Reviews with content warning for Racism - Honey & Spice

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

89 reviews

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

5.0

This book has so much amazing dialogue that came across perfectly as a audiobook. I really felt like I was listening to a bonus season of Dear White People set in the UK.

I love how witty the characters are with each other and the romance was perfect. It was a slow burn with the characters developing over time, slowly realizing that there is no such thing as fake dating. I also enjoyed all of the black culture pop references. The focus on friendship was wonderful as well. This book had me smiling and laughing all the way through.

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kyahs's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

5.0

My favourite romance book of all time. For me, this book reinforced how important represention and black literature is. It was amazing understanding all the references and how the music I grew up with was used to make me feel how the characters felt. I realised how often I do not understand references in literature written by white people and how much I have been missing. This is an unforgettable book for me and I cannot wait to read more by Bolu Babalola.

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hjb_128's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing 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

4.25

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moon_peach's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative 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? Yes

4.0

Ok so to start with this book has a Black main character. This also takes places in the UK. So she is British Black woman. It is also very African specifically they mention Nigeria a lot. So there may be some cultural disconnect if you don't belong to any of those identities.

However it is still a great book! Kiki is such a great character, when she's being self destructive you really feel for her. But when she puts on her mask you can't help but love the energy she puts out. She is the definition of a "girl's girl".

Malakai is so good. A lot of male leads can be pretty toxic but he's sooo sweet. He also has baggage but he follows Kiki's lead and doesn't overstep boundaries. I

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isabellarob73's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing tense 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

3.75

What Bolu Babalola understands is that the hottest thing a man can be is thoughtful! Fun read, hope there’s a movie for this- feels cinematic

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weelasswithabook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

CW: Racial microaggressions, racism, colourism, misogyny, revenge porn, sexual content, cancer, sick parent, police brutality

🌟 Fake Dating

🌈 Black MCs

This. Was. Perfection. Everything you could possibly need from a romance, this had it in spades.

Fake dating is my ultimate all-time favourite trope. I don't think I've ever read a fake dating romance that I didn't love. So I'm basically already biased, but I promise you it's worth reading. There's just something about those moments when we, the readers, get to see through the fake and into the real. And that light bulb moment when the characters realise it *chefs kiss* I cannot and will not tire of it.

This book is set at a university, and alongside the romance itself, the book explores the existence of systemic racism within the educational system and how communities adversely affected by it overcome, band together, and push back against.

Kiki and Kai were just a match made in heaven. Totally rubbed up the wrong way in the beginning, Kiki hasn't had the best first impression, so this alienation from the start makes the fake dating to lovers so much tastier when it happens. There's never any real beef between the two, but they both have their own hang ups to work through and walls built up to knock down.

I like how their romance unfolded so subtly to them that their realisations were just so pure. And the declarations of love, ugh, I love love loved the ending. 10/10.

The female friendships in H&S were also huge standout aspects of the book. Especially when Kiki had a lot of baggage around female friendships so she sort of sequestered herself away from socialising and actually having a wider friendship group.

My only quibble, and it’s very slight, but the ending felt quite abrupt. Maybe it's just because I wanted the story to continue to see them further down the line, I'm not sure.

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strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

I decided to borrow the audiobook for Honey and Spice from a library app after seeing a booktuber praise this book for being a cute, fun romance with a healthy dose of spice. Man, I really like this book. Some of this is because I think the narrator of this book does an absolutely fantastic job - probably one of my favorite audiobook narrators I've ever heard. She really captures the humor and emotion of this story so well.

I really, really liked this book. I'd read another romance book on a whim earlier this year and thought that would be the most I'd enjoy a romance novel for the rest of the year (I like the genre, but I'm very picky about what kind of romance I want to read). The characters are well-developed, the banter is witty and smart, the spicy scenes are genuinely spicy without coming across as cringeworthy, and Malakai is a very sweet, funny love interest who takes genuine interest in Kiki and her goals/interests.

If that alone doesn't convince you to read this book, I will also add that Babalola portrays Kiki's relationship anxiety and struggles with avoiding difficult memories and emotions extremely well. It feels very real and accurate to what it's like to experience that kind of anxiety in real life. And this story can get intensely emotional at some points - I had this audiobook on while doing some at-home work, and I found myself getting teary-eyed all of a sudden over a tense scene in the second act.

In short, if you want a fun and well-written romance, I highly, highly recommend Honey and Spice.

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hannahs_library__'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Not only did this man read her favorite romantasy series, he also fully DRESSED UP AS ONE OF THE MMCs SO SHE WOULDN’T HAVE TO GO TO A CONVENTION ALONE. 😭🧡 If he wanted to, he would!

Read this if you like:

- College (uni) romance

- Fake dating

- Found family/ friendships

- Banter!!!

- Multimedia (radio show)

- Amazing writing

Honey & Spice was my favorite kind of romance; the subplot had so much depth and there was sooo much character development. While Kiki and Malakai were everything, the focus was equally on their individual character arcs and growth, and it was amazing!

Set at the heart of British Uni, main character Kiki is the host of a popular student run radio show, Brown Sugar, where she provides situationship advice for her fellow students (and really cool playlists). However, as we can expect she quickly finds herself entangled in a situation of her own that may or may not involve fake dating. 😉

I’ve seen a lot of reviews that critique the book for being too college-centric. Personally, I thought it was nostalgic and loved it! It is a story about college students and their college friends at college so do with that what you will. 🤷 I loved being wrapped up in the college social drama and atmosphere, so it really worked for me. Bolu does an amazing job at setting the vibe, I felt like I was on campus with them. If that’s not your thing, maybe stay away from the New Adult genre. ☕

I had such a great time listening to this as an audiobook! Weruche Opla was an amazing narrator. The radio show elements really took the experience up a notch and made it really fun to listen to. Overall, highly HIGHLY recommend this book. (Plus, I heard that a sequel is in the works. 👀)

Edit: changing this to 5 ⭐s because it's been months and I still think about it frequently

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

I am OBSESSED. Excellent writing? Check. Snappy banter? Check. Beautiful romance that has me giggling and kicking my feet? Check. Great character development from both MCs? Check. An emphasis on female friendship and the importance of women supporting women over tearing each other down? Check. A well-executed subplot that examines the experience of being a Black student at a PWI? Check. Full marks all round!!

This book has all the ingredients of not just an incredible romance novel, but an incredible novel, period. I suspect that Kiki and Malakai will be living in my head rent free for a good while. This is easily the best romance I’ve read this year, and I’ll probably have trouble finding a book to top it.

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dylan_tomorrow's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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