A review by wordsofclover
The Honey Queen by Cathy Kelly

4.0

This is my first Cathy Kelly book to read and I'm really glad I decided to pick it up and read it as I really enjoyed it. Even before picking it up in a car-boot sale, I had seen this book in various shops and the beautiful cover and the lovely title constantly called out to me, and obviously for a reason!

Everything about Redstone reminds me of any Irish villages/towns you can end up travelling through when driving through Ireland. The close-knit community and the welcoming of newcomers is all so lovely and Irish, it makes me smile.

Lillie, was a lovely, warm character who immediately shines bright out of the book and comes alive. There is a real spark in her that makes her special, something I found in the characters of Peggy and Freya as well. Her mourning of Sam is moving and I love how she slowly begins to deal with his passing inside herself as she also becomes involved in the lives of Redstone natives. Her meeting with Seth as extremely touching and I found it rather emotional but it made me smile as it was so lovely.

I really loved Peggy and although I usually scoff at the whole, love at first sight, this relationship will be so easy stuff you normally see in books, I didn't with David and Peggy. There was something so real about their connection, I really felt how strong it was and the intense moment they sat across from somewhere made me breathless as it felt like this recognition of two souls was happening right across from me. I got a bit annoyed about her treatment of David and comparing him to her horrible father but again, I thought her back story was pretty interesting and the brave choice her mam made in the end.

All the characters are very bright and although there is a lot of them, I find all of their stories easy to follow and I enjoyed reading them.

This is a book for any season! I would highly recommend it for a nice comfortable read any day!