“And know this: the villain depends on who’s telling the story.”
The Wilde family are a wealthy and influential family in Atlanta and all the daughters are expected to be on their best behavior at all times and join the family funeral home business. But Ricki has always been different. Impulsive, wild and matching to the beat of her own drum she often causes her family, embarrassment. Ricki doesn’t want to join the family business and instead wants to pursue being a florist. A chance encounter leads her to live out her dream in Harlem, NY. One night she sees a man in the garden and her life is changed forever.
“But identity changes all the time, I’ve found. There’s a few more ‘you’ you haven’t met yet.”
I was feeling where this book was going and prepared to dive into Ricki’s life then the book veered into magical realism, which I guess is the in thing now and then I was a little thrown off. The man Ricki sees in the garden is Ezra and he has a secret that he doesn’t want to share with Ricki. He eventually does and their love story goes into overdrive. This is my third book by Williams where my mind wasn’t blown. The Perfect Find (which was turned into a Netflix movie) and Seven Days In June were enjoyable and I know most people liked it but for me they were just okay and I feel the same way about this book.
“I’ve seen beautiful things and terrible things. Until you, I didn’t know that they’re two sides of the same feeling. I want you, Ricki. Actually, it’s not a want. It’s an uncompromising, inconvenient need. But it’ll ruin us both.”
Listen, the writing was good. The idea in all honesty is good and kind of unique so I admit that it’s a case of something not being for you. Especially someone who isn’t really into romance and struggles with magical realism. BUUUUT, if you are not like me, I think you would like this. Ezra and Ricki’s romance is legit whirlwind and heady and Williams writes their love scenes as such – very intense. You get a good feel for the secondary characters, Ricki’s immediate family. They don’t feature much but they do their part of letting you learn more about why Ricki is the way she is. Same goes for Ms. Della, her adopted grandmother. I also appreciated the history and culture lesson on Harlem and it was nice imagining the good times black people had in those times.
Anyways, I wish the book had focused on what it wanted to be. Either a romance novel or a mystical thriller because putting it all together, neither of them shined. I enjoyed Ricki as a character, even if she was chaotic. Ezra came off as too perfect and you know how I feel about those. Ultimately, the magical realism turned me off of it so once again, if that is something you enjoy, don’t listen to me and go ahead and give it a shot.
Taynement
TwoNightStands 