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.

Honeybee by Dawn O’ Porter @harpercollinsuk a NetGalley review. Renee and Flo are best friends in search of how you become an adults and whereas an adult you fit in the world. Flo is still grieving for a her dad and Renee is lost in world where she’s trying to find her true self. I love this authors books, @hotpatooties is always great at blending tough subjects with comedy and this book is no exception. This story see addiction, grief and perimenopause and menopause being discussed, around a coming of age story, with that light hearted mix of comedy. The author s writing is like a breath of fresh air as she talks about these subjects with an honesty and rawness and as always never shys away from such subjects and because of that honesty the characters she writes about feel real, like someone you may know and about subjects you can relate to. Flo is vulnerable, she’s lost in a family that hasn’t really talked about the events around her fathers death, yet she’s brave and intelligent and incredibly focused but just needs to know in many ways that she is loved by her mum. Renee is vivacious, on the outside she is confident and fun yet again she is vulnerable, trying to transition from being a teenager to an adult, expecting adulthood to click in automatically with all the dreams you thought would come true when you were a child. Renee thinks she should be one thing but surprises herself when she finds the person she’s comfortable with. Yet Renee is so much stronger than she thinks and is adulting before she even knows it. As well as being incredibly funny this book has its rude naughty side and its serious side and this is what makes it an enjoyable read, laughing one minute and reaching for the tissues the next but because of the way it’s written it’s more of a laugh out loud read. The only thing for me is that I wish that was perhaps more from certain stories in the book, for example more from Renee’s auntie Jo and what she was going through and perhaps more from Flo and getting over what she was going through (without giving anything away), in many ways it ended to soon. I will definitely recommend this to family and friends and it’s a easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me 📚

I found this a difficult review to write as, although I quite enjoyed the book, I wish I had known it was the third in a series, I found it a challenging stand alone.

The book centres around two young friends; Flo and Renee, who meet back in their hometown of Guernsey after not speaking for quite some time.

Renee dreams of becoming a writer, but, her dream isn’t progressing and Flo has a secret…

It’s well written and I think had I read the earlier books in the series and/or I was a female in my 20’s reading it, I’d have enjoyed it more. As it was I found the young characters frustrating and irritating at times, but, I was saved by the elderly neighbour, Lillian.

Overall, it’s a good, easy, funny, well written read. I’d just recommend the others in the series first.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to preview and I wish the author every success as I believe this will have a wide audience.

This was a very easy & enjoyable enough read about friendship, grief & loss. About finding yourself & learning from your mistakes while navigating adulthood.
I will be honest though I could not relate to either Renee or Flo and found them quiet frustrating, I did like the older women though.
Overall an enjoyable just not really for me.

A cute coming of age read focused mainly on the friendship between Flo and Renee. The book also gave a good feel of the island of Guernsey.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Honeybee by Dawn is a story about two 22 year old friends Renne and Flo who were raised on the Island of Guernsey though the friendship drifted apart as they left the Island.
.
However for different reasons they have both come back to Guernsey to live and hope to spend the summer of 2001 together and become adults.


For those of you who don’t realise this Honeybee is a follow up book to Paper Aeroplanes and Goose!. Although I have seen some reviews saying it should be stated that the books are connected and it should be advertised as such.

As a reader who has not read the previous books which I am not the target market for, I can see why they did it. So this is a review by someone who has not read the previous books.

Of the two leading Characters Flo and Renee, while it took me time to get to know them, it was daily easy to work out whose perspective the story was being told from most of the time.

With each character having their own definitive story line, which allows readers to get to know them.

At this point I need to add that the story does deal with a number of issues such as the death of a parent (in an historical sense) and addiction.

While none of these subjects are done in a way for shock value and are treated with care with the addiction one being very profound.

Another Joy of the novel was the Friendship between Flo and Renne. Some of the scenes were very funny and did make me laugh out loud.

The story is set in 2001 when the main characters are 22 and the major event 9/11 brings the climax to the novel. Showing how this event even had an effect on a small Island.

There are times when novels use major historical events as a backdrop to the novel which fails to have the impact the novelist helps.

But in this Dawn O’Porter used the event as a key point to the story where everything changes.

All in all, while Honeybee by Dawn O’Porter may not be an all time classic it is still a great story of friendship and change.

For best friends Renée and Flo adulthood isn't all it's cracked up to be. They soon discover that sticking together is the key to living their best lives. An easy read with enjoyable characters.

I had no idea this was a third instalment to an established series!

I’ve read Dawn O’Porter’s other works but haven’t made it to Paper Aeroplanes.

Luckily, you can get stuck into this one without the context of the other two books and no trouble following the history between Renée and Flo.

It captured the strange in between of finishing university and suddenly trying to juggle still being young but having to now be an ‘adult’.
As well as touching on a lot of other very tough subjects.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.
3/5 ⭐

As my first book by Dawn O’Porter, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’m not sure if I was the target audience. That being said it was an easy read, and I did enjoy being transported into the lives of Renee and Flo who in their early 20s have just returned to the island of Guernsey form which they both seem to want to escape. To say their lives are a little messy and that they get themselves into a few scrapes would be an understatement. I love the older women in the novel - perhaps because I have more in common with them -who are dealing with their own problems of menopause and grief. Overall an enjoyable read and I’ll be looking for other books from this author. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

This book was an interesting book about friendship and loss grief. It has good pace and flow. I would recommend.