Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola | I Almost DNF’d This Twice

Ok so this book was almost a DNF for me. I started with the audiobook on May 30th because well, I’ve legit become an audiobook girlie. NOPE. Just hated it. Got two chapters in and was like nah, let me borrow it and read it. Ok so boom. I’m reading. And reading. And reading. And wtf is this?

I had the same initial feeling about With the Fire on High. I just don’t think I’m a fan of YA books. Y’all I couldn’t get into it no matter how I tried. I loved Kiki and Aminah and their sisterhood. It was super cute to me. I even loved when sparks flew between Kiki and Malakai when they crossed paths going and coming from creepin. But I could not get into it. So I put it down again three days later.

On June 16, I noticed it was set to auto return in 3 days so I forced myself to try again. Honestly, the only reason I pressed on was because I refused to let my Books & Bites girlies look at me crazy when I showed up to our discussion next week.

Around chapter 5, I had to remind myself that I was damn near 5 episodes in before I loved Scandal so I could do this, right?

Then things started getting interesting.

Kiki had already painted Malakai as a player to every listener of her Brown Sugar radio show so needless to say when he damn near had two chics fighting over him at a party, it felt on brand. But dude was smooth AF and deaded the drama off rip. While Kiki was offended that the chics folded like that, it didn’t stop her hot in the pants behind from lustin for that boy from jump. Then the Zack dude she called it off with showed up acting like he was God’s gift so she devised a plan to get under his skin by kissing Malakai.

Girl. Why. And since I recently read Soul Ties, I already knew where this would go lol.

Her and Malakai ended up falling out shortly after. All of a sudden, they got paired together on a creative projec which led to them pretending to be a couple to do a recurring segment for Brown Sugar called Gotta Hear Both Sides. Which of course resulted in both of them becoming friends and falling for one another.

But baby, when I got to about chapter 10, I was no longer forcing myself to read it. I was hooked. Between the cat and mouse game his best friend Kofi and her bestie Aminah were playing with one another to the real ass “fake” relationship ‘Scotch and Kai’ found themselves in, this one was super cute.

Although Malakai was unsure of himself and his capacity to love and be loved, he was such a true romantic. Before they were even really a thing, he went out of his way to make sure she was happy. He was patient and so protective of her and her feelings. Him allowing her into his world and her slowly opening to do the same was beautiful. The interviews they did for the project about love and relationships allowed the reader to see their transformation in real time through the people they were interviewing. They were the only two who ever believed their relationship was fake.

At the same time, they both had so much trauma they never dealt with. Neither of them wanted to get hurt or hurt the other so pulling back was inevitable.

I was glad they found their way back to one another. I was also pleased to learn that their story continued in Sweet Heat, which I also read and fully enjoyed.