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A review by niamhreviews
Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
2.0
I was very kindly given an e-ARC of the audiobook by Headline Audio and Netgalley.
Oof. Okay. Time for a mildly unpopular opinion.
I thought this book was fine. Just fine. I have my issues with it and I have things that I really liked about it, and it kind of averaged out as being...okay. I've read worse, I've read better.
THE GOOD THINGS: This is, genuinely, a whole new take on the fake dating trope set within a British university. The characters - especially the female ones - were written with such clear love and care that no one ever felt like they were missing a dimension. There's a clear voice running through it - and you can tell how much the author loves the genre because this is a real love letter to it. There were moments I really enjoyed and was hooked by, wanting to hear what was going to happen next for these characters. Also, the audiobook narrator was EXCELLENT - the moments where Kiki is doing her radio show were performed sensationally and genuinely made me feel like I was listening to a podcast. The production on the audiobook too is fantastic, so great job to those guys.
THE LESS GOOD THINGS: This book is too long. SO LONG. And it takes far too long for anything to happen. I actually put this book down a few weeks ago because the writing was too tangent-el for my brain - every other sentence had a lead on to a different sentence that told us a bunch of expositional stuff or gave us a metaphor. Which, sometimes, is very useful. But not every other line. For this kind of genre especially, there was so much space where nothing happened. Where we were getting repeats, rather than an advancement of the plot. Part of me thinks this would have worked way better as a TV show than a novel just because of the ensemble cast, the development of the relationship - I never felt it translated well to fiction. I'm learning I much prefer books with action. Spend too long talking about feelings and stuff that doesn't relate - I'm gone.
'Honey and Spice' gets off to a good start, but by the middle, it begins to lose its focus. For me, the development didn't come quickly enough and when it did, it felt unsatisfying. But, don't let that put you off reading it - it's just my preference. There's enough warmth and love and humour for anyone to enjoy it, especially the audiobook.
'Honey and Spice' will be released on July 5th.
Oof. Okay. Time for a mildly unpopular opinion.
I thought this book was fine. Just fine. I have my issues with it and I have things that I really liked about it, and it kind of averaged out as being...okay. I've read worse, I've read better.
THE GOOD THINGS: This is, genuinely, a whole new take on the fake dating trope set within a British university. The characters - especially the female ones - were written with such clear love and care that no one ever felt like they were missing a dimension. There's a clear voice running through it - and you can tell how much the author loves the genre because this is a real love letter to it. There were moments I really enjoyed and was hooked by, wanting to hear what was going to happen next for these characters. Also, the audiobook narrator was EXCELLENT - the moments where Kiki is doing her radio show were performed sensationally and genuinely made me feel like I was listening to a podcast. The production on the audiobook too is fantastic, so great job to those guys.
THE LESS GOOD THINGS: This book is too long. SO LONG. And it takes far too long for anything to happen. I actually put this book down a few weeks ago because the writing was too tangent-el for my brain - every other sentence had a lead on to a different sentence that told us a bunch of expositional stuff or gave us a metaphor. Which, sometimes, is very useful. But not every other line. For this kind of genre especially, there was so much space where nothing happened. Where we were getting repeats, rather than an advancement of the plot. Part of me thinks this would have worked way better as a TV show than a novel just because of the ensemble cast, the development of the relationship - I never felt it translated well to fiction. I'm learning I much prefer books with action. Spend too long talking about feelings and stuff that doesn't relate - I'm gone.
'Honey and Spice' gets off to a good start, but by the middle, it begins to lose its focus. For me, the development didn't come quickly enough and when it did, it felt unsatisfying. But, don't let that put you off reading it - it's just my preference. There's enough warmth and love and humour for anyone to enjoy it, especially the audiobook.
'Honey and Spice' will be released on July 5th.