The book follows a young girl named Amber Young (who I’m destined to love like a sister because we share the same last name!) I loved this coming of age story about a girl finding her place as she finds herself suddenly thrust in the spotlight of pop music! I loved that it took place in the late 90’s/early 00’s and since I grew up in the same period I related easily. I can’t imagine trying to figure out myself with the pressures that Amber faces, as if growing up in a regular household isn’t hard enough. I enjoyed the narrator and the inclusion of news clips and excerpts from her albums. I think it really helped the reader understand where she’s coming from and how she’s feeling.

This book feels like an iPod mini and Hubba Bubba gum and summer camp. Beautifully nostalgic of the late 90s and early 2000s pop craze, we get to follow a character as she gets swept into a current and then plants her feet firmly on the ground. For anyone who loved boy bands and solo girlies as a kid, this book will feel like coming home.

At 17 Amber Young gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she joins Cloud 9, a pop girl group. This allows her to launch her very successful solo career. The novel follows her as she comes of age with every aspect of her life being scrutinized by the media.

I’ve seen very mixed opinions of this novel so I didn’t know what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed following the Amber’s story and never wanted to stop listening.

I highly recommend the audio version. Brittany Pressley as always was an incredible narrator and adds so much to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and MacMillan audio for the ARC!

This story revolves around a bunch of young singers, trying to make it big, in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Amber Young really has NO home life. Her Mom drinks. A lot. Her Dad is gone. And she just goes to school every day.

But one day, during their school talent show, Amber sees a talent scout in the audience (it’s the Aunt of one of the kids in the school, but no matter), and she sees her writing something down after her performance! She is hopeful!!!

Months go by, and nothing…
But then one day, her Mom gets a call…

They want her to try out for acting… (Wait. What??)

Time marches on, as it always does, and they gently tell her she’s not going to make it in acting…
And she says, I never wanted to act, I want to sing!!

Many more auditions take place, and she’s FINALLY trying out to be in a new all girl band, Cloud 9. She’s so excited!

She meets all the girls and realizes that Gwen is the powerhouse of the group, and she is going to make it…someday. They end up forming a friendship that lasts through the years! And Gwen is the one who knows what buttons to push to move Amber to do what she needs to do…

Along the way she meets Wes, THE guy, from THE biggest boy band around. And she crushes…hard!
But, Wes is linked to Gwen…

The story goes on to give what feels like a real life inside scoop to what actually goes on in the music world. The touring. The fans. The truths. The lies. The broken hearts. The affairs. Pretty much anything you can dream up…it’s all there. And so sad, as these girls are just KIDS really…

And, it felt SO REAL to me that I started searching 🔍 on line to see if it’s based on a true story…and who??

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

#Honey by #IsabelBanta and narrated beautifully by #BrittanyPressley (one of my new favorite narrators! 5⭐️ for her! )

Of note: This is a debut novel for this author, so if you like it, keep your eyes 👀 open for new stuff from her!

The release date is set for A FEW DAYS FROM NOW, ON 6/25/24, so look for it then!

Feel free to like, follow and friend me on: Goodreads,
IG @ #BookReviews_with_emsr or
My Facebook Book Club: Book Reviews With Elaine.

Thanks so much for reading! And if you ‘liked’ my review, please share with your friends!! 📚⭐️

Honey follows protagonist Amber as she navigates pop stardom in the late 90s/early 00s. I felt like the author had a lot to say about how we treat and sexualize young female popstars, but the point the author tried to make was never entirely clear to me.

I thought the narration was solid, though I didn't like the way they plugged in the song lyrics. It was weird having the narrator speak the words over pop-y background music.

I will admit that this was a stretch for me and there were things that I appreciated about it. I thought that the author was very good with language; there were parts that seemed lyrical, which seems appropriate given that this was about a young girl in the music industry. There were times that I was mesmerized by the author's arrangement of words.
This novel follows the rise of Amber, a young girl from a working class background who enters the music industry and rises outwardly but loses herself in the process. She meets people who take advantage of her and experiences inner turmoil as she wants all of the things that success can give her but suffers consequences from it. The premise is strong. I wanted a bit more, though. It is fine, good even, for Amber to want the things that fame brings especially given her background. However, in some ways Amber was not very likeable because as much as some others may have taken advantage of her, she seemed to react in kind and she also seemed to lack self respect. All of this is fine, and perhaps this wasn't the book for me, but I feel like I wanted this to be a story with a feminist angle to it and it wasn't. I wanted Amber to discover things about herself, but I feel like she didn't.
Also, this book had a very young adult feel to it, which is not a bad thing. I don't read a lot of young adult books so I am not as familiar with the landscape as some. At the same time, there were times that Amber seemed hypersexualized and the text became very explicit with her sexual encounters. I am not a prude but this is a book that many young adults might want to read, but I don't think that the level of detail about sex would be appropriate for that audience. While this was done well (again, the author is good with language), I am not sure it was necessary. It is fine and even good that Amber had sexual agency (and it appears that her decisions were her own and not forced upon her), this could have been conveyed without the level of detail of her sexual encounters that were in the book.
That said, I liked the writing style which felt very tied into the music aspect of it. I would love to see where the author goes with her next book.
I read and listened to the audio. I think this is a book where the audio really helps. There were musical cues in the audio that really add something to the text.
Thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books and MacMillan Audio for providing me with the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the ARC audiobook.

I listened to this at 1.5x speed and got through it in 2 days. The book was very well-written and I enjoyed it, for the most part. At the beginning, it was a bit difficult keeping all of the characters straight. I liked that much of the story was really told from the internal thoughts and dialogue of Amber. I wish that the story explored the reaction to Gwen’s story and relationships more.

As someone who would’ve been just a bit older than Amber at the time the story takes place, I could relate to a lot of the angsty feelings of being a teenager. As an adult, I kept hoping that she would make better choices. As the story went on, I really hoped she’d wise up to how she was being treated by Wes.

Because this is about teenagers who become pop stars - think Britney, Christina, NSync, BSB, etc. - there is a fair amount of discussion of sex, abortion, drugs, smoking, etc.
3.5 ⭐️

3.75

In the same vein as something like Once More With Feeling by Elissa Sussman, Honey rips open the dressing room curtains in order to provide a true and authentic peek into the world of pop stars, albeit in a more literary and sinister way than Sussman did.

Our main character Amber is desperate for fame ever since an agent scouted her at a school talent show, and she needs this fame to get her out of her toxic household, and away from her disbelieving mother. After several attempts, Amber finally starts to hit a stride, but this environment isn’t as validating as she wanted it to be, and she is shamed for her lack of drive and ambition, despite having such a strong talent for singing.

I found this book to be quite one-note in its storytelling, failing to really grab my attention at any point, and it truly reminded me of an episode of a teen drama from the 2000s, which feels like probably a purposeful vibe considering its Y2K timeline and celebrity culture, but in book form was very dull and uneventful. The audiobook format is in reality what got me to finish this book, as it was easier to consume this slow plot as an audiobook rather than physically.

I would recommend this book to fans of Y2K pop but prefer a more literary fiction forward style of storytelling over the non-fiction or romance genres we usually see pop star stories told in, but as it stands, just quite a mid book.

thank you to netgalley for an arc of the audiobook for this book in return for a review!

Amber Young was discovered at her middle school talent show in the late 1990’s. She joined a girl band where she met her BFF, another singer launching to stardom, Gwen Morris. Honey, is a coming-of-age story about Amber, her dating interests, her friends and what is was like, growing up as a rock star, touring the world in the late 1990’s, early 2000’s.

Being a teenager myself in the 90’s, I did love a lot of the time period references in this book. In between chapters there were fun quizzes you would find in Teen Vouge, song lyrics, interviews, newspaper articles, etc. This was a creatively written book and it did keep me captivated.

It showed how much influence the media played, the “stories” that were conjured up for professional gain. And how relentless it was on these girls on EVERY aspect of their lives. There were times during the book I felt the raw emotion and conflict in these characters, and other times, I felt like I needed more. I think there could have been more depth, but overall, I did enjoy this read. I will definitely read more by this author.

Thank you MacMillian Audio, and NetGalley for an audio copy of this book. This book publishes next week. 6/25/2024

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 & 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐭. 𝐖𝐨𝐰! 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ‘𝟗𝟎𝐬/𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟎𝐬—𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐲. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 (𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲) 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐟𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬.

𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐨𝐟-𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱, 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝’𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝.

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝐼𝓈𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓁 𝐵𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶, 𝒞𝑒𝓁𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓃 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈, 𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Honey is a coming of age story of a young singer in the 90’s. Amber Young was first discovered as a child at her schools talent show. While she went through hundreds of auditions for commercials, it was always in her heart to become a singer. When Amber gets a second shot at joining an all girls band cloud9, she finds a best friend and a superstar career. But along with stardom comes a lot of other stuff when your a good looking young girl in the 90'S.

I don't really feel that I could relate to Amber or any of the other characters growing up the same time frame that this book took place, but I was also never a pop star, so there's that lol. I did very much so enjoy listening to this book. I felt Wes was annoyingly immature for someone who was so career focused. L found Amber extremely likable and it really makes you think about what young female Pop stars like Britney Spears or Christina agulira or others like them had to go through to receive the success they have today. Sometimes talent isn't enough when you're young and attractive. Everyone always expects more!

Thank you netgalley and celadon books for the advanced readers copy of honey. The Audio was amazing!.

DNF

So I like the structure of the story as it’s told in parts but they label them as parts of a song such as verse, pre-chorus, chorus, and sprinkled throughout are quick snippets of interviews, articles, and songs for Amber and her other singer friend Gwen. In some ways this makes the storytelling a little choppy as it’s almost just the highlights of Amber’s rise to fame, and doesn’t really sit in any one time frame or moment for us to dig more into her. And like many of the real-life female artists that came to the spotlight in the 90s and 00s, Amber’s music and image focuses on her sexuality, partly due to those dictating her career but her private thoughts reveal she thinks of these things quite often. Between the pace and what we are privy to, Amber comes across as a shallow, large-chested woman who’s trying to fill the empty void within her with attention.

Content and trigger warnings include references to a young female’s developing body, a side character uses fruit to describe different acts, LOTS of sexual scenes that are quite descriptive, mentions of underage use of substances, some profanity, parental abandonment.

It was too sexually-focused for me and I didn’t really connect with Amber as we just didn’t get in deeper to who she is. Ultimately I decided to DNF at 47%.

So, to be honest I wanted so much more from this book. I had heard so many good things, and while it wasn't bad, it definitely didn't wow me like I thought it was going to. The characters were just kind of weak and the pace of the book was super slow. I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it. It was just kind of flat - but that's just my opinion.

If you're looking for a coming-of-age novel and/or want to reminisce about past popstars, this book channels all the Brittany Spears, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, boyband vibes from the late 90's and early 2000's. And just because I didn't love it, doesn't mean you won't - based on the ratings, lots of people have.

The audio narration was good and the listening experience was enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audio of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio ARC. I enjoyed this book but at times found myself annoyed with the immaturity of the characters. I realize they were young, but this was a little "extra".

This book was a throwback directly into the 90s and it made my heart happy. With that said, I do feel the story left a lot to be desired. It felt familiar - maybe due to the pop singer theme - and it just didn’t quite do it for me. It sparked plenty of nostalgia, which I appreciate and the narration was absolutely fantastic.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌶️(1.5) Fiction

Thank you macmillan.audio for the ALC.
Pub: 6/25/24

✨The Highlights✨

· Late 90’s/Early 00’s Nostalgia 💿
· Coming of Age/Girlhood 💗
· Pop Music Scene 🎤
· Female Friendship
· Single POV

🎧Brittney Pressley’s narration drew me in with its thoughtful and deliberate delivery, enhanced by radio clips, song lyrics, and gossip magazine snippets set to a music backdrop. Her voice reading those beautifully written pages made it impossible to stop listening. 🤌🏻

✨The Feels✨

“Honey” by Isabel Banta left me emotionally spent. Amber’s journey struck a deep chord, transporting me back to my teenage years with its raw portrayal of insecurities, shame, and the relentless desire for love. Despite never walking the path of a rising pop star myself, Amber emerged as one of the most relatable characters I’ve encountered—flawed, lost, and struggling to find herself. The book’s nostalgic backdrop of 90s culture, from landlines and Tamagotchis to the influence of MTV, evoked memories I hadn’t revisited in years. The candid look behind the scenes of the music industry was enlightening yet completely heart-wrenching.

Revisiting that era through Amber’s eyes was a poignant reminder of the objectification endured by female artists—from struggles with eating disorders to societal pressures on female sexuality. Amber’s story echoed shades of Britney and Christina at times, offering a stark reflection on media scrutiny. “Honey” is a beautifully crafted, nostalgic gem that immerses you in a touching tale of ambition, self-discovery, and the harsh realities of fame. I loved every moment of it.

✨The Spoiler-Free Details✨

Enter the late 90s with Amber Young, whose life rockets from small-town anonymity to dazzling stardom. But fame proves a double-edged sword as she navigates her solo career amid intense scrutiny and the shadows of fellow rising stars.

✨The Sweet Treat✨
Honey lemon pound cake and a bee’s knees cocktail was the perfect blend of sweet and bitter for this book 🍯🍋

10/10 This book checks all the boxes for me. Amber young’s story is one full of self-discovery. Following along the life of an aspiring starlet in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the journey for Amber was anything but easy. There’s friendship and romance, but also competition and heartbreak. This book gives all of the Britney Spears vibes and I am here for it. I have only good things to say about this book.

I wanted to like this, the beginning was so nostalgic. But then it went downhill from there. The main character gets chosen to be in a girl band (takes place in the late 90s). The book follows her journey in a coming of age story.

This book had an interesting premise but in the end it fell flat for me. It felt as if everything from the relationships to the character development was half baked. It was hard to believe anything the characters were saying/thinking. I liked the audiobook narrator but also thought it was a bit odd that they would play music that were supposed to be amber’s songs but the narrator was just saying the words and it wasn’t an actual song.

I really enjoyed this story and the background into the music industry. I grew up in the Britney Spears, Backstreet boys era and this is what I always imagined went on in the background in their personal lives. Amber was a good lead character, I just wish her friends had shown up more for her when the whole world seemed to be against her. The setting was just very nostalgic and I enjoyed it!