Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance/Magical Realism/Historical Fiction
Format: 📖 thank you so much to Grand Central Pub for my #gifted ARC!
Read if you like: a mixing of genres in the most glorious way // THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE // the harlem renaissance // fated lovers

This is a Tia Williams fan page at this point. She can do no wrong. NONE! 👏🏼

This is now the third book that I have read, loved, and devoured by Williams that I have rated 5 GLORIOUS STARS! Her writing is spectacular. I could gush and gush about it. There is heart and emotion and humor and realness and will make you feel so many things. She creates fully flushed out characters.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde takes place during February of a leap year, so how cool that it comes out in February of a leap year.

I obviously loved this book so much (so much so that I went and bought a physical copy immediately) but here’s what I loved and why I loved it -

💫 The mixing of genres is done so well in this. You have a steamy romance, some magical realism, and historical fiction and not one of them doesn’t feel fully executed.
💫 Ricki’s take on life is SO REFRESHING! She may be struggling and the black sheep of her family, but she has a way at looking at everything with eyes that can see hope and promise in the most mundane things.
💫 Ms. Della is a national treasure.
💫 The connection and chemistry in the romance.
💫 Harlem as a setting and the rich history that comes with it.

This was just a 10/10 reading experience. I loved every single second and oh how much I would love to visit Ricki’s flower shop in New York!!!

When I first got this book, I was immediately drawn in by the first chapter. Those first few pages did so much to make Ricki Wilde feel like a lived in character that I was willing to give it five stars right then and there. The book didn't hold my intention, unfortunately. After a couple of chapters, I stepped away from the book for a time. I just recently got the audio book through Libby and fell in love with the characters all over again.

Hm. Kind of disappointed in this. It was a slow burn (like 7 days) but unlike 7 days I don’t think we were rewarded at the end. The fantasy element took me by surprise and really didn’t get it. Not my fave Tia Williams book

I received an advanced eArc copy of this novel, but all opinions are my own.

"A Love Song for Ricki Wilde" is a book that I did not know I needed. It weaves the love story of Ricki and Ezra in a way that is melodic and artistic like the two of them. The book is filled with dynamic characters, including the feisty landlord, Ms. Della, and Ricki's protective friend, Tuesday. Work kept interrupting my reading of the book, but I still managed to devour it pretty quickly. I recommend this book to EVERYONE. Especially if you love a cute, funny, light-hearted, yet still thrilling, romantic novel. I'd rate this 10 stars if I could. There were parts of the story that made me want to skip around, but I am so glad I did not because it provided critical background context for the plot twist that unfolds. I especially love the tributes to the Harlem Renaissance.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde really came out of nowhere and blew me away!! I had read Seven Days in June (and enjoyed it) and thought I knew what to expect from Tia Williams, but she took an idea that could fall flat and really wrote a stunning novel.

This book follows Ricki Wilde (the black sheep of her family) as she decides to leave the family business and follow her dreams of opening a flower shop. She moves to Harlem to do so after being offered the bottom apartment of an old Harlem brownstone owned by Ms. Della. Late one night she meets a mysterious man and everything changes. I don't want to give too much away so I am going to leave it there...

Even though the novel is set in modern day Harlem, William's effortlessly weaves in the glamour of the Harlem Renaissance and the rich history of the neighborhood. It's early in the year, but this will be one of my favorites of 2024 for sure. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced e-copy of this book.

I can’t remember ever giving a love story 5 stars, but A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE by TIA WILLIAMS deserves all the stars in the sky. Not only does it hit all the right notes as a romance, it has everything I look for in a great novel in any genre.

The story takes place in Harlem, mixing 1920s history into a present day timeline. Williams gives us a peek at both the highs and lows of the Renaissance Era, sprinkling in famous locations and musicians. She also smartly juxtaposes that Jazz Age history with the cultural and commercial trends of today.

I adored Ricki with her open heart, big dream, and willingness to take risks. My heart ached for Ezra and all the loss he’d endured in his lifetime. And their romance is EVERYTHING. It’s mysterious, tension-filled, romantic, silly, and sexy as hell. I want to know this couple IRL and invite them to dinner.

Every character in the book was detailed and vibrant. Ms. Della, a 96-year-old recent widow, becomes the family Ricki had always needed. She’s glamorous, supportive but direct, and pursues her own goals and dreams. Tuesday, a former child star, becomes Ricki’s best friend. She protects and encourages Ricki, as she struggles to determine her own next steps in life. And Ezra’s cousin Sonny, while only briefly on the page, was so tragically real that he lingers in my mind.

While I think everyone should read this book, I especially recommend it to readers who enjoy “fated lovers,” historical fiction, found family, and the magic of Addie LaRue and The Hundred Loves of Juliet.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I absolutely adored Seven Days and June, and I was very excited to see what Tia Williams would cook up next. I am happy to say that I really enjoyed this book. Despite some of the descriptions in the blurb, I still found myself surprised by the magical aspects of this book, but I think it made it more fun. This book felt so magical and whimsical, and Tia Williams is so great and writing love stories that feel so intense and passionate. I loved seeing both Ricki and Ezras individual storylines, but particularly Ricki's. The case of side characters were great and all helped to elevate the story and the give us a sense of place, and Harlem definitely felt like a character itself.

This was such a magical love story! I went into this blind and am glad I did. This is a slow burn about a magical leap year.
Ricki tries to prove to her family that she can make it on her own when she opens up a flower shop. Della is a woman who rents out the bottom of her Harlem building to Ricki. Their relationship became so much more. This was filled with drama, Harlem Renaissance, music, found family and of course an enchanted love story. This book was so different from Seven Days in June. I’m not a fan of magical realism but the writing in this book was so beautiful and the atmospheric descriptions made you feel as though you were there.

Thank you @netgalley and @grandcentral publishing

4.5 stars!

Oh, Tia Williams, how I love thee. "A Love Song for Ricki Wilde" is a poetic, magical dream of a book filled with tension, adoration, music, tenderness, passion, and magical realism. Williams' writing is truly something to behold. Lyrical and impeccably crafted, all the details match up, the references are top-notch, and nothing, not one detail, feels out of place. The characters are fully formed, and every single person in this book has a purpose and a reason to be there. All of her i's are dotted and her t's are crossed. There are some suspenseful moments here and there, sprinkled within a slow-burning romance between the main characters, Ricki and Ezra, one I will not soon forget. The way Williams sets her scenes bursts with color, vibrancy, and history, ohhhh my gosh... she painted a picture in my mind that was lush and rich and meaningful. This is a case of an author taking the insta-love trope and making it WORK! I am not the biggest fan of the "fated mates" trope, but I loved this wonderfully woven tale. I laughed, I cried, I yeared, I dreamed, and I fell in love alongside Ricki and Erza. This book is near perfection, and I never wanted it to end. Thank you, Tia Williams, for being such a fantastic author!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tia Williams, and Grand Central Publishing for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Would recommend for fans of…
💐 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
💐 One Last Stop
💐 About Time

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a book that is hard to define. While it’s largely a romance, Tia Williams manages to incorporate elements of historical fiction and magic realism to weave a story that’s very different from anything I’ve read.

The story reads like a modern fairytale, with Ricki Wilde setting off on her own to run a flower shop in New York City, where she has an encounter with a mysterious man who changes the course of her life. I truly adored the characters! Ricki is a such a strong lead and I loved her outlook on life. Williams writes her in such a way that she feels like someone you’d want to get coffee with this week.

This was my first time reading anything by Williams and let me just say her writing is impeccable. It’s witty and funny and loaded with descriptive language that really makes everything pop off the page. Whether she was describing clubs of the 1920s or Ricki’s outfit, I had an extremely vivid picture as I was reading.

While I loved those elements, I felt that the whimsical nature of the prose was sometimes at odds with the heavier discussions about love, life, and mortality. I typically love when books mix light with darkness, but the way different topics were mentioned sometimes gave me whiplash, and took away from the emotional impact of the scene.

Regardless, this book is getting a lot of well-deserved hype right now and I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a romance that breaks the typical formula.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is out now. Thanks to Hachette and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book is stunning! Ricki and Ezra are perfect together. Ricki is the decided outsider of her family and heads to Harlem to follow her dream of owning a flower shop. She finally feels at home in her small shop on the bottom floor of Ms. Della's brownstone. Ricki makes a friend in both Ms. Della and former child star, Tuesday, and everything feels like she is finally on her way. What she didn't anticipate was Ezra. She keeps running into him here and there and feels a strong, magnetic pull towards him. As their paths intertwine over and over we come to know Ezra's story and why he appears so mysterious and just a little bit different.

The sheer chemistry between these two is off the charts. I have never been a fan of insta-love but Williams has shown me that I can definitely be a fan of fated mates, as Ricki and Ezra are. I freaking loved the history that is included around the Harlem Renaissance. The sheer beauty of black culture and history included in this book is captivating in a way I haven't felt before. The magical realism element worked really well and did not detract from these two at all. I felt it all in this book and highly encourage anyone to pick this one up ASAP. Tia Williams has achieved greatness once again with this book. I will forever be looking for more from her in the future.

This was a very interesting concept for a book. The story begins with a woman ready to make her own future. She opens a flower shop in Harlem & begins to build the life she always wanted. Along the way some strange things happen and the story takes a turn toward the paranormal. Usually books that are “magical” aren’t my thing but I was willing to give this one a chance. All in all I didn’t mind the magical stuff as much as I thought but I just couldn’t get into the story. The pacing was off and it was quite a bit of the book before I was even interested in the story. I loved the history and the moments with Dells but it wasn’t quite enough for me.

This was a beautifully written story! I was both eager to finish and savoring it because I didn’t want it to end. I can’t wait to read more by Tia!

This book was a unique take on a magical realism story and I enjoyed it! Once I got into it I was able to fall in on the love story that is Ricki and Ezra. I loved being on Ricki’s journey of stepping out on her own reclaiming her story and finding love in the process. It was a whimsical story in all the best ways and I just love Tia Williams writing! Ricki and Ezra’s love story was written so beautifully!!

Tia Williams is incredible. She made me believe in magic with this one. I loved all the characters. I laughed out loud and swooning so hard.

This took me so long to write because mannnnn this book took me through the ringer. I have so many thoughts. I cried, I laughed, I swooned, just everything. This entire book had me stuck. I finished this at 3 am in tears. (Why is it always 3 am?) I can’t say I’ll read everything Tia has written, but I will say I’m going to make an effort to look into it all!

I came into this book a little weary because I had tried reading a book by Williams before and it didn’t work out. It had too many drug references for me (as a niece of someone who OD’ed in the past) and I just couldn’t. But, I still said let me try this one. And I got sucked into it. I felt like I was traveling to a jazz club and then Harlem, I could smell the jasmine flowers, just everything. Tia is a great story teller who gave me all the descriptions and small bits to make this story feel as real as it could get. Idk how it happened, but I really got wrapped up in this story.

The characters I think are the best part about this tho. I actually related so much to Ricki. She doesn’t fit in with her sisters because she’s feels they’re too bougie lol And she’s always flitting around all over to different jobs while they’ve gotten their one, having to do with the family, all while making fun of her. The stranger that she finds is even more interesting as a character. I loved seeing his travels through time. That was cool to see the different people he “played for and with.” And I’m not one who likes historical books, but this one is just really cool. I think Mrs. Della was my favorite tho. She was the sweetest person and I loved her like my own grandmother. In my heart of hearts, I feel like she was meant to find them two.

As I said I’m not a huge historical fiction person. If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time you know that. But the part about this that I did love that stood out to me was the paranormal aspect. I loved it. Besides the characters, that was my favorite part. From the magical flower, to the curse or hex, to the time travel, and just everything. I loved this world. And I don’t think there was anything I’d change about it besides putting more people in the historical part, or making them have a more active role. And obviously that’s just my personal opinion lol

Now, the love story itself was amazing. I can’t stress enough that the two of them were endgame. I loved them so much! And the ending was so good. I was BAWLING and I stayed up until 3 am on a work night making sure that I got to the end of this book. But for whatever reason they felt so real to me. Even with the time travel and all the love stories over and over again, their love story was so sweet. I can’t imagine the heartbreak that he went through each time he had to remove himself from her when he met her. And I can’t imagine the way she felt when she figured out that he was telling the truth. How she let love win and just gave in, even knowing what was going to happen. I just loved how brave she was and how she championed their whirlwind of a love.

This book was so well written and beautiful. I pictured this in my mind’s eye about as clear as watching a movie. I hope to try and love more of her works in the future. Tia Williams has become a favorite from just this book alone.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is unlike any other novel I've ever read! I don't typically read a lot of magical romances, but I completely trusted Tia Williams because I was blown away by her previous novel Seven Days In June. Ricki Wilde is very different from SDIJ, so just be aware of that going in.

There are two timelines in this book, and I far preferred the modern timeline. It's so clever how the book takes place in February 2024, the same month of the book's release. In the older timeline, I learned a lot about Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. Williams did an incredible job describing Harlem as almost like a ghost town where you can see its cultural past through the facades of buildings, even to this day.

For me, though, the plot of the book really started to sing and groove when the two timelines merged and the secrets, stakes, and motivations were more fully revealed to the protagonist and to the reader. As an added bonus, this book is really funny in parts. Some of Ricki's one-liners cracked me up!

So while this book wasn't exactly what I expected, I think it's worth checking out if you like smart romances with a magical twist.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a very unique story mixing magic and romance against the backdrop of both 1920 and 2024 Harlem. William’s writing is beautiful and lush. She excels at prose that is both heartwarming and humorous. My favorite parts of the story were the flashbacks to 1920’s Harlem which prompted me to further explore historical events mentioned within the chapters. There is an excellent found family component and I adored the side characters Tuesday and Ms. Della. The love story between Ricki and Ezra was too insta-love for my personal taste and is difficult to expand on the particulars without spoiling major plot points. I found the pacing to be inconsistent but overall this is a fun and clever read.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the eARC.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

This was my first book by Tia Williams and to be honest, I book-edged the story for a while as I knew it was going to be so, so good. So I took my time and only read a few chapters at a time, allowing me to savor the lyrical nature of this story, as well as taking time to absorb the history and culture from the Harlem Renaissance. The way Tia balanced history, contemporary, and magical realism (admittedly a subgenre I do not always gravitate toward) was spectacular, and the romance between Ezra and Ricki felt so real and inevitable.

I buddy-read with a few friends, and we all agreed it is best to go in with no expectations and just allow yourself to be lost in the story. This will be among my top reads in 2024.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is so much- a contemporary romance novel, a historical fiction novel, a novel involving magical realism and so much more. Ricki Wilde is the youngest daughter of Richard Wilde, the owner of Wilde Funeral Homes in Atlanta, Georgia. She beats to her own drum and wants nothing to do with the family funeral business, unlike her three uppity sisters. Ricki wants to follow her own path and moves to New York City to open a flower shop.
I loved the way the author depicted the main characters, Ricki, Ezra, Tuesday and especially Miss Della. These are such likable characters with such depth to them. The relationship between Ricki and Ezra is undeniably rich and filled with such affection. Miss Della becomes a “grandmother” to Ricki and provides her with the family support she needs when she can’t receive any from her own family. Tuesday is the best friend to Ricki who pushes her to reach her goals.
This story is built around February 29, a leap year, that occurs every 4 years. Magical realism comes into play when Ezra encounters Ricki in a community garden. While Ezra tries to avoid Ricki (for reasons unknown at that time), their paths keep crossing. The mystery around Ezra begins to unravel.
I especially enjoyed the history of Harlem in the 1920’s, the music, the musicians from the early days that formed the rich culture of the area.
I usually shy away from magical realism, but I absolutely fell in love with this book. It does contain two different time lines, the 1920’s and the current time, and is very easy to go back and forth between the two. There are a lot of surprises that will keep your interest until the very end. Days later, I am still thinking of this book and the characters. I did not want the book to end!

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. Published February 6, 2024.