The voice in this was fantastic. Also terrific? The plotting, the emotional arcs of these characters, the way she develops the main characters’ relationship with scene after scene of conversation. Not to mention the great side characters, the effortless queer rep, the handling of black culture on an overwhelmingly white liberal arts college in England, the radio element, and the female friendships.
Honey & Spice follows Kiki Banjo (amazing name), a sophomore at a university in England and host of her own radio show, Brown Sugar. Kiki has trust and intimacy issues from her recent past, but it doesn’t stop her from uniting the gyaldem of Whitewell with advice for how to stop wastemen from sapping the joy from their love lives. Wastemen is Kiki’s term for men who waste the time and energy of the people they are dating/hooking up with by playing their masculine power games and treat women like things to conquer. Kiki aims to combat those games and get her girls their power back.
Enter new guy Malakai, who has just transferred from another university, but already has the hearts of all the single ladies in Blackwell (the Black society within Whitewell). Kiki warns her girls publicly that Malakai is the Wasteman of Whitehall, and this snowballs into them fake dating. No, don’t ask me to tell you how, it works but it’s elaborate and I’m tired. Just know that’s in their best interests, both of them. Anyway, it’s pretty obvious that despite both their emotional hang-ups (he doesn’t date and neither does she), the act of fake dating is actually the perfect excuse for them to truly get to know one another (and fall in love) without the pressure of *actually* dating (we’re just talking terminology here; everything they do is dating, they are just unaware of it).
Honestly, the only reason this isn’t getting a five is a shallow one, and that’s because it made me feel so old and disconnected. I am obviously not the audience this book was written for (I would assume Black British women, particularly ones of Nigerian descent, are who this was primarily written for), but the great thing about great writing is that no matter how specific it gets, a larger audience can find a home if it’s done well as it was here. It’s just, these characters were SO YOUNG. Why do the kids keep making up all the new slang? It is impossible to keep up. I’m glad I can read context clues. But result of this was that I literally kept having to stop reading and think about what they were saying, like, wait, what does that mean? Luckily we have Google (this is how I learned mandem and gyaldem are Jamaican patois for groups of men and women, respectively). It’s really not as big of a deal as I’m making it, but it did lend to the feeling that I was outside the story and not inside of it. And that’s fine! It’s just the reason it’s not getting a five.
Although if I ever re-read, the fantastic nerdery that is Malakai dressing in cosplay to have fun with Kiki at a romance convention might just bump it over the edge. These two were so fun together.
BTW the audiobook is fantastic. It did help me the middle ager with all the slang.
[4.5 stars, rounded down for now]
