Very informative. I liked the chapter about her mother and the birds the best. There was lots of good information on bees and nature. I felt it was relatable as well.

Thank you to Chelsea Green Audio and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of Dancing with Bees.

Brigit Strawbridge Howard knows a thing or two about bees! This book is absolutely packed with information about these amazing pollinators. Brigit describes their comings and goings with childlike wonder to such an extent that the reader/listener can't help but be pulled into the settings she so brilliantly details. I learned so much about a wide variety of bees and not just honeybees. This is a great read/listen for anyone interested in bees and environmental issues.

#DancingwithBees #NetGalley

I'm so sorry about this, but I guess I got confused, I really thought this was a novel.
The narrator has a very nice voice and speed and I'm sure the book is lovely and very interesting, its just not what I thought, I was hoping for a sweet summer novel.
Ill give it 4 stars cuz it was my fault for not understanding it wasn't a novel.

Dancing with Bees focuses on Brigit Strawbridge Howard's experience falling more in love with nature and growing in both experience and understanding with it. The book is particularly focused on her love for insects, especially bees.

The narration is charming and relaxing though you do unfortunately miss out on some illustrations that are apparently included in the written version. There are quite a bit of details about the author's own life and feelings towards her shifting relationship with nature, meaning Dancing with Bees is not a true guide to insects or really understanding of ecology. So, if you are looking more for a clinical introduction to bees or other insects, that isn't really what you're going to get here.

This audio book certainly isn't for everyone but between the soothing narration, obvious love for nature, and the way that the author's story makes you reflect on your own relationship with nature, I know there are many readers who would really enjoy winding down with this audio book on a nice Spring or Summer day.

I received a copy of the Audiobook, Dancing with Bees by Brigit Strawbridge Howard
from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. Although there were a few sections where it seemed to drag on a little, it would eventually pick up pace again and catch my attention with a new fact or story. The author's vivid depictions of bees and trees and plants kept me enthralled with her perspectives. Additionally, I found the narrator's voice to be very pleasant and it helped keep a specific vibe for the whole book. As such I found listening to this book while sitting in the grass to be very therapeutic.
At its core, this book is an ode to nature and how important it is to stop and appreciate it.

I liked how this book was written for laypeople and how it ended up being about so much more than just bees.

Thank you to NetGalley and all for an arc in return for an honest review.
I listened to the audio version of this book and loved it. It is informative but what I really enjoyed was the stories and meditative rhythm and voice of the reader. It was a delight to listen to.

Classified as a memoir, “Dancing with Bees: a journey back to nature” reads more like non-fiction with little pockets of stories about the author’s life. The audiobook, read by the author in her perfectly posh British accent, could double as a mediation soundtrack. I was soothed and calmed by her details of flora and fauna. Though she focuses primarily on bees, there are whole chapters on birds, trees, and other natural beauty. Howard is awestruck by how nature perpetuates itself when left alone or helped along by humans. It was a lovely read but too long. Her garden of words could have used a little pruning.

Listened to the audiobook and what a great narrator. While it was a lovely nature book, it maybe wasn't as good in audio form. Would have been nice to see pictures of the different bees.

5 slow down stars. As a budding gardener and a lover of bees, this book was right up my alley. I loved learning more about bees, getting a reminder to slow down and watch, and hearing the author’s lovely side stories. A very enjoyable read.

As something of an armchair naturalist, I have read several books about bees so I was excited to receive a free copy of this audiobook for review.

My first impression was that the narrator was very well chosen. Their narration was so expressive and full of genuine joy that I had to stop and check who the narrator was and was pleasantly surprised to see that the author herself was narrating her book.

Howard has a wonderful way of truly conveying the charm and magic of the natural word. As an enthusiast, and not an expert, Howard's love and passion for bees and nature comes pouring through. I frequently found myself sharing in her wonder.

I personally appreciate that Howard talks about her own rented home and how she has made pollinator friendly improvements to it. As a renter, so much of the advice for pollinator friendly gardens is outside my scope and I often feel demotivated instead of motivated by the time I finish the book. So I was very pleased and excited to hear how Howard has turned her small rented spaces into a pollinators paradise and I have now started to research how to turn our own little rented yard into a pollinator friendly environment.

Howard has written a charming memoir that truly captures both the majesty and wonder of the natural world and her own personal journey to reconnect and live in partnership with it.

I really appreciated the author's wit and humor. I actually laughed out loud multiple times. Very good read, interesting and not dry at all.

I was not the biggest fan of this one and DNF’d it. I think I possibly would have like it’s more reading it in physical form.

A quaint and charming memoir on how the author reconnected with nature using bees as her tour guide.

Dancing With Bees explores the charming way one woman fell back into a committed relationship (her words) with nature after realising she knew nothing about her local flora and fauna.

This audiobook was beautifully narrated by the author and the joy and excitement about the subject manner is plain to hear.

While I loved learning about bees, especially solitary bees, it was the reason I picked this book up.
I wasn't really a fan of the authors day to day life, it felt less like a memoir and more like some quick antidotes you'd tell a friend. "Oh the seed packets I ordered in the mail arrived on the 9th. I'm unsure if I'll have space on my allotment for all of them,"

It also was extremely UK centred and I understand I'm probably not her target audience and UK residents probably are, the tips for looking after native bees were unusable for me and the climate my native bees live in.

Ultimately I think I went into this book expecting more bee facts and more introspection on our relationship with nature. I think this is overall a relaxing and quaint book that fills a niche.

Thank you Chelsea Green Audio and NetGalley for an Audio ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Dancing with Bees is partially a memoir and partially a book with lots of wonderful knowledge about primarily bees, but also flowers, herbs, trees, birds, and other insects. Howard did a fantastic narration of her own book, and it was an absolute pleasure listening to her detailing her explorations and learning over the years. It is very obvious from her narration that she truly has a passion for bees and nature, and that made the book so much more enjoyable to listen to. I absolutely love bees and have been working on a pollinator garden in my backyard for some time now. I love to see the different bee, butterfly, and moth pollinators that come to visit my flowers. Thanks to Howard, I have learned so much about many different aspects of pollinators! I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in bees or pollinators!

This book was an amazing accounting of a journey back to the natural world, it gives a detailed and beautiful discovery of plant life, bees, wasps and other insects.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book and I learned more information about the habits of bees and the role they play with plant life, an amazing contribution.
“Loving nature means so much more that loving and appreciating it, it means accepting it and fighting for it as it is.” Brigit Strawbridge Howard

I've always been a bit fascinated with bees so I was drawn to this book immediately. I love that the author is reconnecting with nature and she has learned so much about bees. I will say, if bees aren't your thing, this 12.5 hour audiobook might be a bit much.

Thanks to Chelsea Green Audio and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Howard starts from the point of acknowledging that she had stopped noticing nature. From there she documents how she relearned a love of nature, focusing specifically on bees, and building on that love to develop her knowledge. The book discusses issues facing bees, including colony collapse, climate change and invasive species (which can in fact include honey bees, which compete with native bumblebees and other pollinators). Changing land use is another issue that can negatively impact bee populations (writing below of potential changes to agricultural land around Sedgehill in the English county of Wiltshire). Referencing what happens in the US with bee pollinating in California of the Almond crops. The book also outlines how to help bees, including recommending some specific plants that bees love, including ivy and comfrey, which is also a great soil enricher, particularly in the form of 'comfrey tea. The most fascinating and inspiring element of the book though is the author's obvious love of nature and how she uses her curiosity to find out more about what she sees around her. Her close observations of a wool carder bee collecting hairs from the leaves of a lambs' ear plant are beautiful. On another occasion, she shares some of her thoughts when watching a bee: 'why does it stick its legs out like that?' This kind of curiosity is both a great way of engaging with nature, but also a real route into citizen science, which helps map which species are present where and feeds this information into conservation.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher.

This was definitely more of a 3.5 star read for me, but I rounded down because I felt like it could’ve used some tighter editing by the end. Howard provides loving musings about her observations of bees, as well as other insects and plant life. I learned a lot from this book and wished I could travel to her backyard in the UK (and really wished I could join her on her trip into Scotland). This was a great book to read in the first days of spring.

Dancing With Bees
Brigit Strawbridge Howard
I found this book captivating. My husband and I have been raising bees for several years. They are fascinating creatures. Author Brigit Strawbridge Howard does not stop with bees she discusses herbal remedies and many plants. She documents her finds through her photography. My favorite part of this book was the lore she has gathered. Beautifully written!