💿 Honey - Isabel Banta 💿

"Because even after all we've accomplished, all we hope to still accomplish, love is the bedrock of all our want. We can't build anything steady without it."

Amber Young is living the life that most girls only dream of in 1997. Joining the girl group Cloud9 seems to be everything she ever wanted until the harshness of the music industry ends up being more than she expected.

Isabel Banta brings all the 90s nostalgia with this beautifully told story of what it's like to dream big and achieve it. I truly felt like I was right there next to Amber, thinking her thoughts, feeling her emotions and performing all of the songs on stage.

This book brought me back to my pre-teen days, singing to my poster plastered walls, wishing I was a Britney dating a Justin and living the glamorous life. It also sheds a gleaming light on the viciousness of an industry that builds women up only to tear them right back down.

I recommend this delicious read to anyone who loves a boy band, a pop queen, and a love for all things 1990's.

Thank you to Isabel Banta, Celadon Books and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, Celadon and to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review!

Honey follows the career of Amber Young, an aspiring singer, through her comeuppance in the pop world of the early 2000's. From lows to highs to even lower, the story is told from her POV. As a teenager of the early 2000's I was so excited to read this book! I'm happy to report that it did not disappoint. I'm sure some will say this is going to heavily rely on the nostalgia factor, and I don't disagree with that, but I really enjoyed the emotional journey that this book took the reader on.

If you loved Britney, Christina, BSB and N Sync, definitely give this one a try!!!

Honey is the perfect book for those that were teens in the noughties. brought me right back to that time, and it was incredibly fascinating to reexamine that time and see how society views "pop stars".

Honey is a coming-of-age story that follows the meteoric rise of singer Amber Young as she navigates fame in the late-90s and early-2000s era of pop music superstardom.

I absolutely loved the nostalgia of this book! Isabel Banta nails this and had me totally immersed in this time period. Think MTV's heyday with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Simpson too plus the boy bands like the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.

This behind-the-scenes look realistically portrays Amber navigating the pop music world while trying to figure out who she is, what happiness is, and looking for love. Amber is mostly on her own but thankfully she has Gwen, a fellow pop star, by her side.

I really enjoyed the side characters. Their stories felt authentic and added a lot to the book. Like Amber, they were trying to navigate this cutthroat industry as best they could. I was just as much invested in Gwen's story as Amber's.

I loved how song lyrics, interviews, articles, emails, and more are woven into this story. It made the book even more engaging.

I picked up this debut for the nostalgia factor, but the thoughtful look at family, friendship, and identity made me love this book.

Thank you to Celadon Books for a gifted copy of this book.

First off, I take offense to this being labeled as "historical fiction." ;)

But seriously, as al elder millennial, I loved this book. I keep imagining Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, and of course Britney, in all of these roles/situations. I really enjoyed this inside peak of the industry, as well as how to make it, you had to fit into a certain label/image that you had to upkeep.

The premise of this literary work is intriguing, however, regrettably, the execution failed to meet my expectations. The narrative centers around Amber, a burgeoning pop icon. I anticipated a memoir-esque or interview-style approach, akin to that of TJR's Daisy Jones, yet the storytelling lacked cohesiveness. The weighty themes woven throughout the plot were superficially addressed, resulting in a lack of emotional connection to the characters. While not entirely lacking in merit, this book falls short of my recommendation to others.

This book reads like it was copy and pasted from the ‘life & career’ section of a Wikipedia article. I had to physically drag myself through 40% before I called it quits.

You’d think the main character who has these huge dreams of being a pop star would have a little razzle dazzle to her but good lord that girl is dull as dishwater. In fact, not a single character had any kind of sparkle. Do you know how bad a book has to be for you to get 40% of the way through it and have literally no one to root for?? An overcooked chicken breast of a book—dry, flavorless, and I think I’d rather eat my own shoe than look at it again.

Isabel Banta’s debut novel, Honey, takes the reader back in time to follow Amber Young, an up and coming pop star in the 90s and early 2000s. After reading this, it’s hard to believe this was a debut novel. The writing was fast and snappy (although a bit heavy in metaphor/description at times) and reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six.

Honey has a compulsive, unputdownable energy that makes you want to stay up late to finish. My favourite part was the friendship between Amber and Gwen, that channeled the spirit of the 90s pop era and I liked how their relationship grew throughout the story. I also really liked Axel and the quiet slow burn relationship with Amber.

My only critiques would be that I think it tried a bit too hard to include song lyrics, interviews, Wikipedia articles, etc which felt like they didn’t add to much to the story. I felt this especially at the end, which I think would have worked much better as a flash forward chapter.

Britney Spears. Christina Aguilera. Jessica Simpson. *NSYNC. BSB. These are the artists/groups I thought of while reading HONEY by Isabel Banta.

Honey is a coming-of-age story of perseverance, friendship, heartache, first love, and having the drive to follow your dreams. Amber is singing in a talent show when a talent agent discovers her. After many failed attempts to break into the business, her mom stops taking her to auditions. This is a story of Amber finding her way to achieve what she has always wanted. I loved the 90s to early 2000s setting as I was Amber’s age and was taken back in time to my late teen/early 20s years. While I’m nothing like Amber, I loved her character.

Honey was believable and felt like reading a memoir.
For fans of Daisy Jones and The Six by TJR and The Woman in Me by Britney Spears.

I really enjoyed this book and loved reading with my #CeladonReadsTogether buddy group @youhadme_atmerlot @mom.read.sip.repeat and @readswithnatalieb! Many thanks to @celadonbooks for this copy and including me in this #buddyread!

Also, many thanks to @macmillan.audio for the audiobook! I did a combination of reading with my eyes and ears and flew through it. It was hard to put down! Narration by Brittany Pressley was fantastic!

Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Isabel Banta for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This was a book that I was really hyped for and getting approved for it made my day. It follows Amber Young as she deals with fame in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Amber is a pop singer and goes from being in a band to going solo. She stays close with some people that she’s known over her career and you learn more about her over the book. I started to really care for her character and was rooting for her.

My only complaints about this one is that sometimes the pacing felt a little odd and I wish some things would have been expanded upon. Someone around the 40% mark I thought that things were slow, but I think I just cared more about some parts of the book than others.

I liked a lot of the themes and characters but would have liked to have learned more about them - especially Gwen. Overall, though, this was a good read. I’m glad I read it and I think people will really enjoy it! It’s also a great summer read

DNF at about halfway through and omg... this was hard to listen to. These were the most uninteresting characters I've ever read about. Amber was a narcissistic sex crazed immature girl with absolutely no redeeming qualities. In fact, all of the characters were like this. Even more boring was Wes, her "love" interest and Gwen. I mean, could she even call Gwen her friend? Their relationship was so weird and please don't get me started on the music lyrics and the weird way the narrator read them.

Also, couldn't stand the audiobook narrators voice. awful.

I was really looking forward to reading this as I love any music based novel and I was born in the mid 80s so this couldn't hit home more. However, I didn't love it as much as I hoped. I just kept waiting for something to happen. The story doesn't really build. It reads kind of like an autobiography. It also seemed a little all over the place with stories and thoughts jumping around. Honestly, it gave strong The Woman in Me vibes, but clearly more well written. I had a hard time becoming emotionally invested in any of these characters, they all just seemed flat and I kept assigning them real life counterparts, like Savannah was Jessica Simpson and that may have contributed to my inability to connect to them as a fictional character. Overall I enjoyed the nostalgia and the clever way Wikipedia entries, magazine articles, etc were incorporated into the novel.

Thank you to Net Galley and Celadon Books for the ARC!

The premises for the story did a lot of the heavy lifting for me. I was expecting it to be slightly more buzzy and pull on a lot of the nostalgia from the early aughts. But I honestly feel like this story could’ve taken place in many different eras. The mentions of smoking cigarettes and alluding to certain y2k fashion definitely helped to paint the picture, but I may have gone into the story with higher expectations, which led me to be slightly underwhelmed.

The second half definitely picked up for me and I enjoyed seeing Amber become more involved in the process. For me, the story became more enjoyable here.

Amber was angsty and unapologetic which I appreciated. But the story left much to be desired for me. Also, I’m not afraid to admit I judge books by their covers and this cover art is great.

This book had lot of promise as a historical fiction about a girl group. But I couldn't really feel very connect nor could I root for the main character. It made the story drag a bit so this was not for me.

For anyone who ever filled out a celebrity crush quiz in J-14 magazine or rushed home after school to catch TRL live, the '90s nostalgia of Honey will have you from page one. Honey follows Amber, a rising pop star in the late 90's early 2000s, as she navigates her personal relationships, media portrayal, and evolving inner voice.

I thought the author did a good job illustrating the dark side of celebrity culture, especially regarding young women. I especially related to Amber as she grew from making decisions for others to learning to make them for herself.

Considering the heavy subject matter, the book's concise writing style and sometimes eerie tone are a perfect match. The multi-media format is a fun addition. I also loved the strength and consistency of the female friendship in this book. The ending left me feeling hopeful.

I was lucky to receive an ARC of this book as part of a Book Huddle retreat in April thanks to Celadon and later received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this one!

As someone who grew up in the ‘90s and 2000s, pop princesses and boy bands reigned supreme—and this book brought me right back to my pre-teen self, screaming lyrics on repeat in my poster-covered bedroom.

While I did enjoy the storyline and trip down memory lane, I do have to agree with some of the reviews that said the characters fell a bit flat and felt one-dimensional.

Loved the female friendship, though!!

(Thank you, Celadon Books and NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

Seems like this was around maybe around my age so 90s/2000s? I really wanted to like it but it didn’t touch much in the heavy subject that it brought on and it was messy…

Loved this book! The references to the 90s brought back so many memories and I loved living through the main characters experiences. Such a fun read!

I love the concept of this book, but unfortunately the execution didn't work for me. The book revolves around Amber as she is a rising pop star. I thought this would read either like a memoir or an interview style (TJR's Daisy Jones), but it was all over the place. I felt like the serious themes in the book were brushed over quickly and I ended up just not getting emotionally invested in the characters. This wasn't "bad", but it was not a book I would recommend to friends.

3 stars...more like a 2.5

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Throughout following ambers career you are always rooting for her. You’ve seen the storyline of the music artist done before, and to be honest I thought this one was going to crash and burn Britney style but she surprisingly didn’t. Really well done.