Smooth, sophisticated, and sexy.
A Black British university student explores love and friendship on her radio show in this shining romance debut.
Loner Kikiola “Kiki” Banjo is perfectly content with her Switzerland-esque social status at Whitewell College. Uninterested in making any political or social waves, Kiki dedicates all her energy to “Brown Sugar,” her show on the college radio station. Her college, called “Blackwell” by the school’s Black caucus, is home to a number of cliques and queen bees, but Kiki prefers to stay behind the mic when dealing with any drama between Blackwellian babes and the guys she dubs “Wastemen” (“They waste our time. Waste our energy”). Armed with a sharp tongue and her producer/best friend, Aminah, Kiki hopes the show will land her a spot at New York University’s elite summer pop media program, but she needs a community component to really seal the deal. Enter hot transfer Malakai Korede, a film student and “fresh manna from heaven.” Despite his recent arrival, his more-than-good looks and charisma have already pitted the independent Blackwell women against each other, and even Kiki finds it difficult to withstand his effortless charm. After an impromptu make-out session spurs their unexpected friendship, Kiki and Malakai decide to combine forces and fake date to add to the credibility of “Brown Sugar” and provide audio for his romance documentary. Suddenly, the walls Kiki built around herself come tumbling down as her relationship with Malakai turns them into local celebrities, and she must come to terms with what it means to step out from the recording booth and actually be seen. Babalola’s debut novel is lyrical and sincere, her prose rhythmic: “My smile had had enough of being trapped and spilled out, wide and brazen and messy, dripping everywhere. It soaked through my clothes and into my skin.” Kiki is the epitome of cool; her dialogue oozes with confidence, and her biting wit rolls off her tongue with ease—leaving readers wishing they could play her clever disses on repeat like their favorite song.
Smooth, sophisticated, and sexy.Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-314148-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.
A collegiate diver and swimmer secretly pursue kink together, and risk falling in love along the way.
Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling. Despite a successful recovery from the injury that almost ended her Stanford diving career, she hasn’t been able to get her head together, and it’s affecting her performance. Plus, she’s trying to stay focused on getting into medical school. A relationship would be out of the question. By comparison, Lukas Blomqvist is a swimming idol, a record-breaker who wins medals as easily as breathing, and Scarlett has long been convinced he would never look in her direction—until one fateful night when a mutual friend lets slip that they have something unexpected in common: Scarlett likes to be submissive in the bedroom, while Lukas prefers to take a dominant approach. Now, they both know a big secret about each other, and it’s something neither of them can stop thinking about. It’s Lukas who suggests they have a fling—purely physical, just to take the edge off, so Scarlett can get out of her own head and stop overthinking her dives. Initially, their arrangement is easy to stick to, but the more time they spend together, the more Scarlett starts to realize that what she feels for Lukas is more than physical attraction. Complicating the situation is the fact that Scarlett’s friend Penelope Ross used to go out with Lukas, and the longer Scarlett keeps mum about her true feelings for him, the more difficult it is to keep the situation hidden from another person she really cares about. While Scarlett and Lukas’ relationship does begin as a physical one, their deeper psychological connection takes a little too long to emerge amid all the other storylines, resulting in a somewhat rushed resolution. However, Hazelwood’s latest is proof of the depth and maturity that has emerged in her writing over the years, and it highlights her embrace of sexier, more emotional elements than were present in her original STEMinist rom-coms.
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593641057
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.
Two people with bad luck in relationships find each other through a popular Reddit thread.
Emma Grant and her best friend, Maddy, are travel nurses, working at hospitals for three-month stints while they see the country. Just a few weeks before they’re set to move to Hawaii, Emma reads a popular “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread from a Minnesota man who thinks he’s cursed—women he dates find their soulmates after breaking up with him, and the latest one found true love with his best friend! Emma has had a similar experience, which inspires her to DM the man and commiserate. She’s delighted by her witty, lively interactions with software engineer Justin Dahl, and is intrigued when he suggests that if they date each other, maybe they’ll each find their soulmate afterward. Emma upends the Hawaii plan and convinces Maddy to move to Minneapolis for the summer so she can meet Justin in person. The overly complex setup brings Emma and Justin together and the two hit it off, with Justin immediately falling head over heels for Emma. Jimenez then pivots to creating romantic roadblocks and melodramatic subplots centering on each character’s family of origin. Justin’s mother is about to serve six years in prison for embezzlement, which means Justin must move back home to care for his three much younger siblings. Emma was traumatized by her own mother for much of her childhood, left to fend for herself and eventually abandoned in the foster system. When her mother shows up in Minnesota, Emma must face her traumatic childhood and admit that she has prioritized her mother’s well-being over her own. There is little time devoted to Emma’s painful efforts to heal herself enough to accept Justin’s love, which leaves the novel feeling unsatisfying.
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538704431
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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