Another fantastic book by Jodie Picoult!! I’ve read all her novels and this one is a real must read. This story is centred around teenagers Lily and her boyfriend Ashur, both carrying family baggage around. When Lily is found dead and Ashur found at the scene of the crime, he becomes the prime suspect. As Ashur’s mum left his dad as he was abusive, she has to consider the possibility that perhaps her kind and thoughtful son has the same temper his father displayed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this thought provoking ARC.

My favourite style of Picoult book, with crimes, court trials and characters who are real and flawed and interesting. Interwoven with fascinating information about bees! This is a real must read, it kept me hooked right to the end. The coauthoring worked really well and gave the characters two distinct voices which added to the enjoyment.
Thank you for this arc

I have been such a big fan of Jodi's work for such a long time. Ever since the first time I picked up my sister's keeper I have been absorbed in all of her books. Reading the ones that came before and all the ones that have come after. I feel like I get absorbed into the very pages and the essence of the books seep into my soul. The books that I love the most are always the ones that make you think, ones that open up discussions and beg you to look at the world in a different light and to try to walk the footsteps of someone who is completely different to you. I am also really fascinated by people, what they do, how they think, what makes us who we are and makes us do the things we do. What makes us stand out from society and why society are so ensnared by old points of view of what should make up a person, how a person should act and how they should live their lives. Which Is so outdated and wrong it's really disturbing why people still believe these outdated things. I think I find it so fascinating because I don't fit into the normal mould and for a long time I was fighting q world where I didn't fit in and trying to be someone I wasn't. Now I'm proud to be who I am and I am proud of all the people who are also different who stand up and say I am who I am.

This being said I haven't particularly liked the last few books by Jodi sadly. I just didn't gel with them and I didn't think that they lived up to her previous books. However this book Jodi is back with a bang. As a co author on this amazing book. I really need to read books by Jennifer to because if this book is anything to go by then they will be amazing too.

This book is centred around lily and her boyfriend Ashur. Both of whom have had troubling up bringings but for completely different reasons and both of them are trying to fit into a world where they long to be who they are. Lily is Trans and is trying to come to terms with this in a world that isn't very forgiving, is judgemental and whom osteracis those who are different. But lily knows who she is and is proud of it. Even if she does keep things guarded and close to her chest. But lily is dead Ashur has been found at the scene of the crime and is been trialed for her murder. But did he do it?

I have to say that I had placed it althougher in my head before it was revealed and I knew what had happened to lily before it was played out in the book. But I will say that it didn't dampen my enjoyment of the book one little bit.

There has been so much research and time spent looking and understanding how people feel who are transgender and how they try to navigate and fit into the world. I think that it is written sensitivitly and with great power.

This is an amazing book. I loved it.

Olivia McAfee moved back to her home town with her son Asher, to start a new life. But that life is turned upside down when Asher's girlfriend is found dead - and Asher is the main suspect. The book is told from both Olivia's perspective and Lily's, Asher's girlfriend, which works well to allow the story to unfold and take the reader on the twists and turns of what happened, including the court case that follows.

Jodi Picoult has once again written a book that tackles difficult and challenging issues in a readable way. Another thought provoking read!

This is my first Jodi Picoult book in years, this book is thought provoking and had me hooked from the start with its unconventional plot. This book does cover many hot topics including abuse and suicide to name a few which can be triggering and I found a bit too many hot topics were in this book. Beekeeping plays a main role in the book which I love as my dad does bee keeping on and off over the years but there is so much more to the story. I really enjoyed reading the writers notes at the end which explained their writing together through out the pandemic.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for approving me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Read: Kindle

This book is Jodie Picoult at her best ,I’ve been a bit disappointed in the last few books she has written having been a long term fan I’ve read all her novels .I was delighted therefore that this book written in collaboration with a trans woman author Jennifer Finney Boulan was much more like her earlier novels sticking to a theme in this case the life of women born cis and trans and filling the story with real emotion and feeling
Some authors leave you feeling like you have been lectured at with such books but Jodie and Jennifer completely avoid this and have written an engrossing novel which is enjoyable to read and at the same time has something to teach the reader
The characters are real and totally believable,I enjoyed the setting on small town America .The addition of a character who suffered from an abusive marriage cleverly allowed the authors to show the similarities of life events for all women whether cis or trans .
I liked the way the story was told mainly on flash backs and from the point of view of several characters
I enjoyed the ending particularly just when I was beginning to think it was all too tidy there is a twist that I have to admit I didn’t see coming
I would recommend to all Jodie Picoult fans and to anyone who enjoys an easy but intelligent read
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk the book is published in November 2023 by Hodder books

I’m a huge Jodie Picoult fan and mad honey didn’t disappoint.
This book had ALOT going on! - in true Jodie style we are thrown into a world full of twists and turns and I did not see most of them coming. Thought provoking and intense I thoroughly enjoyed the whole storyline and couldn’t put it down.
Lily and Asher are a teenage couple and the story flits between then and now for both lily's story and Olivia, Asher’s mum. Lily is dead and Asher is the number one suspect…
I don’t really want to give too much away as I think this book is best read with no pre- conceptions. I can say that I feel I learned a lot that I didn’t previously know about a few subjects and Lily is a character I grew to love.

Whenever Jodi Picoult writes a new novel, I know that I am going to read it, once again she brings her laser attention to issues at the forefront of our contemporary world, and once again impresses with the depth of her research. This book she has written with Jennifer Finney Boylan, not an author I am familiar with, and their partnership works well together here as they profoundly and movingly explore the hot topics of the complexities of gender and identity. Olivia McFee leaves behind her apparently perfect life in Boston with her surgeon husband, it was little more than a shimmering mirage, taking her son, Asher, and returning to her quiet hometown of Adams, New Hampshire, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her family beekeeping business, hoping for a fresh beginning.

Lily Campanello and her mother, Ava, relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they too are hoping to leave behind their past for a new start. 18 year old Asher and Lily's paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. The pair are happy to have found each other until Asher shockingly discovers Lily's dead body, and Olivia cannot believe it when her good and kind son is charged with her murder. However, the thought crosses her mind of the echoes of her abusive husband's temper present in Asher. This is a coming of age story that goes back and forth in time, with all the intensity of a teenage romance, all the tensions and suspense of a murder mystery and a courtroom drama to boot amidst a challenging narrative of secrets, lies and deception.

This is a compulsive novel that is best approached knowing as little as possible to feel the full emotional impact of the twists and turns coming, and the heartbreak, oh, and I must mention the return of Jordan McFee. Some of the highlights include the rich descriptions and details of the beekeeping business, including the healing powers of honey, and how a woman can end up in an abusive relationship. Whilst there were so many aspects of this riveting novel I loved, I do have to say there were occasions when I felt an overload from the sheer numbers of issues that were raised. However, shining through is the humanity, acceptance and compassion, and which, along with the characterisations, make this a terrific, timely and informative read of love, grief, love, loss, gender, abuse and family. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

As a long time fan of Jodi’s, I was over the moon to receive a copy of Mad Honey. This is her newest novel and one with a difference, as it is the second one that Jodi has chosen to co-write (I especially enjoyed the true story of how the plot and collaboration came about!)

The novel is centred around Olivia, a single mum to her 18 year old boy Asher. Single through choice, after she left an abusive marriage 12 years earlier to settle in her parents’ old house. Asher has recently met Lily, new to town and now newly his girlfriend. Lily and her mum have just started afresh - new town, new job, new school. Lily feels happy and content for the first time in a long time.

But their worlds fall apart when Lily is found dead and Asher is later arrested for her murder. It will take an old friend from some of Jodi’s previous novels to help to unpick the facts of the charge against Asher, along with some typical gasp-out-loud twists you can expect from a Jodi novel.

I completely devoured this book. It engrossed me and shocked me and made me cry. I know that this book, just like Jodi’s previous novels, is one I will return to again. Would highly recommend. A brilliant book.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review.

I'm really mixed on my feelings as to this book. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about someone using transgender people as a controversial issue for a moral debatable book. Asher is a teenage boy who is accused of murdering his girlfriend Lily. I'm not sure the issues in this book are dealt with particularly well but I also feel that its written in a way that people who might not understand trans issues are able to access.

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps and stops/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me. I would be more than happy to re-read the book with a better file or as a physical book as the book topic and genre are of interest to me. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

Olivia fled her abusive marriage to return to her hometown and take over the family beekeeping business when her son Asher was six. Now, impossibly, her baby is six feet tall and in his last year of high school, a kind, good-looking, popular ice hockey star with a tiny sprite of a new girlfriend.

Lily also knows what it feels like to start over when she and her mother relocated to New Hampshire it was all about a fresh start. She and Asher couldn't help falling for each other, and Lily feels happy for the first time. But can she trust him completely?

Then Olivia gets a phone call Lily is dead, and Asher is arrested on a charge of murder. As the case against him unfolds, she realises he has hidden more than he's shared with her. And Olivia knows firsthand that the secrets we keep reflect the past we want to leave behind ­­and that we rarely know the people we love well as we think we do.
Another great book couldn’t put this down totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton
I just reviewed Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan. #MadHoney #NetGalley