This was almost a dnf book. I did however, enjoy the history of the Harlem Renaissance. I did also enjoy the love story of Ezra and Ricki when the author finally got to it. I just wish it wouldn’t have taken so long. I also loved how the author fostered the relationship between Della and Tuesday because Ricki was certainly an outcast from her family.

This book was absolutely beautiful and magical in so many ways. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story like this and I think it will stick with me for a long time. Woven throughout this story was Harlem Renaissance history, music, and botanical facts. Tia Williams is talented at creating powerful and once-in-a-lifetime romances that make you truly feel the characters’ strong connection. This book was so much more than romance though; it explored history, friendship, found family, and joy. The ending wrecked me but it was perfect for this story. What more can I say except that I loved it?

What a great story! This checks all of my boxes for a good read: emotion, romance, an interesting family, empowerment, history, and a touch of supernatural. Tia Williams is a talented and magical writer. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Thanks, NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing, for the digital review copy. Available 6 Feb 24.

Ricki feels like a dandelion in a family of hothouse orchids: too messy, too random, too chaotic. She jumps at the chance to leave home and move to Harlem. Creating an Instagram-popular flower shop, creating fabulous thrifted outfits, and making friends, she’s living her best life - until she meets Ezra. Mysterious, fascinating, lovely Ezra derails her plans and pulls all her attention. It’s like they were fated to be together.

While I loved Williams’ last romance (SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE), I wasn’t swept away by this one. I was okay with the magical realism but wasn’t captivated by the story. I’m glad I buddy-read this with a friend. Talking about certain aspects increased my enjoyment of this magical realism romance.

P/S - It’s fun that Leap Years plays a prominent role in this story, which is publishing in a February Leap Year.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for a Netgalley ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Romance/magical realism. Ricki Wilde has always been the black sheep of her family. Where her seemingly perfect older sisters have fallen in line and opened their own funeral homes that are part of the family business, dreamer and free-thinker Ricki has never felt like she belonged. After a chance encounter with an older woman who invites Ricki to rent part of her home, Ricki packs up her life and moves to Harlem to pursue her dream: opening her own flower shop. As Ricki becomes more successful and enamored with her Harlem neighborhood, she keeps finding herself drawn to the mysterious hottie Ezra. Their constant run ins feel meant to be, but secrets of Ezra’s past are destined to keep them apart.

As separate characters, I loved Ricki and Ezra and they had a good ying-and-yang going. Independently they were very fleshed out. Their romance didn’t quite do it for me because I have a hard time buying into the instant love at first sight when they don’t know anything about each other. I just prefer to see things build more and right out the gate they can’t resist one another. I also really loved reading about the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s - this was something I previously knew nothing about and now I want to read another book in this setting! This reminded me a tad bit of Addie LaRue with the magical realism element and thought the execution of that was really well done (and with a happy ending!). Overall enjoyed this one and was pretty quick to get though.

Listen I love Tia Williams. And this book feels so magical! The magic of a leap year! And I love Ricki! And Ms. Della! And I think that Ricki and Ezra are going to be epic! And with the dual timeline with the Harlem Renaissance is SO beautifully written.

But she just used an entire piano to get off…and I KNOW she was thinking of Ezra I GET IT. and then said ‘did I just fck a piano’ pls i know it’s so freaking petty but I am moving on bc this was not it for me and also I just am not fully invested despite wanting so badly to be.

This is truly not a reflection on the author, or really the story. I just am not invested.

DNF @ 41%

I like the way Tia Williams writes and tells stories. I like that there is some mystery to what she is doing. She is clever without doing too much. I liked the leads (especially Ezra) but I did want more sex and for the book to be shorter. It went on too long and took a while to get going. Overall good and fun with a little history mixed in.

The youngest daughter of a wealthy family, Ricki has always been expected to go into her family’s business of funeral homes. However, she wants to be a florist and takes a chance by moving to New York and opening up her own store. Soon, she meets Ezra, who she can’t help but be drawn to. However, it seems like their love might be fated to end tragically.

This one started a little slow, but it picked up a lot after about ¼ way through. After that, I really liked it and the characters. I do wish that we had had more time with Ricki and Ezra building up their relationship more. I understand it was a lot about their pull toward each other but it felt a little too none to full-on love quickly.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am beyond speechless. Tia Williams has done it again. This book was so incredibly beautiful, poetic and plain ROMANTIC. I have never read anything like it.

I love this author and her latest is not exception. This book is unique, exciting, romantic and fun. I loved the past and present storytelling and the setting. I have no doubt that you will also fall in love with Ricki Definitely add to your TBR!!

A Love Song For Ricki Wilde comes out next week on February 6, 2024, and you can purchase HERE!

The ancient radiator clanged out near-tropical heat as the two attempted to sleuth. It was the only other sound in the room besides Stevie Wonder's deeply obscure instrumental 1979 album Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. She played it every evening for her flowers. In her soul, she was convinced that the songs made them brighter, happier, and livelier. Like audio Miracle-Gro.

I really enjoy Tia Williams so I picked up this book without reading the description or knowing anything about it. This book is a bit like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue but full of Harlem’s rich cultural history. The story is told in multiple perspectives but it is mostly from the perspective of Ricki and the mysterious man she meets in a garden one night Ezra. Ricki has never fit in with her family and has given up on trying since nothing she does seems to work. In a surprising move she decides to leave the family business and strike out to follow her dream of owning a flower shop. A chance meeting connects her to someone with an apartment with what could be a storefront in Harlem and Rickie leaves Atlanta, her family, and all expectations behind. I will admit this book didn’t hold any major twists for me - I saw all the big turns coming, but I enjoyed them all the same. This is a book I could basically visualize happening (which is rare for me) and I hope it gets t be a movie someday. 4.5 stars rounded up since they still won’t let me half star ratings.

4⭐

If you ever wondered what the Twilight Zone would be if it was a romance novel, it would be this book. Ricki and Ezra were everything but I'm just not the biggest *hint of magic* romance girlies so Seven Days in June will remain my favorite Tia Williams of all time. I love how this book connected with Tia's other books and really hope Tuesday's story is on the way!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I loved this book. I adored Ricki. I hated her family. I fell in love with Ezra and Della. Tia Williams can write characters as well as or better than almost anyone right now. I also loved the magical realism in this one. I am not always a fan, but it was just perfectly done in this book. I also thoroughly enjoyed all of the Harlem Renaissance and other Black history threads that were woven into this story. I will be recommending this one a ton once it is published next week.

Whoa. SO MUCH happens in this book. If you want to read a book with a time travel vibe between the Harlem Renaissance and present day Harlem, with long descriptions of Jazz music and floral art, and a whole world-building scenario around Perennials, who are immortal people, then this is the book for you. It is A LOT.

Ricki Wilde has always been seen has the troubled child, the one that the family makes fun of and does not think is reliable or successful as the rest of them are (they have a funeral home fortune). She moves from her family in Atlanta to open up a floral shop in Harlem after she meets an elderly woman who offers her a bottom floor of the building she lives in. There's a lot of suspension of disbelief you have to do to follow along this story. It's in Harlem that she meets a guy named Breeze. He's handsome and mysterious, and keeps telling her to stay away from him,

Of course, they can't stay away from each other, and they fall in love. This is the part that Tia Williams is the best at--the love and steamy bits. It's easy to fall headlong in love as the characters do. The plot is convoluted, and honestly, not the most interesting part of the book. I won't spoil the whole mystery, but you know it's a Romance, so just hang on for the HEA.

If you like quirky characters, New York City, and the Harlem Renaissance, I think this book might charm you. At the very least, the characters will.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the eARC.

I was so excited to see Tia Williams was coming out with a new book. Seven Days in June was so very good.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a beautiful love story. It is unique and stunning. It highlights the beauty of Harlem and unwavering love.

Ricki and Ezra were just such beautiful characters. But the side characters, Della and Tuesday also captured my heart.

Tia Williams is an automatic add to TBR for me.

The start of the novel read a little scattered to me, but finished strong after I found the second half of the book to be extremely propulsive. I usually enjoy a gradual reveal, but this time, the book took off once the plotline was completely revealed.

There was a lot to love:
*The atmospheric setting of Harlem both current-day and during 1920s - Harlem is truly a character in the book
*The creative use of leap year 2024
*How Ricki imaginatively used floral arrangements to honor Harlem's rich history.
* Ms. Della

Many thanks to #GrandCentralPub and #NetGalley in providing me this eARC in exchange for my honest review. I was very happy to read it.

This was the cat's meow and if you know you know! We have romance, historical fiction, The Harlem Renaissance, some voodoo and a whole lot of MAGIC. I cannot express how much I loved this book. Tia Williams is hilarious! I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud. I'm pretty sure I even dropped a tear or two. Tia's writing was engaging and lyrical you can tell she put in the work with her research and think this was executed so well. I was completely blindsided with a plot twist that lead to an audible GASP. Even when I figured out where the story was headed (which wasn't until nearly the end) it didn't soften the blow. Told over two timelines present day and the roaring twenties in Harlem A Love Song for Ricki Wilde grabbed a hold of me and will always have a special place in my heart. This is a book I could read again and again. I can hardly wait for a physical copy so I can transfer my notes from my e-reader!!

Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for my ARC. These thoughts are my own.

4 stars

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a softly magical love letter to Harlem, found family, and the intangible yet inevitable nature of love. The humor, heart, and angst that characterized Williams' breakout hit Seven Days in June is back in full force, leading me to laugh out loud and shed tears in equal measure. I couldn't help but fall in love with the character of Ricki, a young millennial just trying to carve out a corner of life for herself and the descriptions of her flower shop were so vivid that it made me want to book a trip to New York this spring.

I will say that some of the tropes in this book are not ones that really do it for me and I found some of the twists a bit predictable, but Williams' authorial voice is just so intoxicating that I found myself swept away with her latest love song.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

The artistic, free spirit daughter from a wealthy family moves to Harlem to follow her dream of opening a flower shop. She meets and is instantly drawn to a mysterious musician who has a secret that could doom their relationship before it even starts. There’s a touch of magical realism, fantastic side characters (obsessed with her grandmother figure Ms. Della) and the romance is swoony and spicy without bringing the ick. I really loved this.

Ricki is the family outcast. She's never been able to measure up to her successful but emotionally unavailable family. She is a misunderstood, free spirit.

Ricki feels that her life needs a change. So she sets her sites on Harlem

I am happy I went into this story blind. The story was a fantastical ode to Harlem old and anew..

It took the story quite a while to get to the full picture. I was unsure where the story was leading me to.

I did enjoy the dual timeline. I enjoyed the love and found-family aspects of this book.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to go on a fantastical, journey of self discovery and love.