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joey1914's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
bella_cavicchi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
emmagalt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book tries to do far too much and it suffers because of that. The authors needed to pick one hobby, but there are so many tangents about Lily fencing, playing cello, absorbing facts, as well as Olivia keeping bees that it becomes boring and skimmable.
More than that they needed to pick one trauma. If you try to have a book about murder, domestic abuse, transphobia, suicide, self-harm, abortion, racism in the justic system, etc, then none of the topics are covered with the grace and nuance they deserve. The marginalised characters in the book like Selena and Elizabeth felt like educational tropes pulled from inspirational quotes than 3D people with lived experience.
I felt that the parts about Lily's transition was beautifully written and informative. This book could have been such a positive platform to talk about the love and support she was given to transform as a teenager, and the benefits of being able to act on this choice so young so that she could live as her authentic self for the majority of her life. Unfortunately, this was used as a plot twist to offer motive for Lily's death, instead of a full story about Lily's life.
Finally, the main plot of the book was the trial, but the case and arguments were so weak because too much focus was put on trying (and I think failing) to make the characters seem murky and mysterious.
Such a shame because I always love Jodi Picoult books, but this just didn't do it for me.
</ spoiler >
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident and Abortion
logikitty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Outing, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual content
corriejn's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy
finnmiles's review against another edition
4.75
The biggest thank you to Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan for this collaboration. The world needs more humans like you and books like Mad Honey in it. I will absolutely be buying my own copy of it. <3
Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
wackly93's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief and Dysphoria
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Deadnaming and Pregnancy
malvavisca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
mags017's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Dysphoria
backpackingbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
At its core, Mad Honey is a story of love, heartbreak, and secrets. Asher and Lily might look like two blissfully loved-up teens from the outside but when Lily dies and Asher is accused of murder, cracks start to emerge. Small things blow up into motives, childhood trauma swims to the surface, and a secret Lily has taken to the grave splits the case wide open. Woven within that is the perspective of Asher's mum, Olivia, who takes refuge in her bees while fighting her own demons.
As this book becomes more popular, it's going to be harder to go in blind but if you can, I absolutely recommend you do. I was listening to the audio and gasped out loud when the announcement was made in the courtroom (IYKYK) and thought the not-knowing made an even bigger impact because it revealed so many potential motives that neither we nor the jury had thought of until then.
Speaking of the audiobook, I was a little disappointed with the narrators but it didn't affect how much I was pulled into the pages. I was able to listen for long stretches of time and found it easy to get lost in the events, always wanting to listen that little bit longer.
I was a bit nervous at how the book would work with two authors and assumed early on that they'd taken a character each and written alternating chapters from their character's perspective. As Jodi has a very distinctive writing style, I wasn't sure how Jennifer would seamlessly fit into that as I'd never read a book by her before, but it was clear that they had a very rigorous and ruthless editing process to ensure the story flowed. Co-authoring (during lockdown too) must be so challenging and this refining of the story only added to my enjoyment (not to mention they swapped and wrote an opposite chapter each just to keep see if readers would notice - a sign of flawless writing)!
I read this with my book buddy so I knew we'd have really in-depth discussions and I wasn't disappointed. I loved dissecting the chapters and discussing the themes; if there's one thing this book does, it prompts conversation around very important topics.
While the book wasn't perfect (I didn't love the ending and was kind of hoping for something different), it was raw and emotionally impactful. It isn't a book that's written for the sake of the ending; instead, it's the characters and the themes that make this book a truly exceptional piece of work.
Finally, the author's note added so much context to how this book came about which just made me love the whole thing even more. Imagine tweeting about having a dream where you're co-writing a book with the legendary Jodi Picoult only to have her message back and say LET'S DO IT; let's hope I have the same dream one day.
GO READ THIS BOOK.
Rating breakdown
- Plot/narrative - 4.8
- Writing style/readability - 4.8
- Characters - 4.8
- Diverse themes - 4.8
- Ending - 4.2
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Dysphoria