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jessicairis06's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
falkeandthebooks's review against another edition
3.0
The story had an interesting way of looking at loneliness and loss, but the way it was written in verse wasn't for me.
mjkreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
0live_tr33's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Grief, and Abortion
redheadread's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
harrydaylight's review against another edition
1.75
Not bad, but nothing special either. Kind of boring if I’m being honest, but at least it’s a quick read.
philippakmoore's review against another edition
4.0
A compelling, original novel told in an unusual way - in verse which is not quite prose, not quite poetry, not quite stream-of-consciousness. But it worked!
The premise intrigued me from the start - Ana is a (married) lawyer who starts an affair with one of her (also married) clients, Connor. This goes on for about three years, full of all the tension and toxicity you'd expect an affair of that length to contain. But then Connor dies suddenly, and Ana has to find a way to grieve him and also keep their secret. As you would expect, it's not a simple task and everything begins to, shall we say, unravel.
I couldn't describe it as a love story, in the slightest. The relationship is toxic and obsessive - and that plays out in Ana's attempts to negotiate her grief in the aftermath too. There are so many people whose lives hang in the balance - not just Ana and Connor's spouses, but their young children too. It's quite the tangled web, and makes for bleak reading at times. If there was ever a novel to put you off adultery, this might be it!
Immersive and gripping, Here Is The Beehive is a reminder of the destructive powers of lust and deceit, and the necessity of facing uncomfortable truths about ourselves and the people we love. Sometimes the hardest grief to bear is the loss of ourselves, who we once were or thought we were, and what could have been.
With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.
The premise intrigued me from the start - Ana is a (married) lawyer who starts an affair with one of her (also married) clients, Connor. This goes on for about three years, full of all the tension and toxicity you'd expect an affair of that length to contain. But then Connor dies suddenly, and Ana has to find a way to grieve him and also keep their secret. As you would expect, it's not a simple task and everything begins to, shall we say, unravel.
I couldn't describe it as a love story, in the slightest. The relationship is toxic and obsessive - and that plays out in Ana's attempts to negotiate her grief in the aftermath too. There are so many people whose lives hang in the balance - not just Ana and Connor's spouses, but their young children too. It's quite the tangled web, and makes for bleak reading at times. If there was ever a novel to put you off adultery, this might be it!
Immersive and gripping, Here Is The Beehive is a reminder of the destructive powers of lust and deceit, and the necessity of facing uncomfortable truths about ourselves and the people we love. Sometimes the hardest grief to bear is the loss of ourselves, who we once were or thought we were, and what could have been.
With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.
bookswithmaddi's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“Here is the Beehive” follows Ana who has been having an affair with Connor for the past three years. Suddenly she finds herself alone, feeling erased with the absence of anything that proves their love ever existed. After years of secrets, lies and overlapping marriages Ana must face her grief, obsession and loss.
I went into this book hesitantly, it is not something I would normally read but something about the concept really intrigued me and I’m so glad I requested it. This book absolutely blew me away. I hope to read it again soon because I think it just calls to be reread. The prose is absolutely stunning and transformative. I was nearly crying by the end. I wasn’t sure at first that it being written in verse was the right choice but it no doubt, absolutely was. The short forms of free verse tear you back and forth between timelines squeezing out information bit by bit.
While I found the beginning a bit slow and confusing, once I was one part in I couldn’t put it down. The slow reveals cause questions to keep churning in your head, begging to be answered. Crossan has a unique talent for leading the reader to believe they know the character, that they can picture them and make reasonable assumptions about them, and then she absolutely turns your world upside down with one simple sentence. The limited words just really did something for me. It felt like she was always holding back and yet it was so incredibly raw. Everything about this book was emotional and real, it is hard for authors to put so much feeling onto paper and I think Crossan did it perfectly.
The reason I am only giving it four stars instead of five is for the areas which definitely needed more clarity. The problem books face a lot of times when they are written in a non traditional format is sometimes the message just isn’t translated as well as it could’ve been had it been written in paragraphs. There were a couple spots in this book that I got stuck on where I either couldn’t figure out where in the timeline we were, or what exactly was going on. These parts were few and far between but did interrupt the rhythm and pulled me out of the story. My only other critique is for the beginning. It was a bit tough to get into and very jarring to be thrown so heavily into the story without much context and with such little explanation. In my opinion I think slightly more could’ve been added to certain parts such as the beginning and possibly more explanation on the character Mark, who seems to be important but it’s unclear how he knows about Ana and Conner and what role he played in their relationship. It would have been very interesting to have heard more about him in one of the flashback segments.
Overall, I think this book was excellent. I can not wait to read more from Sarah Crossan and I highly recommend you pick up “Here Comes the Beehive” when it comes out!
“Here is the Beehive” follows Ana who has been having an affair with Connor for the past three years. Suddenly she finds herself alone, feeling erased with the absence of anything that proves their love ever existed. After years of secrets, lies and overlapping marriages Ana must face her grief, obsession and loss.
I went into this book hesitantly, it is not something I would normally read but something about the concept really intrigued me and I’m so glad I requested it. This book absolutely blew me away. I hope to read it again soon because I think it just calls to be reread. The prose is absolutely stunning and transformative. I was nearly crying by the end. I wasn’t sure at first that it being written in verse was the right choice but it no doubt, absolutely was. The short forms of free verse tear you back and forth between timelines squeezing out information bit by bit.
While I found the beginning a bit slow and confusing, once I was one part in I couldn’t put it down. The slow reveals cause questions to keep churning in your head, begging to be answered. Crossan has a unique talent for leading the reader to believe they know the character, that they can picture them and make reasonable assumptions about them, and then she absolutely turns your world upside down with one simple sentence. The limited words just really did something for me. It felt like she was always holding back and yet it was so incredibly raw. Everything about this book was emotional and real, it is hard for authors to put so much feeling onto paper and I think Crossan did it perfectly.
The reason I am only giving it four stars instead of five is for the areas which definitely needed more clarity. The problem books face a lot of times when they are written in a non traditional format is sometimes the message just isn’t translated as well as it could’ve been had it been written in paragraphs. There were a couple spots in this book that I got stuck on where I either couldn’t figure out where in the timeline we were, or what exactly was going on. These parts were few and far between but did interrupt the rhythm and pulled me out of the story. My only other critique is for the beginning. It was a bit tough to get into and very jarring to be thrown so heavily into the story without much context and with such little explanation. In my opinion I think slightly more could’ve been added to certain parts such as the beginning and possibly more explanation on the character Mark, who seems to be important but it’s unclear how he knows about Ana and Conner and what role he played in their relationship. It would have been very interesting to have heard more about him in one of the flashback segments.
Overall, I think this book was excellent. I can not wait to read more from Sarah Crossan and I highly recommend you pick up “Here Comes the Beehive” when it comes out!