Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.
If she weren’t a writer, Bolu Babalola could be a great cultural anthropologist. Her work is rife with observations that have the richness of field notes ... Those debates about relationships and gender are the heart of “Honey and Spice,” making it a novel of more sweetness than spice, more contemplation than action. As in Jane Austen’s novels, the narrative centers on the war between individual attraction and social constraints in a complex, contentiously hierarchical society. The true stars of Honey and Spice are characterization, banter and sharp social observation, all of which Babalola renders spectacularly. She soars in her rich depictions of intimacy and relationships, in all their grandeur. And Babalola blends the vernacular and rhythms of Black American music with Black British culture, and its fusion of Pan-African influences, making the text even richer ... Expectations for her first full-length novel are high. Sexy, messy and wry, Honey and Spice more than delivers.
... a dishy romp that gives a fresh update to the phony-relationship narrative with a charming and wholly contemporary romance between an ambitious college radio host and the campus playboy ... doesn’t skimp on steamy, swoon-worthy moments ... But that’s not to say that the novel deals in clichés. While the romance genre has long been critiqued for its lack of inclusivity when it comes to featuring books by and about people of color, Babalola’s writing refuses to acquiesce to the white gaze, firmly centering the details of the story in the experiences of Black and African students at a predominantly white institution. The author’s sharp sense of humor (which fans of her social media accounts will recognize), slick pop culture references, and keen sense of the zeitgeist ensure that though her story launches off from a tried-and-true trope, it ultimately offers a refreshing portrait of what modern love really looks and feels like.
... playful ... The social dynamics can make the book feel like a high school rom-com at times—the drive to get into a program at NYU is reminiscent of many high school protagonists’ attempts to get into selective colleges. But it’s a good reminder that the instability and grind of seeking out the next big opportunity that one experiences in high school doesn’t stop when people get to college ... Fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before will appreciate the way Babalola deftly manipulates familiar romance tropes into an expertly crafted story that offers a glimpse into the British Nigerian college experience. Through Babalola’s careful writing, high school-esque cliques meet the complexity of Blackwell Society politics ... Even without the romance driving the plot, Honey and Spice would be a rich text full of incisive social commentary, but I’d be remiss not to mention that Kiki and Malakai are a couple you’ll want to root for. Babalola captures the messiness of falling in love for the first time. Both of them have baggage to work through, and they help each other do that over plantain waffles and parties. The dating might start out fake, but the chemistry is real.
