Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Honey Girl

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

11 reviews

robinks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The premise of this story was funny to me, but the story itself was much sadder than I anticipated. I wish we got a little more backstory about the characters before the events of the book, though the intimacy of all their relationships were so clearly illuminated.

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kybennett's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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kshertz's review against another edition

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reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I thought it was a great story of figuring out who you are once you are on your own and away from your parents. It’s interesting that she was her truest self intoxicated and then had to come around back to that self sober and found it so much harder to do. I think the love story is sweet, not enough of it in the book in my opinion. But it’s not really a romance per se. It’s a finding your place in the world and your tribe kind of book. I enjoyed it but it was something where I zoned out sometimes and didn’t feel like I needed to go back to understand what was happening.

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I went into this thinking it was going to be a light and cute romance (kind of like what happens in Vegas but diverse) because that’s what people kind of pitch this as. This was a lot more serious then I wanted and I wasn’t in the headspace to read about certain topics discussed in this. I did really like Grace and the growth she went through and I liked her friendships. The romance was so instalove and not a main point at all. I do appreciate the diversity(race and sexuality), but this wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. If this does sound like something you would like then I do recommend you pick this up!

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Plot:

There’s not much of the plot that doesn’t stem from the main character making problems for herself. I know that in real life, a lot of problems are self-made, but Grace’s problems seem unoriginal and inconsistent. It’s easy to see where the plot is going, especially in the last third of the book.

Characters:

My main problem with this book was the main character, Grace Porter. She’s supposed to be super #relatable, but it never really works out that way. Supposedly, Grace is a workaholic perfectionist, but all of her flashbacks show otherwise. She just completed a doctorate in astronomy, but she never even thinks about her research.

Grace has all of these (almost unnaturally) dedicated friends who act like she’s the best person to walk the planet, but it is never clear how she’s able to win over so many people. Seriously, she has an absurdly robust support system, both financially and emotionally, and yet she complains about being lonely all the time. Outside of her problems, there is not much to Grace Porter’s character.

Most of the other characters seemed unoriginal. There’s the hardened, strict, military dad who puts unrealistic expectations on Grace. There’s the carefree, hippy mom who wanders the world in search of enlightenment. Grace’s wife, Yuki, is more unique but she still didn’t seem real to me.

One thing that annoyed me is that the book is so clearly trying to fill a bunch of diversity quotas. I get it. Millennials, especially queer millennials of color, want more representation in literature. I love diversity in literature myself. But the way this book goes about it (similarly to The City We Became) acts like it has to check all of the boxes: White? Check. Black? Check. Mixed-race? Check. Indian? Check. Native American? Check. Transgender? Check. Asian? Check. Muslim? Check. Mentally ill? Check. It feels awkward and forced, especially as the author tries to make it seem natural. Yet the result is an artificial cast of characters that fit into an almost utopian color-blind scheme, with the exception of Grace who faces hiring discrimination for her skin color and queer identity. At least The City We Became tried to directly confront the tensions between identities, but Honey Girl just mentions them but rarely delves deep into the tensions beyond “quirky” millennial jokes.

Setting:

Not much to say here. The setting bounces around the country a couple of times, but it never stuck out to me as a good or bad part of the book.

Themes:

Honey Girl explores themes of perfectionism, pressure, relationships, and depression. None of the points made seemed original or new, and I got bored very quickly.

Writing Style:

The writing style also irritated me. Rogers tries to be both relatable and flowery in her writing, but I just got mad because no one talks like that. It’s supposed to be poetic and beautiful, but I found it annoying. Sentences such as “There was a girl with rose-pink cheeks and pitch-black hair, and, yes, sea salt and age behind her ears and over the veiny parts of her wrists” appear so often that it gets stale very quickly.

Conclusion:

This book really disappointed me, because I loved the premise and I always want to support authors from underrepresented communities. Unfortunately, Honey Girl is not a good book; it’s barely mediocre.

Other Points

· A lot of the side characters would have made better main characters than Grace. I would happily read a book from the perspective of Agnes, Meera, or Raj.

· A lot of the characters, including Grace Porter, seem to be borderline alcoholics? There is hardly a chapter in the book where everyone stays sober. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be part of the #relatable content of the book, but I thought it was vaguely concerning.

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irlchaosdemon's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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megg's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my god I'm sobbing 😭 What a beautiful, well-written story. LOVE the family dynamics in this book, and its realistic approach to mental health. Also deals a lot with academia, and the discrimination a queer Black woman will face in it, how that tears her down, and how she finds her own place within it. Huge trigger warning for self harm. This book made me so happy.

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char_j's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i really wanted to love this book. though i do feel like the story was beautiful, relatable, and important, the writing itself let me down.

so much focus was given to Grace’s struggles which, at times, was done in a poetic and beautiful way, but at others, was repetitive and cliché. the rest of her personality was missing from the book for the most part (except for her love for her friends!) so some
of her interactions felt forced or odd because there was no build up of her full character.

the relationship with Yuki fell flat for me, as it was depicted as being based really on their shared loneliness? there was nothing to convince me that these two people would be in love.

the ending of the book was massively forced.

i think i would have enjoyed it so much more if it was just a focus on her life, instead of the added quasi romance story line that detracted more than it added.

but, it also just wasn’t my genre as much as i expected, and i know that lots of people found it profound and felt very “seen” by the work. it does a lot of things really well—like diverse characters, gay content that isn’t about trauma/coming out — and if you wanna be held by a book while you cry, i would recommend it for sure.

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zombiezami's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this so much. This might be my favorite romance novel I've ever read. It's so beautifully written, and I enjoyed the characters.

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kp_writ's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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