3.5 stars

This book started off so strong! I loved all the glimpses into the Harlem Renaissance, so much amazing black history. But then it took a turn. I can’t really say more about what the twist was, because that would totally be a spoiler, but it made me personally lose interest in the book. Maybe for others this would be a five star., but it was not my jam.


Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the digital arc in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada, Netgalley and Tia Williams for the digital copy. My thoughts are my own.

In the tapestry of this enchanting narrative, a beautiful fairytale love story unfolds, centering around Ricki, the family's spirited black sheep. Ricki, driven by creativity and an unwavering desire to forge her own path, defies the conventions of the family business. Fueled by a profound passion for flowers, she courageously makes the move to Harlem, determined to pursue her dreams.

Amidst the bustling energy of Harlem, Ricki finds an unexpected kindred spirit in Ms. Della, a free-spirited individual who transcends the boundaries of mere friendship to become family. Their connection, a blend of fate and serendipity, imparts a special significance to their intertwining lives, a reason and a season that unfolds with poignant beauty.

The narrative skillfully unravels the intricacies of Ezra's background, weaving a rich tapestry of his story that adds layers of depth to the overall tale. Ezra and Ricki, brought together by destiny, share an electric chemistry that keeps readers rooting for them as they navigate the challenges strewn along their path. Ezra's intriguing and gentle demeanor forms a compelling complement to Ricki's vibrant spirit.

As the story unfolds, the reader becomes an ardent supporter of Ricki and Ezra, eagerly hoping they surmount the obstacles blocking their path to lasting love. What elevates this tale further is the inclusion of Harlem's historical backdrop, an enriching layer that serves as a captivating bonus. The vivid portrayal of Harlem's history enhances the narrative, adding a sense of timelessness to this heartfelt and captivating love story.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is all heart and magic. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the ARC on NetGalley. I hoarded it until a few weeks before release because I expected perfection and I knew I wouldn’t want it to end. I was right.

Ricki has always been the black sheep of the family, starting with not being the son her parents expected when they preemptively named their baby Richard Jr. and refused to change it. She loves hard, she takes big swings, and she’s made her peace with being on the sidelines so long as she’s living by her rules.

Ezra escaped the tragedy of his hometown to make a name for himself as a musician in Harlem, and it just about worked, until it didn’t. Between survivor’s guilt and waiting for the other show to drop on his destiny, he’s strung tight and closed entirely off.

This love story begins on a rooftop. It’s sparked by a late night breeze carrying the scent of jasmine. It’s honed in frantic days packing lifetimes of longing into storytelling and bouquet making. It is earnest, it is heartwarming, it is a little surprising (but in an obvious way), and it is everything.

Recommended for: certified lover girls (gender inclusive), the wounded inner child with abandonment issues, the perpetual black sheep, the restless thinker always moving their fingers to a silent soundtrack, fans of the new André 3000 album and everything Solange, fans of found family, anyone looking to break free of the box they spent their whole life being defined by.

As a New Yorker, my favorite thing about this book was the historical facts about Harlem. It was like a love letter to Harlem. The same streets I roamed as a child. The same Harlem my grandparents raised children and grandchildren in. It made me smile.

I loved how Ricki didnt follow in the footsteps of her sisters. Characters who have it all together bore me. Be a mess, please.

I dont typically go into books reading the synopsis. I just knew whatever Tia wrote, I was going to read. I enjoyed the many relationships Ricki formed.

Y’all Tia Williams has done 👏🏼 it 👏🏼 again 👏🏼 with this gorgeous story.

Ricki is the black sheep of her funeral home owning family. She’s just not interested in the family business, so she moves from Atlanta to NYC to open a flower shop. She finds a surrogate grandmother, a former child actress bestie, and a gorgeous man who she keeps running into…

I literally don’t want to say any more, because I went in blind and I HIGHLY suggest that! Tia’s writing is so beautiful and this creative and unique story kept me picking my kindle up again and again when I should’ve been doing other things. I was rooting for Ricki against her crazy family, I was rooting for her flowers, I was rooting for her to fall even more in love with the city, specifically Harlem, and to experience the best of the best of New York. She even got an epic day date going all over the city, cramming n touristy things and NY musts, and I ADORED the magic of that!

The chemistry in the book is SEARING. The inevitability of Ricki and her man felt like a living, breathing thing, and I cried just imagining them not working out. It’s a very “meant to be” scenario in the best way.

Anyway, here’s a reminder that Seven Days in June is STUNNING and Ricki Wilde’s HEA is incredibly tender and perfect and PLEASE dm me while you’re reading!! We even got a little Eva Mercy Easter egg and it was the perfect little nod to the other book!

Ricki Wilde’s story is out in the world on February 6, so get your preorders in now!

Tia Williams creates the most endearing love stories. Seven Days in June is one of my favorite five star books and I'll read anything she writes. She has a special way of instantly pulling me in with her well developed characters and her storytelling.

In this novel, Ricki Wilde is the youngest of 4 daughters from a wealthy family. Instead of joining in the family business and following the plan set in front of her, she yearns to open a business of her own. When a chance meeting with an elderly woman from Harlem grants Ricki the chance to follow her dreams.

Ricki follows her heart and moves to Harlem to start up her business, but ends up discovering an instant attraction toward a stranger who she can't seem to avoid no matter how hard she tries.

The story started off really strong for me but then began to fall flat and felt harder and harder for me to want to pick up for some reason. While this book wasn't quite the one I was hoping it would be, it was creative and the inclusion of the Harlem Renaissance and Black history was great.

I ended up enjoying this book a lot. Starting out, I had a little bit of a hard time with it, but I’m glad I persevered. It turned out to be a great book. The relationship between Ricki and Ezra was the main plot of the book, and it was great. I enjoyed how Ricki went out on her own instead of following in the footsteps of her family. I could not stand her sisters, they were horrid people, but very well written.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Eva and Shane, from Seven days in June, make an appearance in this book.
In all, this was a great story.

Leap years feel like magic, and this highly anticipated love story did not disappoint on the hype or the magic.

Ricki Wilde, of the Atlanta Wilde funeral home dynasty, is anything but a traditional Wilde, and when she gets the chance to move to Harlem and start her own flower shop, there is nothing that will stop her. Steeped in rich history of the renaissance, Ricki finds herself blossoming into the person she was meant to be and setting down roots in magical ways. When she encounters a mysterious stranger, her world is shaken in ways that she did not see coming.

I had never read a book by the author and am now adding her others to my TBR. She has created such a unique, magical world full of swoony romance and lush imagery that has left me lusting after Wilde Things creations and piano-playing hotties. This was perfection and I am jealous of all who get to read it for the first time. It’s my first five-star read of the year and I couldn’t be happier.

Thank you to Tia Williams, Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of the book for an honest review.

Flowers, love, magic, and a dash of historical fiction make up A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. I think it's best going into this book with as little knowledge as possible. Hence my super short review.

If you're expecting another Seven Days in June with steamy scenes, this is not it. I loved it just as much as Seven Days in June and I'm glad they weren't exact replicas. Don't get me wrong there are a few sexy scenes in Ricki Wilde, but it's so much more than that. I loved Tuesday and Ms. Della as much as Ricki and Ezra. For me it was a slightly slower reading experience because I wanted to savor the writing and atmosphere of the novel.

I hope you'll give this book a chance when it comes out on February 2, 2024.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Infinite stars!!
This was stunning and so romantic in all the best ways. It was the perfect story of Black love and Black history. I feel like this book was written for my soul. I had a hard time figuring out what was fictional because it felt so ALIVE. The magical realism elements were written so well; just barely unbelievable. There were jaw dropping moments and the plot twist were so obvious that I didn’t see them coming because I was so absorbed into the story. The book’s little not to Seven Days In June brought tears to my eyes.

This book is phenomenal! I couldn't put it down! Set in Harlem during leap year. I was enchanted by this spellbinding book. I think this is her best book to date. 6 out of 5 stars if I could. This is the book for spring!
I just reviewed A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams. #ALoveSongforRickiWilde #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Centers around Ricki Wilde the 4th and youngest of the Wilde sisters born into a powerful Atlanta family and the one who goes against the family socialite grain. Wanting to make her own way in the world she moves to New York to open a flower shop and get away from her family expectations. While there she meets a mysterious man, a new friend, and a grandmotherly neighbor who she becomes linked to all against the backdrop of current NYC and the Harlem Renaissance.

This was one of my most anticipated books for 2024 as I loved Seven Days in June but this one felt dissatisfying. I might have had too high of expectations going into it and didn't love the magical realism element to the story that was unexpected. While I liked the premise of the story and loved the Harlem Renaissance parts I wish there was more of the parts that touched on the Harlem Renaissance as I found those parts much more interesting than the modern day love affair. The book read a bit YA to me with some steamy parts thrown in which felt like an unsuccessful effort to make it read more mature.

This would be a good one for those who like fluffier love stories and fans of magical realism.

*4.5

This is such a unique book, I don't think I've really ever read any like it. It had a slow start and was a bit confusing at the beginning. It just took a while to introduce you to the world and how Ricki and Ezra were both fitting in it. Once they actually started interacting and we saw their love story play out, I was in love. The book felt like a bit of a love story to Harlem in both the past and present. There was just so much packed in the book but it all fit so well.

I received an arc through netgalley.

This book is a romance with a magical twist. I enjoyed this book. And look.forward to reading other books by this author. This is a must read for those that enjoy romance, flowers, quirky characters and a great ending. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I blindly followed the hype train into A Love Song for Ricki Wilde and fell into a slow-burned fated soulmate romance with elements of found family that ended with tears down my face.

It was a start-and-stop journey that took time due to the slow pacing in the beginning, but the ending was worth the god awful ugly cry I had. The love Ricki and Ezra held for each other makes me want to believe in soulmates more than I'd like to admit.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

I enjoyed this story about family drama set during the holiday season. This would be a delightful Christmas read. I could see this as a Hallmark movie.
The characters have biblical names and a glimpse of the personality that might match. The title is also a play on biblical references. The nerd in me loved the historical references. Themes that I noted include: mental health, family love and loyalty and family rivalry (Kardashian style).
There was so much I enjoyed about the book but the writing prevents me from rating this higher. The tension addressed by the family seems unrealistic. The problems and how the characters address them was unbelievable. The conversations seemed disjointed and characters were underdeveloped. I think I understand where the author was trying to go but didn't always enjoy the journey.
Thanks @netgalley for the read.

I felt this book had really strong potential but overall fell flat for me. I was really intrigued by the premise of the summary but found myself disconnected from the plot for the majority of the book. I think the reason was that it felt like two different stories put into one book without a strong enough connection between them. However, I believe a large audience will enjoy A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. I do think Tia Williams is a strong writer and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Whoa! This is the type of books that makes you believe in love stories again! I don't want to reveal too many specifics because you need to read it for yourself. This is honestly my favorite read of the year so far! I had seen so many people write in their reviews how this is going to be the top reads of the year and it definitely is.

Tia Williams is just a magnificent writer and turns a subject like this which you think is completely unbelievable into a couple that you're rooting for the entire time. You will shed tears at the end, there is magical realism involved which I thought I was going to hate and throughout the book as it was happening but omg it was written perfectly.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review as always, all words are my own.

This was soooo unexpected! I've been the biggest Tia Williams fan forever and I was so not expecting a book like this! though it has a bit of voodoo magic, it was such a relatable love story! I adored this - it was so much fun trying to figure out what was going on, and how this story was going to end!

I went into this book fairly blind only knowing that I was a HUGE Tia Williams fan and was fairly confident this would be another win. TLDR: IT WAS!!

Full of a strong cast of main and side characters, this book was more than just a great star-crossed lovers romance, it also had lots of African American history, a mix of fantasy and magical realism, and yes, a swoony love story for the ages.

Great on audio too narrated by Mela Lee and Preston Butler. This book is perfect for fans of The invisible life of Addie LaRue and authors like Alice Hoffman or Ryan Kennedy. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Steam level: open door