Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

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A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

33 reviews

paulasuze's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

This book was absolutely spectacular and very fun to read during a leap year. 5/5 stars.

I have always been a fan of Tia Williams and was not sure I could love a book as much as Seven Days in June but this one blew me away.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a love letter to Harlem, Black excellence, and the Black historical influence on music and culture. It is a love letter to found family. It is a love letter to neurodivergent girls who don't always fit in or live up to family expectations but find ways to live freely and wholly as themselves.

Ezra was dreamy and the chemistry between him and Ricki jumped right off the page.

I wasn't a fan of magical realism until more recently and I will say it is an aspect of the book that you have to lean into. The storyline becomes fairly predictable, but that doesn't take away from the touching relationships between the characters.

I wept at the end. This story will stick with me for a while. Side note - can we please get a full book about Tuesday???

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

4.25

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the free copy of this book.

- Tia Williams does it again with A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE. Drama, snark, two people drawn toward each other in a way they’ve never felt before.
- Even if the plot is easy enough to predict, I loved being with Ricki and Ezra as they unraveled their story and fell hard for each other.
- Somehow, amid the over the top ridiculous family members and the paranormal elements, Williams gives us a fated mates story for the ages, filled with intensity and longing and love.

Content Warnings

just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

Y'all, I read my first book by Tia Willams, Seven Days in June, about two years ago now. And it made my favorites of the year list. So, when I saw the opportunity to request this newest book on NetGalley, let me tell you, I *jumped* on it. I was excited to read more from Williams, plus this one promised a little magic in it, and I am never one to turn that down.

So, I'm super behind on reviews. In trying to catch up, I will be going the lazy synopsis route and giving you the good ol' (truncated) "copied and pasted from Goodreads" version. Thanks for your understanding, haha. Here's that: Ricki Wilde is the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, and quite the opposite of the rest of her family. She knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her. So, when a regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumpsont it. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers. One evening in February, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger (Ezra) who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way and together, once Ricki learns his big secret, they must overcome a curse that has stuck to him for a century. Set against the backdrops of both modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.

Well, I didn;t love it as much as Seven Days, but tbh, that's a hella high bar and I wasn't really expecting to. So with that in mind, I loved this one for what it was! First, and foremost, these characters were phenomenal - fresh and interesting. A spunky former child actor, a Harlem Renaissance era pianist, a quirky YOLO-vibes grandmother figure, and, of course, our MC, a creative florist and burgeoning IG influencer. Bonus: a solid cameo from Eva Mercy from Seven Days and I was just feeling these characters. A lot of it was in the little details, like Ms. Della going out to community gatherings drinking from her own literal china teacup and the specificity of description in Ricki's bouquets and the room of historic music technology in Ezra's home and, for me, the little mention of study abroad in Seville (I did that!). They were just so alive and I loved them all.

The world-building was also spectacular. Which sounds a bit ridiculous because this is a "real life" place and time (or places and times). But Williams really brought it to life: the setting was just as alive as the characters, holding its own against their strong presences. I don’t read much from the Harlem Renaissance time period, in any setting/population, so this was a nice way to add it in and mix it up without being overwhelmed by a time period that I’m just not normally drawn to. It’s always important to get a history refresher, especially from a perspective that isn’t ever taught in a fully fleshed-out way (we often nominally honor the Black jazz musicians and artists/poets of the time, but don’t ever reckon with the need or inspiration behind their work and community). And this was really accentuated by the parts from Ezra's perspectives...his world weariness (*minor spoiler*) due to the immortality meant he had seen and survived so much, especially as a Black man from the Jim Crow South and with a story starting in Harlem Renaissance/Jazz Age Harlem was written so well. A solid, telling, and fairly original, perspective, in that way. Finally, the way that Ricki begins leaving her extra bouquets around Harlem at historical spots, starting a major social media following with that, is so creative. And was a wonderful way to really tie the two time periods, but same location, together even more.

The plot itself was entertaining and fun, but also romantic (and let me add here that I loved the chemistry between Ezra and Ricki). And while I saw the ending coming from pretty far away, I also appreciated the cyclical nature of it and the way it all came together smoothly, and magically! Plus, while I was a bit sleep deprived when I read the ending and maybe that played a part in my reaction, I was surprised at how emotional it still made me...even knowing what was going to happen. That's really solid writing, overall. A note on the writing here though. Potentially because this was an ARC, but there was something about the writing that felt a little less polished than I would have liked. There's a chance some of that was cleaned up before final publication, but it could have been smoother.

Anyways, I'm usually a sucker for the fight for an epic love that actually looks like the everyday little moments; I love seeing my own love story reflected in those moments and always feel that it's such a gorgeous story to tell. And here, it was; it really was gorgeous.

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