Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Honey & Spice

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

23 reviews

allyordyna's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

So enjoyable! Def recommend the audio book for the full experience (the interviews?? pop off). I thoroughly enjoyed both lead characters and was intrigued by their interactions—*cough cough* fake dating ;) A sweet and spicy homage to the power of young black women.

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samone2's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

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carbs666's review

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emotional funny slow-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

4.25

I am going to preface this review by saying that everything I did not like about this book is 100% on me and my preferences as a reader, and has nothing to do with the structure, style, or overall quality if the book, because this book is objectively excellent.

Babalola really delivers in the promise of Love In Colour with this debut! My favorite thing about this book is how specific it is; this is a real "write what you know" situation and I love that. It's a truly unique book that does an excellent job with all the tropes it uses. The banter/dialog is especially strong throughout, and the metaphors and similes are really evocative.

Basically, I did not like that this book was a slow burn and I did not like that it was fake dating. It was also a little more rom com than I prefer. I'm just tired of fake dating and I'm not really the slow burn or rom com type! But again, that's on me! If you're into those things this is literally the perfect book for you!

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shaipanda's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-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

I absolutely LOVEDDDD this omgggg - 100% a 5 star read and honestly definitely one of my top romances of the year if not of all time?? I don’t even know how to explain everything was so so good in this but just everything was ughh fucking perfectttt - especiallyyyy the chemistry between the main couple(s)

Spoiler

the only small issues I had with this were that I thought it was slightly weird to just drop the conclusion of the storyline with Rianne in the middle and then never really address it much again? I appreciated why the storyline was there but also I thought the way it was done was slightly stilted. The other thing was I didn’t love that there was a 3rd act break up in this cause I just don’t love those anyways but I did appreciate that at least it was done pretty well

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solacelight's review

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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

3.5

Had to bump it down a star because I hate when perfectly great romance novels get unnecessary second chance sequels! It feels exploitive of the genre. Also could have used some more editing. Constantly calling Aminah her best friend got annoying quick, and a lot of the side characters felt like caricatures at times. OTHERWISE, super cute, felt very natural, and I love it.

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berodatheelf's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

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tessays's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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purplepenning's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

Not gonna lie — it took several chapters and an embarrassing number of Google searches for this white, small-town, Gen X American to get the vibe of this one, but it was ultimately worth the effort. If I weren't so old and out of touch, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it even more. As-is, here's what I loved:

a strong, complex, nuanced main character
one of the best book boyfriends I've ever read in recent memory
sizzling banter and gorgeous prose
so much sister solidarity and friend support
Afro-Caribbean, specifically Nigerian Londoner, voices centered and supported with beautifully cast context
a couple of squee-worthy, next-level, book-nerd gestures that were absolute perfection

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rebekahg876's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.25

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sunlit_music's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad 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

4.75

This book is such an underrated gem! Please check this book out if you love reading about books on romance, relationships, and fake dating. This book has so much depth and nuance!! It focuses on Black joy - Black people finding and keeping happiness, making close friendships, and achieving their goals and dreams in life.

Kiki is a marvellous protagonist - funny, smart, compassionate, cocky, tough and no nonsense. I always found her characterisation believable and interesting. She loves her family and friends, and goes the extra mile to defend them and help them out. She has a FANTASTIC character arc, learning to trust people again, make more friends and learns she really is an important part of her university community, standing up for other students, and helping with relationship advice on her radio show Brown Sugar.

Malakai is an awesome love interest! He's actually funny and nice, and not as bad as I initially thought he was. I love that Kiki and Malakai learn that they've been prejudiced and unfair about each other.

Kiki's best friend Aminah is also flat out witty and hilarious!! I love her so much. She is The Best, an absolute joy to read.

Honey and Spice covers heavy topics like grief, Kiki's mother surviving cancer, Kiki healing from a toxic relationship and friend break up, sexual harassment and blackmail, racism and sexism in academia with empathy and tact. Bolu Babalola does these topics justice, and discusses them with wisdom and grace.

This book is extra special to me because it shows that people can redeem themselves, and work hard to be better. My favourite moments are

Spoiler

when Simi is revealed to be on Kiki's side and helps expose Zack's sexually harassing, abusive behaviour.

I love how people from different cliques who start off hating each other, but eventually become friends.

Spoiler

Especially Chioma (Chi-Chi) and Shanti! They're so cute as friends!!

Check this book out if you can, I highly recommend it!

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