A review by ellaticonstellation
Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

5.0

This story broke me. The domestic violence, death, trial, and crime left me on the edge of my seat. I loved that the narrators were Olivia (Asher's mom) and Lily (the girlfriend) both women. The whole crime ordeal was tense and compelling. And this happens in real life; I bet it's super stressful and scary, especially for the parties involved. 

I truly believe a person's upbringing makes a part of a person. Meaning, as time went we decide for ourselves, and through that decision-making, we learn. What I'm saying is that we make what we are as people. Yeah, we can blame others for breaking us, but if we didn't pick up the pieces after that, we suffer so much and we won't survive. That's why I salute Olivia and Ava as mothers because they care about their kids whoever they may be. They both made sure that they were safe and away from people who constantly break them. That's not easy to do. I don't know transgender people irl, but it must not be easy to be trapped in a body that you don't see yourself in. Lily is a brave soul for knowing who she is and what she wants at an early age. 

I love the story structure of this. Liv and Lily told the story both in the past, but Liv's in the future style. If that even made sense. The story is gripping and fast-paced even though it's long. I didn't get bored even for a second.

Oh! The honey stuff and the fact that Liv called her queen bees pop divas names made me smile. This is my second book from Jodi and my first from Jenny, I'll read more. Oh, and it was so cool that this story was based on Jenny's epic dream. Overall, a great read❤️
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