Book Review: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Magical Realism, Historical Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Adult
Pages: 347
Format: Ebook | Kindle Unlimited
Rating:

Initial Thoughts

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is another book I picked up half-blind. I remember seeing a TikTok about it being a good book, full of emotion, and I’n pretty sure the creator was crying in the video I watched. 

This is my first book I’ve read by Tia Williams, and my expectations were below high but above low, due to her popularity, and how well-liked her books are. 

I also loved the cover of this book. Something about the hues, and the blue and yellow color palette just did something for me. The richness of the skin tones of the man and woman on the cover drew my eyes in.

The Plot (Spoiler-Free!)

Ricki Wilde is the black sheep of her family. With three successful sisters, all invested in their family business, wearing designer clothes and living a lifestyle very few black families are able to achieve, Ricki isn’t satisfied with her life and it leaves her wanting more. She finds that more when she abruptly moves from Atlanta to Harlem to start her own business – a flower shop. Her family thinks she’s out of her mind, but Ricki is determined to prove them wrong. In Harlem, Ricki begins to write her own story and that story is filled with friends, family, and an enigmatic man who she can’t seem to escape, no matter how hard she tries. 

What I Liked

I thought this was such a well-told story. I loved everything from the beginning to end. As a main character, Ricki is great. I appreciated her personality and outlook on life. She has her own style, that her sisters mock and say she dresses like all the members of  Sister Sledge (I actually LOL at this part), but Ricki doesn’t care about their critics. Ricki is the opposite of her sisters in every way, and I like how she stood by it and didn’t falter. Where her sisters buy designer, Ricki likes second hang thrift stores. Her sisters didn’t follow their dreams and went into the family business, but Ricki wanted to carve her own path. Ricki is messy, imperfect, all over the place at times. But that’s her, and I love her for it. 

I never knew reading a book about flowers could be so interesting, but it was! Tia’s knowledge was so impressive. All the different types of bouquets and arrangements, Ricki made. I loved Ricki having her plants listen to music. 

Something else I loved was Williams’ knowledge of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. One of my favorite scenes is when Ricki was dropping her unpurchased bouquets off at what was once well-known historic landmarks or places for black people.

At first, I didn’t like the flashbacks, but then I grew to appreciate them and the context it gave to the story and black and Harlem history. I learned a lot from Williams and she was able to masterfully described a place that had me longing to live in.  

Williams’ vocabulary is also unmatched. She’s just casually using words like anthropomorphizing, caterwauling, aesthete, vaudevillians, and so many others!

Now, let’s get into Ezra. A tortured soul. An amazing musician. A romantic at heart. A puzzle, just waiting to be solved. Mysterious, but not impossible to get to know. That’s all I’ll say about him. You’ll have to read the book to learn more.

What Didn’t Work for Me

While I thoroughly enjoyed this story, plot, characters, writing, setting, everything, there was just one thing preventing me from giving it a full five deer-stars and that was the fact the Ricki’s family never checked in on her.

I understand that she’s the black sheep of the family, but they still love her in their own way. Ricki moved to Harlem around August I believe, and we don’t hear about her family checking in on her until February. Whether it would’ve been her family calling to mock her, to say they don’t think she’s built for running a business, or genuinely checking in to see if she was okay, I would’ve liked to have seen that in this book.

Final Thoughts

I loved this book and it’s very worthy of being a trophy on my shelf. This was my introduction to Tia Williams and she lived up to the hype! I am definitely open to reading more Tia Williams in the future.