A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
In this sexy modern-day fairytale from the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, a free-spirited florist and an enigmatic musician share a soul mate connection told through the history, art, and magic of Harlem.
“Tia Williams is a superlative author constantly testing her own boundaries, innovating with each new book. Sparkling, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny…Ezra and Ricki's love story is one for the ages.” – NPR
“Tia Williams is a go-to-author for epic love stories.” – Marie Claire, A Most Anticipated Book of 2024
What readers are saying on Goodreads:
“I am a Tia stan at this point. It was perfect.”
“Gave me all the feels, and even made me question my own personal goals.”
“Hands down one of the best stories of love I’ve ever read. A true masterpiece.”
“The perfect story of Black love and Black history. I feel like this book was written for my soul.”
“Atmospheric, haunting, beautiful, lyrical, I could wax poetic on this story forever and never do it justice.”
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Get ready to luxuriate in an utterly magical romance. Headstrong Ricki Wilde doesn’t want to follow her Atlanta family into the funeral business. So she follows her dreams, moving to Harlem to run a quirky flower shop and surrounding herself with chosen family instead of the disappointed clan she left back in Georgia. Things heat up when she meets Ezra, a jazz musician who gets Ricki feeling all sorts of tingly. But there’s something strange about Ezra. And that just may have something to do with how this romantic fantasy keeps sliding back and forth between the present and the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, which Tia Williams renders with so much style and color you’ll want to stay in those fashionable glory days. Williams makes strong but subtle points about race and family, and she peppers both timelines with snappy exchanges tailor-made for a movie. This heady mashup of love, magic, and history is a delight.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Elegantly blending past and present, romance and fantasy, Williams (Seven Days in June) delivers a gorgeous, transportive love letter to the Harlem Renaissance. The novel begins in the present day, introducing 28-year-old vintage fashionista Ricki Wilde, the youngest in a high-achieving, high-society Atlanta family. While her sisters happily contribute to her father's funeral home empire, Ricki, who's considered by her family to be "too flighty, too messy, too much," wants nothing to do with the family business. She dreams instead of opening a flower shop—and through hard work, an extremely popular floral Instagram account, and a touch of fate, she's able to move to Harlem and follow her dream. Bouts of crushing loneliness and social anxiety are eased by Tuesday, a former child star who bursts into the shop and becomes Ricki's new best friend, and Ms. Della, her spunky 96-year-old landlady. And then there's Ezra, a jazz savant who, Ricki thinks, would be "beautiful in any era, anytime, anywhere"—and indeed he seems somewhat out of place in this one. What begins as a simple romance is elevated by rich history as the story flashes back through Harlem's past, revealing both its glamor and its danger. This vast time span creates an epic feel that never overpowers the tender heat of the romance. It's a showstopper.
Customer Reviews
Best one yet!
I couldn’t put it down! Finished in like 5 days. You did your big one Ms. Williams!
A Love Song for the World
I absolutely adored this book! I haven’t been able to put it down since I picked it up. Entangling all the aspects that black love should be *chef’s kiss*. Intertwining the Harlem Renaissance with today… LOVED! Ezra and Ricki’s love and passion had me swooning, and the love that Ms. Della and Tuesday had for Ricki really made me appreciate my own personal village 🧡
Modern day fairytale
Love, magic, historical fiction are my favssss. This book was a dream!