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A review by embersbooknook
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
I really loved this book - I truly didn’t know what to expect, and it quickly surpassed all my expectations. The beautiful historical descriptions of historic Harlem during the Jazz Era were fascinating and I kept stopping to look up places, and they were all real - it made the book emotional and deeper than I expected from a romance novel. Touching on the theme of gentrification, and with the time jumps back to Ezra’s perspective it also touches on the horrors of the jim crow south, and racism that was so brutally forced on heroic Black soldiers returning from battle in WW1.
Tia’s writing was brilliant because these heavy themes could’ve easily eclipsed the plot, or in turn felt disrespected as a mere footnote, but it really felt like due attention was paid to each topic without overtaking the focal plot. I do, in some ways, wish we’d gotten a deeper look at some of the characters and such. She could easily do a sequel about Tuesday or a young Ms. Della and I would be first in line to read more from these fantastic characters.
Or even a novel about the ultimately tragic footnote backstory of Lo and her lost lover Behold. I loved how Tia also didn’t pretend that folks weren’t queer just because it was the past. Appreciated the positive portrayals, many fictional but nonetheless moving, of our historic queer ancestors🥹❤️
Definitely more substantial, emotional, heavy, and moving than I was expecting when I picked it up, and it was all the better for it. Truly a perfectly balanced and wonderful read. Cannot recommend enough!
Tia’s writing was brilliant because these heavy themes could’ve easily eclipsed the plot, or in turn felt disrespected as a mere footnote, but it really felt like due attention was paid to each topic without overtaking the focal plot. I do, in some ways, wish we’d gotten a deeper look at some of the characters and such. She could easily do a sequel about Tuesday or a young Ms. Della and I would be first in line to read more from these fantastic characters.
Or even a novel about the ultimately tragic footnote backstory of Lo and her lost lover Behold. I loved how Tia also didn’t pretend that folks weren’t queer just because it was the past. Appreciated the positive portrayals, many fictional but nonetheless moving, of our historic queer ancestors🥹❤️
Definitely more substantial, emotional, heavy, and moving than I was expecting when I picked it up, and it was all the better for it. Truly a perfectly balanced and wonderful read. Cannot recommend enough!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Suicide is not graphic but it is sudden, a lot of these things are mentioned or happen quickly and aren’t described in detail. But there are very disturbing things that happen in the 1920’s setting, like the kkk church burning that killed Ezra’s whole family.