"Honey" by Isabel Banta is like a glittery time machine whisking you back to the neon-soaked '90s, where Amber Young, our protagonist, is navigating the crazy world of pop stardom. It's like a backstage pass to the highs and lows of fame, complete with media sharks, societal nonsense, and enough misogyny to fill a stadium.

Banta's characters aren't just characters; they're like your new celeberty obsession! She paints such a vivid picture of the '90s pop scene that you'll swear you can smell the hairspray and feel the polyester and you will feel the need to persuade your mom to take you to the gocery store to buy the newst Pop Sugar Magazine to put the ETAs new poster on your childhood bedroom wall.

Through Amber's rollercoaster ride, you'll learn more about Hollywood than TMZ could ever spill. It's like peeking behind the curtain and realizing the Wizard of Oz is actually a bunch of clueless dudes pulling levers. And let's not forget the sass—Banta's writing is so sharp, it's like she's throwing shade at the patriarchy with every page turn. I frequenetly found myself laughing when I realized just how ridiculous it is that women still have to jump through hoops just to be taken seriously.

In the end, "Honey" isn't just a book; it's a wake-up call wrapped in a glitter bomb. So grab your popcorn, settle in, and get ready for a ride that's part personal, part Hollywood exposé, and all kinds of fabulous. Trust me, you'll be thanking me later for introducing you to this gem.

Let’s go back before the Great Recession, before 9/11, before Y2K…… to 1997!
Amber Young is 17 and given the chance of a lifetime. Escape her dead end life in her small hometown to join a girls pop group, Cloud9.
This is her coming of age story when pop icons were all over the media along with scandals because nothing was off limits and everything was printed in the tabloids.
We see her evolve from the naive people pleaser teen in Cloud9 to a woman that sheds all the layers of her youth and navigates her solo career.
There’s world tours, there’s drama, there’s spice. Honey is engrossing and in a lot of ways feels like I’ve stepped into an otherworldly fictionalized account of Britney Spears life when she was in her prime.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review Honey.

Thank You NetGalley for the audiobook. This was good, but it could have had the potential to be great. I enjoyed the time it was set in, my age coincides with hers for the book, I enjoyed TRL, Rolling Stone & J14 references. But I felt like she was written very immature. Either way, it was good & id recommend it to those who like this genre.

The narrator did a phenomenal job. The only thing I found awkward about this was the singing scenes.

I actually really enjoy this one. I don't read contemporary that often since I am primarily a fantasy girlie. If I have learned anything about my tastes when it comes to contemporary novels it's that I enjoy ones that follow some kind of band, that could be the Disney child in me that adored shows and movies like Sonny with a Chance, Camp Rock etc. Now that I am an adult I still very much enjoy those things, but with more adult themes and messages.

Does the FMC make you want to scream into the void at times? Absolutely. This is very much a coming of age novel as she is going to make so many mistakes and have horrible taste in men. You're going to wish you could be apart of the village for her because it's what she needs. At the beginning I liked the friend that she made, but her selfishness made me lose interest in her. She pretty much took the things our girlie wanted and when she finally had it, she made her feel bad about it.

The more love interests that get introduced into the story the more hope you have for her and her choices. I was eating this book up.

Thank you Macmillon Audio Celadon Books for the arc!

After finishing my eARC I noticed the ALC became available. The one thing that always peaks my interests is whether or not the book is better as an audiobook. Having enjoyed Brittany Pressley as a narrator the past, I was curious how she’d do with Honey. I was NOT disappointed. It’s like her voice was meant for this book! I already loved the book and gave it 4.5, but I will say the audiobook elevated my rating to a 5 star listen. SO good.

As stated in my eARC review, the story of it remains the same. Honestly, I’m surprised more people haven’t made the connection to Britney Spears reading this.. especially if you’ve read The Woman In Me. I could be wrong, but it does seem to be very similar to her story. Didn’t stop me from absolutely DEVOURING this book! I was sucked in from the very beginning. Amber’s story made me sad and at times angry given the situations she was put in. Isabel did a great job at making Amber seem like a very real and relatable person character, especially as a person from the 90’s.

I added this as my pick from BOTM but after the ALC and eARC it made me feel better about my monthly pick. I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC.

‘Honey’ by Isabel Banta has been on my radar for a while, especially because I grew up in the 90s/00s and was fully invested in the boy bands of the time. I was really interested in reading a fictionalized look at what went on behind the scenes of the girl groups (and boy bands). While I don’t think I’ll reread ‘Honey,’ it met most of my expectations!

The pop stars – whether part of a group or otherwise – were all slapped with stereotypes and expected to lean into them full force. The nonstop objectification of such young teens and young adults was honestly heartbreaking. On top of that, the constant rumors, vilifying, and pitting of stars against each other was exhausting! I cannot imagine going through that at that age. Amber herself felt somewhat hard to connect with, but that felt fitting given how pop stars of the day felt like they were on an entirely other level.

I’ve seen a handful of people mention that they can’t believe this is a debut, and I fall firmly into that camp. Banta most definitely has a gift for crafting a story! My only true complaint is that I wish there were fewer graphic scenes. That’s truly just a personal preference though, and I’m sure I’m in the minority there.

3.5 stars rounded down.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was super excited to get to read this so soon after publishing date. The story was really good, a little depressing but I think that is how it is supposed to read. Was fun reading a book about the time in which I grew up. I loved the ending too. The audio of the songs was a little cringy and I probably would've skipped if I was reading a physical copy. I would recommend this to friends especially those who liked Daisy Jones and Mary Jane.

Honey is set at the turn of the century; set in the pop music business of boy bands and girl solo artists. Think "Daisy Jones and the Six" but instead of reminding you of Fleetwood Mac, you are remembering *NSYNC, Backsteet, Britney and Christina. The "love stories" of Nick and Jessica, Britney and Justin.

A young Amber performed on Star Search, lost to Zac, who would later become a love interest and part of a boy band. Amber's best friend Gwen is someone she met being a part of Cloud 9, a girl group that faded fast when Amber and Gwen both decided to pursue solo careers.

The nostalgia is excellent. This setting and music marketing came back big in my mind. Remember TRL? Carson Daly? Aol and yahoo email addresses? Tamagotchi? I have to classify this as historical fiction (but this hurts my heart as an elder millenial).

Great theme of patriarchy and the marketing of the music business. Who doesn't remember how Britney, Christina, Mandy and Jessica were ALL completely marketed based on their sexuality vs purity. How crazy was that? Like, every young woman is either virgin or whore, nothing in between, and this was the MAIN focus of every video, every lyric, every INTERVIEW these girls gave in the early aughts. Amber and Gwen in the press are rivals with "cat fights" ...but in reality Gwen's relationship with Zac was always fake, a PR stunt, and Gwen is gay.

Amber is not super likable, I wish there was more to her character, she was a bit boring, or a way to explore the time period. She was born to a single mom and absent dad, falling in and out of love and exploring her own sexuality.

There is a bit of smut but not egregious, the smut really does contribute to the theme/story. If you prefer to keep the bedroom door closed, you can skim these parts easily.
Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC.

I came for the nostalgia but there isn’t as much as I hoped for. I don’t like the MC or feel interested in her… I DNF Daisy jones out of boredom (normally enjoy that author) and this was reminding me a lot of book. Perhaps rocker musician books just aren’t my thing. Sorry!

Thanks netgalley! Great narrator, however.

This book I only picked up because it talked about bringing nostalgia to people who lived through the late 90s and early 2000s. I genuinely really liked this book and found that it reminded me of stars like Christina Aguilera (Gwen) and Brittany Spears or Lindsey Lohan (Amber). This book definitely brought up interesting social commentary on what female stars were put through in terms of you had to either be sexy or be virginal but also the sexualizing of females we still see today. I remember that many stars if they showed up wearing a scandalous outfit they would be called a slut but if they covered up they wouldn't get the same freedom in the future. Some of the characters like Savannah reminded me of the transition a lot of people went through when they no longer wanted to be in Disney channels demographic anymore and instead wanted to make more grown up music.

Read if you like:
🪩 Nostalgia
🧑‍🧑‍🧒 Grew up in the 90’s & early 00’s
🎤 Popstars
🎶 MTV

If you are a 90’s baby like me & watched MTV and VH1 after school, lived though the Christina vs Jessica vs Britney drama years, this book is for you! This book truly reads like a memoir and because of that, it was such an immersive experience full of so many juicy, gossipy moments that kept me hooked!

I really loved the way I felt moments throughout the book that reminded me of childhood and made me see particular moments in pop culture history during those years differently, especially the hyper sexualization of young female pop stars and also the ‘purity’ and ‘role model’ discussions and why that was a big reason why I had to sneak listening to pop music growing up because my own mother didn’t think it was appropriate to listen to/look up to those artists in these conversations, especially those being sexualized by adult men.

For me the story did feel a bit disjointed and the ending did feel a bit abrupt but all in all it was a nostalgic fun read that I would recommend to my other 90’s babies for all the vibes!

Thank you to Celadon for my ARC and to Macmillan audio for my ALC in exchange for my review!

I am very much a mood reader and I don’t think this book was for me. I struggled to get through it and had a hard time connecting with the character.

That being said, if you want to take a walk down memory lane with some fun 90’s nostalgia this is the book for you. It brought me right back to that time.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Read this if you like:
•pop culture
•grew up in the 90s/00s
•like biographical written books

This book had daisy jones vibes in some ways and in others it had I’m glad my mom died vibes. The audiobook was well done, it just felt like something was missing.

Thank you Macmillian audio for ALC

I have such mixed feelings about this book.

It’s about pop stars in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Fictional celebrities ( they felt like amalgamations of the irl celebrities of the time) starting their careers and how the labels and media shaped their lives.

What I did like about the book was writing style once I got into it and some of the imagery used and I liked the dialogue around what draws certain people to the limelight and what it takes to stay there.

What I didn’t really like were the characters they felt a little flat and I think the dichotomy of how they were outside of what the media portrayed of them would have been nice to see. The main character seemed like she didn’t have many feelings or thoughts until like halfway through the book.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc.

I love that this book reads like an autobiography. The writing is immersive and very nostalgic. It has some steam to it which matches the content of the industry.