Three strangers who need a new start in life are brought together through a bee farm. Alice is an older woman who has become a loner after the death of her husband and a series of heartbreaks. Harry is a young man with social anxiety who has made some very wrong decisions in his short life. Jake is a teen who life was upended when he became a paraplegic through a tragic accident.
I absolutely adored this book I found the gradual build up of the characters interesting and was fascinated by the amount of detail about the business of keeping bees. This is one of those books that are in turn fascinating, touching, and definitely gets you emotionally involved in the story.

At first glance, The Music of Bees grabbed my attention. The beautiful yet simple cover made me curious about the story inside, and as I was reading it's premise, I got a feeling it is beautifully written literary fiction.

In a way, I can blame myself for having my hopes so high, as there weren't so many reviews out there at the time.

The story follows three characters, Alice, Harry and Jake.
If I am being completely honest, I didn't click with any of them at first.
I wasn't a fan of the way Alice and Jake met each other, and I feel like Harry was big mystery, like we didn't get to really see him, understand him.

It took 60% of the book for me to really get into the story.
That reflected on my reading pace as well. I read those slow 60% for days (when I say days, I mean more than a week), and the last 40% I finished in a day.

I loved how bees were present through the story and I feel like I've learned a lot about them.
I was thinking how the author did a really good job researching, but then I read that she actually is a bee farmer, so that makes more sense.
She obviously knew what she was writing about.

In the end, I want to mention that one character has disability (jake) and is in a wheelchair.
I can't speak from personal experience (although I had to be in wheelchair for two months after the car accident), but I feel like the character is described respectively and fairly.

I've tried to get into this one a few times but it just isn't sticking for me. I think the beginning was too slow getting into the story and didn't captivate me.

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. I loved this heartwarming story. It tells the story of three women who are at first strangers but come together at a bee farm. They each have baggage and problems and difficulties they are dealing with but they find support together. I fell in love with the characters and their stories. I loved the writing and can’t wait to read whatever comes next from this author.

This book immediately had me hooked. The characters are so quirky and so perfect. This is a sweet, heartwarming novel of friendship and overcoming hardships. This novel does an amazing job of creating inclusive characters who have disabilities- physical and emotional.

What a beautifully poignant, yet uplifting title. I so enjoy when authors represent real people with faults and flaws and even characters we don't like. As a bee-lover and former hive-keeper, it was close to my heart for those reasons as well. There is healing to be found in nature and I highly recommend this title.

A feel good story of three struggling souls who find each other and improve each other's lives. I was a little surprised by how neatly and quickly everything wrapped up.

I hate I did not get to this one this summer. I think bees are magical creatures and I was so excited to read a story centering around them. I love THE SECRENT LIFE OF BEES and this story was giving me those vibes! I might pick this up as a backlist title for next year!

The lives of each of the three main characters, Alice, Jake, and Harry, have been upended in different ways, and they are all trying to figure out what their new lives look like when they unexpectedly collide. The strength of this book is in its core messages - that one can start over and forge a new path even after the unthinkable happens, that some of the greatest things in life happen when one is least expecting it, and that the power of human connection and friendship can make all the difference.

Some of the plot points were predictable, such as Alice not getting the promotion at work and quitting to do the right thing, or purchasing the orchard at the end of the book. However, that doesn’t make it less heartwarming to read. Audiences like sweet stories neatly tied up in a bow, so I think this book will still appeal to lots of readers despite its predictability at times.

There wasn’t anything particularly unique about the writing style, but the author does evoke the Oregon setting and weave in interesting knowledge about bees. For a feel-good read with a bigger picture message about the environment, this book hits the mark.

The Music of Bees is one of those books that ultimately is pure comfort. A middle-aged woman in the Hood River Valley of Oregon who recently lost her husband ends up crossing paths with two young men looking for direction in their lives. The two young men eventually help her expand her apiary while also helping her battle a big agriculture company. There is nothing groundbreaking in this book but it left me happy and was a joy to read.

This book was a little bit too depressing for me. I may try to reread it in a different time of life. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read and review

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I loved The Music of Bees! This was Eileen Garvin's debut novel and now I'm interested in reading her memoir as well. I feel like I learned a lot about bees and beekeeping in a way that was not overwhelming, but made me empathetic toward them in real life. The characters in this story were messy and endearing -- I cheered for them the entire way through. This was a great summer read and I'm looking forward to future novels by Ms. Garvin!

A heartwarming debut novel ... Beautifully moving, warm and uplifting, The Music of Bees is about the power of friendship, compassion in the face of loss, and finding the courage to start over (at any age) when things don't turn out the way you expect.

A true character-driven story that deserves more love! The book follows some very different characters and how their lives intertwine at a bee apiary.

I loved each character’s perspectives and I was equally invested in each of their lives. The author’s ability to tell their stories with such heart was amazing. I was rooting for each of them as the story progresses. These are flawed people who come together to take care of bees, and a politically driven event brings the whole community together. This story weaves grief, disability, mental health, hope, friendship, and philanthropy into one amazing story that will have you weepy at times—although I appreciate how it ended. Also, how many books about beekeeping are out there? This one taught me so much and I am so impressed that this was a debut.

Also, if you’re a fan of Backman than I think you’ll love this book. I’d definitely recommend this to everyone!

Thank you to #netgalley and @Duttonbooks for an advanced e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
Delightful debut novel that fully develops likeable characters who populate the little town of Hood River Oregon. The author is knowledgeable about rearing bees and they become an integral part of the story. Loved the book.

Forty-four-year-old Alice is in a job that was supposed to be a stepping stone to something different, something more satisfying. While having a panic attack she nearly collides with Jake, a paraplegic teenager, when she has a load of honeybees in the back of her pickup truck. She invites him to stay at her farm, and also hires Harry, a socially anxious young man, to help with her beekeeping venture.

The Music of Bees is about beekeeping, grieving loss, starting over, becoming a family, and finding home.

THE MUSIC OF BEES 🐝💙

Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3⭐️

An impressive debut, THE MUSIC OF BEES follows three strangers, each suffering from loneliness and life’s curveballs, who are brought together by a local honeybee farm where they find a surprising friendship.

What I Loved:
- This GORGEOUS cover 🐝
- The characters & their stories
- Getting to know more about bees! This book actually eased my fear of them.

What I Disliked:
- I was expecting more of a deeper read, it was a very lighthearted and read more like a YA
- All the loose ends tied up too neatly

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin is a beautiful story about people finding harmony after setbacks. I especially liked it because of the bees. If you need a story about second chances and joy with a little science & bee biology woven through it then you’d love this book. I am so surprised that it is the authors first novel. A perfect summer read.

There are very few books that have made me smile so much while reading and just feel like a warm hug. This is one of those. This book about a found family is so heartwarming and just so darn feel good. I want to move in with this crew and work with bees. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I recommend of you liked One, Two, Three, but need something a little less intense.

Contemporary Fiction | Adult
<image The Music of Bees, by Eileen Garvin (2021)>
Every once in a while, you discover a book that delights you to the core, that connects with your soul in a completely unexpected way. You just want to tell everyone about it! This book is like that for me. It is the story of three very different, very lonely people whose lives intersect, and that connection changes them and their lives. At the centre of the novel is 44-year-old Alice Holtzman, a beekeeper who works at the Hood River county planning office. She once dreamed of being a farmer and a mother, but life has cruelly crushed those dreams. Jake is eighteen years old, with the tallest mohawk haircut in all of Hood River, and a serious case of depression. Poor decisions combined with bad luck have dashed his hopes of a music education, and left him without the use of his legs. In fact, he’s in his wheelchair riding on the roadside when Alice knocks him into the ditch with her truck loaded with bees. Harry is in his early 20s. He’s also lonely, a drifter, a convict who has served his time, and he finds himself in Hood River, staying with his elderly uncle, trying to figure out how to pay back his mum for legal costs. The two young men end up working for Alice, and learn, along with the reader, all about bees and the work of beekeeping. Harry is terrified of the buzzing insects, but has a knack for carpentry and physics, and unexpectedly develops a passion for kiteboarding. Jake discovers he has a special affinity for bees, soon realizing he can “hear” a queen bee as Alice has never been able to, and starts to imagine life might be worth living after all. Alice offers them a small wage and a place to stay, and together they become a kind of oddball family. There’s a pesticide issue, some nastiness at the county planning office, and prejudice on several fronts, but the real story is in learning to look past whatever is on the outside to find the beauty inside. The bees are a metaphor for community – each of us has a role, and no one role is independent of the others, nor more important than any other. Without that acceptance and understanding, the community cannot thrive; conversely, by working together, threats can be overcome. This is one of my favourite books this year – I have been telling everyone about it, and even now I am still thinking about the characters and their worlds. I briefly considered getting a hive for my garden, then came to my proper senses. It’s a debut novel by Garvin, and I am looking forward to anything else she writes. My thanks to Dutton Books for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Grand Forks & District Public Library has a copy in its adult fiction collection, too, but you’ll have to request it!
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55198935