Bolu Babalola

"Perfection in short story form, I am in love with every single word Bolu Babalola has written. So rarely is love expressed this richly, this vividly, or this artfully." -- Candice Carty-Williams, international bestselling author of Queenie A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen. A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life. A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family's politics or be true to her heart. In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places. With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres. Love in Color is a celebration of romance in all its many splendid forms.

Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold

Love in Color

Love in Colour

Yennifer Villa

Discover love from times long ago... Join Bolu Babalola as she retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology in this stunning collection. From the homoromantic Greek myths, to magical Nigerian folktales, to the ancient stories of South Asia, Bolu brings new life to tales that truly show the vibrance and colours of love around the world. The anthology is a step towards decolonising tropes of love, and celebrates in the wildly beautiful and astonishingly diverse tales of romance and desire that already exist in so many cultures and communities. Get lost in these mystical worlds and you will soon realise that humanity - like love - comes in technicolour.

I don't typically give  short story book collections a 5, so a three is the heighest they'll get, just because you never get to connect with the characters. 

Beautiful, gorgeous and meaningful, and honestly just so real. I felt the love just lighting out of this book, and it clearly came from the heart of Bolu Babalola, and it really touched my heart. Some of the stories were meh and some of them were just so painful.

surtified™

I don't typically give  short story book collections a 5, so a three is the heighest they'll get, just because you never get to connect with the characters. 

Beautiful, gorgeous and meaningful, and honestly just so real. I felt the love just lighting out of this book, and it clearly came from the heart of Bolu Babalola, and it really touched my heart. Some of the stories were meh and some of them were just so painful.

The last chapter, Alagomeji was truly beautiful. Reminds of the movie past lives directed by Celine Song but the lagos version. Took me a good minute to finish this, some stories better than the others but I had a blast reading this. 2024 is for love and i’m so thankful to have read such enamouring words before the year ends.

Davina 

Q&D- cute easy short stories. I was waiting for love to be presented in a new, different way. Most of the stories felt like the same story just wrapped up differently. 

Abigail F

“Perfection in short story form, I am in love with every single word Bolu Babalola has written. So rarely is love expressed this richly, this vividly, or this artfully.” —Candice Carty-Williams, international bestselling author of Queenie A vibrant collection of love stories from a debut author, retelling myths, folktales, and histories from around the world. A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen. A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life. A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family’s politics or be true to her heart. In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places. With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres. Love in Color is a celebration of romance in all its many splendid forms. “Babalola’s writing shines”—New York Times Book Review

Lynn

This was a pleasant surprise! Normally short stories aren’t always my thing, however this definitely turned my stake on the genre. Babalola spins beautiful new twists into ancient myths and stories of a variety of cultures. Even though this book’s title infers that these will be romance stories, I actually drew from them more tales about female autonomy and self-improvement. The moment the women grow their personality’s and choose their own faiths is where they find different kinds of love. The pacing was lacking consistency and I felt some stories were a lot more developed than others. The writing is undoubtedly unique and so vibrant. My favourite stories in which this really came to life were Osun, Naleli & Zhinu.

a lovely collection of short stories that brought new takes the romance genre and taking figures from different myths around the world and reimagining them in brand new scenarios. the love and passion described in the stories is breath taking and reminded me that good romance exists after reading some not so stellar romance novels over the years.

if you’re looking for something to read with a lot of heart, charming characters, and well written-romance i would look no further. 

miranda

a lovely collection of short stories that brought new takes the romance genre and taking figures from different myths around the world and reimagining them in brand new scenarios. the love and passion described in the stories is breath taking and reminded me that good romance exists after reading some not so stellar romance novels over the years.

if you’re looking for something to read with a lot of heart, charming characters, and well written-romance i would look no further. 

Kristen Claiborn

I don't typically seek out short stories, but this one was hyped enough that I went ahead and added it to my library hold list. This set of stories is exceptionally well-written and very entertaining, especially if you have any interest in any of the mythology behind these stories. I definitely recommend this one.

Elizabeth Hagenlocher

Spectacular anthology of stories about love. Each character and scenario felt unique and fresh, and I love Babalola’s writing style.

I enjoyed every story, but my favorites were: Osun, Nefertiti, Attem, Psyche, and Thisbe.

Love stories inspired by tales of the past... Join debut author Bolu Babalola as she recreates the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology and retells them with new incredible detail and vivacity. From the homoromantic Greek myths, to magical Nigerian folktales, to the ancient stories of South Asia, Babalola is inspired by tales that truly show the variety and colours of love around the world. A high-born Nigerian goddess feels beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover and longs to be truly seen. A young businesswoman attempts to make a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life. A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether to uphold her family's politics, or to be true to her heart. Whether captured in the passion of love at first sight, or realising that self-love takes precedent over the latter, the character's in these vibrant stories try to navigate this most complex human emotion and understand why it holds them hostage. Bolu takes a step in decolonising tropes of love and creates new stories inspired by the wildly beautiful tales that already exist in so many communities and cultures. Moving exhilaratingly across perspectives, continents and genres, from the historic to vividly current, Love in Colour is a celebration of romance in all its forms. Get lost in these mystical worlds and see that love, like humanity, comes in technicolour.

a very good, feel-good anthology of mythological retellings with the central theme of love. bright-eyed and sometimes naive, the book was nevertheless a pleasant reprieve of everything else i have had lined up.

its only flaw lies with me and that is that i am not much of a pure romance reader. but i cannot not give points to babalola for the incredible creativity with which she has adapted the stories to more contemporary settings.

a very good, feel-good anthology of mythological retellings with the central theme of love. bright-eyed and sometimes naive, the book was nevertheless a pleasant reprieve of everything else i have had lined up.

its only flaw lies with me and that is that i am not much of a pure romance reader. but i cannot not give points to babalola for the incredible creativity with which she has adapted the stories to more contemporary settings.

Beautiful. Every single story captured me, I didn’t want them to end. 

Laura Gill

Really delightful. Fresh, joyful and bursting with life. I want to read more short stories! 

Sarah Christine Gill

taryn

From the author’s note at the beginning, I knew I was going to love this book. It’s emotional, fun, and full of short stories that I never wanted to end. The mythology combined with modern retelling really showcases Bolu’s writing range. All the stories touched on different kinds of love and made you think and yearn for the characters in different ways. All the stories are great, the ones that I particularly loved were Thisbe and Scheherazade. 

Bolu brings to light traditions that are often ignored in westernized literary spaces. Her collection showcases love for all cultures, not just the version Hollywood packages and sells us. One point where this book was lacking was in LGBTQ+ representation, other than Nefertiti this collection of stories is all heterosexual couples.

Some favourite quotes that I remembered to write down at the start of reading and then got so into it I forgot to keep track of other quotes:

“I forgot that he knew me. I was so used to being with men who didn’t. I was so used to making sure it was a certain way that I had taken Shah for granted.” (26)

“I felt like there was an infinity in our affinity, that our connection was so deep and so fathomless that there was no way we could be bound by something as mundane as dawn. We were our own suns.” (34-35)

bhargavi

This is an anthology series, and it's an adaptation of mythology, so it's two of my favorite things in one. 

Bolu Babalola's writing is simple, evocative, and touching. She draws you into each short story easily, grounding the modern settings in reality and adding a touch of magic to all of the ancient stories, bringing them to life in an entirely new way. Each story holds a separate theme and concept about love, and Babalola transitions effortlessly from one story to another, effectively wrapping up each mini-story without making the story seem too short or fragmented. 

The range of the stories is also admirable; Babalola doesn't limit herself to African fairy tales, but travels to Asia and Greece to seek inspiration from them as well. I was unfamiliar with some of the African fairytales in the story, and yet found myself entranced by the world she created regardless. 

Each story is unique, and despite each one not having any consistency between characters, Babalola makes her reader care about each couple and each experience. Some stories were definitely far better than others (Thisbe, Nefertiti, and Zhinu stood out to me personally) but the whole collection is balanced in quality, and there are no stories I hated in the collection. 

Overall, Love in Color is a pleasant, short, and magical read that will make you think about love—especially modern love—in entirely new ways, forging a connection to the myths of the past while showing what love looks like, in all its forms. 

Summer Stanley

Cute and lovely! Lighthearted stories, but so well written. 
Some I enjoyed more than others, but the whole collection is absolutely worth reading. 

The writing is beautiful! It was wonderful to read just one book where women are treated good by their lovers. It's nice to read books where women are strong, the hero of their own stories, where there is love shown and they can be who they are at the same time. People loved and seen as who they are. This stories have some amazing female characters. This is what I missed growing up. 

Raag Sudha

I think this was a really good book because the mainstream modern literary landscape is sorely lacking romance among people of colour and decolonised love stories. But sadly the fact that it was an anthology really did it such a disservice because these short stories kind of all blur into one another and it almost loses the beauty and magical essence that I felt from the first few stories. I realised I would do it a disservice finishing it for the sake of it and it is much better read by picking it up every now and then and reading 1 story. Different style of reading but will definitely want to pick it up in the future again, especially if I am in a reading funk - I know I enjoy this author's style and short stories will be more doable than long form prose. Would love to gift this book to someone or have it gifted to me because it's such a beautiful book to keep on a coffee table and pick up now and then for a short read. Really beautiful book cover.

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[cheating, death (mostly violent), gun violence, alcohol, threats of and reference to sexual assault (hide spoiler)]

I adore fairy tale retellings and I was already familiar with the author from following her on Twitter, so of course I wanted to read this book. Add in the gorgeous cover art and I was completely sold. And this anthology is excellent, full of thoughtfully reimagined tales with strong women and varied settings, and how love unites us all.

“So, what was our beginning? When we first met? When we first fell in love? But falling in love is continuous and perpetual, an activity that abides under the aegis of capital letter Love.”

While I wasn’t familiar with the source material for many of the tales, I didn’t find it affected my enjoyment of them, though I’m sure I missed nuances. For the ones I was, I loved the way the retellings bent the tale, Scheherazade being my personal favorite. In this version, her storytelling is for the benefit of fixing politicians’ messes, and it takes 1001 nights for her to let herself fall in love, to accept the protection and possible heartache that comes with that. “Nefertiti,” the sole f/f story, was another gem, setting her as the widowed owner of a cabaret and all-women gang, dedicated to protecting women from the corrupt government and the men who would prey on them (often one and the same). “Psyche” sets Mt. Olympus as a Devil Wears Prada situation in a skyscraper and involves a sweet friends-to-lovers trope. “Yaa” explores the main character freeing herself from parental – and societal – expectations. To be completely honest, there weren’t any stories that I didn’t like.

“I’m pretty sure you’re the love of my life. I, uh, like your face and I like when words come out of your face. Sorry, that didn’t sound romantic at all.”

This collection’s biggest strength is also its weakness: so many of the stories are about powerful women being truly seen, about owning that power, about their partner respecting that power and seeing them. Gobbling up all thirteen stories in a row is probably not the best way to read this. I wish I’d had the willpower to put the book down between tales and reflect on each individually. The author has an amazing way with words, just the most gorgeously evocative prose, and a great ability to pack a book’s worth of feelings into a short story. I’d love to see what she could do with a full length novella or novel!

“We of all people can’t afford distraction.”
Maadi shifted closer. “With all due respect, Siya, I’m not distracted. I’m focused on what matters most.”

Overall, I very much enjoyed this anthology and will be looking forward to wherever the author goes next!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sam Pulliam

“What matters most is that you feel like you are at your fullest.”

This collection of short stories center romance and are primarily retellings from places such as Nigeria, Greece, Persia, and China.

Short story collections are often hit or miss for me but this one just might be the best collection I’ve ever read. There isn’t a single story that bored me or that I didn’t like. The writing in these stories is so beautiful. It is so nice to see stories of joy and love for people of color rather than trauma. The women in these stories are largely powerful and have autonomy which you might not always get in older texts such as mythical tales. I wasn’t familiar with many of the source texts but I still really enjoyed reading these stories and want to look more into the stories I don’t know. The first story was a bit confusing but that might have been because I didn’t know the source material so looking up that story might help me fully appreciate it more. Some standout stories in this collection include Scheherazade which is based on 1001 Nights, Zhinu based on The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and Psyche. For Psyche, imagine your favs from Greek mythology working at a fashion magazine called Olympus! I am so excited to see what else Bolu Babalola writes because this collection is beautiful.

Kimberly

Solid collection of short stories revolving love. Some I wished were longer and would love a novella or a novel based off of them like Nefertiti or Psyche. I enjoyed the new tales as well.

Abby Hoggatt

Arwa El

I was really, really looking forward to this book, I mean: short stories? amazing cover? mythical tales around the world? cheesy women-centered love stories? Hell, yes, count me in! Love in Colour is the proof that if you’re good at writing tweets, it doesn’t necessarily mean, you need to write a book.

But apart of this cover (which I forgot in the garden during a storm, so..) the book was a huge disappointment, unfortunately. Every single line in the stories was predictable. Every single story was a girl-meets-boy-fall-in-love-at-first-sight-trope. It was so boring after the *check my notes* first story. But the worst part of this book is the dialogue. Not only was it predictable but oh gosh, I cringed so often because it was written so horribly; which made it really tedious to read. The „coincidences“ in this book felt like every single „plot twist“ of Hollywood movies which you have seen a million times already: girl meets abusive boyfriend for a birthday dinner, he texts her that he is running late (yes, you guessed it, he has an affair with his secretary) and guess what: the taxi driver that brings her to the restaurant is her ex-boyfriend whom she loved so much, she was thinking about him day and night for the last five years. omg, shut the fuck up. and yes, she runs away with her ex-bf who is now the love of her life, ok grrrl.

Another story highlights Sheherazade, a woman who is afraid of commitment. All fine, all normal. Who isn’t in this age, right? But what does she do? She freaking cheats on him and basically says, yeah, well, we still love each other. Please stahp!

And please don’t get me started on the language. Ok, dear author, we got it. You know five dollar words, this doesn’t mean you should use them all the time, especially when they don’t fit? It’s so awkward.

Anyway: 0,5 stars, and I am really generous because the cover is so beautiful.

Trigger Warning: only heterosexual relationships (and they don’t have anything to do with mythical tales, it’s just poor advertisement and I fell for it, DAMMIT!)

Kelsey Holtaway

All-in-all I really enjoyed this! It's tough to rate a set of short stories as one, but this is actually one collection I've enjoyed the most. 

LOVE IN COLOR (COLOUR if u fancy), is a collection of short stories, each story acting as a retelling based on a different goddess of love from varying culture's mythologies. 

I, personally, love both mythological retellings and romance so this was right up my alley. 

There were a couple different types of love story told throughout this collection, there were the more dramatic ones, and the more rom-com ones. I'm definitely more of a romcom person, so the ones I enjoyed the most were Psyche, Naleli, and Thisbe, although there were a couple of the more serious tone I enjoyed like Sheherazade, and Nefertiti. The others were great, but sometimes I found myself flipping through to see how many pages I had left of that goddess. 

The writing itself was lovely, and I really enjoyed researching the goddesses before diving into their stories to see how Babalola wove in the important players and tropes from that particular tale. 

What I appreciated the most was how these were true sweet love stories. This is definitely a comfort read where love wins and we get our happy endings. 

I definitely think this is worth the read, and I think everyone will be able to enjoy all the different stories, but also be able to pick out a few favorites.

b.andherbooks

An absolutely compelling set of short stories exploring various myths both familiar to me and unknown to me. My favorite story involved two warriors, one also a queen, who finally succumb to their pining before going off to fight and maybe perish. I'm a sucker for "let's live tonight, for tomorrow we may die" so that hit the spot for me.

I reviewed a complementary copy of the audiobook from HarperCollins audio for Library Journal, and checked out a print copy from my library.

Love in Color Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold

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