Put Sweet Heat in the second-chance romance hall of fame with Persuasion because this blew me away.

I really enjoyed Babalola’s previous work, including this novel’s prequel Honey & Spice, but she has really stepped up her game here. Dare I say we have a new queen of romance/romantic contemporary fiction on our hands?

First, I should clarify that while this book does indeed follow the characters from Honey & Spice, it can absolutely work as a standalone if you want to start with this one (though I guarantee you’ll want to go back and read more about Kiki and Malakai if you do that). This is a completely contained story, though Honey and Spice does provide extra context to the earlier stages of their relationship.

It’s no secret I love second chance. And I think it’s one of the hardest tropes to write well. Writing a good romance is already a delicate balance of chemistry, humor, background, and spice. Writing a second chance requires the same but TWICE and with a breakup in between somewhere. A breakup that makes us love our characters more and not less.

Kiki and Malakai are a couple you YEARN for. You wait for their every interaction, their stolen glances, their hands brushing, even their inevitable sniping and fights because you just know it’s all building to such a delicious conclusion in Babalola’s capable hands.

The balance is perfect here between past and present. We are firmly grounded in the present story, while the occasional chapters in the past give us the context we need to understand what happened to this couple. And their breakup, while devastating, feels relatable and raw. We ache for these characters as they hurt, but we know the story Babalola is weaving together requires that they go through this to grow.

This book captures what makes a second-chance romance so special: it’s not about toxic love or one person being forced to change for the other. It’s rooted in the understanding that we grow through the challenges life throws at us, and that the same twists and turns taking us away from a relationship, may one day bring us back, when we’re ready.

And the writing??? Babalola is FUNNY. The spice is also fantastic, in its own right and because it’s telling the story of Kiki and Malakai’s relationship as much as any deep conversation or flashback scene. She just gets it.

And all of this while also exploring themes of coming of age, sisterhood, family, and finding purpose.

This book is a masterpiece. Undoubtedly one of the best books of 2025, of any genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO NETGALLEY AND THE PUBLISHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys, when I say I am in love with Bolu Babalola's writing. I just could not put this book down. I was eating every word. This book is so good and full of yearning. It really reminds me how much I want to be in love like that. Anyways, this book follows Ms. Kiki Banjo as she navigates work, friendship and love. When Babalola announced she was going to do a sequel to Honey and Spice. I was shocked and SICK when she said Kiki and Malakai broke up. However, I appreciate their journey back together. I love the way the author uses pepper in this book. I thought plantain would be used more. I just love Kiki's personality and I relate so deeply to her fears and aspiriations. I have so much to say about this book, but I feel like words are not enough right now. I will return to this review. However, I need everyone who loves Honey and Spice to read this book. I need more people to pick Honey and Spice and jump directly into the sequel. I pray that Honey and Spice get picked up to be a show or movie. I just need an adaptation QUICKLYYYYYYYY. I love the author's note.

A wedding setting is one of my favorite parts of a story. Sweet Heat is that book, and it is filled with two main characters that bring the spice and drama. I was hooked from the beginning. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was my first read by Bolu Babalola which is a mistake I will be rectifying as soon as my library can get me a copy of "Honey and Spice.” I loved this so much and I absolutely love Babalola’s writing style, which is so funny and friendly and incisive. Sweet Heat is a sequel to “Honey and Spice” and picks up three years later, with Kiki and Malakai again being the romantic interests. The author is great at writing sexy, playful romance, but I think she’s even better at writing female friendships and how grounding and important they are to the women in them. I love the pop culture references she includes and I so enjoyed being in the head of Kiki, maybe my favorite fmc in a romance I’ve read in the past decade. The romantic journey and the yearning are on point. The cover for this one is also stunning. WIn after win after win.

Loved, loved, loved this!

it's quite a feat to write a sequel to a romance story fans loved and to make it a second chance romance at that, but Bolu pulled it off phenomenally, in my opinion.

This book places you in a timeline 3 years after Kiki and Malakai have broken up and seemingly moved on, helped by the fact that they haven't seen each other since that fateful nite at a hotel. But now, with their best friends Aminah and Kofi getting married, they will be in each other's orbits again and must navigate hard discussions and still present feelings.

As someone who loves second chance romances, this book perfected the very hard balance of still having all the tension and build up of a standard romance while presenting the real dilemmas that caused a breakup and demonstrating why it things would be different now.

The chemistry between Kiki and Kai is at an all-time high, and you as a reader feel it, but so too are the disconnect and unresolved feelings about the breakup.

I ate this up! Literally didn't want to put my Kindle down! It's spicy, it's tense, it's beautifully written, and most of all, it feels authentic both to me as a reader and to the characters themselves.

An AMAZING follow-up!!

I adored honey and spice, and I first assumed this would follow a side-character finding love. But I was SO happy to have Kiki and Malachi back in my life. I want to read 82 more books about them. Writing was witty and quick while also cutting right to the heart.

ARC review!
Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow books!

The romantic journey of my dreams. An easy, emotional, emphatic 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We are here and we are here. Well I was there and I was there! I screeched when I saw the announcement for this book, I screamed when I got the ARC and now I’m borderline depressed it’s over.

💫 The follow up to (a personal favorite of mine) Honey & Spice is every thing I could have wanted. The story follows all of our favorites from book one (Kiki, Malakai, Aminah, Kofi, and more) as they navigate their late 20’s and all of the changes, difficult dynamics and heartbreaks that come with growing and finding yourself.

💫To say I loved this book would be an understatement. While I typically fly through books in just a day or two, this took me 4/5 days. Why? Because I kept rereading paragraphs. I kept highlighting and annotating (my most highlighted book of the year so far). I kept stopping to think and feel. There were many moments I had to physically stop reading because I was overwhelmed with giddiness, hurt or the tension was just SO tense. The writing never failed to absolutely wrap me up and bring me to a different place (I could never tire of living in Kiki’s mind). The characters are so bone-achingly lovable that I’m sad to have finished their journeys. The premise of the book is nostalgic yet relevant to the here and now, it made me reflect on my own life and also look forward. It was swoon and tear worthy and I had an insane amount of fun the entire way.

💫Some key characteristics of the book:

- A very character driven story. This book dives even deeper into the souls of the characters. We get more depth, more growth, more reasoning, more roots. We watch them grow and discover all through Kiki’s brilliant and colorful lense. Being back in Kiki’s mind was like coming home after a long day away while simultaneously going somewhere new and exciting for the very first time.
- A second chance romance with forced proximity elements. The romantic plot was executed perfectly in my opinion. Every set up and timeline was reasonable and both Malakai and Kiki were worthy of a second chance.
- Dual timeline / flash back chapters. This kept the book moving at a good pace. I really enjoyed going into the book not knowing exactly what happened between Malakai and Kiki from the ending of Honey & Spice to the beginning of Sweet Heat. Getting bits and pieces of it throughout the story was emotionally impactful.
- Friendship and family dynamics. These dynamics were raw and relatable. They lended to the history and reasoning of each character.
- Poetic, fun and unique prose. I love the way Ms. Bolu writes. There isn’t another author I can think of that writes in a way that actually sings to my soul. The simplest sentence can make me feel so viscerally. I will never tire of the writing style. This is what makes so special.
- Cultural / Racial themes. This part I love and appreciate almost above all else. It is so refreshing to see Black culture represented in such a light. You can feel how proud the characters are to be Black in world that doesn’t always want them to feel that way. You can feel the way the characters navigate life (both professional and personal) blending their cultures with pride and respect. As someone who is half Nigerian but never had the privilege of knowing that culture up close, I am thankful for the joyous, loud and proud representation.
- Steamy and spicy (open door romance). As the characters matured from Honey & Spice so did the… well spice! I’ll leave it clean even though I was SWEATING but I will say that these were some of my favorite spice scenes ever. They were built up well with lots of tension and the emotional aspect made every thing pop.


✨✨ Overall, this was pretty flawless for me. You’ll find me hard pressed to love a couple more than I love Kiki and Malakai and even harder pressed to love a main character to this level. I can’t wait for my physical copy to add to my favorites shelf!