Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

191 reviews

kailahulsey's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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chaaaaaaaaar's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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boba_n_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.5

Spice Rating: 🌶️ .5 / 5

Mad Honey is one of those books that sucks you in and just doesn't let go. I went into it not knowing much, and there were multiple times where I audibly gasped at this story. 

Olivia and her son, Asher, have been through hell and back. To escape Olivia's abusive ex-husband, the pair moved back to Olivia's childhood home in New Hampshire to take over her father's beekeeping business. Lily is a high school student who also needed a new start. She and her mother moved to New Hampshire to start over. Asher and Lily eventually cross paths at their school, and the two teenagers can't help but fall in love with each other. Olivia is so happy for her son, but one day, she gets a call from Asher: "Lily is dead." Of course, as Lily's boyfriend and the one who found her body, Asher is the number one suspect. Through a dual timeline and dual POV, we follow Lily through the past leading up to her death and Olivia as we watch Asher's trial. 

This novel surprised me in so many ways, and it really was such an amazing collaboration between the two authors. I listened to the author's note at the end and found out that Jodi Picoult wrote Olivia's POV while Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote Lily's POV, but I would have never known that from the way their writing styles complemented each other and blended together. It was such a unique story that centers around secrets. What secrets are that, secrets? And what secrets are ones that are private information that should only be shared by their owner? 

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ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5


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lemons's review against another edition

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0


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beckyjzw's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.5


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elianaosburn's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

4.5


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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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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giraffefightinggravity's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Opportunity missed at the end:
When Olivia gives Lily's mom honey, she should have told her it came from a queen bee they'd named after her daughter. It was a perfect setup.


I generally liked it, but
they were painting Asher as abusive for most of the book. Did he actually grab Lily hard enough to bruise her, or were those parts being written misleadingly? Obviously he didn't kill her either way, but I feel like they did all this setup of "Asher is also abusive" and then 'oh never mind.' ?

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beckslovesbooks's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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