"You can cut someone out of your life, but that doesn't mean they'll cut you out of theirs."
Mad Honey
by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Genre: Murder Mystery
About: Olivia's been stung before. Not just as a hazard to being a beekeeper, but because she knows what it's like to love someone who keeps hurting her - and how impossible it seems to ever leave them. Like drinking mad honey. When her son is accused of being an abuser just like his father and possibly a murderer, she wants to believe it isn't true. But she's been stung before...
The Good
There's really great representation here that's done intelligently and sensitively. I liked a lot of the characters and found both POVs interesting to read. The mystery elements are well-thought out and the story is an important one to tell. It has great hooks and a setting that's memorable. Very engaging writing, full of empathy and heart. Lily was a stand-out character, I absolutely loved her.
The Bad
I guessed the murderer very early on and that made it a less than exciting read for me. I do think there were a lot of great suspects and good red herrings - if I hadn't of guessed correctly then I would have been racing through this and I can totally see this being an exciting read for others. I liked the solution, I just wasn't shocked by it.
The Somewhat Iffy
The honey element. I enjoyed that Olivia was a beekeeper - that made her a memorable character and there were some interesting bee facts littered in the story. The problem, for me, was the bee factoids were a constant intrusion, buzzing in and out of the story like an annoying fly. It disrupted the pace and tone a lot of the times and felt obsessive. The occasional reference would have been good, but I wasn't convinced by how much it was forced into the story.
Overall
This is a very well-thought out mystery with an important message at its heart. Clever and heartfelt, it just missed the spot for me on a few points but I can absolutely understand the hype for this one.
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