A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDEby Tia Williams, is my first read by the author. I will give it a solid 4-stars. Let me quickly tell you the plot summary; Ricki Wilde and Ezra Walker are destined to fall for each other - hard, almost fatally for one of them. There are complications in the shape of baggage and expectations on their shoulders even before they meet each other.
To add a bit more to the complicated equation there's a curse ( of the dark magic variety) involved too. This leaves the reader with a question of whether the lovers will find each other and if they do will they survive it?
Themes of the book -
Love at First Sight,
Magic Realism,
Dual timeline,
Set in Harlem, New York.
May sound here and there a bit confusing and the like; however, trust me it all comes together very well. There is a crazy, frantic energy throughout the story and the twist aka the curse left me in deep disbelief to want to continue further, for a hot minute. What kept me going though was what now, how will they overcome it? The curiosity along with an overwhelming focus when Rickie and Ezra were together, especially the first few times they met made it an emotionally intense and overwhelming read.
The story is set over a month, a leap year February, so when I say the conversations between the characters were intense and emotional it was so because of the timer on their story. The way the author writes the story unfolding between Rickie and Ezra was wonderful; I couldn't stop reading and feeling.
It felt like simple love and finding a soulmate was done so very well which made sense and kept me hooked. While the story starts with some frantic energy once the lovers are together it is more of a happy, bittersweet and sizzling energy in a good way.
A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE is an ode to the Harlem Renaissance as a love story beautifully blending the old and new. I loved and learned and put some places on my travel list. The musical references had me clicking on search engines so very often. Also worth mentioning is the style sense of the characters especially Rickie's, I don't think I'll forget her crimson gown anytime soon and Ezra's looks were unforgettable too. Then there's the mention of night jasmine which I get to experience often where I live and was such a relatable thing when it came to Rickie and love for nature and flowers being her creative expression.
The strength and pride of the characters in their past, heritage was positively affirming. In short, the story gave me a lot of feelings from romantic swoons, happiness, pride, anger, disbelief, resolve to joy and even giggles at times.
If you want to read a book with a lot of feelings and maybe a mini cry session, do pick up a copy of A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE. You will enjoy a lot from the story even behind the character's names to how they end up together and most of all the epilogue.
I suggest putting on some of your favourite jazz, blues, piano music in a playlist, grabbing a cocktail and experiencing New York with Ricki, Ezra and their little chosen family.
Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.
When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.
One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.
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