The book business is booming. Sales during the first nine months of 2024 showed a 7 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Association of American Publishers. Physical books are selling well, even as audio books are on the rise.
And 2025 promises to be even better, with the global book publishing market likely to exceed a value of $140 billion, according to market forecasts. The Post and Courier's cadre of regular book reviewers read their fair share of new titles in 2024. In July, they shared some of their favorites so far .
Now, they settle on their final selection. * * * A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE. By Tia Williams.
“A Love Song for Ricki Wilde” by Tia Williams is a magical love story about an artistic, free-spirited woman who comes to Harlem to pursue her dreams of opening a flower shop. She's the family outcast — her three older sisters all work in the family business, helping their father build his empire of funeral homes in Atlanta and beyond. Alone in the city, Ricki, through a series of chance encounters, finds the perfect space to live and work and builds herself a community of friends and neighbors.
It's almost too perfect. Then she starts bumping into a very strange, very handsome man with the oddly old-fashioned name Ezra; their attraction is so strong that it feels as if the universe wants them to meet. Spoiler alert: it does.
And there is definitely more to Ezra — and her life in New York — than meets Ricki's eyes. This book is a wo.