HONEY GIRL was sweet, swoony, and a balm for the soul. The first chapter grabs you immediately, as we learn that our main character Grace Porter, a recent PhD grad who by all accounts has followed the rules for most of her life, has gotten married to a one-night-stand in Vegas (and now, has no idea who her wife is). It's a perfect way to introduce the character of Grace, a Black 29 year old lesbian who is adrift in her career after she is unable to find a job. The book is a bit unclassifiable. It has a lot of elements of romance, a little bit of YA (though all of the characters are older), and a pinch of coming of age. It was hard to put down, and I felt like the characters jumped right off the page. I knew them, and I wanted to hang out with them.

I wished a lot for Grace -- I wanted her to find peace and to know that she was not alone (it is always hard to see main characters say they are lonely when they seemingly have an incredible group of friends, both parents alive, and a fantastically promising love life). But I understand feeling adrift in one's professional life, and how anxiety and depression can lead to feeling completely lost at times. #ownvoices author, Morgan Rogers, deftly gives language to what it is like being a Black lesbian who strives for perfection from her overbearing father and the pressure she puts on herself, and therefore feeling like there is no place for her after a decade of academia. I was proud of Grace's by the end of the book, and her happy for her love story, and I can see this being a blockbuster of a book when it comes out early next year.

cw: depression, anxiety, mentions of a character's previous self-harm

This a gorgeous book. The prose made me want to lick something. I usual don't pay much attention to prose but the prose stole my breath. The characters all felt very organic with their own troubles and desire to find their own place in the world. The book gets five stars alone for having positive mental health conversations. The main character goes to a therapist to work out her issues for perfection. That unattainable thing that she has been told by her father is attainable. The book goes into how this lie hurts the way she sees her future so beautifully that you should just read the book because I won't be able to accurately explain how honest this book is.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

This novel is a groundbreaking debut for Morgan Rogers. Not exactly the book I expected, HONEY GIRL is a fantastic coming of age story that follows a queer Black woman who just finished her PhD. I love that our main character, Grace, is in her late twenties. Honey Girl explores great themes like loneliness, belonging, identity, queer found family, and finding a home - all things that are more commonly explored through younger characters.

Rogers tackles sexism and racism in academia, which I think makes this book a must-read. I have never read a book that more accurately depicts the feeling of burnout.

In addition to a tale of self-discovery, readers get a side of romance! In the first chapter, Grace marries the monster-loving, fable spinning, radio host, Yuki, during a drunken night in Vegas. Sapphic and hopelessly romantic, this love story is incredibly sweet. However, the true love story in Honey Girl is Grace finding herself.

Though Grace’s character arc is executed poignantly, I selfishly wanted more from our rag-tag group of queer side characters. I loved the found family aspect of this book AND the romance, and of course never wanted them to take away from Grace’s emotional journey. I think this book could have been a bit stronger if it were 50-100 pages longer. Again, it’s also very likely that I’m selfish and wanted more because i loved Grace, Yuki, and these misfits so much.

Rogers’s debut tackles an important topics with grace (pun intended), and highlights their talent for stunning prose and storytelling. I loved Honey Girl dearly, and I cannot wait to read more from her!

This women's fiction novel was captivating and compelling for a one-sitting read. Here, Grace has just completed her doctorate in astronomy and heads to Vegas to celebrate with her friends. She's the typical high achieving, good girl who always follows the rules. Yet, one night in Vegas and she drunkenly marries a woman whose name she doesn't even know and who leaves bright and early the next morning. That all happens in the first chapter, so most of the book she's dealing with grad school burnout, a rough job market, and parental expectations. To avoid all that, she flees her home in Portland to live in New York City for the summer with her stranger wife, Yuki, a late-night DJ, who discusses all things mythological and supernatural on air. Of course, this period brings them closer, enough to fall in love, but summer can't last forever and so she'll flee again in order to discover her own inner truths and desires. This book is full of authentic language that leaves me so curious to find out what happens next. However, this book is quite slow to start with a lot of exposition up top, but once you get like five chapters in, you finally want to start rooting for these complex characters, who are trying to figure out their own journeys.

I’ve been so excited for Honey Girl since it was announced, especially because it was comped to Red, White & Royal Blue with a lesbian Black protagonist! I am a firm believer of the new adult category, so I was very interested to read this book. Honey Girl is a story of healing and contemplation after a life of nonstop work.

Grace Porter has always grown up with a life plan set out by her ex-military father, one that she’s stuck to adamantly with few exceptions. That is, until she wakes up in Las Vegas married to Yuki, a woman she met the night before. They part ways, and Grace returns home only to feel more and more stifled by her life, especially with few career prospects. She calls Yuki and, after a fight with her father, impulsively decides to move to New York City where Yuki lives. There, she begins to contemplate her life more, deciding whether or not she’s truly happy and how she can begin to be.

Before I begin my thoughts, let me start by saying that this is not a romance genre book; instead, it’s a coming-of-age novel with a romance. Honey Girl depicts the comedown of millennial burnout, so to speak. Grace has lived a non-stop life because she’s never allowed herself to take a break. Eventually though, her exhaustion catches up to her.

Meeting Yuki was a catalyst to this, yes, but I’m not saying it was any one event that brought her down. Rather, it was a series of events over years that piled up until one day she had enough. It was really interesting to see Grace realizes that she needs to stop because she doesn’t know how to be happy anymore; I’m not sure another book has quite captured this experience, especially as a Black lesbian woman in a male- and white-dominated field.

She has a great support system throughout the book too; I really liked the cast of characters, who were all also LGBTQ+ and/or a person of color. Her friends are ones she considers family, and then she goes to New York and becomes close to Yuki and her friends. The bonds Grace has with her friends are so tightly knit, and I really loved seeing their dynamic.

Again, this isn’t a romance genre book so it’s not super heavy on the romance after a certain part. That being said, I did love Yuki and how she helps Grace grow. They have such a soft love and I couldn’t help but smile at their scenes.

Honey Girl is a story of burnout: when you realize that you’re not happy and that you haven’t been happy in a long time and the journey to healing and finding happiness again. Grace’s character arc is so well-written, and I really liked the characters. If you want a f/f new-adult read with a found family of LGBTQ+ people of color, I can’t recommend Honey Girl enough.

Absolutely beautiful prose, queer found family, and a heartbreakingly relatable story of feeling completely lost and existentially lonely in your late 20s.

I already know Honey Girl is one of those books that is going to stay with me. Even if I forget what happened in the book, I won’t forget how it made me feel. I went into this thinking it was a romance, and there is of course some romance considering the book centres on two strangers getting drunk married in Las Vegas, but I was very pleasantly surprised with the course of the book. It actually touches on some really deep themes of loneliness, family and Grace’s experience as a Black queer woman in academia.

When I was in high school, I actually did a monologue for my Grade 12 Drama Class called “This is My Loneliness” from the movie “Love of Siam”. It was about how the main character of the movie felt so lonely even though they were surrounded by people who cared about them. Similarly, in this book, you might wonder how two people could get drunk married to a stranger, but then also decide to stay married, and the answer is loneliness. I loved how this book handled it and there were legitimately scenes in this book that made me cry because of how real and palpable the loneliness felt.

This book also talks about family and the expectations they place on you. As a person of color, I totally get it. My parents wanted me to go to medical school as well and it really took them some time to accept that it wasn’t going to happen and that I was happy in my chosen career path. I’m really glad that the author handled this with nuance though. Family is complicated and no one is ever just good or bad, but a bit of both. It was really hard at times to read Grace and her dad’s interactions, but that’s what made it real. I’m also really happy that this tackled racism in academia. For BIPOC folks like Grace, they need to be twice as good to get to the same spot as white peers. I’m also in a really white-dominated field and while it’s certainly not as bad as astronomy, I can understand the struggle.

Overall, this was just a joy to read! I wouldn’t go into it thinking it’s exclusively a love story, but the romance is really cute. I loved all the themes it tackled and am definitely going to keep an eye out for other books from Morgan Rogers.

This was really beautiful, and I think young adults (younger Millennials in particular), will find it very relatable. And I am happy that for once, the answer to the character's problems was finally GET SOME DANG THERAPY.

Everyone go to therapy and learn how to communicate. The end.

4.5 stars

The beginning of this piece feels as intended: like an otherworldly dream. I was totally lost in the imagery from the jump and definitely got sucked in to the romance right away....but this is much more than just a romance novel!

Grace Porter, who is interchangeably referred to as Grace, Porter, and Grace Porter, begins the novel with what is promised in the summary: the discovery that she has married someone she doesn't appear to know well on a trip to Las Vegas. But this is only one part of Grace's life, and it's not really the central focus of the work, which I grew to love quickly. Grace is at a number of turning points, and I loved watching her grapple with and come to terms with various aspects of her experience: some she keeps forcing down and others she seems ready to face bravely. The romance piece is there, but it's not all there is.

For her part, Grace lives the whole love yourself before you can love someone else motif, but she does it in an authentic and unique way. I found her character - and really all of the characters - totally endearing, and I loved the intersectional rep throughout. I will definitely be back for anything Rogers writes. Solidly recommended -

Honey Girl checks off a lotof boxes, and incredibly well too. I don't think this is nearly as much a romance ur relationship fiction so much as a self discovery or self love story.- and that is incredibly welcome. Honey Girl smashed my existing expectations in the best. way.

Finished Honey Girl and absolutely loved it! It’s a fresh story that deals with hope, possibility, the complex questions of “what does my best mean?” “what’s my path?” “What do I want out of my life?” The authors words and descriptions read like poetry. She perfectly captured that uncertainty many feel when the life you’ve worked hard for doesn’t turn out the way you want. I loved all of the supporting characters (Yuki, Agnes, Ximena); they felt fleshed out and diverse. I liked that the main protagonist was biracial, queer and doctor of astronomy. Author did a great job of explaining and encompassing the struggles of being the “only one” of having to work twice as hard.

I am not own voices here so as always seek out those reviews first!
This book has so much amazing rep! I loved seeing that an author finally took the time to write a vibrant and diverse queer community within a book! I loved seeing that and I loved this book!
This book is marked at romance but truly I would call it women's fiction. This book does not strictly focus on the romance but instead weaves it into a beautifully raw story of a woman's life. This book felt so very real and I could not put it down.
I seriously can not wait to see this book out there on shelves and to see how popular it gets! I am going to be recing and talking about this one for ages. A top 5 favorite for sure!

I really wanted to love this book (especially with that gorgeous cover!) and I'm sad that it didn't hit that mark for me. The evolution of Grace & Yuki's relationship was unclear to me -- how did they fall in love? I wish this had been explored more, especially since it's such a large part of the book's description. Also, I thought some of the dialogue was unrealistic, especially the constant, grating repetition of "Grace Porter" by every character in the book, including Grace herself.

With that said, though, this book will certainly find its audience. I went through a few solid years in my twenties where I felt lost and unsure of what to do next with my career and life. I suspect many readers of that age will relate to this feeling, and will find inspiration in watching as Grace navigates through it. Also. I loved the racially diverse cast of characters and the portrayal of strong, deeply-rooted friendships. So while HONEY GIRL wasn't for me, I think many young folks will eat this book right up.

I loved the premise of this novel: a 28-year-old who has just achieved her goal of a PhD in Astronomy now feels lost. Grace's story was more serious than I was expecting from a drunk Vegas wedding setup, but I enjoyed getting to know her friends and family and see how she worked out her emotional journey, though the romance with Yuki felt like more of a low burn in the background. The writing had a romantic style - flowery and delicate. The many specific details woven in about Grace's ethnicity and culture really helped add depth to her character development (this goes for secondary characters as well). I would recommend Honey Girl and read more by the author in the future.

Lots of larger-than-life characters! I especially loved Yuki. Her stories about monsters were so beautiful!

Honey Girl had me hooked within the first few pages. It is an easy read with a cute storyline. A+ for a diverse range of characters. Would've liked to hear a bit more of their stories.
The novel did fall a bit short of my high expectations. I really wanted to love it (great premise!) but by the end, it felt a bit cliché and surface-y. The main character was lacking in complexity, and I didn't love the depiction of mental illnesses, which also seemed very superficial. Otherwise, it was enjoyable. 3.5/5

I really wanted to love this book because I love the premise, and how it centers on BIPOC queer characters, but I mostly found the main character to be lacking in depth. The book digs deep into the concerns many of us have faced as millennials who have achieved the goals they've set from a young age, and aren't sure how to proceed. It definitely speaks to the struggles of BIPOC queer people to be respected in the world, and I appreciate those aspects of it.

The writing style is sometimes hard to follow, and I wish there was more behind the main characters decision making and feelings. Also, the author writes in great detail about the strength of the main characters friendships, so it feels really out of character when she completely ignores them for months late into the book. I did appreciate the promising ending, and overall the story was good. I'd definitely give it 3.5 stars if I had the option.

Vivid language appeals to the five senses. The characters and their friends are real individual people, and their strong chosen family bonds are great to see. Diverse characters represent various races, gender identities, sexualities, and mental health issues, which are treated as a ordinary aspects of the person, not giant, negative, or defining characteristics. The friends are interesting enough that I would read more about them, but it didn't feel like a merely a formula setup for a series. Somewhat reminds me of Weetzie Bat, but less disjointed (in a good way). Maybe wouldn't get much traction at my small rural library, but I really enjoyed it.

This might be the most unique romance novel I have ever read. It doesn't read like a typical contemporary romance you might expect from an opening where the main character wakes up married after a drunken night in Vegas.

This book has weight and depth along with the romance. The characters are complex and real and each group Grace encounters (her friends, her wife's roommates, her parents) are so real, so alive.

This was not the book I expected but I loved it. Highly recommend.

This is a great story -- difficult to describe without spoilers. When her father and stepmother give her tickets to Las Vegas for a weekend to celebrate her PhD graduation, Grace Porter doesn't expect it to change her life, but it does.
Her complicated family, drive for perfection, and perfectly executed life plan don't leave a lot of space for romance or new adventures, so Grace is not sure how to react.

The characters in the book are people you would like to know, or people you DO know and would like to forget. Grace's journey is as unique as her profession and ambition and as quirky as her family.

Highly recommended.

#NetGalley #LJDOD