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misstawny's review
5.0
Wow wow wow, what a perfectly compelling story! I am such a sucker for an historical/art intrigue book! The story follows a group of contemporary co-workers who come across a beautiful emerald necklace and decide to track its provenance. We get glimpses of 19th century Paris, the origin of the necklace, and the woman whose neck it first graced. If you know the iconography of the bee in reference to France, you can guess where this leads.
ilariarogers's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
The characters are nicely developed and the plot moves at a good pace.Overall it has a nice feeling to it. I disliked the bits in the voice of historical characters. Style is generally good but falls into cliché s in places. Contrast of characters is nice. Ending is a little predictable in parts.
kimb2's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Is a honeybee emerald necklace enough to save a floundering magazine? This question is explored throughout the story as the characters band together to g
Determine the origin and history of the necklace and to publish a blockbuster story. Amongst all the intrigue is also an examination of the character’s true selves. And boy, when the pressure cooker heats up, the truth explodes!
The author clearly did a lot of research and did an excellent job of weaving real historical figures into this fictional story. It was captivating.
This is definitely a story about relationships and features many characters, some more memorable than others. I did feel some of the characters could have been more fleshed out.
Overall, this is an excellent debut by a Canadian author.
openmypages's review
4.0
Imagine you stumble upon a priceless, unique heirloom necklace in an old costume jacket in the basement of your office. What would you do? Well, when Alice finds this necklace she pulls together a team of friends within the magazine she works in to discover its origins. The magazine is struggling to remain afloat after the death of its illustrious owner and her son is thinking of closing up shop. This "Fellowship of the Necklace" is formed, each member of the group is motivated differently. They are amazed by the glamour, intrigued by the history and driven with a hope to tell the true story and save the magazine in the process.
The amount of famous hands who touched this necklace throughout history is amazing. I liked the story was told mostly in the present with small chapters that gave us a window back to history. I was really intrigued by the different decades of history presented to us throughout France and how the necklace was used at different times by different women to get themselves out of scrapes. We see glitz and glam, beautiful love stories, scenes of war and intrigue.
Alice was my favorite character, a middle Eastern woman who immigrated to the EU serving as an intern to the magazine, she has nothing to claim as her own. She is sweet and innocent and so in awe of everything going on around her. Most of the rest of the "Fellowship of the Necklace" I could have taken or left. The women who held the necklace over the years though were all quite fascinating (I won't spoil them but they are all well known and full of intrigue). I did this one on audio and the narrator was great.
Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this audiobook. All opinions above are my own.
The amount of famous hands who touched this necklace throughout history is amazing. I liked the story was told mostly in the present with small chapters that gave us a window back to history. I was really intrigued by the different decades of history presented to us throughout France and how the necklace was used at different times by different women to get themselves out of scrapes. We see glitz and glam, beautiful love stories, scenes of war and intrigue.
Alice was my favorite character, a middle Eastern woman who immigrated to the EU serving as an intern to the magazine, she has nothing to claim as her own. She is sweet and innocent and so in awe of everything going on around her. Most of the rest of the "Fellowship of the Necklace" I could have taken or left. The women who held the necklace over the years though were all quite fascinating (I won't spoil them but they are all well known and full of intrigue). I did this one on audio and the narrator was great.
Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this audiobook. All opinions above are my own.
brennasherrill's review
3.0
This hunt for the story behind an accidentally-uncovered valuable necklace was a lot of fun. I was eager to unravel the mystery along with the journalists and historians doing the research to learn more about it, and I enjoyed the infusion of historical moments when we got to see the previous owners of the necklace through time.
I did find, though, that the story went on a bit long for me, and I think many of the issues I had come down to this being a debut novel. I often felt like Tector (like many first-time novelists do) was trying to infuse a few too many elements into one book, so there were too many asides—we don't just have the history (and history of the necklace), but stuff about theatre history, The Monuments Men (the movie, which was weird), baking, and fantasy novels not being considered "real" literature. I think this is the kind of stuff that happens when an author wants to infuse all the stuff they care/know about in their writing, but it just doesn't really all need to be in one book.
On that same note, I also had trouble early on with the large ensemble of characters, maybe more so because I read this on audio. It took me a while to distinguish characters (and continued to struggle throughout). I never really bought the friendship between Daphne and Lily, I didn't get why Alice was so obsessed with visiting the necklace constantly, and eventually became frustrated with some of these (and the other) B-plot conflicts. Again, I think these are problems that come from having a large cast of characters and wanting to provide them all with rich lives, but I don't think they all really needed it, and it starts to feel too full at some point.
Despite my problems with some of these smaller issues, though, I really did enjoy the central mystery, and I would read more by Tector in the future.
I did find, though, that the story went on a bit long for me, and I think many of the issues I had come down to this being a debut novel. I often felt like Tector (like many first-time novelists do) was trying to infuse a few too many elements into one book, so there were too many asides—we don't just have the history (and history of the necklace), but stuff about theatre history, The Monuments Men (the movie, which was weird), baking, and fantasy novels not being considered "real" literature. I think this is the kind of stuff that happens when an author wants to infuse all the stuff they care/know about in their writing, but it just doesn't really all need to be in one book.
On that same note, I also had trouble early on with the large ensemble of characters, maybe more so because I read this on audio. It took me a while to distinguish characters (and continued to struggle throughout). I never really bought the friendship between Daphne and Lily, I didn't get why Alice was so obsessed with visiting the necklace constantly, and eventually became frustrated with some of these (and the other) B-plot conflicts. Again, I think these are problems that come from having a large cast of characters and wanting to provide them all with rich lives, but I don't think they all really needed it, and it starts to feel too full at some point.
Despite my problems with some of these smaller issues, though, I really did enjoy the central mystery, and I would read more by Tector in the future.
belladonna624's review
4.0
An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my thoughts in any way.
The Honeybee Emeralds is a story about a necklace. While that may not sound interesting enough for a full novel, the author managed to weave the story around three, very interesting, real life women and three fictional ones. The story goes back and forth between the historical and modern day. I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing too many details. I’ll just say I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The Honeybee Emeralds is a story about a necklace. While that may not sound interesting enough for a full novel, the author managed to weave the story around three, very interesting, real life women and three fictional ones. The story goes back and forth between the historical and modern day. I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing too many details. I’ll just say I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
rusereviews's review against another edition
4.0
The Honeybee Emeralds is a debut historical fiction/mystery with some side romantic plots by Amy Tector. The eBook version is 338 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at eleven and a half hours and is narrated with lots of different accents by Lameece Issaq.
Alice Ahmadi is an Iranian British intern at a struggling magazine in Paris, until one day she discovers a famed diamond and emerald necklace and finds herself in a world filled with courtesans, spies, and secrets. Hoping that they can use the Honeybee Emeralds necklace to help save the magazine, Alice along with her American editor Lily and Lily's best friend Daphne--the director of the International Art Registry--create a "Fellowship of the Necklace" to find out the actual history of the jewels.
The three women pull in a motley crew of others: Luc, who inherited the magazine from his mother, Lily's college friend and writer Jacob, and Icelandic perfumer Alexander, the guy next door. They all learn about more than just the necklace, they also find many of their personal relationships challenged and changed along the way.
The book alternates between present-day and various flashbacks and is told through many multiple points of view, which got a little confusing to me in the first half of the book. By the second half, the POVs gelled more for me since I knew all of the characters a bit better. Turns out the necklace was owned by three different historical divas! To learn who, you'll have to read the book.
Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own. The Honeybee Emeralds is scheduled for release on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.
Alice Ahmadi is an Iranian British intern at a struggling magazine in Paris, until one day she discovers a famed diamond and emerald necklace and finds herself in a world filled with courtesans, spies, and secrets. Hoping that they can use the Honeybee Emeralds necklace to help save the magazine, Alice along with her American editor Lily and Lily's best friend Daphne--the director of the International Art Registry--create a "Fellowship of the Necklace" to find out the actual history of the jewels.
The three women pull in a motley crew of others: Luc, who inherited the magazine from his mother, Lily's college friend and writer Jacob, and Icelandic perfumer Alexander, the guy next door. They all learn about more than just the necklace, they also find many of their personal relationships challenged and changed along the way.
The book alternates between present-day and various flashbacks and is told through many multiple points of view, which got a little confusing to me in the first half of the book. By the second half, the POVs gelled more for me since I knew all of the characters a bit better. Turns out the necklace was owned by three different historical divas! To learn who, you'll have to read the book.
Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own. The Honeybee Emeralds is scheduled for release on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.
elle12's review
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
alyssafields's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5