Reviews - Heathen and Honeysuckle

329 reviews for:

Heathen and Honeysuckle

Sarah A. Bailey

4.29 AVERAGE

sydneylecoin's review against another edition

4.0

fast-paced

I actually really liked this book. Tugged on my heart strings. Spice but like.... what are u gonna do

ourxstorybegins's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Usually romances where we're constantly doing flashbacks are very annoying to me because I just want to get to the current story, and I did have a couple of moments like that with this book but honestly? Most of the time I really enjoyed the storyline no matter which stage of the timeline we were in. The set up of Darby writing a letter to Leo that she never intended to send but her sister sending it to him anyway because cry for help combined with him showing up on her wedding day and her running away with him? WHAT A TREAT. I didn't realize that it would be a roadtrip story as well? I thought they'd get back to Pacific Shores and it would just be figuring their lives out from there, but I thought the road trip aspect was a nice touch.

It was also VERY DRAMATIC. We find out toward the end that

young Darby got in a car accident, which is how her dad finds out where she is because the hospital calls her. While she's in the hospital, she learns that she had a miscarriage, but she hadn't even realized that she was pregnant yet?

and even though there was a lot of set up to the fact that Darby didn't have a choice in going back to her parents and whatnot, I was still somehow shocked at that reasoning?!

My one gripe: the way that Leo talks as an adult and as a teenager are almost exactly the same. This is perfectly believable with grown-up Leo, but there were multiple times where teenaged Leo was talking and I was like "....there is no way this is a teenager." Which would make some of those flashback scenes feel a little clunky in the dialogue.

Content Warnings

cozy_joey's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

mads_forbooks's review against another edition

5.0

♾️⭐️

I am still in shock at the absolute MASTERPIECE of a book I just read. I mean there is not a single miss in this book. Everything about it was literal perfection and I will except 0 criticism from anyone about it.

This was my first Sarah book and it will absolutely NOT be my last. Her writing is some of the most beautiful work I've EVER read and I can't wait to dive into her backlist.

Being in my second chance romance era while reading this, I just have to say that NOBODY does dual timeline writing like Sarah Bailey. I am genuinely in awe at how she can change her writing style and tone to fit the time period of the chapter. The "then" chapters have that teenage dream, infatuation feeling through them. While the "now" chapter are written to show that they have grown up, become adults, and have different struggles of love and loss. I am truly blown away by her ability to toggle back and forth between the different tones so easily and seamlessly.

And the nicknames, don't even get me started. Those are some of the cutest and most creative nicknames I've heard from an author and they are PERFECT together. I love that they embodied their personalities so freaking well. I love the moments that their together, she was his honeysuckle and he was her heathen.

The plot was incredible, the emotion and twist and turns of the book were done beautifully, and the spice that had me SWEATING and reaching for my boyfriend.

I will never be the same after reading a book like this and I hope you all take a chance on Sarah Bailey and these two characters. There are books in your life that you read and haven't finished yet and think to yourself "this book has changed my soul, altered my brain chemistry, and broke and healed pieces of me I didn't know I needed healed." This was one of those books for me. It was an easy 5 stars before I even finished the book - but wrapping it up, I knew this was an infinity star read for me because I'd never be the same and always think about these two.

Also - special shoutout to Tori (@toriannreads) and Moe (@moereadsromance) for "lightly" bullying me into reading this book and meeting these characters. And Sarah Bailey for putting up with my unhingedness in her DMs. LOVE YOU - sorry not sorry LOL.

💚 Second Chance
🌊 Pro Surfer
💚 Dual Timeline
🌊 Found Family
💚 Forbidden Romance
🌊 Roadtrip
💚 Runaway Bride
🌊 Good Girl x Bad Boy
💚 Small Beach Town
🌊 "It's Always Been You"