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by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2022

A well-paced story that highlights several timely issues, with a stimulating courtroom trial that makes it worth reading.

The shocking murder of a teenager thrusts a small town into the headlines and destabilizes the lives of everyone who knew her.

Olivia McAfee, a professional beekeeper and single mother, fled Boston and an abusive husband to try to give her son, Asher, a better life in small-town New Hampshire. Things go well for their first 12 years in Adams. Asher is a well-liked senior and captain of the high school hockey team; he barely remembers his abusive father; he and his mother have a great relationship; and he's preparing to go off to college. Then he meets Lily Campanello, a new girl who, like his mother, has fled a troubled past. Things get very serious quickly; then, one afternoon after they've had a fight, Asher finds Lily dead at the bottom of her basement stairs. Before he even has time to grieve, he's arrested and charged with her murder. What follows is a long and public courtroom trial in which everyone's secrets are exposed and even his own mother begins to question his innocence. Told in two storylines—one Olivia's, in the present, and one Lily's, going backward from the day of her murder—the novel is well plotted but sometimes feels long-winded, including characters who don't have much significance and details that don't seem relevant. It takes a while for the book to get moving, but once the trial begins, it becomes more compelling, and the courtroom scenes are where the writing shines brightest. The characters aren't as well developed as they should be, though, often feeling wooden or monochromatic—some always say the right thing while others always say or do the wrong thing—and the ending is predictable.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-9848-1838-6

Page Count: 464

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022

THRILLER | GENERAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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PERSPECTIVES

Film Adaptation of ‘The Women’ in the Works

by Percival Everett ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024

One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as told from the perspective of a more resourceful and contemplative Jim than the one you remember.

This isn’t the first novel to reimagine Twain’s 1885 masterpiece, but the audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain’s epochal odyssey, shifting the central viewpoint from that of the unschooled, often credulous, but basically good-hearted Huck to the more enigmatic and heroic Jim, the Black slave with whom the boy escapes via raft on the Mississippi River. As in the original, the threat of Jim’s being sold “down the river” and separated from his wife and daughter compels him to run away while figuring out what to do next. He's soon joined by Huck, who has faked his own death to get away from an abusive father, ramping up Jim’s panic. “Huck was supposedly murdered and I’d just run away,” Jim thinks. “Who did I think they would suspect of the heinous crime?” That Jim can, as he puts it, “[do] the math” on his predicament suggests how different Everett’s version is from Twain’s. First and foremost, there's the matter of the Black dialect Twain used to depict the speech of Jim and other Black characters—which, for many contemporary readers, hinders their enjoyment of his novel. In Everett’s telling, the dialect is a put-on, a manner of concealment, and a tactic for survival. “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,” Jim explains. He also discloses that, in violation of custom and law, he learned to read the books in Judge Thatcher’s library, including Voltaire and John Locke, both of whom, in dreams and delirium, Jim finds himself debating about human rights and his own humanity. With and without Huck, Jim undergoes dangerous tribulations and hairbreadth escapes in an antebellum wilderness that’s much grimmer and bloodier than Twain’s. There’s also a revelation toward the end that, however stunning to devoted readers of the original, makes perfect sense.

Pub Date: March 19, 2024

ISBN: 9780385550369

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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by Percival Everett

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Roger's Reads

Author & Book Reviewer

Review of Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

October 3, 2022 by Roger Hyttinen 1 Comment

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.

Mad Honey is a collaboration between Jodi Picoult, an author whose books I’ve read and loved, and Jennifer Finney Boylan, a new author for me. They each took turns writing chapters, and it was impossible for me to tell whose writing was whom’s.

The story follows Olivia McAfee, a beekeeper who fell in love with and married a cardiac surgeon. But her dream becomes a nightmare when he husband reveals his dark side, so she flees with her son Asher to begin a new life. Years later, Asher, now in high school, begins dating Lily Campanella, a young woman who has recently moved into town with her mother. Lily has had quite a tough life up to this point, but now that she’s met Asher, she feels truly happy. Then, Olivia received a phone call from Asher: Lily has been murdered, and Asher is being questioned by police. As the story progresses, Olivia begins to fear that perhaps Asher is more like his father than she had thought. What follows is a compelling and compulsive murder mystery as two lives are closely examined, and painful secrets are revealed.

Mad Honey is told in alternating POVs and a non-linear timeline by Olivia and Lily. The format works perfectly, and I enjoyed how the story unravels slowly, a little at a time, from each of their perspectives. As we near the center of the novel, what starts out as a basic murder mystery (or so we think) switches into something else entirely — something much deeper and more complex. It transforms into a mysterious, deep, haunting story because, at its core, this novel is about identity, abuse, self-acceptance, intolerance, toxic relationships, and trust. That being said, it’s gut-wrenching at times as the book does delve into some pretty tough topics, but they are handled sensitively and compassionately by the authors. There is a deeper story within these pages, and part of the book speaks to the divisiveness of the world we live in and how, even in these “modern times,” small-minded views continue to exist and thrive.

Additionally, Mad Honey is a novel full of fascinating multidimensional characters. All of them, even the secondary ones, feel real and whole. None of them comes off as mere caricatures or types but are complex and well thought out. What was also impressive was the amount of meticulous research the authors must have done to write this story. I learned a lot about several things from this novel but to say any more about that would lead into spoiler territory.

All in all, I can’t begin to express how much I loved this book. Mad Honey is a cleverly layered, thought-provoking, heartbreaking page-turner by two talented authors that kept me guessing from the very first page and, ultimately, left me shocked, surprised, and thoroughly satisfied when it was over. A brilliant collaboration that gets all the stars from me.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine books for providing me with a review copy of this novel.

Reader Interactions

October 19, 2022 at 4:48 pm

I loved the review & agreed with every word.” Mad Honey” was one of the best books I have ever read by the great Jodi Picoult( my favorite author) & Jennifer Boylan( new to me)

Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan

Posted September 29, 2022 by WendyW in Book Review , bookblogger / 48 Comments

***I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.***

A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan is one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it did not disappoint! I enjoyed the book very much, from the characters to the courtroom drama to the bees and the twist that took the book in a completely different direction.

Olivia McAfee is a single mother to Asher. Olivia and Asher moved to Adams New Hampshire, Olivia’s hometown when Asher was six years old. Olivia’s father kept bees, and Olivia returned to continue the business as well as escape the horrors of her marriage to a cardiac surgeon in Boston. Lily Campanello recently arrived in Adams, with her mother to escape a terrible situation back in California. Lily’s mother, Ava is a Forest Ranger, and also a single mother.

Asher and Lily start dating and fall in love. One day, Olivia gets a phone call from her son, telling her he’s in jail for the murder of Lily. Olivia can’t believe her son could or would do anything to hurt Lily, but in the back of her mind, she remembers the terrible temper of Asher’s father and the few times she had a glimpse of that temper in Asher.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the courtroom drama, the little bits of information about the bees, and the small-town charm of Adams, NH. But most of all, I loved the characters. Two strong single mothers, Olivia and Ava, both sacrificed their own wishes and lives to ensure their children were safe and protected. Their strength and selflessness shine in this book, and I loved both of them.

Next is Asher and Lily, who both fall in love, and there is nothing like first love. They are each other’s strengths and support each other, their relationship seems solid until Lily is murdered, and the only suspect is Asher. Lily’s murder takes place early in the story, but we get flashbacks to her life back in California and her relationship with Asher throughout the book.

My favorite part of this was the courtroom scenes, I was on the edge of my seat each time a witness took the stand, as the tide of the case went back and forth in Asher’s favor and then against Asher. And it’s during the courtroom scenes that we learn so much about their relationship.

I also enjoyed all the trivia about the bees. I have 2 beehives in my backyard, and I still learned a lot about them from this book. But, more importantly, I liked how the bee trivia related to what was going on in the book. It was clever how the authors used the bee information and tied it into the story.

I will be thinking of this book, and these characters for a long time to come. I highly recommend Mad Honey to anyone who enjoys fiction. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

About Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of sixteen books, including GOOD BOY: My Life in Seven Dogs. Since 2008 she has been a contributing opinion writer for op/ed page of the New York Times; her column appears on alternate Wednesdays. A member of the board of trustees of PEN America, Jenny was also the chair of the board of GLAAD for many years. She is currently the Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence and Professor of English at Barnard College of Columbia University.

Jenny is a well known advocate for human rights. She has appeared five times on the Oprah Winfrey Show and has also been a guest or a commentator on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and The Today Show. She is also a member of the faculty of the Breadloaf Writers' Conference of Middlebury College as well as Sirenland, in Positano, Italy.

She lives in Maine with her wife Deirdre. They have two children.

About Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-seven novels, including The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, and My Sister's Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page.

Picoult’s books have been translated into thirty-four languages in thirty-five countries. Four novels – The Pact, Plain Truth, The Tenth Circle, and Salem Falls - have been made into television movies. My Sister’s Keeper was a film released from New Line Cinema, with Nick Cassavetes directing and Cameron Diaz starring. SMALL GREAT THINGS has been optioned for motion picture adaptation by Amblin Entertainment and is set to star Viola Davis and Julia Roberts. Picoult’s two Young Adult novels, Between The Lines and Off The Page, co-written with her daughter Samantha Van Leer, have been adapted and developed by the authors into a musical entitled Between The Lines which had its world premiere in September 2017 at the Kansas City Repertory Theater and is expected to premiere Off-Broadway in Summer 2019.

Picoult is the recipient of many awards, including the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction, the Alex Awards from the YALSA, a lifetime achievement award for mainstream fiction from the Romance Writers of America, the NH Literary Award for Outstanding Literary Merit and the Sarah Josepha Hale Award. She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of New Haven.

Picoult is the recipient of many awards, including the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction, the Alex Awards from the YALSA, a lifetime achievement award for mainstream fiction from the Romance Writers of America, and the NH Literary Award for Outstanding Literary Merit. She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of New Haven. She is also a member of the advisory board for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

Picoult lives in New Hampshire with her husband. They have three children.

I like the simplicity of the UK cover. And it’s got bees on the cover.

Have you read Mad Honey? Is it on your TBR? Which cover do you prefer?

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Sep 25, 2022 | RELAX: Other Relaxation | 0 comments

Mad Honey is a compulsively readable novel by two of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan . It’s about two single moms in small-town Adams, New Hampshire, and their high school-age kids. Olivia is a beekeeper and entrepreneur. Her son Asher is the school’s hockey team captain and an artist. Ava is a forest ranger researching lynx. Her daughter Lily is a cellist and fencer.

Being the new kid in town isn’t unique for Lily since she and Ava have moved a couple of times in the last few years. Lily and Asher meet through friends and soon start dating. It’s not a spoiler to say that Lily dies unexpectedly—it’s in the publisher blurb. The tale of Mad Honey is what happens when Asher is accused of killing her. Picoult and Finney Boylan spin a compelling yarn with well-formed characters and topics tied to real-life issues.

Finney Boylan and Picoult use two voices to tell the story, Olivia’s and Lily’s. Everything we learn about Asher and Ava is through their eyes. The authors also move the timeline back and forth, which pulls the curtain back slowly. The suspense is worth it. Their conclusion is a satisfying resolution of a complex situation.

My conclusions

A central theme of Mad Honey is reinvention. Olivia grew up as a small-town kid but married an accomplished Boston surgeon. She returns to her hometown to heal from unexpected troubles when the marriage goes sour. As Olivia copes with Asher’s situation, we learn more about her life and her fears for her son. Picoult also teaches readers about Olivia’s beekeeping career. Bee-related analogies abound here since hives are much like small towns and high schools.

While she is younger than Olivia, Lily’s no stranger to reinvention. She and Ava also flee a complicated marital situation. But her story is more profound than Olivia’s and just as dark. Her tragic end is heartbreaking, especially because she seems to find true love with Asher.

Picoult and Finney Boylan explore relationships and parenting styles along with identities. There’s plenty of food for thought woven through the suspenseful plot. They seamlessly blend their writing styles. I was so involved with the story that I rarely thought about who wrote what. Still, Lily’s story deserves Finney Boylan’s perspective and wisdom.

Overall, Mad Honey is just what I want in a novel. It delivers insights into relationships, personalities, and life experiences with a healthy dose of suspense. Brava to both authors!

Acknowledgments

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and the authors for a digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for this honest review. The expected publication date for this book is Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

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Mad Honey Summary, Characters, Review and Themes

In “Mad Honey,” a gripping novel co-authored by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, readers are plunged into a compelling narrative that intertwines themes of love, identity, and the haunting specter of violence.

Set against the backdrop of a small New Hampshire town, this story unfolds through the eyes of two protagonists: Olivia McAfee and Lily Campanello, each bearing their own deep-seated struggles and secrets.

At the heart of “Mad Honey” is the mysterious death of Lily Campanello, an 18-year-old girl whose life comes to a sudden, tragic end.

Born Liam O’Meara, Lily is a trans girl who has bravely navigated her journey of self-discovery and acceptance. After a harrowing experience with her abusive father and a devastating public humiliation at a school dance, Lily and her supportive mother, Ava, relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, seeking a fresh start.

In Adams, Lily’s life becomes intertwined with Asher Fields, a kind-hearted teenager with his own troubled past. Asher, raised by his mother Olivia, an apiarist, has a history shadowed by his father’s abusive behavior. As Lily and Asher’s romance blossoms, secrets loom large.

Lily, still grappling with her past traumas, withholds her transgender identity from Asher, fearing rejection and heartache.

Parallel to Lily’s story is that of Olivia McAfee, Asher’s mother. Olivia, having endured an abusive marriage, sees echoes of her ex-husband in Asher. When Lily’s death occurs, and Asher is implicated, Olivia is torn between her maternal instincts and the haunting doubts about her son’s innocence.

The ensuing trial becomes a crucible for all involved.

Asher’s arrest and subsequent trial for Lily’s murder bring to light painful truths and hidden aspects of each character’s life.

The revelation of Lily’s gender identity shocks the courtroom, adding layers of complexity to the case. Asher’s defense hinges on challenging the assumptions about Lily’s death, leading to a startling discovery about her medical condition.

In a dramatic twist, it’s revealed that Maya Banerjee, Asher’s lifelong friend and secretly in love with him, inadvertently caused Lily’s death during a heated argument.

This revelation, while exonerating Asher, adds a poignant layer to the narrative, exploring themes of unrequited love and the tragic consequences of impulsive actions.

As the story concludes, the characters grapple with their grief and the repercussions of Lily’s death.

Asher heads to college, carrying the weight of these events, while Ava leaves Adams with a token of hope from Olivia.

In the end, “Mad Honey” leaves readers reflecting on the complexities of human emotions, the resilience in the face of adversity, and the enduring power of love and acceptance.

1. Olivia McAfee

The Resilient Protector

Olivia, a single mother and dedicated apiarist, stands as a symbol of resilience and protective love.

Escaping an abusive marriage, she becomes a fiercely devoted mother to Asher, constantly battling her fears of the past repeating itself. Olivia’s journey is marked by a delicate balance between her haunting memories and her unwavering commitment to her son.

Her character provides a profound insight into the struggles of a mother torn between past traumas and the deep love for her child.

2. Lily Campanello

The Brave Heart

Lily’s narrative is a poignant portrayal of courage and vulnerability.

As a transgender girl grappling with her identity, Lily’s life is a testament to the trials and triumphs of living one’s truth in the face of adversity. Her journey from a turbulent childhood to finding love with Asher highlights her resilience.

Lily’s character is a beacon of hope and strength, demonstrating the power of acceptance and love in overcoming life’s harshest challenges.

3. Asher Fields

The Sensitive Soul

Asher, Olivia’s son, emerges as a character of deep sensitivity and complexity. His life is intricately woven with the desire for acceptance and understanding, particularly in his relationship with his father.

Asher’s love for Lily showcases his capacity for deep empathy and acceptance.

Yet, his struggle with his familial legacy and the fear of inheriting his father’s abusive tendencies adds a layer of profound introspection to his character.

4. Ava Campanello

The Unwavering Supporter

Ava, Lily’s mother, is the epitome of unconditional love and support. Her journey mirrors that of Olivia’s, yet with a unique perspective shaped by her daughter’s transgender identity.

Ava’s character underlines the challenges and beauty of a parent’s journey alongside their child’s transition.

Her love for Lily is a powerful force, guiding her through every hardship and illuminating the strength of a mother’s love in the face of societal and personal challenges.

I have to say that this book is a beautifully intricate, heart-wrenching, and ultimately thought-provoking novel that explores profound themes of identity, love, betrayal, and the tragic consequences of society’s prejudices.

With a narrative style that transitions between the perspectives of Olivia and Lily, Picoult skillfully creates an intricate and suspenseful narrative, presenting a tragic story that unfolds slowly, drawing us deeper into the lives of the characters.

Lily, the trans protagonist, and her emotionally complex journey are crafted with a high degree of sensitivity and empathy. Picoult’s detailed exploration of Lily’s transition process, the struggles she faces, and her attempt to navigate love and acceptance is something that definitely touched my heart.

Lily’s relationship with Asher, fraught with the complexity of secrets and acceptance, adds a significant dimension to the narrative, embodying a powerful examination of love, trust, and the courage to be one’s authentic self.

Meanwhile, Olivia, with her relentless determination to protect her son, provides a counter-narrative that captures the heartrending struggle of a mother caught between her love for her child and the harsh realities of the world.

Her storyline is interspersed with interesting details about her life as an apiarist, which serve as poetic metaphors for the novel’s thematic undercurrents.

Additionally, Picoult masterfully addresses the deep-seated prejudices that LGBTQ+ individuals often face.

She does not shy away from the ugly truths, offering an unflinching portrayal of the injustices and cruelty directed towards Lily and the disastrous consequences that result from it.

Coming to the latter stages of the novel, the courtroom drama provides us with a solid grip of the plot.

The legal complexities, combined with the heart-stopping revelations and the unexpected plot twists, make for a compelling read.

The careful weaving of medical nuances related to Lily’s condition into the narrative is commendable, providing a surprising twist that redefines the circumstances of Lily’s death.

However, the novel isn’t without its flaws.

Some of you might find it challenging to reconcile with the occasional outbursts of violence from Asher. While his character is clearly meant to reflect the cycle of abuse, these instances can be unsettling and may distract from the broader narrative.

Despite this, “Mad Honey” remains a thought-provoking read that explores uncomfortable truths about our society.

It successfully humanizes the experiences of trans individuals, portraying their struggles in a manner that is compassionate and empathetic.

Picoult’s poignant storytelling, combined with the book’s exploration of love, acceptance, and the price of prejudice, makes “Mad Honey” a significant contribution to contemporary literature.

To sum up, if you are looking for a book that isn’t afraid to delve deep into the human psyche, unearthing our most potent emotions of love, hatred, acceptance, and prejudice, “Mad Honey” is the book for you.

However, it’s essential to approach it with an open mind, ready to confront the harsh realities it presents.

This is a book that challenges as much as it entertains, and therein lies its power.

1. The Complexities of Identity and Self-Acceptance

Central to the novel is the challenging journey of Lily Campanello, born Liam O’Meara, as she navigates the turbulent waters of her transgender identity.

The novel explores the nuances of gender expression and the profound struggles faced by transgender individuals in a society often marked by misunderstanding and prejudice.

Through Lily’s experiences, the story poignantly addresses the internal conflicts of self-acceptance and the external battles for acceptance in the community.

The theme extends to other characters as well, each grappling with their own sense of identity, be it as a parent, a lover, or a friend, highlighting the universal quest for understanding and acceptance of one’s true self.

2. The Cycle of Abuse and Its Ripple Effects

Mad Honey delves into the harrowing impacts of domestic violence and abuse, not only on direct victims but also on those around them.

Through the characters of Olivia McAfee and her son Asher, the novel examines how the cycle of abuse can perpetuate through generations. Olivia’s experiences with an abusive ex-husband and her fears of seeing similar traits in Asher underscore the lasting psychological scars left by domestic violence.

The novel also explores the broader societal implications of this cycle, prompting readers to consider how patterns of abuse can be recognized, confronted, and hopefully broken.

3. The Intricacies of Love and Relationships

At its core, “Mad Honey” is a profound exploration of love in its many forms – romantic, familial, and platonic. The novel scrutinizes the complexities of relationships, particularly focusing on the romance between Lily and Asher, which is marked by secrets, vulnerabilities, and societal pressures.

The challenges they face in their relationship, compounded by the struggles with their individual identities and pasts, paint a vivid picture of the difficulties in maintaining love amidst personal and external conflicts.

Additionally, the story reflects on parental love and the often painful decisions parents must make for the well-being of their children, as seen through the characters of Olivia and Ava, each battling their own dilemmas in protecting their children.

Final Thoughts

“Mad Honey” is a deeply moving and complex narrative that masterfully weaves together themes of love, identity, and the lasting impact of trauma.

The novel’s exploration of transgender issues is both sensitive and enlightening, providing a nuanced perspective on the challenges faced by trans individuals.

This is not just a compelling story; it’s an important conversation starter about acceptance, understanding, and the human capacity for resilience and forgiveness.

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The Mad Honey Book Club Kit includes: Authors’ note, Discussion questions, Playlist, Recipes, and Resources for LGBTQ+ young people, parents, and allies,

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Mad honey –co-written with jennifer finney boylan., ⭐ a good morning america book club pick ⭐ ⭐ people magazine’s book of the week ⭐.

A soul-stirring new novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind , from the New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here and the bestselling author of She‘s Not There.

Heart-pounding and heartbreaking. This collaboration between two best-selling authors seamlessly weaves together Olivia and Lily’s journeys, creating a provocative exploration of the strength that love and acceptance require. The Washington Post

Mad Honey is in development for a series/film.

MAD HONEY Book Tour »

“MAD HONEY has all of the things: alternating narratives, suspense, courtroom drama, and a love story at its core. It’s about authenticity, identity, and it explores the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become our true selves.”

—Jodi Picoult

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.

Read an excerpt »

Praise for Mad Honey

Gripping . . . This timely and absorbing read will make readers glad these two powerful writers decided to collaborate. Booklist (starred)

A spellbinding yarn . . . atmospheric . . . riveting . . . Overall, it’s a fruitful collaboration. Publishers Weekly

Compelling . . . A well-paced story that highlights several timely issues, with a stimulating courtroom trial that makes it worth reading. Kirkus Reviews

One of the best books of the year PopSugar

Jodi Picoult and Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jodi Picoult And Jennifer Finney Boylan On How A “Magical” Dream Turned Into A Book Project

Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan’s novel Mad Honey is out now, so they answered our questions about how they came to co-write a book together, becoming closer through the process, and the books they feel strongly about.

US and Canada tour - Jodi Picoult and Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan

MAD HONEY book tour photos: US and Canada

AU - NZ jacket

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 28 novels, including Mad Honey , Wish You Were Here , The Book of Two Ways , A Spark of Light , Small Great Things , Leaving Time , The Storyteller , Lone Wolf , Sing You Home , House Rules , Handle with Care , Change of Heart , and My Sister's Keeper , and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page .

Picoult lives in New Hampshire with her husband. They have three children.

Jodi talks about

An excerpt mad honey, december 7, 2018.

From the moment I knew I was having a baby, I wanted it to be a girl. I wandered the aisles of department stores, touching doll-size dresses and tiny sequined shoes. I pictured us with matching nail polish—me, who’d never had a manicure in my life. I imagined the day her fairy hair was long enough to capture in pigtails, her nose pressed to the glass of a school bus window; I saw her first crush, prom dress, heartbreak. Each vision was a bead on a rosary of future memories; I prayed daily.

As it turned out, I was not a zealot . . . only a martyr.

When I gave birth, and the doctor announced the baby’s sex, I did not believe it at first. I had done such a stellar job of convincing myself of what I wanted that I completely forgot what I needed. But when I held Asher, slippery as a minnow, I was relieved.

Better to have a boy, who would never be someone’s victim.

MOST PEOPLE IN Adams, New Hampshire, know me by name, and those who don’t, know to steer clear of my home. It’s often that way for beekeepers—like firefighters, we willingly put ourselves into situations that are the stuff of others’ nightmares. Honeybees are far less vindictive than their yellow jacket cousins, but people can’t often tell the difference, so anything that stings and buzzes comes to be seen as a potential hazard. A few hundred yards past the antique Cape, my colonies form a semicircular rainbow of hives, and most of the spring and summer the bees zip between them and the acres of blossoms they pollinate, humming a warning.

I grew up on a small farm that had been in my father’s family for generations: an apple orchard that, in the fall, sold cider and donuts made by my mother and, in the summer, had pick-your-own strawberry fields. We were land-rich and cash-poor. My father was an apiarist by hobby, as was his father before him, and so on, all the way back to the first McAfee who was an original settler of Adams. It is just far enough away from the White Mountain National Forest to have affordable real estate. The town has one traffic light, one bar, one diner, a post office, a town green that used to be a communal sheep grazing area, and Slade Brook—a creek whose name was misprinted in a 1789 geological survey map, but which stuck. Slate Brook, as it should have been written, was named for the eponymous rock mined from its banks, which was shipped far and wide to become tombstones. Slade was the surname of the local undertaker and village drunk, who had a tendency to wander off when he was on a bender, and who ironically killed by drowning in six inches of water in the creek.

When I first brought Braden to meet my parents, I told him that story. He had been driving at the time; his grin flashed like lightning. But who, he’d asked, buried the undertaker?

Back then, we had been living outside of DC, where Braden was a resident in cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins and I worked at the National Zoo, trying to cobble together enough money for a graduate program in zoology. We’d only been together three months, but I had already moved in with him. We were visiting my parents that weekend because I knew, viscerally, that Braden Fields was the one.

On that first trip back home, I had been so sure of what my future would hold. I was wrong on all counts. I never expected to be an apiarist like my father; I never thought I’d wind up sleeping in my childhood bedroom once again as an adult; I never imagined I’d settle down on a farm my older brother, Jordan, and I once could not wait to leave. I married Braden; he got a fellowship at Mass General;we moved to Boston; I was a doctor’s wife. Then, almost a year to the day of my wedding anniversary, my father didn’t come home one evening after checking his hives. My mother found him, dead of a heart attack in the tall grass, bees haloing his head.

My mother sold the piece of land that held our apple orchard to a couple from Brooklyn. She kept the strawberry fields but was thoroughly at a loss when it came to my father’s hives. Since my brother was busy with a high-powered legal career and my mother was allergic to bees, the apiary fell to me. For five years, I drove from Boston to Adams every week to take care of the colonies. After Asher was born, I’d bring him with me, leaving him in the company of my mother while I checked the hives. I fell in love with beekeeping, the slow-motion flow of pulling a frame out of a hive, the Where’s Waldo? search for the queen. I expanded from five colonies to fifteen. I experimented with bee genetics with colonies from Russia, from Slovenia, from Italy. I signed pollination contracts with the Brooklynites and three other local fruit orchards, setting up new hives on their premises. I harvested, processed, and sold honey and beeswax products at farmers’ markets from the Canadian border to the suburbs of Massachusetts. I became, almost by accident, the first commercially successful beekeeper in the history of apiarist McAfees. By the time Asher and I moved permanently to Adams, I knew I might never get rich doing this, but I could make a living.

My father taught me that beekeeping is both a burden and a privilege. You don’t bother the bees unless they need your help, and you help them when they need it. It’s a feudal relationship: protection in return for a percentage of the fruits of their labors.

He taught me that if a body is easily crushed, it develops a weapon to prevent that from happening.

He taught me that sudden movements get you stung.

I took these lessons a bit too much to heart.

On the day of my father’s funeral, and years later, on the day of my mother’s, I told the bees. It’s an old tradition to inform them of a death in the family; if a beekeeper dies, and the bees aren’t asked to stay on with their new master, they’ll leave. In New Hampshire, the custom is to sing, and the news has to rhyme. So I draped each colony with black crepe, knocked softly, crooned the truth. My beekeeping net became a funeral veil. The hive might well have been a coffin.

BY THE TIME I come downstairs that morning, Asher is in the kitchen. We have a deal, whoever gets up first makes the coffee. My mug still has a wisp of steam rising. He is shoveling cereal into his mouth, absorbed in his phone.

“Morning,” I say, and he grunts in response.

For a moment, I let myself stare at him. It’s hard to believe that the soft-centered little boy who would cry when his hands got sticky with propolis from the hives can now lift a super full of forty pounds of honey as if it weighs no more than his hockey stick. Asher is over six feet tall, but even as he was growing, he was never ungainly. He moves with the kind of grace you find in wildcats, the ones that can steal away a kitten or a chick before you even realize they’ve gone. Asher has my blond hair and the same ghost-green eyes, for which I have always been grateful. He carries his father’s last name, but if I also had to see Braden every time I looked at my son, it would be that much harder.

I catalog the breadth of his shoulders, the damp curls at the nape of his neck; the way the tendons in his forearms shift and play as he scrolls through his texts. It’s shocking, sometimes, to be confronted with this when a second ago he sat on my shoulders, trying to pull down a star and unravel a thread of the night.

“No practice this morning?” I ask, taking a sip of my coffee. Asher has been playing hockey as long as we’ve lived here; he skates as effortlessly as he walks. He was made captain as a junior and reelected this year, as a senior. I never can remember whether they have rink time before school or after, as it changes daily.

His lips tug with a slight smile, and he types a response into his phone, but doesn’t answer.

“Hello?” I say. I slip a piece of bread into the ancient toaster, which is jerry-rigged with duct tape that occasionally catches on fire. Breakfast for me is always toast and honey, never in short supply.

“I guess you have practice later,” I try, and then provide the answer that Asher doesn’t. “Why yes, Mom, thanks for taking such an active interest in my life.”

I fold my arms across my boxy cable-knit sweater. “Am I too old to wear this tube top?” I ask lightly.

“I’m sorry I won’t be here for dinner, but I’m running away with a cult.”

I narrow my eyes. “I posted that naked photo of you as a toddler on Instagram for Throwback Thursday.”

Asher grunts noncommittally. My toast pops up; I spread it with honey and slide into the chair directly across from Asher. “I’d really prefer that you not use my Mastercard to pay for your Pornhub subscription.”

His eyes snap to mine so fast I think I can hear his neck crack. “What? ”

“Oh, hey,” I say smoothly. “Nice to have your attention.”

Asher shakes his head, but he puts down his phone. “I didn’t use your Mastercard,” he says.

“I know.”

“I used your Amex.”

I burst out laughing.

“Also: never ever wear a tube top,” he says. “Jesus.”

“So you were listening.”

“How could I not?” Asher winces. “Just for the record, nobody

else’s mother talks about porn over breakfast.”

“Aren’t you the lucky one, then.”

“Well,” he says, shrugging. “Yeah.” He lifts his coffee mug, clinks

it to mine, and sips.

I don’t know what other parents’ relationships are like with their

children, but the one between me and Asher was forged in fire and, maybe for that reason, is invincible. Even though he’d rather be caught dead than have me throw my arms around him after a winning game, when it’s just the two of us, we are our own universe, a moon and a planet tied together in orbit. Asher may not have grown up in a household with two parents, but the one he has would fight to the death for him.

“Speaking of porn,” I reply, “how’s Lily?”

He chokes on his coffee. “If you love me, you will never say that sentence again.”

Asher’s girlfriend is tiny, dark, with a smile so wide it completely changes the landscape of her face. If Asher is strength, then she is whimsy—a sprite who keeps him from taking himself too seriously; a question mark at the end of his predictable, popular life. Asher’s had no shortage of romantic entanglements with girls he’s known since kindergarten. Lily is a newcomer to town.

This fall, they have been inseparable. Usually, at dinner, it’s Lily did this or Lily said that.

“I haven’t seen her around this week,” I say.

Asher’s phone buzzes. His thumbs fly, responding.

“Oh, to be young and in love,” I muse. “And unable to go thirty seconds without communicating.”

“I’m texting Dirk. He broke a lace and wants to know if I have extra.”

One of the guys on his hockey team. I have no actual proof, but I’ve always felt like Dirk is the kid who oozes charm whenever he’s in front of me and then, when I’m gone, says something vile, like Your mom is hot, bro.

“Will Lily be at your game on Saturday?” I ask. “She should come over afterward for dinner.”

Asher nods and jams his phone in his pocket. “I have to go.” “You haven’t even finished your cereal—”

“I’m going to be late.”

He takes a long last swallow of coffee, slides his backpack over his

shoulder, and grabs his car keys from the bowl on the kitchen counter. He drives a 1988 Jeep he bought with the salary he made as a counselor at hockey camp.

“Take a coat!” I call, as he is walking out the door. “It’s—”

His breath fogs in the air; he slides behind the steering wheel and turns the ignition.

“Snowing,” I finish.

DECEMBER IS WHEN beekeepers catch their breath. The fall is a flurry of activity, starting with the honey harvest, then managing mite loads, and getting the bees ready to survive a New Hampshire winter. This involves mixing up a heavy sugar syrup that gets poured into a hive top feeder, then wrapping the entire hive for insulation before the first cold snap. The bees conserve their energy in the winter, and so should the apiarist.

I’ve never been very good with downtime.

There’s snow on the ground, and that’s enough to send me up to the attic to find the box of Christmas decorations. They’re the same ones my mother used when I was little—ceramic snowmen for the kitchen table; electric candles to set in each window at night, a string of lights for the mantel. There’s a second box, too, with our stockings and the ornaments for the tree, but it’s tradition that Asher and I hang those together. Maybe this weekend we will cut down our tree. We could do it after his game on Saturday, with Lily.

I’m not ready to lose him.

The thought stops me in my tracks. Even if we do not invite Lily to come choose a tree with us—to decorate it as he tells her the story behind the stick reindeer ornament he made in preschool or the impossibly tiny baby shoes, both his and mine, that we always hang on the uppermost branches—soon another will join our party of two. It is what I want most for Asher—the relationship I don’t have. I know that love isn’t a zero-sum game, but I’m selfish enough to hope he’s all mine for a little while longer.

I lug the first box down the attic stairs, hearing Asher’s voice in my head: Why didn’t you wait? I could have carried it down for you. Glancing through the open door of his bedroom, I roll my eyes at his unmade bed. It drives me crazy that he does not tuck in his sheets; it drives him just as crazy to do it, when he knows he’s just going to crawl back in in a few hours. With a sigh, I put the box down and walk into Asher’s room. I yank the sheets up, straightening his covers. As I do, a book falls to the floor.

It’s a blank journal, in which Asher has sketched in colored pencil. There’s a bee, hovering above an apple blossom, so close that you can see the working mandible and the pollen caught on her legs. There’s my old truck, a 1960 powder-blue Ford that belonged to my father.

Asher has always had this softer side, I love him all the more for it. It was clear when he was little that he had artistic talent, and once I even enrolled him in a painting class, but his hockey friends found out. When he messed up doing a passing drill, one of them said he should maybe stop holding his stick like Bob Ross held a brush, and he dropped art. Now, when he draws, it’s in private. He never shows me his work. But we’ve also gotten college brochures in the mail from RISD and SCAD, and I wasn’t the one to request them.

I flip the next few pages. There is one drawing that is clearly me, although he’s captured me from behind, as I stand at the sink. I look tired, worn. Is that what he thinks of me? I wonder.

A chipmunk, eyes bright with challenge. A stone wall. A girl— Lily?—with her arm thrown over her eyes, lying on a bed of leaves, naked from the waist up.

Immediately, I drop the book like it’s burning. I press my palms against my cheeks.

It’s not like I didn’t think he was intimate with his girlfriend; but then again, it’s not like we talked about it, either. At one point, when he started high school, I proactively started buying condoms and leaving them very matter-of-factly with the usual pharmacy haul of deodorant and razor blades and shampoo. Asher loves Lily—even if he hasn’t told me this directly, I see it in the way he lights up when she sits down beside him, how he checks her seatbelt when she gets into his car.

After a minute, I mess up Asher’s sheets and comforter again. I tuck the journal under a fold of the linens, pick up the pair of socks, and close the door of the bedroom behind me

I hoist the Christmas box into my arms again, thinking two things: that memories are so heavy; and that my son is entitled to his secrets.

BEEKEEPING IS THE world’s second-oldest profession. The first apiarists were the ancient Egyptians. Bees were royal symbols, the tears of Re, the sun god.

In Greek mythology, Aristaeus, the god of beekeeping, was taught by nymphs to tend bees. He fell in love with Orpheus’s wife, Eurydice. When she was dodging his advances, she stepped on a snake and died. Orpheus went to hell itself to bring her back, and Eurydice’s nymph sisters punished Aristaeus by killing all his bees.

The Bible promises a land of milk and honey. The Koran says paradise has rivers of honey for those who guard against evil. Krishna, the Hindu deity, is often shown with a blue bee on his forehead. The bee itself is considered a symbol of Christ: the sting of justice and the mercy of honey, side by side.

The first voodoo dolls were molded from beeswax; an oungan might tell you to smear honey on a person to keep ghosts at bay; a manbo would make little cakes of honey, amaranth, and whiskey, which, eaten before the new moon, could show you your future.

I sometimes wonder which of my prehistoric ancestors first stuck his arm into a hole in a tree. Did he come out with a handful of honey, or a fistful of stings? Is the promise of one worth the risk of the other?

WHEN THE INSIDE of the house is draped with its holiday jewelry, I pull on my winter boots and a parka and hike through the acreage of the property to gather evergreen boughs. This requires me to skate the edges of the fields with the few apple trees that still belong to my family. Against the frosty ground, they look insidious and witchy, their gnarled arms reaching, the wind whispering in the voice of dead leaves, Closer, closer. Asher used to climb them; once, he got so high that I had to call the fire department to pull him down, as if he were a cat. I swing my handsaw as I slip into the woods behind the orchard, twigs crunching underneath my footsteps. There are only so many trees whose feathered limbs I can reach; most are higher than I can reach on my tiptoes, but there’s satisfaction in gathering what I can. The pile of pine and spruce and fir grows, and it takes me three trips to bring it all back across the orchard fields to the porch of the farmhouse.

By the time I’ve got my raw materials—the branches and a spool of florist wire—my cheeks are flushed and bright and the tips of my ears are numb. I lay out the evergreens on the porch floor, trimming them with clippers, doubling and tripling the boughs so that they are thick. In the Christmas box I carried down earlier is a long rope of lights that I’ll weave through my garland when this step is finished; then I can affix the greenery around the frame of the front door.

I am not sure what it is that makes me think something is watching me.

All the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I turn slowly toward the barren strawberry fields.

In the snow, they look like a swath of white cotton. This late in the year, the back of the field is wreathed in shadow. In the summertime, we get raccoons and deer going after the strawberries; from time to time there’s a coyote. When it’s nearly winter, though, the predators have mostly squirreled themselves away in their dens—

I take off at a dead run for my beehives.

Before I even reach the electric fence that surrounds them, the smell of bananas is pungent—the surest sign of bees that are pissed off. Four hives are sturdy and quiet, hunkered tight within their insulation. But the box all the way to the right has been ripped to splinters. I name all my queen bees after female divas: Adele, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Whitney, and Mariah. Taylor, Britney, Miley, Aretha, and Ariana are in the apple orchard; on other contracts I have Sia, Dionne, Cher, and Katy. The hive that has been attacked is Celine’s.

One side of the electric fence has been barreled through, trampled. Struts of wood from the hive are scattered all over the snowy ground; hunks of Styrofoam have been clawed to shreds. I stumble over a piece of broken honeycomb with a bear print in it.

I narrow my eyes at the dark line where the field turns into forest, but the bear is already gone. The bees would have killed themselves, literally, to get rid of their attacker—stinging until it lumbered away.

It’s not the first time I have had a bear attack a hive, but it’s the latest it has ever happened in the beekeeping season.

I walk toward the brush near the edge of the field, trying to find any remaining bees that might not have frozen. A small knot seethes and drips, dark as molasses, on the bare crotch of a sugar maple. I cannot see Celine, but if the bees have absconded there is a chance she is with them.

Sometimes, in the spring, bees swarm. You might find them like this, in the bivouac stage—the temporary site before they fly off to whatever they’ve decided should be their new home.

When bees swarm in the spring, it’s because they’ve run out of space in the hive.

When bees swarm in the spring, they’re full of honey and happy and calm.

When bees swarm in the spring, you can often recapture them, and set them up in a new box, where they have enough room for their brood cells and pollen and honey.

This is not a swarm. These bees are angry and these bees are desperate.

“Stay,” I beg, and then I run back to the farmhouse as fast as I can.

It takes me three trips, each a half mile across the fields, skidding on the dusting of snow. I have to haul out a new wooden base and an empty hive from a colony that failed last year, into which I will try to divert the bees; I have to grab my bee kit from the basement, where I’ve stored it for the winter—my smoker and hive tool, some wire and a bee brush, my hat and veil and gloves. I am sweating by the time I am finished, my hands shaking and sausage-fingered from the cold. Clumsily, I grab the few frames that can be salvaged from the bear’s attack and set them into the brood box. I sew some of the newly broken comb onto the frames with wire, hoping that the bees will be attracted back to the familiar. When the new box is set up, I walk toward the sugar maple.

The light is so low now, because dusk comes early. I see the motion of the bees more than their actual writhing outline. If Asher were here, I could have him hold the brood box directly below the branch while I scoop the bees into it, but I’m alone.

It takes several tries for me to light a curl of birch bark to ignite my smoker; there’s just enough wind to make it difficult. Finally, a red ember sparks, and I drop it into the little metal pot, onto a handful of wood shavings. Smoke pipes out of the narrow neck as I pump the bellows a few times. I give a few puffs near the bees; it dulls their senses and takes the aggressive edge off.

I pull on my hat and veil and lift the same handsaw I used on the evergreen boughs. The branch is about six inches too high for me to reach. Cursing, I lug the broken wooden base of the old frame underneath the tree and try to gingerly balance on what’s left of it. The odds are about equal that I will either manage to saw down the branch or break my ankle. I nearly sob with relief when the branch is free, and carry it slowly and gently to the new hive. I give it a sharp jerk, watching the bees rain down into the box. I do this again, praying that the queen is one of them.

If it were warmer, I’d know for sure. A few bees would gather on the landing board with their butts facing out, fanning their wings and nasonoving—spreading pheromones for strays to find their way home. That’s a sign that the hive is queenright. But it’s too cold, and so I pull out each frame, scanning the frenzy of bees. Celine, thank God, is a marked queen—I spy the green painted dot on her long narrow back and pluck her by the wings into a queen catcher, a little plastic contraption that looks like those butterfly clips for hair. The queen catcher will keep her safe for a couple of days while they all get used to the new home. But it also guarantees that the colony won’t abscond. Sometimes, bees just up and leave with their queen if they don’t like their circumstances. If the queen is locked up, they will not leave without her.

I let a puff of smoke roll over the top of the box, again hoping to calm the bees. I try to set the queen catcher between frames of comb, but my fingers are stiff with the cold and keep slipping. When my hand strikes the edge of the wooden box, one of the worker bees sinks her stinger into me.

“Mother fucker .” I gasp, dancing backward from the hive. A cluster of bees follow me, attracted by the scent of the attack. I cradle my palm, tears springing to my eyes.

I tear off my hat and veil, bury my face in my hands. I can take all the best precautions for this queen; I can feed the bees sugar syrup and insulate their new brood box; I can pray as hard as I want—but this colony does not have a chance of surviving the winter.They simply will not have enough time to build up the stores of honey that the bear has robbed.

And yet. I cannot just give up on them.

So I gently set the telescoping cover on the box and lift my bee kit with my good hand. In the other, I hold a snowball against the sting as a remedy. I trudge back to the farmhouse. Tomorrow, I’ll give them the kindness of extra food in a hive-top feeder and I’ll wrap the new box, but it’s hospice care. There are some trajectories you cannot change, no matter what you do.

Back home, I am so absorbed in icing my throbbing palm that I don’t notice it’s long past dinnertime, and Asher isn’t home.

THE FIRST TIME it happened, it was over a password.

I had only just signed up for FaceBook, mostly so that I could see pictures of my brother, Jordan, and his wife, Selena. Braden and I were living in a brownstone on Mass Ave while he did his Mass General fellowship in cardiac surgery. Most of our furniture had come from yard sales in the suburbs that we would drive to on weekends. One of our best finds came from an old lady who was moving to an assisted living community. She was selling an antique rolltop desk with claw-feet (I said it was a gryphon; Braden said eagle). It was clearly an antique, but someone had stripped it of its original finish, so it wasn’t worth much, and more to the point, we could afford it. It wasn’t until we got it home that we realized it had a secret compartment—a narrow little sliver between the wooden drawers that was intended to look decorative, but pulled loose to reveal a spot where documents and papers could be hidden. I was delighted, naturally, hoping for the combination to an old safe full of gold bullion or a torrid love letter, but the only thing we found inside was a paper clip. I had pretty much forgotten about its existence when I had to choose a password for FaceBook, and find a place to store it for when I inevitably forgot what I’d picked. What better place than in the secret compartment?

We had initially bought the antique desk so that Braden could study at it, but when we realized that his laptop was too deep for the space, it became decorative, tucked in an empty space at the bottom of the stairs. We kept our car keys there, and my purse, and an occasional plant I hadn’t yet murdered. Which is why I was so surprised to find Braden sitting in front of it one evening, fiddling with the hidden compartment.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He reached inside and triumphantly pulled out the piece of paper. “Seeing what secrets you keep from me,” he said.

It was so ridiculous I laughed. “I’m an open book,” I told him, but I took the paper out of his hand.

His eyebrows raised. “What’s on there?” “My FaceBook password.”

“So what?”

“So,” I said, “it’s mine.”

Braden frowned. “If you had nothing to hide, you’d show it to me.”

“What do you think I’m doing on FaceBook?” I said, incredulous. “You tell me,” Braden replied.

I rolled my eyes. But before I could say anything, his hand shot

out for the paper.

PEPPER70. That’s what it said. The name of my first dog and my birth year. Blatantly uninspired; something he could have figured out on his own. But the principle of the whole stupid argument kicked in, and I yanked the page away before he could snatch it.

That’s when it changed—the tone, the atmosphere. The air went still between us, and his pupils dilated. He reached out, striking like a snake, and grabbed my wrist.

On instinct, I pulled back and darted up the stairs. Thunder, him running behind me. My name twisted on his lips. It was silly; it was stupid; it was a game. But it didn’t feel like one, not the way my heart was hammering.

As soon as I made it to our bedroom I slammed the door shut. Leaning my forehead against it, I tried to catch my breath.

Braden shouldered it open so hard that the frame splintered.

I didn’t realize what had happened until my vision went white and I felt a hammer between my eyes. I touched my nose and my fingers came away red with blood.

“Oh my God,” Braden murmured. “Oh my God, Liv. Jesus.” He disappeared for a moment and then he was holding a hand towel to my face, guiding me to sit on the bed, stroking my hair.

“I think it’s broken,” I choked out.

“Let me look,” he demanded. He gently peeled away the bloody cloth and with a surgeon’s tender hands touched the ridge of my brow, the bone beneath my eyes. “I don’t think so,” he said, his voice frayed.

Braden cleaned me up as if I were made of glass and then he brought me an ice pack. By then, the stabbing pain was gone. I ached, and my nose was stuffy. “My fingers are too cold,” I said, dropping the ice, and he picked it up and gently held it against me. I realized his hands were trembling and that he couldn’t look me in the eye.

Seeing him so shaken hurt even more than my injury.

So I covered his hand with mine, trying to comfort. “I shouldn’t have been standing so close to the door,” I murmured.

Finally, Braden looked at me, and nodded slowly. “No. You shouldn’t have.”

I HAVE SENT a half dozen texts to Asher, who hasn’t written back. Each one is a little angrier. For someone who seemingly has no trouble interrupting his life to text his girlfriend and Dirk, he has selective communication skills when he wants to. Most likely he was invited to eat dinner somewhere and didn’t bother to tell me.

I decide that as punishment, I will make him clean up the evergreens still strewn across the porch, since my bee-stung hand hurts too much for me to finish stringing the garland.

On the kitchen table is a small bundle of newspaper, which I carefully unwrap. It was placed in the decoration box by mistake, but it belongs in the one with our Christmas ornaments. It’s my favorite—a hand-blown glass bulb in swirls of blue and white, with a drippy curl of frozen glass at the top through which a wire has been threaded for hanging. Asher made it for me when he was six, after we left Braden behind in Boston, and I got a divorce. I had a booth at a county fair that fall, selling honey and beeswax products, and an artisanal glassblower befriended Asher and invited him to watch her in her workshop. Unbeknownst to me, she helped him make an ornament for me as a gift. I loved it, but what made it truly magical was that it was a time capsule. Frozen in that delicate globe was Asher’s childhood breath. No matter how old he was or how big he grew, I would always have that.

Just then my cellphone rings.

Asher. If he’s not texting, he knows he’s in trouble.

“You better have a good excuse,” I begin, but he cuts me off. “Mom, I need you,” Asher says. “I’m at the police station.” Words scramble up the ladder of my throat. “What? Are you all right?”

“I ...I’m ...no.”

I look down at the ornament in my hand, this piece of the past. “Mom,” Asher says, his voice breaking. “I think Lily’s dead.”

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Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

By: Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Published: October 4, 2022

Publisher: Ballantine Books

The idea for MAD HONEY came from Jennifer Finney Boylan’s dream. She woke from the dream and tweeted about it tagging Picoult. MAD HONEY is the result of that dream come true and the particular plot she wanted to write with Picoult.

I have been a long-time fan of Jodi Picoult’s, even getting to meet her in person at a book signing event years ago. I can always count on Picoult’s books to challenge my thoughts about a topic, a disease, or some event. Her books are known for having a big twist or surprise in them that readers often don’t see coming. MAD HONEY encompasses all of that. Her latest with Finney Boylan offers a story of two single moms raising their children the best they can. There are numerous trigger warnings in this book including domestic violence and suicide. But, a huge piece of this story is one that can be quite divisive and is ripped from the headlines. I recommend you go in knowing very little in order to have the best experience reading it. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I could finish this one, but I kept at it and am glad I finished it. These two authors definitely taught me a new perspective on a hot topic as well as an immense amount of information about raising bees and honey. I was delighted to see the honey recipes at the end of the book. .

“We both fall silent for a little bit. We don’t say it out loud, but we’re both thinking: it would be nice if there were some things you could forget.”

Each author took a character’s voice and then also wrote one chapter in the other character’s voice. But, truly, the story was seamless and a reader would never know there were two authors. The story is told alternately from the perspective of Olivia, a second-generation beekeeper who has recently returned to her home of Adams, New Hampshire to raise her son Asher, a senior in high school. Lily is a new student at Asher’s high school. She and her mom, Ava have recently moved there to start fresh after living in California. Lily and Asher begin dating and become inseparable. When Lily is found dead, Asher is arrested for her murder.

“He is right; you don’t ever recover from losing someone you love-even the ones you leave behind because you’re better off without them.”

Along with the alternating chapters, Lily’s story is also told backward, which took some getting used to. Olivia’s story is moving forward at the same time the reader is learning what led up to the day of the murder. As a mom, I struggled numerous times with the emotions in this story. One mom is grieving over the death of her child and the other mom is grieving that she might lose her child forever to the prison system. It’s a hard story to take and one I had to put down a few times to take a break. But, that is sometimes what makes a story great. It doesn’t gloss over the rough parts but hits you solid right between the eyes.

“Do not listen to anyone who tells you a broken heart is a metaphor. You can feel the cracks and the fissures. It’s like ice splintering under your feet; like the cliff crumbling beneath your weight.”

Both authors hope this novel inspires compassion while also educating the reader on a sensitive topic. Ultimately, this is a story of two moms who do everything they can to protect their children and yet, they can’t protect them from everything. As a mom, that hurt, yet it reminded me that sometimes we can do everything in our power to protect them, and ultimately, we have to let them live the life ahead of us.

To purchase a copy of MAD HONEY, click the photo below:

Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to make a purchase through the above links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.

Posted Under Book Review , fiction , honey , Jennifer Finney Boylan , Jodi Picoult , LGBTQ

Review of Mad Honey

10.03.2022 by Jen Ryland // 3 Comments

Mad Honey is a story about different types of love: romantic love, the love of a parent for a child, and self-love and acceptance. It’s also a coming of age and identity story. This new book by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan was a typical Picoult book in some ways but not in others. Find out what I thought in my Review of Mad Honey .

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Cover of Mad Honey by Jodi Piclout and Jennifer Finney Boylan

To be published on October 4 2022 by Ballantine Books

Thanks to the publisher for providing me an advance copy of the book for review.

Synopsis of Mad Honey

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life in Boston, married to a surgeon and raising a beautiful son, ended when her husband revealed a darker side.

Olivia never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, taking over her father’s beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is also familiar with do-overs. When she and her mom relocate to New Hampshire for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

For a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Then Olivia’s son Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him.

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge that, as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

If you’ve read one of Jodi Picoult’s many books, there is much about Mad Honey that will feel familiar to you. Picoult’s books usually have multiple points of view and typically look at some sort of fraught issue.

She’s written about parents who conceive a child to serve as a bone marrow donor for her sick sibling, a Black nurse who is charged with trying to revive a dying baby after her white supremacist parents forbid her to touch their child, and a school shooting.

Her books also often have some sort of a surprising revelation. Mad Honey definitely did. Since the synopsis doesn’t mention it, I am not going to mention it either, even though many other reviewers have. That reveal genuinely surprised me, and I think that going into the book NOT knowing about it made my reading experience a better one.

So, without spoilers (and don’t worry, we can talk about ALL those in my Spoiler Discussion Post for Mad Honey ) there were some things about the book that I really loved:

I really loved Lily’s POV.

Given that, as the synopsis reveals, Lily is dead in the book’s present, I thought having her POV in the past was what really made the book shine for me. I can’t say that I really liked all the other characters that much.

I liked the beekeeping stuff … to a point.

While I don’t know that much about beekeeping, I found most of the information really fascinating. Though there was a moment toward the end when I reached my saturation point on it. At that point, I felt that using it as a metaphor on absolutely everything went a little too far.

I was genuinely curious about what happened to Lily.

But I would NOT call this a thriller or a courtroom thriller.

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call it Mad Honey a mystery. The book doesn’t really present any viable suspects presented. We don’t see any investigation of what happened to Lily, just jump from her death right into the courtroom. Some readers on my discussion post of Mad Honey felt that the legal aspects were a bit sketchy. But let’s discuss that in my Spoiler Post!

And then there were things I liked a lot less:

I was a little disappointed in the ending. The book seemed to be coming to an ending that was interesting and made sense, and then all of a sudden there was this other, final ending that I didn’t feel was adequately set up.

I didn’t connect at all with Olivia. Probably based on my own personal experiences with similar personalities, but I felt she thought she was close to her son and then all I saw was that she just cared about the bees. To an obsessive degree, honestly.

Are you reading this? Tell me in comments.

I want to hear what YOU thought! If you have spoilers thoughts to share, please come to my Spoiler Discussion Post for Mad Honey and let’s hash it all out.

About Jen Ryland

Over 12 years of book blogging and reviewing, I have read over 1500 books. A fair and honest reviewer who loves book discussions, I'm here to help you find a book you'll love to read AND give you a place to talk about it and ask questions. Find me on Instagram and Pinterest as @jenryland!

This story felt flat. At no point did I think Asher killed Lily, because they were too many coincidences between him and his father and the fingers all pointed to him. It couldn’t be that easy. The characters were bland and the plot was predictable. The bee info was interesting Especially how it correlated with the story. But then I got to be way too much, overkill on the bee comparisons!

Sadly I agree. I think this story had tons of potential and I really enjoyed Lily’s narrative. As a mystery, this didn’t work for me because the identity of the killer made no sense. As a courtroom drama, this made no sense to me as the investigation didn’t seem thorough and the evidence wasn’t there. Maybe just sticking to the bees, Asher and Lily’s relationship and Olivia’s recovery from her abuse was enough..

I can’t put all my thoughts here so hope you will consider joining the Mad Honey Spoiler Discussion!

I agree about the ending. For being Asher’s best friend Maya didn’t seem at all remorseful for what she put him thru. Would she have come forward if he’d been sentenced to life in prison? More time needed to be spent on Maya in the end and less on the bees.

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Book review: 'Mad Honey'

By Greg Rienzi

Olivia McAfee, a beekeeper and single mom, has fled Boston and an abusive husband to give her son, Asher, a better life in small-town New Hampshire. All's well for the next 12 years until the now high school senior meets Lily Campanello, a new girl in town who, like Asher's mother, has fled a troubled past. Without giving away much, one day Asher finds Lily sprawled at the bottom of her stairs, unresponsive. Or did he find her that way? In Mad Honey , authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, A&S '86 (MA), join forces for a book that's part sexual identity tale, part trial drama, and part manual on the intricacies of beekeeping. You'll come for the mystery but stay for the depictions of Olivia harvesting honey.

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Mad Honey: A Novel › Customer reviews

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Mad Honey: A Novel

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Mad Honey, a review by Joanna

Mad Honey Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan Hodder & Stoughton Published November 15th, 2022 464 pages 🐝🐝🐝🐝

Mad Honey is a moving contemporary fiction novel about a New Hampshire teenager accused of the murder of his girlfriend. A collaboration between two bestselling authors – only one of which I had heard of/read previously – this has an unusual alternating chapter structure: Olivia (the boy’s mother) tells her story in traditional (although present tense) format, while Lily’s (the victim) begins on the day of her death and works backwards, revealing the history of her passionate relationship with Asher and the secrets that led to the tragedy. This worked surprisingly well, and the dual author origin doesn’t stop this being a classic Picoult offering, with all the elements you’d expect. To mention the main theme of this would be a major spoiler so I recommend caution reading reviews – but it makes writing about it tricky. Let’s just say that it’s an important issue that the book handles sensitively but that might upset some conservative readers.

Olivia McAfee escaped her abusive marriage to a charming surgeon and has raised her son Asher alone in a small rural town, making a living as a beekeeper. She’s fond of his clever new girlfriend Lily, who only moved to the town a few months earlier, so when Asher is found cradling Lily’s body in a pool of blood, Liv is shocked and horrified – but cannot believe that her beloved child is responsible. Then Asher is arrested and charged with murder, and when his trial begins, Liv discovers that she doesn’t know him as well as she thought, and must face the question – could he be like his father after all?

I hadn’t read a Jodi Picoult novel in years, because they started getting quite repetitive, but this had positive advance reviews and I was ready to try her again. This was an engaging but thought-provoking read covering a variety of social issues, including (trigger warning): domestic abuse, attempted suicide, bullying, depression, youth sexuality and the dysfunctional US criminal justice system. There’s also a lot about beekeeping! Sometimes courtroom dramas can get a bit dull, but the return of recurring Picoult character Jordan McAfee, Liv’s lawyer brother, and avoidance of too much legal procedural detail meant I was never bored. I didn’t anticipate the ending either. I thoroughly enjoyed this and felt educated about an area I don’t know much about without feeling I was being preached at. I’ll end this with a quote: “How similar does someone have to be to you before you remember to see them, first, as human?”

Thanks to NetGalley and for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.

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Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
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Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

COMMENTS

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
This book may be called Mad Honey, but I'm mad as heck that I read it! This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. Show full review. 342 likes. 4 comments. Like. Comment. ... Review "Mad Honey" soon. (good pick for a book discussion — but in my opinion 'not' FOR the obvious reasons)…. but for 'equally' what was ...
MAD HONEY
MAD HONEY. by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2022. A well-paced story that highlights several timely issues, with a stimulating courtroom trial that makes it worth reading. The shocking murder of a teenager thrusts a small town into the headlines and destabilizes the lives of everyone who knew her.
Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
A book club review of Mad Honey, a novel about identity, gender, abuse, love and toxic relationships. The reviewer shares her opinion of the story, the characters and the twist that changes everything. She praises the authors' collaboration and the impact of the novel on the reader.
Spoiler Discussion for Mad Honey
Plot Summary for Mad Honey. Olivia is a divorced mom who left her husband and moved with her son to New Hampshire to live in her childhood home. She also inherited her father's bee colony. Olivia's son Asher is a high school student who has been dating his girlfriend Lily for three months. Asher decides to surprise Lily by arranging a ...
Review of Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves. Review. Mad Honey is a collaboration between Jodi Picoult, an author whose books I've read and loved, and Jennifer Finney Boylan, a new author for me. They ...
Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan is one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it did not disappoint! I enjoyed the book very much, from the characters to the courtroom drama to the bees and the twist that took the book in a completely different direction. Olivia McAfee is a single mother to Asher.
Mad Honey
Mad Honey. by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Publication Date: September 5, 2023. Genres: Fiction, Women's Fiction. Paperback: 480 pages. Publisher: Ballantine Books. ISBN-10: 1984818406. ISBN-13: 9781984818409. Olivia McAfee's picture-perfect life was upended when her husband revealed a darker side.
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Mad Honey: A Novel
As a beekeeper myself, I was intrigued by the premise, but I wasn't sure if it would be my cup of tea (genre-wise). Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! Mad Honey is a beautifully woven tale of love, loss, and redemption. However, please note that this book contains triggering themes, including: • Abuse (emotional and physical) • Alcoholism
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan (Book Review
The tale of Mad Honey is what happens when Asher is accused of killing her. Picoult and Finney Boylan spin a compelling yarn with well-formed characters and topics tied to real-life issues. Finney Boylan and Picoult use two voices to tell the story, Olivia's and Lily's. Everything we learn about Asher and Ava is through their eyes.
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan: 9781984818409
Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves. *Includes a downloadable PDF of recipes from the book. Read An Excerpt. Read An Excerpt.
Mad Honey: A Novel: Picoult, Jodi, Boylan, Jennifer Finney
An Amazon Best Book of October 2022: If you are looking for a book that will give you all the feels, look no further, Mad Honey is an emotional, empathy-filled novel that will also provide more knowledge of bees than you ever thought you needed. The novel isn't just about bees, this story has teen love at its core, but also contains a heavy ...
Mad Honey Summary, Characters, Review and Themes
Summary. At the heart of "Mad Honey" is the mysterious death of Lily Campanello, an 18-year-old girl whose life comes to a sudden, tragic end. Born Liam O'Meara, Lily is a trans girl who has bravely navigated her journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
a book review by Nancy Carty Lepri: Mad Honey: A Novel
A book review of Mad Honey: A Novel by Jodi Picoult, a novel about a beekeeper who faces a crisis of identity and a murder mystery. The reviewer shares her insights on the plot, characters, themes, and writing style of this book that explores the themes of family, love, and transgender identity.
Jodi Picoult · Mad Honey (2022)
AU - NZ jacket. Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 28 novels, including Mad Honey, Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time , The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, and My Sister's Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha ...
Book Marks reviews of Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan
More successful is the atmospheric texture provided with depictions of Olivia harvesting honey and the art of beekeeping, and the riveting trial drama. Overall, it's a fruitful collaboration. ... the novel is well plotted but sometimes feels long-winded, including characters who don't have much significance and details that don't seem relevant.
Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
MAD HONEY encompasses all of that. Her latest with Finney Boylan offers a story of two single moms raising their children the best they can. There are numerous trigger warnings in this book including domestic violence and suicide. But, a huge piece of this story is one that can be quite divisive and is ripped from the headlines.
Review of Mad Honey
10.03.2022 by Jen Ryland // 3 Comments. Mad Honey is a story about different types of love: romantic love, the love of a parent for a child, and self-love and acceptance. It's also a coming of age and identity story. This new book by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan was a typical Picoult book in some ways but not in others.
Book Review: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Reviews. By Lauren Bell. I'm a habitual reader of Jodi Picoult, so it was only natural that her newest book landed in my "to be read" pile. As for Jennifer Finlay Boylan, this is my first time reading her work, but in Mad Honey both authors' perspectives balanced each other out and presented one cohesive voice.
Victoria's review of Mad Honey
5/5: Mad Honey is one of those books that I have a feeling will stay with me for a long time. My cousin told me she was reading this and it had been sitting on my TBR shelf for a really long time, but for some reason, I had just not gotten around to picking it up, and I am so thankful that I finally did. This story was heartbreaking for literally every single character that was written about ...
Review
Mad Honey is no exception. For the first time, Picoult and Boylan team up in this duo's first novel to expertly explore the complicated relationships between mothers and children, the weight of secrets, secret history, and the healing power of forgiveness. Mad Honey is a beautifully written modern classic novel. Each main character will stay ...
Book review: 'Mad Honey'
Book review: 'Mad Honey' By Greg Rienzi / Published. Winter 2022. Olivia McAfee, a beekeeper and single mom, has fled Boston and an abusive husband to give her son, Asher, a better life in small-town New Hampshire. All's well for the next 12 years until the now high school senior meets Lily Campanello, a new girl in town who, like Asher's ...
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Mad Honey: A Novel
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Mad Honey: A Novel at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. ... I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Jodi Picoult books. I live her stories, hate her endings. And I really hate that that's the first thing that comes to mind in reviewing this book.
Mad Honey, a review by Di
In a nutshell, this book is about a teenage boy whose girlfriend is found dead and he is charged with her murder. Much of the book is set in the courtroom. There are alternating viewpoints by the boy's mother and his girlfriend. The mother's viewpoint, in the present, goes forward. The girlfriend's timeline starts in the present, and goes ...
Mad Honey, a review by Joanna
464 pages. Mad Honey is a moving contemporary fiction novel about a New Hampshire teenager accused of the murder of his girlfriend. A collaboration between two bestselling authors - only one of which I had heard of/read previously - this has an unusual alternating chapter structure: Olivia (the boy's mother) tells her story in traditional ...

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Review of Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

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Mad Honey Summary, Characters, Review and Themes

1. Olivia McAfee

2. Lily Campanello

3. Asher Fields

4. Ava Campanello

1. The Complexities of Identity and Self-Acceptance

2. The Cycle of Abuse and Its Ripple Effects

3. The Intricacies of Love and Relationships

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