I've read a couple of Dawn's books before and had very different reactions, one I only got a few chapters through and one Cat Lady, that I devoured and recommended to everyone and even bought copies for friends, so I was excited and nervous to read Honeybee.

I hadn't realised that this was a book that had characters from others, but that didn't stop any enjoyment or plot development and so woks as a stand alone, but I am definitely going to go back and read the others. (I might even give the old dnf one a go!)

This was a read and like Cat Lady, once I started I couldn't put it down. I love Dawn's writing and so glad I didn't judge her style on one book, because I'm now a true fan!

Another fantastic book by Dawn O’Porter. After reading and loving Cat Lady, I knew I had to request this book as soon as I saw it. I was not disappointed.

I adore how Dawn’s books feel so really and they really make you feel real emotions. This was a fantastic book of friendship and the struggles of your early 20s, trying to navigate life without proper structure for the first time and the many, not always right, choices we make.

Flo and Renee were written so well. I loved the contrast between the two and the different struggles that they both faced. This book really made me feel and I resonated with it in places, as it brought back memories of my early twenties.

I will definitely recommend this book.

Former best friends Renée and Flo, estranged for years after a terrible argument, find themselves thrown back together when Flo moves back to Guernsey, the Channel Island where they both grew up. Floundering in their careers and love lives, both women are feeling like adulthood isn't all that they dreamed it would be.

I'll caveat this review by saying that I haven't read Paper Aeroplanes, the 2013 book in which author Dawn O'Porter first introduced the characters of Renée and Flo as fifteen-year-old schoolgirls, so I didn't come to Honeybee pre-invested in their friendship or their individual stories. Perhaps if I had, I would've been more charmed by Renée's shtick (I think we're meant to find her delightfully irreverent but she just comes across as rude and unprofessional.) Furthermore, it's been sixteen years since I was 22, but I don't remember being so utterly childish and helpless as these two; I spent the whole book impatient for them to grow up and start making more sensible choices.

Some of the minor characters - such as Lilian, the standoffish old lady who lives below Renée and Flo, and Renée's Aunty Jo, who acts as her safety net and moral compass, and the protagonists' interactions with them are a welcome reprieve from tales of ill-advised sexual encounters and nights out which culminate in getting black-out drunk. Maybe I'm just too old for reading about these antics! I particularly disliked the portrayal of Renée's dalliance with her married boss, Ben, and the side of her character it emphasised. The whole storyline felt incredibly tired and unrealistic. Another thing I found odd - and which made the novel seem like it was written in 2001, not just set then - was the way in which every female character is introduced with a run-down of her physical appearance, including approximate dress size!

What does really shine through the narrative is O'Porter's love for the island she grew up on, and the love and admiration she feels for her own aunt who raised her after her mother's death. It is clear that O'Porter has poured a lot of herself into Renée's character in particular, and the interludes in which she is sharing tender moments with Aunt Jo, or cycling around the beautiful island, are where the character really shines. It was nice too to see a character struggling with the physical and emotional effects of menopause, something which doesn't feature in many novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really like Dawn O'Porter's tone when she writes and how she focuses on women's stories and covers topical issues with sensitivity and charm. Honeybee was no different, as it is all about the friendship between Flo and Renee, childhood friends who find that adult life isn't turning out quite how they envisioned.

So on that note, I only discovered while reading this that Honeybee was actually the third book about Flo and Renee, as while I have read previous Dawn books such as Cat Lady and So Lucky, I haven't read any that feature these characters, so do feel like I would have invested more in Honeybee if I'd read the previous books and knew more of their back stories.

That said, Honeybee worked as a standalone novel too. I zipped through it as I always do with Dawn's books thank to her chatty, informal writing style, plus the blend of funny and touching moments.

Revisiting Flo and Renee was the epitome of a warm hug in a book. I absolutely loved Paper Aeroplanes and Goose. They are stories that focus on two of my favourite themes – female friendship and coming of age. Add bit dollop of 90s nostalgia and I swear it is like catnip for me.
Honeybee gives you the chance to see these two girls – now young women – tackling the greater challenge of adulthood in a world that so vastly changed in five years.

One thing that was comforting about reading this book was that the challenges and tribulations of Flo and Renee were so relatable. I can look back at my own time as a woman in my early twenties and trying to figure out what it meant to be an adult whilst also thinking “Is this it? It’s a bit sh*t really, isn’t it?”

It is this heart and this relatability which makes me return to Dawn O’Porter time after time. She is my pre-order author and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Honeybee by Dawn O’Porter is available now.

I wanted to like this book very much as I love Dawn. Admittedly I knew it was related to paper aeroplanes and goose but hadn’t read them. I think perhaps my enjoyment was stifled as a result.
I didn’t know flo and Renee and found it hard to sympathise with them. Renee and Ben’s relationship I found frustrating and admittedly being 20 something years older than them it took some going remembering the brain of an early twenties girl.
I did enjoy it and I think will go back and read the others then try this one again.
Thanks to netgalley and publishers for an ARC of this book

I didn’t realise this book was third in a series and I think I would’ve enjoyed it more and got more out of it had I known and read the other two books first.

Honey Bee follows Renee and Flo, former best friends who are now both back living on the same island they grew up on.

It’s a sweet story about female friendship with a mix of poignant and laugh out loud moments, but like I said I think I would’ve enjoyed it more had I read the two other books.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. The book focuses on female friends Renne and Flo who are desperately trying to navigate life but have so many problems along the way. They embark on life’s journey with a multitude of disasters waiting for them but their friendship and tenacity pulls them through together. An uplifting story about female solidarity and the power of friendship. Highly recommended.

The third in this series, it is probably best read after the predecessors, but apparently can be read as a standalone.
There are some heavy themes, such as mental health issues and alcohol abuse, but O'Porter's trademark witty style stops this from being a heavy novel overall. The friendship between Renee and Flo is engaging, but sometimes I felt that the character I was reading was not gelling with the age/description that the character was supposed to be. Overall, it's a good read, and fans of her work should love it.

Coming-of-age for O'Porter's teen BFFs

Reading this without any knowledge of Porter's teen novel featuring the same characters, still I was entertained by how the young women worked to reignite their relationship, as well as by the author's familiar portrait of Guernsey.

Islands are funny places, wholly themselves but always comparing themselves to the nearest mainland. And so it is for Renée, whose young adult dream of becoming a writer has gone nowhere (yet) and she's forced to return to Guernsey, to find somewhere to live and to find a job.

Cue her best friend Flo, professional woman, head screwed on right, her own flat, her place in society going exactly where she wants it to. Until Renée re-enters her life as a flatmate and a workmate, and the chaos that René accepts begins to loosen Flo's control.

I can see what O'Porter is reaching for here, even without any knowledge of the previous chapters: dreams meet the real world and the real world always wins. But Renée's impulsive and, let's face it, selfish behaviour isn't redeemed by any charm or kindness; and this makes Flo's slow descent into her own pain even darker, perhaps too dark for this book.

However, I don't think I'm the audience for this. I give it four stars as I think O'Porter really does knows her audience and she gives a moment of crisis to a pair of still formative characters, and I feel that there's more to come.

Four stars, for the right audience!

The plot was ok but I found both main characters quite annoying and hard to sympathise with. I did identify with the portrait of growing up on a small island and it was sometimes funny. Not as good as some of her other books.

Honeybee - Dawn O'Porter

Having read all of Dawn O'Porters previous books I was super excited to get stuck into Honeybee. I really liked the back and forth chapters of friends Renée and Flo, I thought their relationship was really engaging and interesting. I liked how the author touched onto some tricky topics, I always feel she does this with compassion and a very real essence. I personally didn't warm to the two main characters as much as I have with characters in other books by this author but I felt this did not matter in terms of my enjoyment. Many thanks Harper Collins UK for the e-arc in return for my honest thoughts and opinions

The story of friendship, life and everything in between!. Set on the island of Guernsey. Flo and Renee are school friends trying to find their feet. Both with their own struggles/demons, they are the best of friends but at the same time alone in their struggles until a moment in time brings a different perspective for each of them. So many laugh out loud moments interwoven through the serious topics of alcoholism, menopause and grief.

For best friends Renée and Flo, adulthood isn’t the party they expected. Renée’s dreams of being a writer are going nowhere. Flo’s hiding a secret shame. They’re both failing in work and love. Why did nobody warn them? Why does adulthood feel less like freedom, and more like a trap? They both want to live their best lives and maybe that's by them sticking together.

Before diving into my review, something to be aware of is this is a third book in a series, which going into this I had absolutely no idea about. I feel like you are given enough information to piece everything together so it can be read as a standalone, so thanks to that it didn't feel like my reading experience was impacted.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I really enjoyed it but on the other hand, I feel like not very much happened with the plot. When there were things happening, I felt a bit confused about what was going on and how we got from the start to the end. I feel like it was more of a tell than show, especially as there would be characters who would be made out to be awful one minute and then the next minute, they're redeemed and they're actually not so awful after all. The issue is you don't get to see this transformation of the character developing, it just happens, which makes a weird disconnect that affects the flow of the book. I had a weird relationship with the main characters - I didn't really like them - there were parts that I liked, but other parts that I disliked. I felt like there was a disconnect when it came to their ages and how they behaved as Renée and Flo didn't feel like they were 22 years old. They felt a bit like they were being stereotyped into what your 20s are 'supposed' to look like. I'm not much older than them and they just came across as so immature, which began to annoy me. There was nothing drawing me to these characters as I didn't find them relatable and I hate how the one of the MMC was made out to be this perfect man as it felt like he was being put on a pedestal, which I wasn't a fan of as he had a lot of faults.

I liked and disliked the writing style of this book because there were parts I had an issue with. If you are somebody that struggles with weight and food, I would advise you check trigger warnings to make a decision about whether it is the book for you as I found it quite triggering at times. This is one of the reasons why I was debating DNF'ing as I had no idea about this going into the book and I think it's information people need to be aware of before diving into this book. I don't feel like the serious topics that were discussed within this book were handled very well. I feel like Dawn tries to make them humorous, whilst almost coming across a bit tone deaf and insensitive to the struggles that people go through.

I feel like I could somewhat picture parts of the book and how it would look loosely but I feel the writing wasn't as descriptive which would make you immersed in the story so that you can picture the events unfolding. I feel like certain parts of the book in terms of atmosphere were stronger, for example when they went to London.

I'll be honest, I feel like I could have DNF'd this book and I wouldn't have missed out on much which is such a shame as I really love Dawn's books but this one was just not for me. I would still recommend people checking it out as just because I didn't love, doesn't mean that it can't be someone else's favourite book.

Thank you HarperFiction and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, in exchange for an honest review.

⚠️ CWs: cursing, death of a parent, alcohol use, mental illness, derogatory language, cheating, comments on weight/food/people's bodies, body checking, racism, person with alcohol use disorder, death; mentions microaggressions, dieting, classism, colonisation, terrorism, sexism, male genitalia, terminal illness, vomiting, car accident, sex, infertility issues, ⚠️

This was such a great read and the warmth and interweaved stories is Dawn's strength as well as the surprising funny bits too.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the chance to read this book.

Having read previous books by the author I was looking forward to this one and it didn’t disappoint. The book follows the friendship of the two main characters coming back together after years of no contact and not being part of each others life.
It shows that you will have each others back but sometimes it can be hard to see that.

First off, I have to say, I absolutely love the cover of this book—it might just be my favorite of the year! Now, onto the book itself. After reading Cat Lady, I had such high hopes for this one, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. This might be because I haven’t read the two previous books in the series, so I struggled to connect with the characters and found them a bit annoying at times. That said, I can definitely see how others will enjoy this book, and Dawn’s signature wit still shines through. Overall, it was a decent read—just my least favorite from Dawn so far.

Having previously enjoyed O'Porter's books, I had high hopes for this. Maybe I'm just too old for this but I found sections crude rather than amusing!

Trials and Tribulations…
Character driven tale of the bonds of friendship and sisterhood in all their glory, complexities and nuances and relayed with empathy, care and tenderness. Very little is off limits, as the well worn path along the trials and tribulations of adulthood is trodden and all the while laced with a gentle and steady thread of ever present humour.

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of Honeybee.

The follow on to YA novels by the same author, this book follows two 22-year-olds navigating the change from teenage childhood to adulthood.
Great story and writing from Dawn O'Porter. This is my first book to read by her, but I will be putting more of her books on my TBR.
3.5stars rounded up.