Incredible book by one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult, and a new favorite author, Jennifer Finley Boylan.

Lily Campanello is the new girl in high school. Maya befriends Lily and they become inseparable until Lily meets Maya’s childhood friend Asher. Asher and Lily fall in love. Their relationship is complicated and each harbors secrets that they fear if shared will jeopardize their budding relationship. This book is a complicated journey of emotions. It challenges our views and gives us an insider view of the struggles others face to live a life that is true ones self. It begins with a lie and ends with a deep and lonely secret. It speaks of truth and denials of the greatest proportions. It will tug at your heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Random House Publishing for this ebook galley in return for an honest review.

This book had me up until 1am despite having to get up at 5am for work. I couldn’t stop reading! Boylan & Picoult’s voices blend so beautifully in this book you would have no idea it wasn’t one person’s thought. The characters were portrayed in a way where you felt the pain of the mother, the anger of the son, the grief of the victim’s mother. Beautiful. Also, the book was so incredibly thoughtful and accurate with LGBT+ issues. There was casual education intertwined with horrifying “history” (and things that happen today) and I think it was done very well. Hoping that part reaches an entirely new crowd given some of Picoult’s fan base. Well done ladies. 5/5.

This book had a very exciting start about a beekeeper and her son living up in New Hampshire, away from her abusive husband, a heart surgeon in Boston. Her son starts dating a new girl in the small town who is also together with her mum escaping her abusive father. Things get rather complicated when she is found dead at her home by the beekeeper's son who ends up being accused of her murder. The plot was good but the authors felt the need to constantly educate the reader on various topics such as beekeeping, transsexuality and a multitude of other less related topics. I have to admit that the "education" portion became a bit tedious at times. Thus only 4 stars.

I am a true fan of Jodi Picoult books.. Jodi Picoult leaves you thinking long after the book is done. The controversial topics need to be brought forward in conversations. Mad Honey is no exception. The relationship with Olivia McAfee, her ex-husband who was abusive and their son Asher. The relationship with Asher and Lily his girlfriend. Picoult brings up the old question is it nature or nurture that determines how we react in certain situations. Do you believe your child or not?. Mad Honey has us readers questioning these and other topics that are in the media currently. I truly enjoyed this book Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy.

CW: suicide, partner abuse, abortion

This book is amazing. Mad Honey is one of those books that is so rich with content, it makes the books I read after it feel superficial. It is such a smart story of love, sacrifice, and identity. I literally gasped out loud at one point as I was just so shocked by the turn of events. But it was handled beautifully and Picoult and Boylan make a great team. Everything from the perspective of bee keeping to the trauma endured through different circumstances of life - was just felt so deeply. A definite must read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The first quarter or so of this book dragged a little bit for me, but once the tide turned I couldn't put it down! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this fabulous book!

I was pleasantly surprised by how well thought out and developed this book was. Picoult and Boylan really captured the two main character. I can't wait to recommend this book to everyone.

Mad Honey is a thought provoking book that hopefully will be read by a large audience. Love and acceptance are the main themes throughout the book. I love that Jodi always tackles the tough topics which always spark a lot of conversation afterward. The collaboration of the two authors is seamless. #JodiPicoult #JenniferFinneyBoylan #MadHoney #NetGalley

Picoult with help from Boylan gives us another what would you do family novel. A dead girl and a woman's son suspected in her death. What does a single mother do?

After reading this very special book, I took several days to process the unique story it tells. Often, after reading an especially compelling non-fiction book, I say it reads like fiction, but this book blends a great deal of fact into a fictional and timely narrative.

These authors create a dual narrative., told by both Lily and Olivia It begins with the death of Lily, one assumed to have been caused by a homicidal rage. It incorporates the story of spousal abuse. The narrators tell their back stories which come together during a stirring and shocking trial.

So many timely topics are incorporated into this well researched novel. I learned a great deal about bee-keeping, since one of the narrators is a bee-keeper. The book explores, in great detail, gender issues and the concept of gender affirmation surgery. Working in a university setting, this was invaluable. Additionally, another issue, very much part of campus life (sadly) is the abuse of women by their partners.

This is a book that should be widely read on campuses and by reading groups. There are myriad topics worth discussing. It’s so beautifully written that I was engaged throughout this thought provoking journey.

Thank you Netgalley for this opportunity. This is really a must read on many levels.

Mad Honey was an enjoyable read with a very liberal slant. The writing was decent, and maybe I should have guessed what the 'surprise' twist was based on the authors, but I didn't.

This was pretty good but nothing amazing. The story kind of went all over the place and didn't really seem to have a focus. It's like they were trying to cover too many themes & topics in one book. In contrast, the Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard is about a mother whose son is in a similar situation but it's a much richer story.

I would describe this joint effort nothing short of a gift for the entire world. Picoult has been well known as an author who seeks out social issues that are misunderstood by most, and often the subject of willful ignorance. Here she teams with Jennifer Finney Boylan to reveal the lives of yet another protected group that is anything but protected. I’ll leave the subject group to the reader to discover but merely acknowledge that this book shook me to the core by illuminating most of my own life experience in the central character, Lily, an attractive young woman taking a delayed senior year at a new high school as one of the town’s newest residents. Life has never been easy or simple for Lily, and has left her the only child in a single parent home. Her mother has made Lily the central part of her life for all of Lily’s life and is devastated when tragedy strikes. That devastation serves as the backdrop for yet another individual who is left to struggle for his own existence in the aftermath of the tragedy. Picoult and Boylan accomplish something truly beautiful in this novel, writing with a seemingly single voice, something that is rarely accomplished for writing duos. The duo combines their voices and life experience to give the reader something no single author could have. Please, give yourself the gift of this effort and grab this book at your earliest opportunity. Soak in the insights the authors sprinkle throughout and open your mind.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Boylan

Plot:
Olivia McAfee grabbed her son and fled her violent husband to start a new life in New Hampshire. Olivia takes over her family bee farm while Asher grows into a well-rounded son, student, and hockey player.

Teenager Lily Campanello has run away from her life to start afresh, searching for her identity, in New Hampshire with her mother Ava, the only person who really understands her.

Asher meets and falls in love with Lily. And their lives just can’t get any better. Until Olivia receives a phone call from Asher that Lily is dead. Days later, Asher is arrested and charged with first degree murder. Is he capable of murdering the only girl he’s ever loved? Is he more like his father than Olivia wants to believe?

PS: If I were a high school girl, I would have been in love with Asher.

Thoughts:
Jodi’s back! I feel like her latest few books have been mediocre and don’t leave you with that gut-wrenching “I hope I’m never in this situation” feeling that her earlier books did. This one here…it reads like one of her earlier books. It’s sooooo good. She co-wrote it with Jennifer Boylan (this is my first experience reading anything by her.) I didn’t realize until reading the author’s notes at the end that Jodi wrote Olivia’s perspective while Jennifer wrote Lily’s. Their flow is amazing! Clap, clap, well done ladies!

The story is told from the perspectives of Olivia and Lily in alternating chapters. Olivia tells the story from post death forward while we learn Lily’s story pre death backwards. For a little while, reading Lily’s story told in reverse was a bit annoying but it worked itself out and made sense.

As Picoult normally does, this book made me reflect and think about some things.It’s still swirling in the back of my mind and I’ve read a couple of books between reading this one and writing this review. There is so much going on in our society now that it’s hard not to get overloaded and brain whiplash from all the information being thrown our way. This book offered perspective that I hadn’t had the chance to consider before. It’s a well done, carefully considered story of, well, I don’t want to say because it’s part of the bombshell of the storyline.

This novel is a collection of suspense, courtroom drama, love, identity, and relationships.

Recommendation:
Did I like this book? Oh yes! READ IT!

Rating:
5/5

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title for review.

Here’s the good news: I had read nothing about this book OTHER THAN the fact that it was by Jodi Picoult. That was all I needed. So, I didn’t know the story and I got to be so. Friggin. Blown. Away. By the plot and the brilliance of the writing by these ridiculously gifted ladies.

The bad news: it was an ARC and now it’s over. 😢

I am so grateful to NetGalley for this book. It was stunning in its sadness, gorgeous with grief, breathtaking with the beauty of everyday love and the exquisite, hard-earned, aching pull of this story. I’ve already read everything Jodi Picoult has written. So now I’ll read everything Jennifer Finney Boulanger has written. With pleasure. 💜💜💜💜💜📚

So very good…I had a good cry at the end. Not necessarily because the ending was sad, but because you realize the difficulties people have every day that aren’t apparent to you. The secrets they hold that threaten to crush them. And how much it must hurt. I don’t want to give anything away, and I hope nobody else will either. It is part of what makes the story so beautiful.

To say that I am a huge Jodi Picoult fan would be an understatement; I love everything she writes and think that she is the queen of contemporary fiction. Even with my very high expectations for each of her novels, this one really blew me away. She and Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote a seamless novel that explores multiple serious topics. I can't name one of them without giving away a huge plot twist, but believe me when I say that this book has everything: mystery, love, courtroom drama, family issues...it really is an exceptional novel and has so many layers. I was legitimately sad when it ended because it was such an incredible story. I also really enjoyed the author notes from both authors at the end - it was interesting to see how this dual-author masterpiece came to be. I'll be recommending this book to everyone that I know!!
Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

Jodi Picoult has done it again. “Mad Honey” is another stunning novel from this author who never misses. A must read!

Jodi knocks it out of the park again, and the addition of a new (to me) author to work with her? ABSOLUTELY worked on SO many levels!

I knew nothing about this book or about the co-author. I always read Jodi Picoult's books, so it was natural for me to just start reading. I'm so glad I did. I highly recommend that readers know NOTHING about this book or its authors before jumping in. You will enjoy the book so much more! Read it now! Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Ballantine Books for providing an ARC.