Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan
Fiction, Mystery Thriller, 464 pages
Published October 4, 2022 by Ballantine
A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind.
Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.
Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.
And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .
Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.
Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.
My thoughts about Mad Honey ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"From the moment I knew I was having a baby, I wanted it to be a girl."
Jodi Picoult is one of those authors that I will just read, no matter what she publishes. So I basically went into this book not really knowing anything about it. Like all of her stories, there are lessons to be learned and I learned a lot about the lives and work of the honey bee. But then the story took a turn that I didn't see coming and I learned so much more about another topic that I know little about.
Ms. Picoult's books always make me see facts of life around me that I need to better understand, all while wrapping it around a wonderful story with amazing characters. The teenage lives of Lily and Asher are full of fun, love, and teenage drama—times two. And then things take a turn for the worse, when Lilly ends up dead. Asher's life changes in a second!
I found myself totally engrossed with the storyline and the lives of Lily and Asher, as well learning so much about bees on the side. There is plenty of drama, suspense, and love in Mad Honey to satisfy everyone.
I highly recommend Mad Honey, for a story that will open reader's minds to so much that is going on the world, from bees to what some teenagers are dealing with today.
I received a copy of Mad Honey from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight novels, including Wish You Were Here, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.
Mad Honey, her new novel co-authored with Jennifer Finney Boylan, is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio on October 4, 2022.
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Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of sixteen books, including Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs. Since 2008 she has been a contributing opinion writer for op/ed page of the New York Times; her column appears on alternate Wednesdays. A member of the board of trustees of PEN America, Jenny was also the chair of the board of GLAAD for many years. She is currently the Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence and Professor of English at Barnard College of Columbia University.
Jenny is a well known advocate for human rights. She has appeared five times on the Oprah Winfrey Show and has also been a guest or a commentator on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and The Today Show. She is also a member of the faculty of the Breadloaf Writers' Conference of Middlebury College as well as Sirenland, in Positano, Italy.
She lives in Maine with her wife Deirdre. They have two children.
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