This was a strange read in which we learn about the MC, Jane, and how she works for a telemarketing company, and is constantly calling one specific customer over and over again. Pretending to be someone else each time she calls, but still effectively driving the man on the other side of the phone to become increasingly agitated as the story goes on.

Jane does not have a great POV to read from. Her life generally sucks. She’s a compulsive liar who has no friends, a drug issue that presents its own sub-list of issues, and a past that doesn’t really come to light till later in the book. I really just felt like she ruined the lives of everyone around her, and honestly didn’t really feel like the story was funny at all. Just really sad because it feels like such a common thread for so many people. There is a slight twist with regards to why she continues to call the same “customer” over and over again, but the knightly reasons that started it were not justified by the despicable person she was herself. And in the end, she ends up hurting the people she was half-assedly fighting for anyway. The ending was only slightly surprising, but even after learning what the “customer” did to gain Jane’s wrath, his comeuppance was way more than what he deserved, and I actually felt like the whole world would’ve benefited from a reversal of the roles we see at the very tale end of the story.

I’m still glad I read the story, and did enjoy it for the darkness that it was, but probably wouldn’t recommend it because I don’t know many people that would truly enjoy reading about this girl’s dumpster dive of a life.

I received this story from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing, succinct and melancholic concoction of a read - loved it!

Maybe it helps that I have a friend who is somewhat of a drug addict who works in market research in Ottawa, but throughout reading this entire story I just pictured every scene so vividly. I absolutely loved everything about it. I think because it was short it was even better, because it really...packed a punch. I could feel exactly what the character feels when she is so down/hating herself, and all she can do is bring on more hate, it's a hard habit to break, and very real for me.

An absolutely provoking, unhinged and uncompromising story on mental illness.

It is loosely centred around the main character's soul-crushing (verified through my own personal experience) job in a call centre and the unapologetic 'fun' she tries to derive from it. It also highlights the callous treatment of those with mental illness by the professionals apparently set to 'fix' them which I feel is often missing from books of this nature.

The MC is gripping, impossibly flawed yet in utter self-denial that I couldn't help falling under her spell and having a reluctant affinity with some of her actions and thoughts.

I loved this strange book and because of this it had me (halfheartedly) questioning my decency as a human. There is nothing funny about another being's self-destruction YET their were numerous times I found myself unable to hold back a chuckle. This is a testament to the electric writing which is dark, sardonic and witty. I could visualise everything so clearly in this book that it was as though I were watching a movie. In fact Rooney Mara was whom I cast as the MC!

Great book but not for the light/sensitive hearted.

Wow! This was a highly readable, surprising story. What started out quirky and darkly funny took a sharp turn. I couldn't put this down. I am anxious to read more of this author.

Emily R. Austin's Oh, Honey sounds like a funny book. Jane is a telemarketer, calling strangers all day to ask them to participate in a survey about feline diabetes. Of course, most people hang up on her. To entertain herself, she uses different names on every call, including on multiple calls a day to the same customer. Over and over she calls him, while he gets angrier and angrier.


But Jane's no fun-loving, pranking telemarketer. She's a drug addicted, sexually reckless, troubled young lady with a depressing past. Oh, Honey is not as depressing as Jane's life, but it's pretty close. She will try whatever drugs her co-worker or her roommate's girlfriend puts in front of her. She habitually cuts patterns on her skin; she likes the feeling of bleeding. She sits in the tub, watching the water turn pink.


The humor of Oh, Honey is dark and troubling. It's hard to laugh at Jane's self-destructive lifestyle. I didn't enjoy Oh, Honey and wouldn't recommend it.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

A "post it" with a phone number and hearts is affixed to a cubicle. She will make this call at least eleven times a day. This number is the man who vehemently hates her. She is the telemarketer named Jane. Or is she?

WOW!

Oh, Honey is a laugh out loud at times albeit dark short story. Recounted in the present day Jane, a drug popping telemarketer narrates her story. She is on probation for possession and has regular meetings with her officer. And Jane knows how to push people's buttons. Especially, one client's phone number. But suddenly, the roles are reversed, and someone is playing her at her own game. The author takes us down a twisty path that has no good outcome.

The characters in Oh Honey evoke many emotional reactions for the reader. They are three-dimensional and cringeworthy. Jane is witty and sarcastic and a spin master. She is also an unreliable story teller. Each time she makes a phone call, she is someone else. Belle. Ariel. Pocahontas. Or the ladies in Jane Austin's Emma. She is on lithium, a cutter, and living life on the edge. She is in constant suicidal rumination about her death. About midway in the narrative, we get a deeper insight into a child's life in poverty buttressed with a mother's abuse and neglect.

Central to Jane's life are her three friends. The conspiracist and roommate Keats. Ivy, Keat's loquacious girlfriend. And Frank, the pen coveting, and thieving artist. All these characters are so insanely simple and yet unpredictable. Except they may be her only salvation.

Oh, Honey gives you a glimpse into an unmotivated young adult's struggle with bipolar disorder and drug abuse. It is dark and frightening as Jane always seems to find the edge of the cliff.

The brief description of the book is vague and perhaps on purpose. It was not what I expected. I started reading this book in the morning and finished it by the afternoon. Gritty and awesome. In this well-written narrative, I laughed and felt morose all on the same page over and over.

For a quick, powerful and unconventional novel that will make you sit there and wonder what you just read, Oh Honey is your book! Highly recommend. Eh?

Thank you, NetGalley and Holland House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.