I so struggled with this one I am afraid... I think the tag of 'If you enjoyed Daisy Jones...' was the biggest draw for me ad it is one of my favourite reads of recent years, but sadly it did not live up to that hype.

It's fascinating to read about the behind the scenes of the lives of celebrities. We obviously know it's not great for most of them, and this book delves into the ways that younger celebrities can be manipulated and molded to be a perfect idol, no matter the effect it has on them.

I really enjoyed this - it felt current and up to the minute with characters you relate to. Recommended

Sorry, I disliked this book. I was excited starting it but very quickly dawned on me that absolutely nothing of interest was going to happen. It was just the same thing over and over again, new album recorded, fancies a man, has sex, moves on, rings her friend….

Nothing at all happens in this story. I hated Amber, she has no character at all nor does anyone else.

Awful, and very boring.

My thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

💭When I read ‘Like Daisy Jones soaked in Britney’ I just had to request this and was lucky enough to be accepted but it didn’t live up to expectations unfortunately. I think Daisy Jones is too big a book to liken it to, BUT I did honestly feel like I was reading a memoir by Christina Aguilera with Gwen as Britney and Wes as Justin Timberlake which had me hooked.

💭I enjoyed that it gave readers a viewpoint from what it would be like to be a celebrity being that famous. Having people guess what’s happening in your private life all the time. Making stories up that aren’t true. Being controlled by managers. Not making your own decisions. Having to time to yourself. Having to deal with men who think you owe them something. It really shows the negative side to fame.

💭I loved the friendship between Gwen and Amber. The fact that they always had each other to lean on, and how they encouraged each other and weren’t competitive, especially with how much the media pitted them against each other.

💭I found the end random. Maybe because of the ARC layout but it said ‘2004’ and then all of a sudden Amber was married to Axel with a child born in 2009 so I don’t have a clue what year it actually was at the end.

💭Overall an easy enjoyable read but definitely not on Daisy Jones level.

Thanks very much for making this title available to us to read! I've copied my review here and also included some technical errors I spotted while reading, below.

My Review:
Touted as a nod to the #FreeBritney movement and an exploration of the young icons we grew up listening to on the radio, as 90s girl, I was excited to give this a whirl. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype or do much for me as a reader.

<b> What worked for me: </b>
● I liked the commentary on how developmentally stunted fame made Amber. How she couldn’t relate to her own age group, had problems connecting with people, and felt so isolated. That felt plausible, especially at the beginning when she was finding her footing in a super toxic industry.
● Amber’s growth arc was compelling. I hated her for most of the book but toward the end, felt myself soften. I deeply appreciate the feminism she came to embody!
● I really liked Gwen and Tammy

<b> What didn’t work for me: </b>
● No sense of the time period at all. Apart from some interspersed name-dropping, this didn’t feel like a 90s story. The attitudes of the characters, the references to internet culture, the online articles all felt really 2024. I couldn’t help but feel like Amber and Gwen were given a 2024 mindset that didn’t really gel with the 90s/00s setting. At times, they seemed a bit too self aware (which didn’t match their vapid characterizations) and the comments that they made to the press weren’t congruous with how a teenager/young adult would likely handle the situations. I might have been more convinced if their agents or PR people were mentioned helping them craft replies but I just can’t suspend disbelief that they handled the fallout of the relationships they had with that much tact and grace. Relationships are often life and death to kids that age and both Amber and Gwen have vicious streaks.
● I didn't enjoy the writing style: it was self-important and trying way too hard yet banal, navel-gazey, and, at times, just <i>bad</I>. Some very odd descriptive phrases (eyes collided on him, her eyes inhaled, the water zips shut). The short stuccato sentences read drily (like a list or a how-to manual) and drove me nuts for most of the book. If not for the loads of gratuitous and excessively detailed sex, I would’ve assumed this was aimed at the YA audience by the way it’s written. Overall, the whole book (and writing style) felt a bit too YA for me.
● The song lyrics are top-tier cringe. I couldn’t read any of them all the way through because I was expiring from second hand embarrassment. Maybe that’s the point? 90s pop songs weren’t the pinnacle of deep and meaningful!
● I didn’t get a sense of a genuine friendship between Amber and Gwen, especially at the beginning. We were told they were best friends but they seem to be acquaintances for a lot of their younger years. There’s certainly no compelling connection between them until later in the book.
● From where I’m sat, this book has nothing to say. I was expecting a nostalgic trip back to the 90s and some new commentary on what our pop icons went through during this exploitative era. Instead, I felt held captive by the insufferable, narcissistic, and sex-obsessed MC.
● Amber reflects on Sonny’s cruelty to her towards the end but we never see any of this! Sonny appears to be supportive and mostly off screen. It comes out of nowhere when Amber starts ticking off the things he’s said and done over the years. As a reader, it’s not convincing. We know Amber is a narcissist and isn’t the most reliable narrator… why was none of this detailed at the time?
● Amber’s relationships and sex life were given far too much airtime. Wes was such an immature and self-involved knob. While I’m happy that Amber found herself and her independence before latching on to a man, I wasn’t really convinced by the romance.

<b>A note on the cover:</b> I first saw this book on a Goodreads roundup and the 90s child in me <i>loved</i> the North America cover! It’s so fitting for the era with the colours and font! When I saw the British cover, I was <I>so</I> disappointed. Maybe I don’t get it because I’m not British, but it’s so bland compared to the North American one. There’s also a typo on the cover (Britney Spear’s should be Britney Spears’).

I’m glad I read this and I’m deeply appreciative of Bonnier Books UK for making this available on NetGalley, but it just didn’t work for me as an individual reader.

Technical errors I spotted (not part of my review):
In the full song lyrics to “Sweat”: should “swear”, be “sweat”?
Pg. 287 there's a rogue period
Pg 318 the quiz is missing arrows from the second answers to the third questions and the final answer “take the lead” doesn’t have an arrow to anywhere.
Pg 344 rogue period after “total”
Also, on the ARC copy as noted above, there is a significant grammatical error on the cover: Britney Spear’s should be Britney Spears’.

This is a book I read based on Twitter recommendations and I devoured it! It is some of the best writing I have read this year, I had to read it in one day as I was desparate to find out what happened. Amber is a teenager about to enter womanhood and this book goes on that journey with her - how much do other people's opinions of her matter? it's fierce, emotional and heart felt - a definite 5 stars from me.

I have mixed feelings about Honey. The throwback to the late '90s and early '00s was enjoyable, but the storyline itself didn't captivate me as I had hoped. Ultimately, it just didn't resonate with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Comparing any book to Daisy Jones and The Six is a dangerous game as it’s unlikely it’ll live up to it and sadly Honey was a miss for me.

I wanted to love it, a story about a teenage pop sensation in the late 90’s/early noughties seems like something right up my street but unfortunately Honey didn’t live up to the hype for me.

Honey follows Amber Young, a Britney/Christina-esque singer that is thrust into the spotlight and is surrounded by men who have nothing but bad intentions towards her. The only saving grace is her best friend (and fellow pop star) Gwen but that relationship hits the rocks when Amber decides to sleep with Gwen’s ‘boyfriend.’

It was an easy read that I got through quickly but I just wasn’t rooting for Amber to be honest, I think Gwen was a much more interesting character and I would’ve rather read her story.

I also found the song lyrics in the book cringey and unnecessary (this is a pet hate of mine!)

Following the Britney memoir, Honey feels claustrophobic and right on the edge os seedy with the pitch perfect pop culture references,and too close to the truth. It has been compared to Daisy Jones but the uncovering of the history in a linear first person perspective feels closer to Evelyn Hugo to me, and I was pushing on despite the creeping unease of this reading experience as Amber's rise to fame (or more accurately, her endless pursuit of acceptance and love) is chronicled like an never ending merry go round. I don't know I enjoyed it about half way through because the constant male gaze made my skin crawl, however realistic it is, but I just couldn't stop reading it. And I am so glad I didn't, for the euphoria of Amber discovering her autonomy and voice finally eclipses the visceral references to desire for a thoroughly satisfying ending.

This book is so enthralling from the beginning to the end. The main character Amber was so likeable and her journey from a nobody to a superstar was well chronicled. Her love interests were described beautifully and just how a young girl would feel. The supporting characters all had a part to play in the book without taking over the storyline. I particularly loved the ending which was years later - a proper epilogue!

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book a lot and very nearly gave it the full four stars. It's a shiny, fun, sometimes deep story about teen pop stars in the 90's/2000's. The characters are familiar if you lived through those times and there was a nostalgic air about the writing, for sure. There are male and female characters in the main story although it focuses on the females. They certainly get treated differently to the male stars and all the positions of power are held by middle-aged men. Mistreatment, and the pressure of fame at such a young age, are key themes in the book...and this is what led to my ultimate decision to not give four stars.
I felt that there were some punches pulled and that there were things left unexplored in the relationships that female stars have with their management teams, other stars, the media, and the fans. In this time of oversexualising young women and pitting them against each other, the public generally accepted it and didn't really question whether it was right or not - it was just part of the machine. I was definitely a part of that, devouring gossip magazines that had 'circle of shame' articles to call out less than flattering pictures, and salacious stories about fights/hook-ups. I think that more could have been written about how these things play out from the inside, but I appreciate that would have made for a much darker book.
The central coming of age theme is brilliantly written and rings true in terms of universal things that girls go through as they grow up and try to figure out who they are as opposed to who everyone is telling them they should be - in Amber and her friends case, it's literally everyone whereas non-famous girls just have to contend with their parents, peers, and magazines.

Took me straight back to the 90s and early 00s right back to being a little girl who idolised all the pop princesses like our lord and saviour Miss Britney Spears. Loved the inclusion of song lyrics, Wikipedia etc etc. It didn’t grip my attention from start to finish but it’s definitely an enjoyable read!

As someone who was growing up in the nineties, this took me right back and I loved it.

This was a quick, easy read and the author did a great job of capturing the 90s cultural references of the time.

The book is a work of fiction that reads like an autobiography and it so much more of an addictive read as a result of it.

I liked the reflection of media attention on young popstars at the time and just how damaging and impactful this could be.

I enjoyed reading about Amber as a character.

This was the perfect nostalgic throwback and I could not put it down

There was much about this I enjoyed, the treatment of women in media, the push in certain areas to pit women against women. At times I struggled to empathise with characters but overall this was decent read. (Copy received via Netgalley in return for an honest review).

I was really intrigued by the premise of Honey, not least because it is set in my era. The late 1990s and early 2000s was a period where I was just getting into music myself and Isabel Banta does an absolutely sterling job of recreating this time, particularly the pressure on popstars to look and behave in a certain way. As a young person, I may not have always recognised this, and I found it interesting to look back on these times in a different light.

Honey is told in the first person by Amber, and this gives the reader plenty of opportunity to get to know her and understand the way she is thinking and feeling at different points in her journey. I often felt sorry for her, and I ultimately wanted her to be happy. She's surrounded by some interesting characters, especially Gwen, Wes, Axel and Sonny, who all play an important part in her life and despite never hearing directly from their point of view, Isabel Banta gives us a good idea of what they are like, which helps us to sympathise (or not) with them and understand their motives.

I also loved the song lyrics, Wikipedia entries, magazine articles and quizzes which broke up the main text. These are absolutely spot on as I remember them and really helped to create the atmosphere of the time in the novel.

Isabel Banta is a debut author and I look forward to seeing what she does next!

At first I thought this was going to be another 'girl becoming famous and getting exploited' narrative but the author takes it in a much more subtle direction. I loved how Amber gradually gains self awareness and uses it to push her career in a different direction. The friendship between her and Gwen feels messy and real. I've read so many books where the female protagonist is punished for stepping outside her box so this was a refreshing telling. Interested to see where Isabel Banta goes next.

Honey takes you back to the late 1990’s and early 2000s when a multitude of strong female vocalists filled the pop charts - Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are the names we remember as they challenged strait laced thinking with their carnality and tight, skimpy outfits and songs filled with sexual innuendo and references.

Yet, the challenge and sexuality brought by these young women and girls was for the majority controlled by white, middle class men of a certain age who ran and owned the record labels and industry. They pulled the levers, and the young women were often left to negotiate their own way through the maelstrom of fans and notoriety.

Honey is most definitely a coming of age and growth story, it explores that experience, not the predictable and known ‘Me Too’ theme but, the themes of being plucked from obscurity, of self-belief, of finding yourself and your voice, of friendship, of love, all amidst an industry that profits from sex and sexuality that judges and condemns the young women charting their way through it.

Amber is a teenager, desperate for love, affection, attention and approval. Abandoned by her father at a young age, she wants to be loved and wanted. And for her, the only route is her voice, and like many she sees fame and the music industry as the answer and the prayer.

Amber isn’t alone in her desperate desire for fame and success, and this is clear throughout the book but, what is special are the relationships and friendships she cultivates on her journey, in particular her friendship with her supposed Pop rival Gwen.

Honey is a great beach read, it will take you back to the heady Pop days of the 90’s and Noughties. You will want to listen to the bubblegum pop of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and maybe even the Spice Girls while you read and are transported to the heady and wild world of the famous and notorious!

Thanks to Bonnier Books, Zaffre and NetGalley for the arc of Honey by Isabel Banta in exchange for my honest and sincere review.

This book fell a little flat for me, unfortunately. Which is a shame, because I was so ready to love it.

‘Honey’ follows Amber Young, a young girl from New Jersey, who’s navigating the teen pop music scene during the late 90s-early 00s, as her career takes off.

I think this book did a great job of capturing that time period, and understanding what it must of been like to of been a teen icon at the time. These sort of teen stars tend to be the subject of deep fascination for many, including myself, so it was interesting to peel back the curtain and see the reality of what it might of been like inside of that fame maelstrom. The boybands with their gelled hair, the pressure on the girls to fit into a category of either being sexy or virgin-like so that they can be ‘marketed’, the gaping maw of the media ready to pounce onto any wrong move, and the strangely detached way that these young stars lived while so fully under the microscope of the world.

However, I just didn’t find myself very inclined to like any of the characters, and by the last 100 pages I was quite checked out. I didn’t find the story to be at all engaging anymore, not like it had in the first half of the book, and my attention kept wavering away from the page. I’d had my fill.

I did like the inclusion of song lyrics, Wikipedia pages, magazine and radio interviews ect.

Overall fun, and compelling, but, ultimately, despite brushing up against heavier topics, lacking the depth I was hoping for. However, if you grew up during the Britney/Christina/NSYNC era, the nostalgia alone might be enough to keep you entertained and engaged throughout the story.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the copy to review.

I DNF Honey at 10%. I guess I went into Honey with some preconceptions: Daisy and the Six, Almost Famous, Britney Spears' Memoir. It just wasn't what I expected. It felt like a Young Adult book rather than an adult fiction. I found myself flicking forward to understand how the story was going to pan out really early in my reading and felt the story was flat and didn't peak my interest.

I'm sure others will love this book, but as a women who was a teenager in the 90s it didn't give me what I was looking for.