She soars in her rich depictions of intimacy and relationships, in all their grandeur. The true stars of “Honey and Spice” are characterization, banter and sharp social observation, all of which Babalola renders spectacularly. As in Jane Austen’s novels, the narrative centers on the war between individual attraction and social constraints in a complex, contentiously hierarchical society. Those debates about relationships and gender are the heart of “Honey and Spice,” making it a novel of more sweetness than spice, more contemplation than action. In Kiki’s view, her hookup is practical and liberated, meeting her needs without entanglement, but she judges Malakai for his encounter.ĭoes Kiki’s reaction reflect a gendered hypocrisy? Or do past and present gender inequities demand asymmetrical standards? Malakai is on the way to a potential hookup Kiki’s just leaving one.

These questions are encapsulated in the novel’s opening scene when Kiki and Malakai first collide as strangers in a dormitory hallway.

So Kiki and Malakai decide that the best thing to do is to double down, and they forge a strategic fake-dating arrangement that they hope will rehabilitate their reputations within Blackwellian society. Even worse, she’s getting to know the real Malakai, who’s actually smart and genuinely sweet. Suddenly Kiki’s being spotted around town with a guy she’s dubbed a wasteman? Not good.

Malakai seems like trouble to Kiki - he’s slick, the kind of man who’d bring division and heartache to Blackwell - so she dubs him “the Wasteman of Whitewell” on air to warn off her classmates.īut containing Malakai is easier said than done when Kiki and Malakai’s academic tutor pairs them together as partners on a project. Then the handsome and charming transfer student Malakai Korede strides onto campus and threatens to shatter that equilibrium. For Kiki, relationships are casual and sex is strictly medicinal, like exercise. She has her show, “Brown Sugar,” which has long been the glue that holds together the female factions of “Blackwell” (as Whitewell’s eclectic Black communities are collectively known) she has her best friend, roommate and producer, Aminah and she has her studies. Kiki has carved a good life outside the social fray at school. The setup is straightforward: Kikiola Banjo is in her second year at Whitewell College, where she is a student broadcaster and an aspiring multimedia journalist. In her debut romance novel, “Honey and Spice,” Babalola trains her keen eye and considerable wit on young Black British society. In ethnography, the way she writes would be called thick description - it’s precise, layered and interpretive. Her work is rife with observations that have the richness of field notes. If she weren’t a writer, Bolu Babalola could be a great cultural anthropologist.

True Grandeur by Cal R. Barnes