Fabulous! Tia Williams never fails to hook me in all her stories. I am so excited to reread this one!

Ricki was immediately a character I loved. She has a family who doesn't really believe in her, minimizes her achievements, and one she is determined to prove her worth to. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde begins with the trail markers of a fantastic romance: dual POV, a mysterious love interest, and two characters who are struggling to make a mark, to succeed. And then it morphs into a suspenseful story about love against time. With a speculative element, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde balances mystery and romance.

It's a testament to the knowledge that the past is never truly gone. I loved being able to get to know Ricki and Breeze, to see the ways in which their lives and stories are echoes of another and so different from each other. The audiobook narration from Mela Lee and Preston Butler was swoony, emotional, and fantastic. You got such a distinct sense of not only who each character was, but also how they saw each other.

A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

🪻Talk about a right book/right time!!! This book was so so good and I feel like I read it at the perfect time?! Stop what you’re doing and go add this to your library holds asap so you can read it before Leap Day!! 🥹

🪻Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Ricki has never been interested in taking over her family’s business and running her own funeral home. After a chance encounter with 96-year-old Della, Ricki is given the opportunity to move to Harlem and finally open her own flower shop. She’s immediately enchanted with Harlem and learning about the Harlem Renaissance. When she sees a handsome stranger while enjoying the wonders of Harlem, her life is changed forever.

🪻I’ll be honest, I had a hard time getting into this one at first. It’s a mix of so many genres: romance, magical realism, historical fiction. All the different genres had me a biiit confused at first but once I was invested in the story I couldn’t stop reading it! I listened to the audiobook and I highly recommend! The narration was so well done and I truly felt like I was there!

🪻The cameo appearances of some of the characters from Seven Days in June made me so happy. 🥰 While I was pretty sure I knew how this book would end, I still cried like a baby. 😭 This book is the perfect book to read during February of a Leap Year!! Add it to your tbr asap and thank me later!!

🪻Huge thank you to @grandcentralpub and @hachetteaudio for my advanced copies! A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE is available now!

I'm classifying A Love Song for Ricki Wilde as a contemporary romance, which I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about when I initially read this book because I had no clue what to expect based on the blurb. So let me tell you what this book is actually about unless you want to go in confused. Ricki moves to Harlem after a chance encounter with this super sweet older woman who wants to support her dream of opening a flower shop. While in Harlem, she encounters this man who she feels this immediate connection to, but also, something about him and their encounters is weird. I'm not going to spoil the actual plot for you other than to explain that Ricki herself does not go back in time at any point in this book. But I will say that this book does have a bit of a speculative edge to it, similar-ish to the Kelley Armstrong series I really love, A Stitch in Time, but without exploring the timey-wimey ness of it all the way Armstrong's series does.

At its heart, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a love story and it is a romance. I know Seven Days in June was pretty literary for a romance and it focused quite a bit on the character's individual journeys, but A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is really about soulmates (my word) who have forces working against them trying to keep them from being together. It is also about Ricki trying to find herself and her success on her own two feet and separate herself from her family. And this time, my own personal qualm with this book is not the romance, which I enjoyed, but the fact that Ricki's personal journey provides the impetus for the ultimate meet cute but where I think the romance resolves itself beautifully, I'm not as satisfied with the jumps made in regards to her personal journey.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but my main takeaway would be that I wouldn't let a negative opinion of Seven Days in June sway you away from this book, but neither would I say that if you loved Seven Days in June that you'll definitely love this. Tia Williams has gorgeous writing and that was consistent across both books, but overall, I feel like these two books really stand apart as distinct and totally separate works. I like the way Williams is pushing the limits of the genre, but I think you have to be in a particular mood to want to have the bounds of the romance genre pushed so make sure you're in that mood before you pick this one up.

Also, speaking directly to the question of how the audiobook was, I really loved the narrators. I thought they both did a fantastic job and I would recommend listening to the book!

There is so much to say about this book! This book was highly anticipated so it’s fitting that this is my first completed book of 2024. I love Ms. Williams’ writing style. She has a way with words that had me locked in from the beginning. Every relationship that Ricki and Ezra had was well thought out and thoroughly explored. I enjoyed learning about Ms. Della and Tuesday. Ms. Della, with all of her wisdom, and Tuesday with her comic relief. Early in the book, Ms. Della referred to her late husband as “music she could listen to forever”. That set the tone for the entire book! There were many quotable moments like when Ezra said “I was a fool, thinking that I was born to do anything except loving her”. The love story was a slow burn between Ricki and Ezra as these soul mates fought to avoid love and then fought for their love. Ezra was a swoon worthy, dreamy hero and I loved everything about him. He had been through so much trauma and I longed for him and Ricki to be happy. This was also a love story for Harlem and it’s rich history. I enjoyed how Ricki used her passion for florals to pay tribute to Harlem. I enjoyed hearing references to historical characters throughout the book as well. There was a mystery and fantasy theme that kept me on the edge of my seat. I started figuring out a certain part of the story, but nothing was predictable. There was also a mind-blowing moment that I didn’t see coming as Ms. Williams put the pieces in place in her own way. Finally, this is a love story for music as Ms. Williams explored the rich musical history from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. I enjoyed listening to every moment of this journey on audio, and highly recommend it.

A love song for Ricki Wilde 💜💙💛
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Thank you @NetGallery and @HachetteAudio for the 🎧 audio arc in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own 🫶🏾

It’s leap year season 😬
Anything less than the truth is a lie…

One of the most anticipated romance novels of 2024. I listened to the audio book version and what a treat. The narrators and producers did such an amazing job painting such vivid imagery in every scene. It was hard for me not to envision this a movie or short series. Mela Lee and Preston Butler narrated the story perfectly!

Ricki is the black sheep of her wealth family. She leaves her family business in Atlanta and moves to Harlem NY to forge her own path as a florist. She rents out a brownstone and opens a flower shop. Soon she meets a mysterious handsome man, a pianist with secrets that she is unexplainably drawn too.

Ricki’s outlook and attitude on life is so refreshing! She knows the most interesting things and can literally start a conversation with anyone! One of the books theme is new found family and I just adore her grandmother, Ms. Della 🥹 she reminds me of my grandma with her fuchsia fro.

Ezra is intense and enigmatic. I loved listening to his background story as well as watching the chemistry between him and Ricki bloom. They were simply just meant to be.

I’ve gone into this book completely blind. I usually like spoilers so read some kind of review of the book but for this one I did not and I’m so happy I did that. I’ve gotten enthralled in this world of fantasy, with the mystery of hoodoo/voodoo and curses.

With that said. There’s a lot jammed in this book. To me some of the parts in this novel weren’t developed enough and moved fast while the read was somewhat of a slow burn. Things did not get interested/going until more than half way through the novel but once you get there 😳🤯 the twists gave the book thriller elements. I was shook. Gagged okay! 👏🏾

I personally enjoyed this novel more than SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE. A love song for Ricki Wilde is a must read and I will be recommending this book for a very long time.

Read if you love messy love stories and floral references 🌷🌺🪻🌹🌻🌼🌸

'If you're gonna fall apart, better to stay in pieces. Because whatever happens tomorrow might be a thousand times worse. Don't weep. Make songs.'

Leap years are something that only happen every 4 years. Something unusual that adds an extra day to a shortened month. They gotta be something kinda magical, right?
A Love Song For Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams is our something special this Leap Season. Williams gave us her brand of lyrical magic. A story that breathes life into death. A story about love that transcends time and the universe and it was absolutely stunning.

Ricki comes from a family whose business is death. But she wants something else from her life and she wants to earn it on her own. After packing up and moving states, Ricki finds a home in Harlem and she starts to breathe life into a neighborhood with her flower and plant creations. This is where she marries a past to the present and soon becomes something special in her own neighborhood with her own brand of success. It is here that she meets a mysterious man that seems to pull her in at every corner. But he's also just out of reach. And as we know, the universe works in very mysterious ways and soon Ricki and Ezra give into the Universe and Leap Year.

First, this book felt like a love letter to Harlem. A neighborhood rich in history, but also with a modern flair. There was beauty in the writing and the way it flowed, connecting the past to the present. I won't say much else, but I feel since I went in blind and didn't know what to expect, that everyone should experience the magic of this story in the same way. The characters and their connections and the way they loved one another was the glue to the story. From Ricki and Ezra to Ricki and Ms Della, you feel the love and pull of each individual and how their hearts called to one another.

Besides the beautiful writing with rich characters and lively setting, the audiobook is pure perfection. Mela Lee became Ricki Wilde and made me feel a part of this journey that the characters took us on. And of course Preston Butler as Ezra. Bravo! These narrators brought not only this story to life, but they made music out of the story and allowed me to feel the deep love of the characters and their story. Something that seemed almost impossible.

If you want to experience a unique story that has everything real and magical with great characters that feel like they are the first characters you've ever met like this, THIS is the book for you. They are fated with a whole slew of mess following them, but they also have this strong bond and love that transcends everything. Family and found family along with history, music and vivid scenery all around you, this book is something special. From the writing to the absolutely perfect audio narration, I can't recommend A Love Song for Ricki Wilde enough. Go in blind and enjoy!!

'To believe in some magic is to believe in all.'

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a beautiful and unique romantic story. Both of the main characters showed depth and the way Williams writes about their romance and their individual growth was intriguing and engaging. I listened to the audio and read a digital copy and I loved re-experiencing it a 2nd time.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an ALC

Ricki Wilde, an impulsive, charismatic and free-spirited florist, takes centre stage. Born into the powerful Wilde family of Atlanta, Ricki stands out as the dandelion among roses, a whimsical bloom ready to drift wherever the wind carries her. Yearning for a different, more fulfilling life, Ricki seizes the opportunity for a fresh start when she rents the bottom floor of a Harlem brownstone owned by the regal Ms. Della.

As Ricki embarks on her journey to open a flower shop, she becomes immersed in the rich history, art, and magic of Harlem, where the echoes of the Harlem Renaissance still resonate. Against this vibrant backdrop, Ricki's world takes an unexpected turn one February evening when she encounters a mysterious stranger, forever altering the course of her life.

Set in modern Harlem, it is a swoon-worthy love story that captures the essence of romance and opportunity in the heart of New York. The novel explores the passion and creativity of two artists drawn together by the allure of Harlem's magic. Their lives become intricately woven in a tale that celebrates love, art, and the timeless spirit of a legendary era.

It is a beautifully crafted narrative that seamlessly blends the charm of romance with the rich tapestry of Harlem's history. Ricki Wilde is a captivating protagonist, and Williams masterfully captures her spirit, making readers empathize with her desire for a life less ordinary. The choice to set the story against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance adds a layer of depth, infusing the narrative with the glamour and vibrancy of a bygone era.

The audiobook enhances the immersive experience, bringing the characters to life with a richness that resonates with the essence of the story. The chemistry between the characters is palpable, and the enigmatic stranger's entrance into Ricki's life adds an element of mystery that keeps the listener engaged.

It is not just a love story; it's a celebration of artistic passion, the allure of Harlem, and the transformative power of unexpected encounters. Tia Williams' prose is lyrical, painting a vivid picture of the characters' emotions and the magic that permeates their lives. This audiobook is a delightful journey through love, history, and the enchanting streets of Harlem.

This book is a magical masterpiece! I can confidently say that this will be one of my favorites of the year and quite possibly one of my favorite love stories EVER! It’s that good that I won’t shut up about it. I’ve recruited so many of my friends to read it and it’s only been published for a week. I fell in love with every character except those dreadful Wildes (not including Ricki of course.) I was definitely rooting for Ricki and Wilde Things as am I’m totally a flower girlie (if you haven’t noticed yet. I arrange most of my florals and I’m still learning new techniques.) I loved how she dared to follow her dreams. Ricki and Ezra’s palpable chemistry.... Whew! Ms. Della’s sweet feisty soul, Tuesday’s anecdotes, and all of the random shenanigans had me actually laughing out loud several times. I didn’t want to stop reading! I was mad when work got in the way and when NetGalley closed for maintenance when I was trying to listen to the last hour of the audiobook I almost lost it! (Thank goodness for the option to download to Kindle!) I love to combine formats but the narration was top tier. Shout out to Mela Lee and Preston Butler III! The story was already amazing but you added that extra ✨! I had to go looking for their other work! When I finally finished it, I was in tears. Well not only tears, I was sobbing. I didn’t want this enchanted experience to end. It’s one of those books that will sweep you up so fast that you have to voraciously devour it but at the same time you want to savor every single minute! I wanna tell more but I don’t want to ruin it. Just read it now. What are you waiting for?!


Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the eArc and audiobook for my honest review. I definitely went out to purchase a physical copy for myself and two friends!

I've always been fascinated by leap day, and A Love Song For Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams made me fall in love with this unofficial holiday all over again; it was just the whimsical story my heart needed!

This romance-meets-historical-fiction blend also has a touch of magical realism and is dripping from every page by a sexiness that is equally subtle and well-crafted. The bustle, smoke and jazz of a 1923 speakeasy contrasted perfectly with an up-and-coming flower shop in gentrified 2024 Harlem, while the multiple years in between vibrated with the fashion, music and culture existing through the decades.

Audiobook narrators Mela Lee and Preston Butler are the utter personification of the characters they embody. She is honeyed syrup and he is rugged mystery; both are pure musicality to my ears!

-fleshed out characters with richly believable backstories
-insta-love that is also years in the making
-found family to rival any blood relatives
-Ms. Della, the fairy God mother to top all others

Thank you NetGalley, Hachette Audio and Grand Central Publishing for the complimentary copy to read and review.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a magical romance set in Harlem between two free-spirited soul mates. On a whim, Ricki moves from Atlanta to Harlem to live our her dream of owning a decadent floral shop. She is in her late 20s and has always been the black sheep of her wealthy, conservative family. Ricki's new landlord, Della, is a nonagenarian who takes on a grandmotherly role in her life.

Early on in Harlem, Ricki meets Ezra, a mysterious man she is inexplicably drawn to. Interspersed in the novel are depictions of 1920s Harlem, during the Harlem Renaissance. Tia Williams' does such a wonderful job creating likeable characters and fascinating story lines. I absolutely loved Ricki, Ezra, and Della. There are such sumptuous descriptions of flowers, music, and fashion throughout the novel. It was such a treat for the senses. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated perfectly by Mela Lee and Preston Butler. They breathed so much life into this wonderful novel. This will likely be one of my top reads of 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was my first Tia Williams book and I’m obsessed. A gorgeous love story set in Harlem in 2024 with flashbacks to Harlem in the late 1920s. This book was spicy and funny and made me cry. The narrators did a great job and helped add to the overall feel of the book. I already miss Ricki, Ezra, Tuesday, and Miss Della.

For those who like their romance on the enchanting side...

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde was a journey. I especially liked the side characters, Ms. Della and Tuesday - their scenes tended to steal the show for me. And the Eva Mercy cameo! (Please can we get her some Botox or other effective migraine treatment between now and the next book? Don't tell me she has to live like this forever.)

I'm not a historical fiction superfan, so I was a bit leery when we jumped back in time, but the flashbacks are much less frequent as the story develops. Ultimately I did like them for fleshing out Ezra's character and the plot, as well as shining a light on Harlem.

I do wish the pacing had been faster at the outset, and that in turn we got to see more of Ezra and Ricki together. The reader has to believe that they have this undeniable, uncomparable connection without seeing enough of that on the page. But ultimately I think this one will work well for those drawn in by the synopsis (admittedly, magic isn't my bag, but I wasn't going to not get excited about a book by Tia Williams).

The audio is narrated by Mela Lee and Preston Butler. I liked this casting and their narration - though I also enjoyed reading the text at times.

This was my first book by Tia Williams, even though I know she has a lot of hype. I went in very optimistically and this for sure lived up. This is a great romance that really brings you in and keeps you interested. I want this to be a movie that somehow never ends. I really loved this story and loved the audio as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for chance to read and review this book!

Ricki Wilde is a free-spirit and lover of nature. She doesn’t fit in with the rest of her family, an Atlanta dynasty with high expectations. When given the chance to leave home and rent an apartment in Harlem, artistic Ricki jumps at the opportunity to finally open a flower shop in a new city. As she slowly settles into her new home, her path continues to cross with a handsome and mysterious stranger that doesn’t seem to belong in this modern world.

I have once again determined that magical realism is my kind of love story! This book is deeply romantic, with beautiful depictions of both present day Harlem, and the grit and glamour of the Harlem Renaissance. Ricki and our main male character, Ezra, each face questions of identity, love, family, and purpose. I found the beginning slightly slow, but stayed committed thanks to the beautiful prose, compelling mystery, and dual narration. By thirty precent I was hooked, and while I was sure a happily ever after was coming (this is a romance after all) I loved to see how it all came together!

I really wanted to love this one, everyone loved it. But I think magical realism is really not for me, I unfortunately had to dnf this one.

It's slow at the beginning but it's a beautiful story of love and magic. The narration is beautiful. It's romantic and I loved reading it in February leap year.

I really wanted to love this one but unfortunately, I thought it was just fine. I think that I struggled with and couldn't get past the magical realism in this story. I think this is just a me thing but I felt like the story would have been fantastic without it. I thought the writing was beautiful, I liked how Ricki saw the world and connected with flowers, and I liked all the bits about the Harlem renaissance.

The narrators were good, but I did feel like Della’s voice was a little over-dramatized with the accent. It almost felt purposely black, rather than just a black narrator reading it. I had to slow down the speed to understand what she was saying. Granted I don’t know if the accent is authentic, but it felt a little extreme to me.

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC!

4.5/5

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde was my first ever Tia Williams read, and wow, what a fantastic introduction to this author! I often struggle with books that lean heavily into historical fiction or magical realism, and this story had a healthy dose of both, but I was still able to get completely swept up in the narrative. While it took me a little while to settle in to the story and get used to the switching perspectives (as well as the switching timelines), all of the exposition really paid off once everything started coming together and clicking into place.

What I loved:
- The "fated mates" element of the story: I've been really loving this trope lately, and Tia Williams writes it so, so well.
- The supporting characters: Tuesday and Della add so much to the story, and I love the way their relationships with Ricki evolve over the course of the book.
- The setting: I loved reading about Harlem, both in present day, as well as during the Harlem Renaissance. It was the perfect setting for this story, particularly since the location played such an integral role in both of the protagonist's stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my advanced copy!