A review by jass_readingnook
Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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? No

5.0

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5 stars)

CW/TW: mentions of SA, character battling an illness

Do you like?: black romance, the boy falling first, loveable side characters, diverse representation, coming of  age story, and amazing plot?

In her debut novel, Ebony LaDelle takes on a journey of love, healing, friendship, and growing into our authentic selves with Love Radio. We begin with our two love interests Prince and Danielle (Dani). Prince is a teenage DJ, radio personality, and self proclaimed love doctor. He has dreams of becoming a major DJ personality and helping others but between helping his ill mother and watching after his younger brother, his dreams don’t seem like they’ll ever be a reality.  Dani, a bookworm and writer who’s tired of the cliche love stories that her mother loves so much. Her main goal is to go to college and take on New York City to become an author but one thing is holding her back. Her college essay. When these two first meet, Dani is far from impressed and not looking for any cliche romance. But Prince is certain that he can convince her to fall in love with him…..in THREE DATES. As we follow our main characters, we see that not only can three date be special, but can they inspire our two love birds to evolve in the people they are meant to be?

Not only was this story a love letter to its main setting, the city of Detroit, it was a love story to every young black child who didn’t have the representation in the books they loved to read growing up. Ebony gives us not only an amazing love story, but an amazing coming of age story where we see our two main characters tackle everyday situations as teenagers. Prince is such a love male main character. One of the biggest questions popping in my head was constantly: why couldn’t I have a boy like this in high school? (lol) I loved that he had such an amazing support system from his uncle to his friends at school. Dani has my heart. She was such a sweet person to read and empathize with. She truly embodied learning a lesson that I too learned all too  well in high school, that sometimes every friendship that we desperately want to hold on too is not meant to follow us on our journey to greatness. However, her true friend circle Rashida and Esi were the epitome of amazing and ride or die!! I was happy that she was able to overcome her obstacles, regain friendships, and learn to love herself all over again. Another thing that gravitated me to this story is that it isn’t your typical love story. It takes you on the journey of what healthy dating should look like and even some of the hard questions teenagers face when dating during this stage in life. I love that this was a journey and not just an instant love story for our two main characters to fall into an unrealistic love, but to learn about each other, inspire each other and help each other grow. Our two main characters not only showed love in its typical form but also in a variation that I feel is forgotten to be portrayed in YA 

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