Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Honey & Spice

“No one else distracts me from plantain.” This is the exact type of romance stuff I eat up!! Enemies to friends to lovers?! With woke characters? Cheesy AF romantic gestures? Character development? Yes, please!

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daenerystargaryen's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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revoli's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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gerlinen's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I still genuinely don't know why its a prerequisite in the genre that the couple must always admit that they started off as a 'fake relationship' — like seriously, whose business is it?! Always do love when it's actually the woman in the wrong in these hetero set-ups but I do feel like Malakai needed a bit more characterisation — just a bit more edge.

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abigalelouise12's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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nenaveenstra's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is a beautiful representation of what being a woman in her early twenties can be like. It’s a story of community, of abuse and of finding yourself after you’ve been hurt. It’s also a fake dating romance.

Judging this book as a romance would be unfair, because, no, it didn’t make my stomach flutter like other romance novels have, and it’s not quite as sexy as other romances, and I couldn’t quite get on board with the fake dating side of things. However, the romance in this story was an important part of the character arc of our main character, Kiki, and I appreciated it for that.

Kiki went from a person who’d rather be lonely than be hurt, to someone who collects an awesome group of friends who would die for her, and is capable of talking through conflict instead of avoiding it, and it was beautiful to watch. And the same went for a lot of the other characters in this book, like Aminah, Kofi, and, most importantly, Malakai, all of whom had dealt with painful relationship drama in the past. All of that character development happened in an environment that was like Black Mean Girls, with different cliques all around the university and gossip blogs detailing every student’s love life, and Black slang and Yoruba (and other languages) all around.

This book felt very raw, very real. And yet it didn’t really affect me in ways I would’ve liked it to. I wish I felt more invested in Kiki and Kai’s relationship, and I wish I could connect more to Kiki as a character overall, even though her closed-offness was kind of the point. Maybe it’s because I’m white, or because I’m queer, and neurodivergent. Either way, I felt kind of distanced from everything that was going on. But I still recommend this book for what it does achieve. And what it can achieve for people who don’t feel seen in other pieces of media.

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umsriracha's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Honey and Spice quickly jumped to my top 3 reads. The rhythm of the book is captivating. It’s clear that the author is insanely well-spoken and versed in literature. The way Bolu Babalola writes is honestly inspiring. After reading this book I want to download a word of the day app and really step my vocab game up. While advanced, her writing is not convoluted in any way. Babalola writes like… jazz. That’s the only way to describe it, honestly. It’s like music, at least to me. Anyway! Speaking of inspiring, Kiki Banjo is the perfect main character. She’s not without flaws but she is extremely intelligent, beautiful, and witty in a way that transcends the page. As a black girl myself, having a character like Kiki is touching, much appreciated, and way past due. Now, the romance in so few words: the progression is seamless and I’ll just leave it at this..

he read her favorite books. swoon.

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