All too seldom a novel comes along that simply takes up residence in your heart. You fall in love with the characters, you feel their pain and rejoice in their triumphs. This novel embraced the human experience in so many different ways. In fact now that I’m thinking through the entire book, I’m wondering how in the world the author was able to cover so much. Not only did we have the main 3 characters along with their backstories, friends and relatives, we had the battles that the orchardists face with government regulations, we had the devastation caused by the overkill of pesticides and the graft and greed that made that possible. And then in the most delightful way, the reader learned ALL about bees and beekeeping!

5 Stars all the way! If I could give this book 10, I would! Just outstanding!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Dutton Books, in exchange for an honest review. I will definitely look forward to more from this author, Eileen Garvin.

A book that will run you through your emotions, this was a story above friendship, love and loss. To see the relationships form was really enjoyable, and the author did a great job of keeping the flow of the story moving.

I loved this book! I learned so much about bee keeping, which I found fascinating. The three main characters were well developed, and I loved the way that the author brought them together. This was a quick read, because once I started, I didn't want to stop. I look forward to recommending this title to our library patrons-thanks for the opportunity to read it!

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley. Thank you!

The Music of Bees is a novel about the deep friendships that can arise between very different people in the midst of heartache. Jake, Alice and Harry are all coping with different kinds of anxiety; each quite alone in their situations; each searching for something to believe in again. Alice's beehives, and an encroaching threat from beyond their small town, gives these three misfits something to fight for.

I was immediately attracted to this book because of how fascinating I find bees, and it absolutely did not disappoint for bee knowledge: the author writes about bees with vibrancy and expertise, and I learned a lot about hive dynamics as well as the risks bees face due to pesticides, etc. I loved Jake's immediate interest in the bees and the way interacting with them and Alice restored his sense of self after such terrible trauma. I think this book might especially attract readers who can relate to Alice, at a midpoint in her life, trying to find meaning after loss.

One thing I thought as I was reading was that the book did not really seem to take place in 2014. Did people really "surf the web" or have super tall mohawks in 2014? I had guessed it was set in the late 90s until it was specifically signposted to be 2014. In addition, the early chapters really front-load a lot of exposition and characterization which significantly slows down the developing action.

Three people from different backgrounds and perspectives come together caring for beehives. There is Jake, 18 year old paraplegic, who is 'hit' on the road by Alice, 44 year olf widow, owner of the beehives, and Harry, 24 year old ex-con who answers Alice's ad. Circumstance bring this unlikely trio together. They meet the challenges, difficult as they are. Their relationship with each other, their growth, are beautifully written by Eileen Garvin.
Definitely read this fascinating story with the bonus of learning about homeybees.

One evening, Alice almost runs over Jake. Thus begins the tale of three disconnected people who build their own family of beekeepers outside of Hood River, Oregon. Widow Alice suffers from sadness and panic attacks as well as a horrible job with the county but she knows caring for an orchard and she knows bees.. Jake's accident happened just before graduation. Now he's in a wheelchair with no idea of what to do next, he's angry and his father is a jerk. But Jake finds he loves bees. Harry can't seem to make decisions. He's floated to Oregon to stay with his great-uncle but how to get a job? Problem solving caring for bees from a wheelchair may just bring confidence. This hopeful story of bees, caring for the planet, a dose of satisfying revenge, and people connecting with one another will spark book group connections too.

The Music of Bees was such a joy to read. Eileen Garvin has written a beautiful debut novel on heartbreaking loss and redemption through friendship. Her ability to bring Oregon country to life and make us fall in love with the bees and setting was simply perfect. This is a wonderful summer read that will be ideal for book clubs. Dive in and enjoy!

Three people struggling with inner anxiety and grief. They come together by chance at an Oregon bee farm, finding healing and friendship.

I usually avoid this sort of emotional novel because sometimes (especially after a year of high stress with everything going on in the world) it just gets to be too much on top of real life. But, when I saw this was a debut novel set at a bee farm, I decided to give it a try.

I'm glad I did! I enjoyed this story. There were portions that bogged me down a bit (the back stories of the three main characters aren't easy to read -- very heavy and emotional stuff -- and their journey is not easy)...but overall, this was a heartwarming story of getting past the past and moving forward, finding friendships, and looking forward to a second chance at life.

Lovely story -- and amazing debut novel! I can't wait to see what Eileen Garvin writes next!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Penguin Group Dutton. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**

The Music of Bees was a pleasure.

From description: A heartwarming debut novel for readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, following three lonely strangers in a rural Oregon town, each working through grief and life's curveballs, who are brought together by happenstance on a local honeybee farm where they find surprising friendship, healing--and maybe even a second chance--just when they least expect it.

Maybe I simply fell in love with the characters, but my cousin is also a beekeeper, so I had an additional interest. My garden is alive with bees when the herbs come to flower, and I always give some of the plants a chance to flower, while keeping a few (especially basil) pinched back to continue producing. The bees like other plants, too, but the idea of that hint of basil, lemon verbena, lemon balm, and rosemary in the honey...sounds so delicious.

The Music of Bees has characters you want to know, fascinating information about bees, and warnings about the dangers of pesticides rolled into a sensitive and heart-warming mix. I thoroughly enjoyed it and read it at a time when I needed exactly that book.

Sam has a better review of this, so check it out. Anyway, it was a book that left me feeling lighter, more positive, and better informed.

NetGalley/Penguin Group
Friendship. April 27, 2011. Print length: 336 pages.

I really fell in love with this story from the beginning. Three lonely, very different strangers thrown together in an odd set of circumstances. They fill holes in each others' lives and become the family they all need. The bees become the fourth character- the thing that really brings them all together. I've always been fascinated by bees- and the facts and knowledge you gain about them during the story adds another layer to this book. It's one of those books where the characters seem lost and hopeless, but they find so much hope, together as the story goes along. And we all need an uplifting read every now and again.

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin is the balm we need right now. The story follows an unlikely trio- Jake, a recently disabled teenager, Harry, a young man with crippling anxiety, and Alice, who is working through grief while trying to determine her purpose in life. Each trying to find themselves, they find each other at Alice's farm, where she keeps bees and dreams of more. Uplifting and genuine, this is a beautifully atmospheric story of friendship, compassion and, thanks to Garvin's expertise, the sweet intricacies of beekeeping.

This is a book with many facets... Inter-generational relationships, self-discovery, kindness, small-town politics, greed, and of course beekeeping. I found myself rooting for the underdog.

I loved this book. The characters are depicted in a believable way and covered all aspects of small town living. A great coming of age story for Jake. Alice, Harry, and Jake all courageously overcome their challenges. In addition to writing a page-turning story, the author teaches the reader something about beekeeping and the relationship between bees and nature. Definitely a recommended YA and adult read.

Alice is a civil servant/amateur beekeeper suffering from a huge loss. Jake is a teenager with big dreams whose life has just been upended by a personal crisis and Harry is a young man fresh out of jail and at a loss with what to do with his life. When the three meet, all of their lives will change. This is one of those books that I didn't want to end because I loved these characters so much. For fans of A Man Called Ove or The Story of Arthur Truluv, The Music of Bees reinforces that it's not always the family you're born into that has your back but the one you choose to build.

Eileen Garvin's debut novel, The Music of Bees, introduces us to a trio of unlikely friends who band together for a cause near and dear to their hearts.

Widowed beekeeper Alice literally runs into Jake, a troubled wheelchair bound teen in need of a new home in order to get away from his cruel father. Alice surprised herself by taking Jake in as well as hiring a new handyman, Harry, to fix up her place. She's not much of a people person to begin with yet it's clear that she needs more than her beloved bees for company.

Upon leaving her regular job due to being overlooked for a promotion yet again, Alice decides to focus on protecting the declining bee population not only of her Oregon small town but numerous other states as well from SupraGro, a pesticide that is doing such damage to nature.

With the help of Jake and Harry, Alice hopes to find true purpose in her life but the key to solving that problem may be closer at hand than she thinks. This sounds like a good heartwarming story that we all need right now which is not cloying sweet, more like a down to earth flavor that showcases the fragile yet resilient nature of life and love.

Excellent read about the power of friendship to get through three very different types of trauma and heartache. The analogy of the bees at the center of the story shows the healing power of connections between people and between people and nature.

This is a story about an unlikely trio coming together and bonding over bees and loneliness is a very heart warming story about an unlikely trio coming together and bonding over bees and loneliness. This is set in Head River OR. I can relate to the scenery having lived in the Pacific Northwest. I learned quite a bit about bees but not in a boring way. I really loved this story and look forward to this authors next works

I absolutely loved this story! The characters were really well developed and while they were all different they fit together so well. The combination of quirky characters and the facts/stories about the bees made it an easy to enjoy read. This was a perfect read during the pandemic that was overall lighthearted with some added interest. I definitely have already recommended this book to my family and library.

This was a fun, yet emotional, book to read! Garvin's characters really shine in this book. It was less the plot of the book and more me wanting to learn more about the characters that kept me reading. In the book, Alice, Jake, and Harry have all had difficulties in their lives. We learn about those difficulties in the first part of the book, while they're struggling to cope with choices they made, and choices that were out of their hands. It's once they meet each other and work together on beekeeping that they finally start to heal. I really liked how much character growth there was in this novel. My only complaint is that it's a rather short novel, and I felt like things wrapped up quite quickly in the end.

I went into this book not knowing what to expect. I’d read a blurb about it being similar to another book I had thoroughly enjoyed, so I was intrigued. This story grabbed me from the get-go, pulled me in and did not let go.

*Special thanks to #NetGalley and the Penguin Group for a free, electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

It opens almost in slow motion with our main character Alice, a forty-four-year-old woman who has been tossed around by life and is still trying to come to terms with tremendous loss - with not much success I might add - heading home in her pickup truck with 120,000 honeybees in the back and, in the grip of a panic attack nearly collides with Jake, an eighteen year old teenager in a wheelchair with a unique and distinctive claim-to-fame for their rural farming town, tooling along the side of the highway, not paying attention.

While picking up the boy and the bees an interest in each other develops and Alice finds herself inviting Jake into her life after sensing he too, is battling his own demons. She finds herself only semi-reluctantly sharing her knowledge of beekeeping with Jake which awakens a natural talent in the young man: that he has no fear of bees and in fact, can distinguish the buzzing note of the queen bee through his talented musical ear! In need of a handyman to fulfill her plan of doubling the size of her apiary, Alice is hesitant to consider Jake. Although he possesses a natural talent, he also possesses limitations; that being his wheelchair.

Alice places a help-wanted ad to look for more help and we are introduced to Harry, who answers it. He is an extremely socially awkward, twenty-four old running from his past. A lonely young man who has found himself in the precarious position of living in the woods in a dilapidated trailer with a reclusive, sickly relative. Netting the job, complete with housing after his somewhat gawky interview, the unlikely trio form a bond that nurtures and encourages healing as they create their own form of family.
Three very different people, from three very different backgrounds, each suffering from their own form of anxiety issues and fighting their own inner demons, come together to work on a bee farm. They find out just how strong their bond is when a nefarious pesticide company, whose pesticides could end up being used in the many orchards surrounding their apiary, threatens their way of life and they must come together to save the honeybees they lovingly take care of.

A heartwarming and uplifting story about growth, friendship and overcoming adversity. The underlying theme of good versus evil is superseded by the not-so-unpredictable storyline of big business trying to steam roll the little guy but woven throughout is the premise that everyone needs someone. Much like the structure of a beehive, no human is an island and during the worst times it helps to have someone to lean on and trust. The reader is treated to an abundance of information about the habits of bees and their guardianship, interspersed in easily digestible and hugely interesting bits.

The characters are well developed and almost jump off the page to live their lives alongside the reader who finds him or herself aching for the wrongs they may have faced and applauding the successes they create, together and separately as they each begin the healing process.

Set in a rural town in the state of Oregon this moving, debut novel is definitely one for the to-read list.

#The Music of Bees #Net Galley

Although Eileen Garvin published her memoir How to Be a Sister (intriguing title, that) in 2010, the soon-to-be-published The Music of Bees marks her debut as a novelist. Part of what makes this new novel so much fun to read is the rather painless education about bees and beekeepers that the reader acquires along the way. Garvin, who is herself an Oregon beekeeper in addition to being a writer, skillfully makes it all seem simple right up until the point the reader comes to realize just how complicated beekeeping actually is, and how terribly important bees and their keepers are to the environment and the food chain.

The Music of Bees is a story about three loners, two of whom have become loners pretty much by choice, and another who had the lifestyle forced upon him after an accident put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Alice Holtzman is a 44-year-old county employee who enjoys keeping bees so much that over the next year she wants to double the number of hives she has. She is in the process of doing just that, transporting some 120,000 bees home in the back of her truck, when she almost literally runs into Jake, the 18-year old in the wheelchair. Jake is rather foolishly tooling down the side of the highway in his chair at dusk when Alice runs him off the road. When the smoke clears, Jake is so intrigued by Alice and how she is able to entice almost all the bees back into their proper containers, that a new friendship is born. Harry is a 24-year-old running from his past who moves west to live in a dilapidated trailer with his reclusive uncle. After spotting Alice’s help-wanted ad, he responds, and the unlikely trio soon find themselves not only working together, but living together.

All three have things in their recent past they regret, and all three of them have withdrawn into themselves in the mistaken belief that they will heal their wounds that way. What they end up learning is that they are much stronger together than they are separately. More importantly, though, the bond they form is such a strong one that each of them begins to come back to life - and when the well-being of their bees and new way of life are threatened, they are willing to fight back as one, no matter what it takes or what the personal repercussions may be for any one of them.

Bottom Line: The Music of Bees is a beautiful story about empathy, friendship, and personal restoration. At its heart it is a basic story of good versus evil, and how sometimes the least powerful among us can beat the odds just long enough to win the battle - oh, and all of that beekeeping knowledge that seeps in along the way is a special bonus readers are sure to enjoy.