Mad Honey

This was a four star read for me, but I am bumping it up to five stars in the hopes that it will cancel out some bigot's one star review.

This was likely my favorite read of this year!!! What a journey! The character development is phenomenal, the multiple perspectives keep you gripped and guessing and most of all this story didn't at all go in the direction I thought it would in the absolute best way!

These writers do an amazing job drawing you through the beautiful, raw, and sometimes ugly stories of each character all while leading you through solving the mystery of what happened to Lily.

Can't recommend this read enough!

This review is just to help me remember key points about the book. If you find it helpful or relatable that's cool too.
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“It was like someone stabbed me. Then blamed me for getting blood on the knife.”

TW: Self Harm, Attempted Suicide, Domestic Violence

4.5 Stars ⭐️

Slow but it got really good midway through. Ended nicely.

This book was engaging and unique. It is a story about beekeeping, about heartache, about transgender, about fears and about true love.

Loved loved loved this book. I don't want to give anything away but the bees and beekeeping are basically another character aaand you get the recipes they talk about in the book (which I always consider a plus).

I enjoyed this book. I always enjoy Jodi Picoults way of making a very tough, current topic into an interesting humanizing story.

I loved this book, but it was lacking. I literally know more of what it takes to transition betweeb genders than the actual murder itself or how Lily was and most times I felt like I was being preached to. I admire the explanations but if I wanted to know about how doctors turn a penis into a vagina or the debate around gender I'd have chosen a book that was specifically for those topics.. it also didn't feel like there was enough of a reason for Olivia to think that Asher was anything but innocent.

I'm not sure I am the audience for this one. Picoult and Boylan touch on a slew of hot button issues here: physical spousal abuse, racism in the criminal justice system, abortion rights, trans rights, the list goes on.

I did not like most of it. It was not about a difference in politics, it was that things felt hamfisted and often counterproductive. I challenge Jodi Picoult to handle medical conditions responsibly one time. It was also at least 100 pages too long.

Here is a long (and I do mean long) spoiler-filled list of things I struggled with: So Lily became suicidal because her father and peers were abusive and violent towards her for being trans. Her mom saved her life by leaving her husband and moving Lily away and letting her take hormones and advocating for her to undergo surgery early. And then a doctor testifies that because Lily did hormone therapy, she developed a rare blood disorder that led to her death as a teenager. What message, precisely, is the reader supposed to take from this? That trans people have two options: suicide or murder? Is the spin that Lily's death was not due to others being transphobic, but instead...because she transitioned? Because that is still a transphobic (and tragic) conclusion. There is not irony there, actually, Olivia. It is more of the same.I have a thing about how stories end. No matter how many stereotypes are subverted or challenged, if a story ends a certain way, that feels to me like all of those stereotypes were proved valid and true in the end. Like the creator has dangled a story about how we think we know what we want and what is good for us, only for the inevitable to negate it all, in a permanent and resounding way. It feels profoundly disempowering, and also just sad.Not only that, but the reveal was haphazard and anticlimactic. The red herring characters and leads introduced all fizzled out with no explanation. It was lazy trauma porn. As I type more I get angrier about it. Lily deserved better. So did her mom.Speaking of reveals, I was sure the prosecution was going to know about Asher meeting up with Brayden but Asher wouldn't mention it to Jordan with his mom there, so they would find out in a big reveal in court. For example, Mike, the only police officer who exists in this universe, could have pulled Asher over to document this. Then everyone would be like, “Clearly Asher is just like his dad, he was meeting with the Abuser Himself and hiding it from his mom who said dad beat up for years. He took Lily to meet Brayden and endangered them both during the car ride home because he was mad Lily didn't love Brayden.” But none of that ever came to pass. Brayden just showed up at the trial one time, Olivia said something that angered him, and he left forever.When Maya comes to visit Asher after he is acquitted, Olivia is disgruntled to see her because her testimony made Asher look bad. Curious case of the pot calling the kettle black after Asher and Jordan blew up at and banished Olivia for the same thing. Sidenote, but I did not like how the narrator voiced Jordan in the audiobook. For one of the few not terrible men in the book, he still yelled plenty. Separately, it seemed to me that Asher didn't even like Maya as a friend. He seemed to prefer Dirk to Maya, and everyone hated Dirk.After Olivia feels in her heart that her son is not a murderer (after testifying to his detriment), all of her mounting concerns about him punching walls and grabbing arms and yelling and blowing up phones with texts and seeing no issue with his dad or Dirk go away and he's just her good boy again. He could never be like Brayden. What a relief.Of course, I didn't want him convicted of murder, but it also seems strange to call it a wash simply because he is not a murderer? Plus I do not feel it was made clear that Olivia hid everything Brayden did to her from Asher. For the entire book, I assumed Asher knew and did not care. The about face was jarring and removed a lot of dimensionality from Asher. Maybe it's my Ohio Ethics Training kicking in, but how many conflicts of interest can there be in one courtroom? Your uncle can represent you? The guy who arrested you can smooch your mom after arresting and questioning you, but before the jury finishes deliberating? And really, what is so great about Mike? Just that he doesn't hit women? Why did they put in him saying “not all men” to Olivia and that going well? Someone help me?The women of color in this book sure were written by older white women. From the no nonsense single mother judge to the sassy supportive wife who bursts in the room to say THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IS RACIST or LET'S GET DRUNK to the hell hath no fury liked the scorned Indian American girl next door with two moms. The teenagers in this book sure were written by older white women. I feel as old as time but I am with it enough to know that “overdosing on the nerd factor” is not a sentence human teenagers would say to one another. Still regarding word choice, it is weird for Lily, a trans teen in the 2010s, to use the term “transsexual” without a second thought. Then later a different trans character mentions that very term has fallen out of favor with the youths. So why have Lily narrate an earlier chapter using it?Also I do not get or care for the distinction that is made between “who” Lily is (a person) and “what” Lily is (a trans person). Pretty sure this happens multiple times, and is stated as though it's enlightened not to mind “what” Lily is because of “who” she is. But why can't “who” she is also be transgender?I am finally winding down, but I do want to mention all of the random interludes about bees and honey. Perhaps to be expected, but after a certain amount of time, it was like WE GET IT OLIVIA YOU LIKE HONEY. I love bees but there is a murder trial I'm trying to follow and I'm getting peppered with all of these facts about queen bees that serve as heavy-handed metaphors. Stop telling me about bees right now.

To sum it up (days after my original review lol), I think the issue is presenting a cis woman suffering because she is a woman alongside a trans woman suffering because she is trans. The authors can argue they didn't confirm whether Lily had a medical condition, and that for the length of the book she paralleled Olivia, and that Maya viewing Lily as inextricably female was the reason for her jealousy, and whatever else. None of it changes that Lily died as a teenager and Olivia gets a second chance at love. That is how the book ends, and it is bullshit.

Usually I end reviews with comparisons to similar books, but clearly I don't really recommend this one. It kind of reminded me of [b:The Lovely Bones|12232938|The Lovely Bones|Alice Sebold|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1457810586l/12232938.SY75.jpg|1145090] and [b:Where the Crawdads Sing|36809135|Where the Crawdads Sing|Delia Owens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582135294l/36809135.SY75.jpg|58589364]. I didn't like it.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and while I'm sure reading the book would have been great, the voice actors brought even more vulnerability and humanity to the characters. The chapters from Lily's point of view were so honest and authentic, you could tell they were written by someone with experience on the subject matter (i.e. Jennifer Finney Boylan). This was my first book by either of the authors but definitely not my last!

“We are all flawed, complicated, wounded dreamers. We have more in common with one another than we don't. Sometimes making the world a better place just involves creating space for the people who are already in it.”

This was one of the best books I have read in awhile. Not only was it an engaging story, but I learned a lot. I can't say about what without spoiling part of the story but it is definitely a book that parents and teachers should read.

I liked the book from the story perspective. Well told, from many different perspectives, with influence from the proper people in the proper places. Overall I enjoyed it, and just when I thought I had things figured out, I didn't. So, it kept me engaged through the book. The ending was rather anti-climactic though. There needed to be more. Either more story, or more drama, or more consequences. That's why this got a 3 star instead of a 4 star, in my opinion.

Spoilers: Don't read beyond if you don't want things potentially given away.
I did have a few issues with the way certain things were addressed.
If Asher were not white, he wouldn't have walked away from the initial crime scene. (They did kind of address this in a conversation with Jordan's wife, not recalling her name, but it was just glanced upon.)Were there no chaperones at their high school dance?! WTF?
Minimal parts of the storyline for the fathers of both Asher and Lily.Maya - WTH??? There needs to be more here!! She just walks? Nothing??

It started slow for me, but boy, did [b:Mad Honey 59912428 Mad Honey Jodi Picoult https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1642705453l/59912428.SY75.jpg 94339228] pick up steam. I'm a huge fan of [a:Jodi Picoult 7128 Jodi Picoult https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1657141143p2/7128.jpg], but I'm unfamiliar with her co-author [a:Jennifer Finney Boylan 30973 Jennifer Finney Boylan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200414859p2/30973.jpg]'s work. Let's just say they make beautiful books together.Not sure what I liked best about this book. The tidbits on beekeeping? The LBGTQ info? The honey recipes at the end? I think there's something for everyone in this book.I'm a sucker for courtroom trials and this one takes it to the next level. Picoult's always been a master when it comes to this skill, but I think this is her best yet. I never guessed the ending and I really thought I had it from the very beginning, yet when it unfolded, I realized all the clues had been well planted. Loved this book. It's a fatty, but it's worth it. In spades!

I hadn't read a Jodi Picoult novel in quite a while, and I am very happy to have entered the world of her prose again. Her writing style is so engaging and easy to read. Every time I had to put the book down, I found myself upset to be leaving the story and excited for when I could return to it. Though I would have preferred a little less detail about beekeeping, I love this story and consider it a new favorite.

The story is about a mother, a son, and the girl the son loves. Olivia is a beekeeper who has raised her son, Asher, on her own. Asher falls in love with a new girl in town, Lily. When Lily dies and Asher is accused of her murder, Olivia takes action to defend him. However, she starts to question how much she knows about her son and whether he has inherited his father's temper.

The plot of this book is masterfully constructed, providing just enough details in each chapter to maintain suspense about what really happened to Lily. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of Olivia and Lily and provide dual timelines that reveal both the events leading up to the day of Lily's death and the events in the aftermath. There is a twist that is revealed once Lily's trial begins that is a bit shocking and changes how the reader views certain scenes already read. I found myself looking back to previous chapters to find the hints I missed.

Picoult and Boylan do an excellent job of developing the characters of Olivia and Lily. The reader gains insight into the feelings and motivations of each character and can understand the actions they take as result. I love when writers can make me feel connected and sympathetic to both characters even though there is conflict surrounding them.

While I enjoy most aspects of this novel, I do find the many details about beekeeping to be distracting at times. Sometimes, it enhances the main plot, but others it just takes the reader out of the main plotline. It is all interesting, yes, but it is a bit too much. I also find a reveal at the end to be a bit cliche, but not so much that it ruins my overall enjoyment of the book.

This book is going to live in my mind for some time. It explores some important topics in a respectful and thought-provoking manner. I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy good storytelling that explores relationships and socially relevant topics.

Took me a little while to get through this! Doesn't help that I'm back at work now! Not a fan of books that jump back and forward in time but it does make sense in this story as you need to learn Lily and Olivia's back stories.

This book was hit and miss for me. I absolutely loved the character of Lily and thought her chapters were incredibly well-written and engaging. Jennifer Finney Boylan is an excellent writer and could bring her own experiences which made it feel very real and raw. I'll absolutely read more from this author.

The parts written by Jodi Picoult I found far less interesting. Although I (mostly) liked the character of Olivia, it felt to me like JP had done an extensive amount of research on bees and wanted to include every bit of it in her chapters. Yes, there were (sometimes tenuous) links to the main story line but generally these information dumps dragged and I found myself skimming over them to get back to the story.

I find it frustrating that this concept was (literally) dreamed up by Boylan and half written by her, and yet Jodi Picoult is the only named author on Goodreads, and the one being publicised. I appreciate that JP is the better known author here, but she is not the one doing the story justice. In the author's note, Boylan talks about writing Ava's story and that she would have to do it without Picoult - I hope she does.

Overall, I think this is a really important and eye-opening story highlighting trans peoples' rights and experiences. I just think it would have been a far superior book if it was written solely by Boylan. I like Picoult and will usually read most books she releases, but IMO she was definitely the weaker link here.

Well, I learned a lot about bees... This story was very reminiscent of Picoult's earlier stories, a bit too much for me, even her typical “surprise” ending. The story kept my interest, though I read the word “suicide” more than I cared to.

4.5 ⭐️ As usual, another great book from Jodi Picoult. I love that she had a co-author for this one. First, and I know, I know... “don't judge a book by it's cover”, but this has a beautiful cover. Even without the dust jacket, the shimmery red letters on the spine, beautiful. One negative is that I felt like I could tell which sections were primarily written by Jodi vs Jennifer, though not fully a negative because it did give some differentiation between the characters. I loved this dual POV from Olivia and Lily. They were so similar and we got to watch as Olivia realized that. I also thought the beekeeping/honey info was an interesting concept. And adding Jordan MacAfee to this book, ah perfect. I loved that. Very nearly a 5 star to me, but I compare everything to 19 minutes and this one did not have a shocking end to me. I felt like I knew what was going to happen and I wanted the build up to it to be a little more. Overall, though I really enjoyed and I can't wait to see if these two work together on more.

I just finished Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan

Olivia is no stranger to the dark. Having to start over with her son back in the town she grew up in and watching her son, Asher grow up.... A son who has some of his fathers tendencies.

Lily moves to Adams with her mother, for the last year of high school. Hoping this is the new start both of them need.

Asher and Lily fall in love and they seem to share a lot of the same pains.... Then one day Lily is found dead at the bottom of her home stairs... Asher is found cradling her body. It was no secret that they had been fighting.

Is Asher as innocent as he is leading everyone to believe? Or is there more to this than anyone knows.

I am a huge fan of Jodi's. Always have been but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. The writing was on point but the storyline had so much crammed into it, it felt like every hot topic button from the last 10 years had to be hit. I felt that by doing that, it took away from the book. Quality over quantity would have been nice here. The premise of the book was clever and I, for the most, was kept entertained but I also felt like the book was trying too hard.

I didn't enjoy the jumping back and forth in the timeline or the multiple POV. I felt a little lost a few times and that is not a fun feeling when you are reading.

If you love her books normally, you will likely still love this one but be warned, it is a little overstuffed even for Jodi!

Thank you #netgalley and #penguinrandomhouseca for my review copy

4 stars! If you like a lot of meat to your reads, then this one will exceed your expectations!

3.5, it's a good book but I guessed the ending almost immediately.