The nostalgia is there for me with the book Honey. I wanted to love this book but I just could not connect with the character. I found myself checking to see how soon the chapters would end & how many pages I had left. I read a lot of reviews that really enjoyed this book prior to reading so maybe my own expectations are also what let me down. Sad that it didn’t hit the heart strings for me or take me back to the teenage years of the early 00s- but thankful for the opportunity to read a copy from NetGalley nonetheless!

I’m afraid I really didn’t connect with this book, but to be fair, I think I’m just too far past the target age who would find this novel appealing. I do see how fans of the 90’s pop singers would probably be engaged and entertained by this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so fun to read! Think of it as a behind the scenes look at your favorite early 2000’s pop star and her rise to fame. It gets a little poetic and wordy at times but I still really enjoyed it. Thank you to @celadonbooks and @netgalley for my copy!

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

The book depicts the ways in which the record companies defined the female pop stars of the era and how the world would see them. The good girl, the diva, the whore. Little did how we regarded them have anything to do with who they really were. This book shows some of the interiority of one such pop star and, thus, redefines the narratives of some of the most famous pop icons we idolized and hated, over sexualized and underestimated.

This is my era of pop music and I wanted to love this book. To me, it had all of the makings of a book that would resonate. The nostalgia, the behind-the-scenes glimpses, the examination of misogyny in the music industry. Unfortunately, for me the story fell a little flat. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, the relationships felt unearned, and the weird music that played behind the spoken song lyrics removed me from the action.

I enjoyed listening to the audio and really liked the narrator, Brittany Pressley, who is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I’ve seen a lot of very positive reviews for this book, but for me, it missed the mark. Honey was a book I liked ok, but didn’t love.

Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the advanced copy of this book and audiobooks.

Honey is a coming of age story that follows Amber Young and her rise to fame as a solo pop artist which takes place in the late 1990s and early 2000s era of pop music superstardom. The book was well written and was set in different timelines. This was a touching and heartwarming book that will have you turning pages till the end. Overall I enjoyed reading this one and would recommend this to any reader but especially to readers who grew up in the 90s that enjoyed watching MTV. Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for this book in exchange of my honest review of Honey.

After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish

I was Amber’s age during the time frame of this novel so I was excited to read a story about a rising pop star. This music was the soundtrack to my high school and college years. Unfortunately, the overall story fell flat for me. It just never went deep enough into all the topics it tried to address.

I did like the writing style, how it was written like an autobiography with lyrics, interviews, and magazine articles interspersed throughout but I longed for more of the 90s-early 2000s nostalgia. There were things briefly mentioned but honestly, the story felt like it could take place during any time period. Overall, a good debut novel.

I also listened to the audio as well as reading an e-copy. I really enjoyed the narrator and thought she did a good job. I do wish that when we were given song lyrics, they had been sung rather than spoken.

Banta's writing evokes the captivating rise and struggle of young pop stars. I couldn’t be the only one thinking about Britney the entire time while reading.

However, Honey falters slightly in its execution. While the premise is intriguing, the plot can feel a bit scattered at times. The sheer number of influences mentioned raises expectations that aren't always fully delivered upon.

Despite this, Honey is a compelling read for those who crave a behind-the-scenes look at the pop music industry. The story reminds us of the humanity behind the carefully crafted pop personas and the challenges young stars face in navigating fame. If you're looking for a nostalgic trip with a dose of harsh reality, Honey is worth a read.

This book fell flat for me: the fun was suppose to be in being a teenage pop star, the glitz glam and fun and that portion of the story was sincerely lacking. No attachment to the character with minimal character growth.

3.5 stars

As someone who enjoyed Britney Spears' memoir and Daisy Jones and the Six, I was so excited to read this book! Honey follows 90's pop star, Amber Young, from her rough childhood to her rise to fame. I liked how it was written like an autobiography and had news articles and lyrics sprinkled in. If feels very true to the time it is set in and it was interesting to reflect on how women singers were talked about and treated back then versus today. There were times while reading that I was really invested in what was going on, but there were also times when it dragged on. I really liked the last 25% of the book because I felt like that was were there was the most character growth, I just wish that had been more prevalent throughout the whole book. Overall I liked reading it and if anything I felt a little sad that it didn't quite live up to the potential that was there. I wish the author had just gone for it and made the book more raw and dramatic.

4.5 🌟 For all those obsessed with early 2000s pop and boy bands, this is for you. I primarily read fantasy but books about fake celebrities are my kryptonite. The main character will not be for everyone, which is kind of the point. She’s very much a you love her or you hate her, or in some cases you love to hate her. She’s real. She makes mistakes like any child star does trying to grow up in the public eye. She reminded me a lot of Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus in her Can’t be Tamed era. For parents she is a nightmare. There is much discussion about her being a bad role model for her audience, which is something very relevant in today’s culture. I’m glad it was brought up. Her responses to the criticism were handled so well and is a good reminder that is it on a celebrity’s job to raise your child. Something I enjoyed was that our main character wasn’t a huge success right off the bat. She struggled to find her voice and make the charts. She was constantly being compared and pitted against her competitors, which happen to also be girls around her age. I appreciated the commentary on the double standards of male singers vs female singers. This book was hard hitting at times, but also so much fun! I loved all the 90s/early 2000s nostalgia. It is full of interviews, articles, and magazine quizzes that remind me of being a teenager and reading J-14 and Tiger Beat like it was my religion. This book felt like a trip down memory lane. It is a reminder of the pressures of being famous and that celebrities are people too. I really enjoyed the format of the epilogue. It gave me much needed closure!

I really wanted to love this one! The 90s - early 2000s era is perfect for me. I hoped for a lot more nostalgia. A few bands and artists were name dropped but that's about it. The novel follows Amber as she becomes a pop star. It barely mentions a whisp of some really important topics like eating disorders, sexual misconduct, 9/11, etc. but does not address them at all.

I honestly really struggled with this one. I wanted to love it, i was hoping it would be like Daisy Jones, Mary Jane or The People We Keep but it wasn't... The writing felt very amateur, almost like it was written using voice to text, and talked way more about a teen girls sexual life than it needed to. It could have been better unfortunately.

i read this in a day and cried. this was so beautiful and personal, so nostalgic for a life i never lived in a time when i wasn’t alive (or was very young). the way that banta delves into womanhood from the retrospective is so heartwarming. she reminds us that no matter where we come from or who we become, all young women experience the same thing. this made me grateful to no longer be a teenage girl and now i want to read it all over again.

recommended listening:
across the universe - fiona apple
fade into you - mazzy star

thank you to netgalley for an arc of this in exchange for my honest feedback!

A young-pop star’s journey to fame in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. A stunning pink cover. So much promise!

My heart was set on sex, drugs, and rock n roll. I wanted Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. I craved parties and fame, with a side of humour.

What I got was broken homes, childhood trauma, exploitation, loneliness. While I’m sure many will resonate with this more “realistic” fictional drama, it fell flat for me.

3⭐️

I did not make it far into this book. Early on, I found it irritating to read. With each page, I was frustrated, and the further I got, the less original the story became. I know there is a ton of buzz around this book, but I'm struggling to figure out why.

5 star!!

Thoughts: If you are now a late 30s to early 40s millennial that grew up in the era of TRL, pop stars, and boy bands. I think you will love this book. Although I saw mixed reviews, I really fell in love with the characters. having read a few of these popstar memoirs in the last couple of years made me feel empathetic to the characters in this book. I loved the drama and element of what the press puts out isn’t always reality or truth, to me, this book just felt so nostalgic to what I grew up in the midst of!

This was like Daisy Jones meets Evelyn Hugo but with more grit. A tough story that highlights many of the issues of the entertainment industry. I found the characters were overall intriguing and liked the progression of the story - but I found the pacing to be a bit strange. I'm not sure if it was the formatting of the ARC on Kindle, but there were moments where we completely changed scenes within the same chapter, and I found myself lost because the change in scene was so abrupt.

Overall, a great debut!

I need a hug after reading this book.

Banta does such an interesting and good job of talking about the loneliness associated with fame. Amber has always been lonely. As a child her brother and alcoholic mother are always fighting and she tries to sing in her room to escape, but also remind people that she's there. At a talent show, she is "discovered" but eventually has to quit because her mom is tired of driving to and from NYC for auditions- which is completely valid.

Eventually Amber is given a chance to join a girl group, Cloud9, which puts her foot in the door for her music career. However, once she goes solo, her persona has to be in contrast to the other young women in the business.... And because the "good girl" and the "girl with a secret" are already taken, Amber is forced into the role of the "bad girl" the "sexual deviant," etc. That's not to say that there aren't parts of her in her persona, but it does mean that she has a part to play.

That idea of a "part to play" is a cornerstone of this story. Relationships, friendships, etc. are all made public or hidden based on what the studios think the public wants. Somehow this is even more sad to me. Amber can have a relationship, she can have a best friend, but the public cannot know about it. The public MUST think of her as the villain.

This is such an interesting story about figuring out who you are (in the public eye no less) and being unapologetic about it. I will give a small spoiler alert and let people know that there are just as many happy moments in this book as there are sad, and to be honest, there are probably a few more happy moments than the sad ones. So while this review makes it sound sad, it's also an incredibly heartfelt, happy book as well.

3.5⭐️

I liked how they explored Isabel Banta explores the topic of women’s sexuality and expectations upon them.

I found the story itself interesting, but didn’t find myself relating to Amber Young or any of the side characters. By the end, I could see a glimpse of who Amber is, but it didn’t feel like her character was fully fleshed out.