cast of characters, and feminist romances with strong themes of friendship.--Migdalia Jimenez

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.