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mandkips's review
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Self harm, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, and Drug use
lklitup's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
4.0
I went in for the Las Vegas marriage and queer romance. I ended up reading about much more. For better or worse.
Dr. Grace Porter is a good astronomer. She is Black, queer, and the daughter of Colonel. How each of these major pieces of her identity challenge her and her professional career is explored. Because Grace Porter has been operating at full-speed for 11 years, trying to get closer and closer to perfection, until she plummets into the abyss of her own unrealized expectations. Her reckoning leads to her undoing. And to New York and Florida.
I finished this book feeling that Grace’s Vegas wedding to Yuki is more of a vehicle for the true main focus: Grace’s coming-to-terms with her path in life and her mental health journey. This book didn’t read like a romance, at least not in the contemporary sense. I can’t imagine a F/F romance edition of The Hangover, for example. Grace’s refrain to her friends— Ximena, Agnes, Meera, Raj— was deeper, I think, than what she had expressed to Yuki (timing likely also a big issue, but...). Her refrain: Love you so much it hurts. Which also leads to this caveat:
This novel can be dark. The acuity with which Morgan Rogers writes about mental health is sharp. The descriptions, while short in duration, are vivid. Her struggles are compounded further post-degree. Grace is launched into white collar professionalism and smacked with racial microaggressions (and is it even accurate to say “micro”?).
Going back to romance/love— Morgan Rogers surrounded Grace with beautiful, flawed people I’d gladly welcome into my corner. They’re Grace’s family through-and-through.
If Yuki Yamamoto were real, I’d listen to her radio and call in to ask that she write a book. Her stories, her connections to the greater works and to people, were gorgeously woven. I wanted more Yuki.
I’d recommend Honey Girl with this caution: don’t pick it up only for the Vegas wedding.
Dr. Grace Porter is a good astronomer. She is Black, queer, and the daughter of Colonel. How each of these major pieces of her identity challenge her and her professional career is explored. Because Grace Porter has been operating at full-speed for 11 years, trying to get closer and closer to perfection, until she plummets into the abyss of her own unrealized expectations. Her reckoning leads to her undoing. And to New York and Florida.
I finished this book feeling that Grace’s Vegas wedding to Yuki is more of a vehicle for the true main focus: Grace’s coming-to-terms with her path in life and her mental health journey. This book didn’t read like a romance, at least not in the contemporary sense. I can’t imagine a F/F romance edition of The Hangover, for example. Grace’s refrain to her friends— Ximena, Agnes, Meera, Raj— was deeper, I think, than what she had expressed to Yuki (timing likely also a big issue, but...). Her refrain: Love you so much it hurts. Which also leads to this caveat:
This novel can be dark. The acuity with which Morgan Rogers writes about mental health is sharp. The descriptions, while short in duration, are vivid. Her struggles are compounded further post-degree. Grace is launched into white collar professionalism and smacked with racial microaggressions (and is it even accurate to say “micro”?).
Going back to romance/love— Morgan Rogers surrounded Grace with beautiful, flawed people I’d gladly welcome into my corner. They’re Grace’s family through-and-through.
If Yuki Yamamoto were real, I’d listen to her radio and call in to ask that she write a book. Her stories, her connections to the greater works and to people, were gorgeously woven. I wanted more Yuki.
I’d recommend Honey Girl with this caution: don’t pick it up only for the Vegas wedding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Mental illness
Minor: Death of parent
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