Sweet like plantain, hot like pepper. They taste the best when together…
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.
They’re soon embroiled in a fake relationship to try and salvage their reputations and save their futures. Kiki has never surrendered her heart before, and a player like Malakai won’t be the one to change that, no matter how charming he is or how electric their connection feels. But surprisingly entertaining study sessions and intimate, late-night talks at old-fashioned diners force Kiki to look beyond her own presumptions. Is she ready to open herself up to something deeper?
A gloriously funny and sparkling debut novel, Honey and Spice is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees.
For lack of a better word, this book is real fast. Which is ironic because when I first started it, I thought that would be the reason it would take me a bit to finish. I always find books about black people in the West especially hard to read because the linguistics and culture is always so jarring to me. I had to ask my best friend ,who is more well travelled than me and has stayed in the UK, if people in there actually speak like this. (He said yes). I am also not a very big fan of social commentary in my romance books – something, which by their nature, black romance books have and Honey & Spice is not an exception. However, Babalola handles it in such a way that doesn’t seem very heavy handed, which I appreciated.
Despite my apprehensions, this book turned out to be real funny – both in the beats that were intentional and those that weren’t. I literally finished it in about four days. Because here’s the thing, what this book lacks in overall plot, it definitely makes up for in fun. I found myself laughing at the humour and audacity of everything, even amidst the black British chronically online talk. This was more laugh out loud for me than it was kick my feet but the silly goofy time was equal in measure. I had to remind myself that the people I was reading about were twenty and in college because they seemed simultaneously younger and older than their actual age.
Sometimes beautiful things get messy. Mess is okay.
― Bolu Babalola, Honey & Spice
There’s a lot that happens so I’ll just try (and fail miserably) to condense it. This story follows sharp-tongued, quick as a whip Kikiola “Kiki” Banjo. She runs a radio show where she gives out relationship advice to the (black) gyaldem of Whitewell College. Now I’m pretty sure she must have given the girlies some solid advice in the past – but I find it hard to take her seriously because 1) she’s kinda judgemental. And 2) I found her reasons for dragging our male main character – new student Malakai “Kai” Korede – by calling him the “Wasteman of Whitewell” to be not only ridiculous but unwarranted. It all felt a bit… manufactured just so a dislike could happen.
And I think this sweeps through the whole story. A lot of things felt very contrived. The reason Kiki calls Kai a wasteman is because somehow, this one man, turned every single woman upside down and they all wanted to be with him within a day or so and kaya I don’t know, tensions rose cause he went on dates with them which fine, player vibes, but he also explicitly told them all he wanted nothing serious sooooo.
Honestly speaking, as what I would assume a self hinted queen of calm, Kiki was moving mad over this Malakai guy, who, from what I read in those first pages, seemed to have done nothing wrong except be attractive and charming. Anyway, apparently through Kiki’s lens, no other man at this prestigious college understands satire and wit, until Kai shows up with his intelligence and charm and overall handsomeness and so he instantly becomes public enemy number one in her eyes. Also the way Kai himself handled girls tripping over him in the first couple of chapters was nothing short of King Solomon behaviour. This guy seems to be a God. He’s literally coded as “not like other guys” and man, just absolutely ain’t no way one man has this much power.
So, she was supportive like a vaguely emotionally distant aristocratic parent of a perpetually disappointing child.
― Bolu Babalola, Honey & Spice
Anyway, Kiki technically slanders his character today and then kisses him tomorrow at a party because she was trying to get rid of her obnoxious sneaky link who just won’t back off from her (God, another plotline I won’t get into). This then leads to some drama I can’t even explain because, her viewers feel betrayed by her but she’s also relationship averse cause … reasons from her past and because of this somehow, somewhere the flimsiest reasons to ever fake date are born (and I’ve literally read Daydream by Hannah Grace.) They also have to collab on a project so she can get some internship or whatever so there’s also that.
What I felt about the overrall plot was summed up perfectly by Ore Osasanya in her own review of the book: “In my opinion, the plot of this story is just a little bit contrived. The grounds for the fake dating, while mutually beneficial for both Kiki and Malakai, are shaky at best. Strangely, I didn’t mind this, because it made sense in the context of the book and I could easily suspend my disbelief to enjoy the story. Also, the author has a way of sweeping you along that makes you forget about things like actual logic or reason.”
Not sure I fully agree with the part where she says it makes sense in the context of the book, but I can get behind everything else. I was willing to put aside everything I just said and the sometimes corny chunky dialogue because Babalola writes the story so well that I only half cared about this manufactured mess of a plot and fully cared about the characters and their interactions.
I didn’t really like Kiki. I didn’t dislike her either. And I’m definitely not neutral. Like I don’t know man. My feelings towards her as a character are positive adjacent but I don’t think we could be friends like that in real life. Which is fine, cause she doesn’t really wanna make friends, cause her High School Clique sorta didn’t believe her when her (ex) best friend’s man tried to get with her (re: relationship averse due to her past.) It’s… complicated.
Kiki, it’s not arrogant to know what you’re good at. It’s arrogant to think you don’t need to grow.
― Bolu Babalola, Honey & Spice
If you asked me, Kiki starts of as mean – putting herself on some sort of untouchable moral high ground. She’s kinda judgmental and definitely cynical. She literally only has one friend and sort of compartmentalises everyone which I didn’t really like. This is made worse because we spend the entire book in her head. In the beginning, almost everybody seems to be a caricature of a certain stereotype.
I have never been to a British Uni so I wouldn’t fully be able to grasp but I found it hard to believe the cliques are as ingrained as the way they were portrayed by Kiki’s POV. Like I find it crazy that vegan huns only hang out with vegan huns and bible study babes only hang out with bible study babes (okay maybe that one’s believeable). Especially since most of that changes just cause Kiki started socialising???
Anyway, I found that despite the people in this book starting off as cliche, they really did grow on me. Both Kiki and Malakai grow as people. As they spend more and more time together, their characters start to shine. Malakai is such a nerdy sweetheart but still manages to call out Kiki on her B.S. I really liked him a lot. But despite their growth alongside each other, I think what really steals the show for me are literally the friendships that were made a long the way. Kiki goes from being a social hermit to a butterfly. She finds out the girlies can actually be cool. In another act of plot engineering she even reconciles with her ex best friend over the fallout that made Kiki a social recluse in the first place.
I feel like relationships are in the seeing. I think everyone just wants to be seen and to find someone who they enjoy seeing.
― Bolu Babalola, Honey & Spice
So yah, despite everything being wrapped neatly in the end, the characters themselves were messy and flawed and go through many arcs. Because of the way the characters develop, the beginning and the middle of this book are very strong. Towards the end though, it does sort of lose me.
I’m not usually a fan of third act break ups and this reminded me why. They usually make no sense. This one in particular felt overly manufactured – and that’s saying something for a plot already this contrived. It felt like drama for drama sake, which is crazy for a book this dramatic. It could make it in my top 3 worst ones and I can’t even think what the other two could be. Malakai tripped so hard he was most likely on acid towards the end over there. And I could have bought it if it wasn’t completely out of character. Malakai? The reasonable and understanding golden retriever we’ve gotten to know? It’s even worse cause he knows Kiki and knows she’s going through a breakdown after technically being revenge porned and slut shamed. It felt too manufactured. It exists only to take up space which is insane because I thought this book was like a 100 pages too long.
Regardless, it wasn’t egregious enough to make it unenjoyable. Actually despite this entire post, the worst offense this book made was trying to make me believe nobody has ever called this 20 year old man named Malakai, “Kai” in his life. Ain’t no ways. The second worst offense it makes is half way through this book it starts haphazardly jumping from Kiki’s POV in the present to Kiki’s POV in the past with no warning just so we could get some backstory which, I could have done without. Otherwise I had a lot of fun reading this. Will I be reading the book two which is coming out in September and which I think is totally unnecessary. Yes. 100%. 3.5/5 stars.
The love thing demands that you’re brave. Seeing people for what they are can be scary that’s like full investment. Responsibility. You have to care and be committed to care. And you gotta care even while preparing for the fact that they’re not going to fit into your idea of perfection.
― Bolu Babalola, Honey & Spice