Underwhelmed by the lack of storyline and character development.

This is the story of Grace Porter, a mixed race 29 year old lesbian (Black father in the military and white, bohemian mother). She lives in Portland with her very strict father; she went against his wishes bny studying astronomy instead of medicine. She still still ends up with a PhD but she feels like she let her father down. She wasn't able to make him proud of her.

We are following this Honey girl character and her acceptance of not following the path her father set up in his mind for her. Her pursuit of purpose. She struggles with her relationships, with her choice of a professional path, with who she is. Does her mom in Florida still cares for her. Does this mystery female she marries by accident on a celebratory night in Vegas really exist? Who is she? Should she look for her and touch base? Or should she annul the marriage?

I did not connect with any single character as I felt like all remained quite stereotypical with little depth. I also wasn't able to put myself in Grace's shoes, understand her and empathize for her. Her friendships were a little "too much" for adult women, not realistic. I felt that there was too much hoopla for nothing , really. I expected so much more out of this book.

Thank you Net Galley and Wednesday Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

this was immaculate.

From page one I knew I was going to love this book. This book is a love story for those of us who are struggling to figure our shit out–who feel lost, and lonely, and unsure of the things in our lives we can't control. Don't go into this story expecting a light and fluffy romance because it's not that. This is a story for those of us muddling our way through our twenties during a global pandemic where nothing feels concrete. I had to put this book down several times because it left me feeling so exposed and vulnerable but in the best ways.

Welcome ! As always a disclaimer: My thoughts are my own and the ARC in no way affected my opinion.

TW: mental health, self-harm, homophobia, racism.

NOW the good stuff ! This book is about found families, love and acceptance of one's-self. When I read the blurb for this book I was automatically intrigued, it sounded just right up my alley. It is after all Queer and if that is not something I look for into books, I don't know what is. As a bisexual woman myself, I love good representation, I love when we get amazing books with a sweet queer romance that makes me feel things and this made me feel for the characters and what was happening to them. I related to our main character, the dilemmas that come with having an immigrant family (my mother's side of the family) and the struggles that come with that when being Queer.

I loved getting that funny, charming and yet deeply touching tale of two women getting drunk in Vegas and getting married without knowing one another. This book had the perfect mix of angst, funny and romance. It is about being true to yourselves and becoming who you were meant to be. While the romance is a big part of the book it is not the main focus, the true subject of this book is Grace, a brilliant black lesbian woman with a PHD in astrology who is finding herself and finally allowing herself to be happy.
The author approached the delicate subjects she touched on in such an organic way, Grace's anxiety, her struggles and her growth as a person through the book felt natural. I loved the character development and story telling were the true strengths of this novel. the author has a wonderful way with words. Do I want to re-read this book and own it as a physical copy; YES. Do I wish the author would sign a copy YES YES YES.

I loved this book, this is a new favorite and a read that will stay with me long after having finished it. I cannot wait to read the next books this author will be writing.

5/5 stars

Bookarina

After completing her PhD in astronomy, Grace Porter goes on a girl's trip to Vegas, where she drunkenly marries a woman whose name she doesn't know. Having grown up with a strict ex-military father, she doesn't know how to do anything but focus on work/school/career. Being black and queer works against her in the job market and she is left feeling lost and without direction. Visiting New York, she escapes all her worries while falling in love with her poetic and beautiful wife Yuki Yamamoto. When reality hits, she has to face her fears and worries head on.

What a beautiful read. This book shared so many unique perspectives, and did a wonderful job of portraying that strange time that most of us face once we're choosing/finished whatever form of education and have to make a career or life choice for the future. It can be intimidating and scary, and there can be a lot of external pressure and expectations. It can feel overwhelming at times.

I am in awe of Grace's community, there is so much love; from her family, her friends and her wife. She has 2 best friends and her employers are like family; they all support her above and beyond what one would expect. Yuki is so poetic and I love how she speaks about Grace.

This is supposed to be a romance but it's so much more than that. I recommend it for anyone who's looking for a read that is different than the usual.

CW: self harm

Thank you to Park Row Books & NetGalley for the eGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

>>3.5/5★<<

"I know who I am, but who are you? I woke up during the sunrise, and your hair and your skin and the freckles on your nose glowed like gold. Honey-gold. I think you are my wife, and I will call you Honey Girl."

And so begins the sapphic romance between Grace Porter and Yuki Yamamoto; two lonely souls who found each other in the desert. Grace and her two roommates and best friends, Ximena and Agnes, are on a mini vacation in Las Vegas to celebrate Grace's PhD in Astronomy. On their last night in the city Grace meets a girl with rose-pink cheeks and pitch-black hair. When she wakes up the following morning in her Las Vegas hotel room she finds a photo, a business card, and a note on the bed next to her. These are the only items she has connecting her to the woman she drunk-married the night before. She doesn't remember her name but she can't forget how the beautiful girl made her feel. With only these memento's and snippets of a champagne-bubble dream, Grace and her girlfriends get on a plane and fly back to Portland, Oregon, where Grace must once again face her stark reality. The only thing Grace knows for certain is that she doesn't want to give up her wife, whoever she is, or the connection they inexplicably have.

I'll admit that this book started out on a bit of a bumpy course for me. The story felt a little disjointed and the prose didn't seem to flow well. Dialogue didn't smoothly segue into thought. Unfortunately when I read a book that starts out this way I have a hard time deciphering whether it's the book or just me. I also felt the pacing was a little off with the first 40% of the book following Grace and her friends from day to day and then in the second half there were quite a few time jumps. This was necessary for the progression of the story but the book would have benefitted from a more consistent timeline. All in all these are pretty minor infractions. Where the book really shines is in the characters and their growth throughout the story.

Grace's mother lives in Southbury, Florida where Grace grew up among the trees in their orange grove. Grace's father, the Colonel, took Grace and moved to Portland when she was quite young. Growing up in an unfamiliar city with only her father and lovely stepmother, Sharone, Grace slowly built her own family- an eclectic group of colorful humans that love and support one another above all else. Her two roommates, Agnes, the girl with claws and sharp teeth, and Ximena, the Spanish goddess who is the glue that holds them together, lean on one another and pick each other up when they need it.

Grace works at the Tea House owned by the lovely Indian family that has adopted Grace as their own. Meera is the calm and supportive sister-figure, while Raj plays the role of big brother and protector. Baba Vihaan, their father, lovingly embraces Grace as if she is his own. Later, we meet Yuki, the gorgeous Japanese storyteller that Grace married in the desert along with her 3 roommates. Sani, the Native American MMA fighter, Dhorian, the dark-skinned resident doctor, and Fletcher, the silly and loving school teacher.

The diversity in both ethnicity and sexuality make this a decadent and vibrant story. Different cultures and beliefs are touched upon throughout the book in subtle ways. Biracialism is front and center; Grace is half black and half white. The struggles she faces in both her life and her career are heartbreaking and appalling. Intersectionality also plays a big role in this book. The Colonel is both black and disabled; he lost a portion of his leg in the war. Grace is not only biracial but suffers with mental illness as well. And she isn't the only one. Agnes is thriving with Ximena and Grace but she's still battling with her illnesses.

"I am here, says the darkness inside Grace. I am listening."


Both Grace and Raj are buckling under the weight of their father's expectations but in very different ways. While the Colonel is extremely strict and refuses to give an inch, Baba Vihaan is loving and warm but their culture demands the eldest son take over the family business when the patriarch dies whether Raj wants that life or not.

When Grace decides to take some time for herself after eleven grueling years of non-stop education and job rejections that are based on her race and sexuality rather than her above board and absolutely stellar resume, she does so against the wishes of her very strict father. For the first time in her life she is making a decision for herself rather than someone else. Little does she know that flying to NYC and getting to know her wife will become the catalyst she needs to finally face her fears, confront the people that have hurt her, and begin the arduous task of freeing herself from many self-inflicted burdens.

Grace is a brilliant astronomer, vastly knowledgable, and has the degrees and doctorate to prove it but when it comes to knowing her inner-self, the things she needs to make her happy, she is woefully inept. Following along on her journey of self-discovery is both heartbreaking and inspiring; I have a feeling her story will resonate with many people of color, especially women. These beautiful humans can read this story and feel seen. Whether the reader is black, biracial, Indian, Spanish, Japanese, Native American, disabled, Buddhist, lesbian, bi, gay, or straight- this story is a love letter to you. That being said I highly recommend reading an own-voices review; a review from someone who has shared the experiences of our main character. I suggest the following reviews for your perusal: Mina Reads & Ahtiya (BookinitWithAhtiya).

If you're someone who loves diversity, strong female leads, found-family, or self-discovery in your stories than look no further. Morgan Rogers did a phenomenal job representing so many marginalized people. This is a novel that I read with google open on my phone to search all the new things I discovered while reading, whether it was about culture, food, or ethnicity. This is an absolute feast of a book!

This book is on tour! Honey Girl will be featured on my blog on 2/25/21.
You can find me here: blog | bookstagram | twitter

The quotes used in this review were taken from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change upon publication.

This book was PHENOMENAL! Morgan Rogers is a wonderful, fresh new voice in romance. The book is captivating and I couldn't put it down or stop thinking about it!

Hard-working, perfectionist Grace Porter goes on a girl’s weekend to Vegas to celebrate her newly earned Ph.D. in astronomy. In a rare moment of drunken spontaneity, Grace gets herself married to a girl whose name she doesn’t even know!

Left with only a business card and a key from this mystery woman, Grace goes back to her life in Portland to plan out what comes next.

This was such a unique romcom and Grace is a great character. She has had to try to live up to the high expectations of her father, the Colonel. For the past eleven years, she’s been grinding away to get this Ph.D., but now that she has it, she feels lost and alone. Carrying a lot of baggage, she needs to find her place and stop hiding from what she truly wants.

And now on top of everything, she has a wife she doesn’t even know, who apparently lives in New York. Grace musters up the courage to reach out to Yuki, the name on the card. Yuki is a wild, creative girl, everything Grace is not. The two find that they are both longing for a deep connection, to be known and loved. Grace’s first instinct is to run because how does this fit into her planned out life?

Discussion of mental health is prevalent throughout this story, as are the difficulties of job opportunities and discrimination based on race, gender, and identity. Rogers does a great job of bringing awareness to these issues through her character’s eyes.

Thank you to @harpercollins and @netgalley for a digital arc of this book.

'Honey Girl' was just an amazing piece of literature. You must absolutely read it. It has definitely been moved to the pile of books I have that have left quite an impression on me. This book deals with so many issues that many of us have encountered in our 20's. The feeling of what we're going to do after we graduate. The constant pressure of not being good enough, especially with not so supportive parents.

Grace Porter is 28 years old and has graduated and obtained her doctoral degree as an astronomer. Now she's having a hard time finding a job due to the major systematic issues affecting her not only as a woman, but a black queer woman. It doesn't help that she feels she needs to live up to her fathers expectations. Seriously, he was the most annoying person ever (I hate parents who can't let their kids choose their own dreams). To try to get away from all the madness and her own thoughts, Grace goes on a girls trip to Vegas...and well...we all know what happens in Vegas. Grace wakes up the next day, hung over with no recollection of what happened...and...a wife! A wife she remembers as smelling like flowers and sea salt.

Join Grace on her journey of self-discovering and lookin for the woman who stole her heart. I absolutely loved this book. It showed that it's ok to not be perfect or have your crap together. I truly admired the tight knitted relationships shown in the book. What you'll get from reading this book....f/f romance, black women romance, and mental health representation. Huge thanks to Harlequin, Park Row, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Grace Porter is celebrating completing her PhD in astronomy with her best friends in Las Vegas. Grace has been a non-stop, hardworking, overachiever for over 11 years now, never one to deviate from her military father’s plan for her, especially not to drunkenly marry a strange girl whose name she can’t remember on the final night of her trip. Oh wait… that wasn’t all a dream? Now her plan is falling apart, with the weight of her fathers expectations on her shoulders and the barriers for a queer Black woman in her field, everything becomes too much. Grace flees to New York to stay with the wife she hardly even knows and begins to question what it really means to be the Best Grace Porter.
This novel deserves all the love. All of it! We follow Grace who drunkenly marries a beautiful girl she just met in Las Vegas, and the aftermath is definitely complicated. This story holds the most gorgeous diverse cast of characters with so much representation from race, gender identity, sexuality, and mental health struggles. It is not your basic love story in any way, targeting the hard hitting subjects that come with self discovery and finding your place in the world among all the barriers it holds, especially for Grace, a Black woman in STEM. This story holds such a presence in the world of post education anxieties and trying to learn how to successfully be a “real adult” in the “real world”. We are all lonely creatures secretly hoping that even just one person is out there listening to us, really seeing us. This story encourages surrounding yourself with found families, packed full of such love and unconditional support that the reader can feel it leaking off of the page and onto them too. I was literally crying so much over the raw emotional experiences Grace went through. Every single character was lovable and authentic. The themes of Grace coming to terms with her mental health and healing herself before she could give love fully to others was flawless and heartfelt. The development of every relationship, romantic, platonic, and familial was relatable. Everyone! should! read! Honey Girl! immediately! It will definitely be in my top books of 2021!

Rating: ★★★★★

**CW/TWs via the authors site: “discussion and depictions of mental illness, self-harm (scratching skin, nails digging into skin as anxiety coping mechanism), past suicide attempt by side character, depictions of anti-Blackness and homophobia in the academic and corporate settings, casual alcohol consumption, minor drug use (marijuana), discussions of racism experienced by all characters of color, past limb amputation due to war injury (side character), past parent death (side character)”

***Thank you to Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own!

Honey Girl is a beautiful story of a new Ph.D. recipient figuring out her place in the cosmos. Grace Porter has worked tirelessly and single-mindedly for the past eleven years to prove she's the best, but, when the job that should have been hers slips through her fingers because she's black and queer, she runs to Las Vegas with two of her friends, only to wake up married to a woman she barely remembers (and who woke and left before Grace did). Part romance and part women's fiction, but mostly romance, I loved that it focused on Grace figuring out what she wanted instead of what others wanted and expected of her.

The Plot: Part Romance, Part Grace's Personal Journey

Honey Girl had me fooled, but not really in a bad way. I mean, I knew it was listed as romance, but, while reading it, I kept forgetting. Most of the story focused on Grace figuring out where to go after the job that was supposed to be hers for the taking fell through so badly that she went to Vegas. The story followed her as she tried to figure out her next steps while taking care of herself and trying to take others' expectations of her to heart. Looking back, there was a lot of running she was doing, but each time brought her closer to her being able to be true to herself instead of what someone else wanted for her. It felt more like women's fiction most of the time. But, when I forgot, the ending hit me, and reminded me I was reading a romance.

I really did love everything about this story. Even though I'm not black or queer, Grace still spoke to me, the story spoke to me. Grace had her life figured out, but it didn't work the way it was supposed to. I loved that the whole book focused on her trying to figure herself out and what was going to be best for her. She came into her own in this story despite fleeing Portland and NYC before ending up back at her mother's orange grove in Florida, and what a beautiful journey it was! She learned and grew and experienced and had her eyes opened. Of course, things got scary for her now and then, but they made her grow and re-evaluate. The focus on her friendships was also absolutely stunning. None of them were perfect, none of them had their lives figured out, but they were always, unquestioningly, there for each other. Not only did this turn out to be a gorgeous story about Grace's journey, but it was also a lovely story of the strength of friendship.

But Honey Girl is also a romance. Grace married Yuki in Vegas, but doesn't even know her name when she wakes up alone in a hotel room. During the first third of the novel, the reader is introduced to Grace's world and the people in it, and her tentative search for the woman she married. The middle part was all about the romance as Grace and Yuki finally meet, fully sober this time. They were so adorable together, yet so awkward as they navigated a blossoming marriage. I loved reading about how they got to know each other and kept their hearts open yet protected as they explored each other. There were good times and not so good times, but I loved reading about how they let each other into their worlds, how they admired and supported each other. But the last third had Grace running yet again. I kept forgetting this is a romance, until the ending when it ends on a romance-perfect note, but had me longing for another chapter.

Honey Girl presents a real look at life for a millennial woman. There's the pull between parental and self-expectations and also the need to stretch a bit and come into her own on her own. There's the running away until there's nowhere left to run to. Being neither black nor queer, I can't speak too much about either experience, but, as an outsider, I thought it was beautiful and the whole book just felt like it could embrace anyone and let them find a bit of themselves in it.

The Characters: Strong and Bold

Honey Girl is Grace Porter's story, but, while it was focused on her and her experiences, the people around her also had their own bits to say. This was most definitely a strong character-oriented and driven novel. It read like Grace had been given a loose outline of her story and then told to run with it. The characterizations were incredible and intense, as were each of the characters. I loved how interesting and distinct they all were, and they each lent a little bit extra to the story and to Grace's self-narrative. Individually, they were all amazing, but, put together, they really made the fabric of the story come to life.

Even though I'm a few years older than Grace, she really spoke to me. Driven, hard working, always with her eyes on her goals, I loved everything about her and I felt so sad and angry when what was supposed to work out for her didn't. The barriers she faced as a queer woman of color were front and center, but she always worked hard to batter through them. But there's also a softer side to her, one that constantly wonders at the cosmos as her doctorate is in astronomy and who always cares about her friends even when she feels more self-centered. She's afraid of letting down her guard, of being derailed, so I really loved the journey she was on to not just be there for her friends, but be there heart and soul no matter how it might affect her own plans.

And then there's Yuki, Grace's wife. If this is a romance, I can't not talk about the other half of the couple. While the story revolved around Grace (and I do wish Yuki could have had her own narrative as that's one of my favorite parts of a romance novel), the reader still gets a strong sense of her. She feels more self-assured, more confident of what she has to offer and where she wants to be. She's tentative with Grace, though, and so hopeful it almost broke my heart. At the same time, it's easy to pick up her fears and doubts, and I just wanted her and Grace to be so happy together forever and ever.

The Setting: Grace and Across the US

While Honey Girl kicks off in Vegas, the city of drunk romance and accidental marriages, most of the story is set in Portland, where Grace lives, works, and attended graduate school and where her father and stepmother live; NYC, where Yuki lives with the three most entertaining and wonderful roommates ever; and Florida, where her mother still owns and runs her orange groves when not traveling the world in search of herself. But most of the story took place in the small moments between the characters, in Grace's heart and mind.

I got a lovely sense of rainy Portland, the ever bustling NYC, and the warm tropical Florida sun, but I really loved how the story was set against the people. The interactions were so nuanced, the friendships so strong and secure, that the characters could have been anywhere and still have played out the exact same story. The physical setting was a lovely backdrop, but it's really the fabric of the relationships that shone.

Overall: A Gorgeous Journey and Romance

I loved almost everything about Honey Girl. I loved that Grace could still speak to me even though I'm quite unlike her. But I also appreciated that the story had a focus on the barriers placed before her, of her fighting tooth and nail against the rigidity of professional environments and her own and her father's expectations. The story was gorgeous in so many ways. The one thing that let me down was how suddenly it ended, but, well, if one ever needed a reminder of the genre, there it was! Still, everything else was perfect. The romance was sweet, the friendships were strong, and the family was wonderfully loving and dysfunctional. Overall, an incredible and delightful novel from a debut author.

Thank you to Lia Ferrone for a review copy and the opportunity to take part in the book blog tour for Honey Girl. All opinions expressed are my own.

I did not know a lot going into this book only that it was a debut and being very well received. Those opinions were accurate! Morgan Rogers does an incredible job developing her characters so well that you swear you know them personally. I felt completely invested in their stories.
Our main character Grace has graduated a Doctor of Astronomy...and in celebration goes to Vegas with her two friends....and wakes up the next day, married to a woman she can hardly recall even meeting and who has left the hotel room with nothing more than a note. She sets off in this book to find her wife Yuki as well as who she is and what she wants her future to look like. As a black woman, she deals with racism finding her place not only in the workplace but also in the world.
This is truly a beautiful #ownvoices debut.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Grace has worked hard her whole life, following a set-in-stone plan about what her life will be. Until a night in Vegas, where she drunk marries the amazing Yuki and real questions about what her hard work has gotten her and what she actually wants. We follow her journey through it all, and it shows that life isn't perfect, but we can do what we can to make it ours.

Grace Porter and I connected a lot through this book; difficult relationships with our father (her own better than mine), fear of failing, not knowing what to do next in our professional career, and finally overworking ourselves to the point that our mental health has suffered so much. We barely know how to ask for help. The connection I felt with her, and her journey made me unable to put the book down.

Even though I was so invested, I will note that the story had boring moments and was a little open-ended and rushed at the end, but in my mind, that is the potential for a sequel.
This won't be everyone's favourite, but it does have good mental health representation, LGBTQ characters, POC characters, discusses parental relationships and in our lives how it can feel impossible to get a grip on a plan. I would recommend it!

Honey Girl is deep, funny, relatable, and at times romantic. Morgan Rogers balances the trauma of being lost in self-doubt to discovering true love by accident.

It is hard to believe that this is Rogers’ debut novel, because they knock it out of the park at the start. Honey Girl is a quick read with hidden depths. Rogers fills the story with diversity, which y’all know I love.

Quote: “I just want to slow down. I just want to stop.” (Loc. 960)

When I mention diversity, I do not just mean sexuality or nationality. Rogers also deals directly with mental health issues. I have said the above quote too many times and could relate to many of the issues told in Honey Girl.

Rogers tells Grace and Yuki’s story in a lyrical third-person point of view. Yuki’s voice is beautiful and poetic. I think I could listen to Yuki’s radio show all day and I wish it was longer. I was fascinated by the stories with the story and how intense and filled with multiple meanings. As Yuki was telling the stories, I was repeating them to my mother.

Honey Girl is a book that would make a great addition to any English or Literature class. It has so many themes as it addresses patriarchal impact, religious influences, and our own journey to happiness.

(Laugh) I have neglected to mention the friendship and romance in Honey Girl. I definitely want to have coffee with Yuki. This is a slow-burn romance that focuses on the foundations of friendship, love, and the families we choose.

Rogers gives us a little bit of everything in this book and it is fully balanced. This is more than a romance. It is a journey through Grace’s moment of crisis and we are lucky enough to tag along with her friends and watch it unfold and change. I think everyone should hit the “pause button” and spend a little time with Honey Girl.


I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

I am going to be honest. Honey Girl is the first POC LGBTQ book I have been given to review. I am thrilled more voices are being offered to reviewers and readers alike. There are so many stories to be told.

Honey Girl was absolutely fantastic and Porter was so very relatable. The perfectionism is something so many people will identify with. The pressure to be that perfect child, to do everything that is expected of you. But then also knowing you want something more. There is something (or someone) out there that you are longing for.

Morgan Rogers wrote a book about love and family of all kinds. The family we are born into and the family we choose to surround ourselves with both have an impact on the person we will become and the choices we will make. The friendships in this book were fantastic. I loved the banter and dynamic between Grace “Porter” and her coworkers and roomates. Her Vegas wife, Yuki, was so incredibly unique and the perfect opposite of Porter.

Honey Girl is heartwarming, funny, relatable, and incredibly charming. This is a feel-good, must read for 2021.

I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Grace Porter, newly graduated Doctor of Astronomy, has done something VERY un-Grace-Porter-like. She appears to have met a girl in Vegas and gotten married - but she has no idea who the girl is. Left only with a photo and a business card for a late night radio talkshow in Brooklyn, Grace needs to figure out what happened and work out if she has just made the biggest mistake of her well-planned life, or if her future really was written in the stars.

I adored this book so much. It's beautiful. It's emotional, funny, relatable - the author does such a wonderful job portraying Grace's sheer exhaustion at wanting to stick to "THE PLAN", please her parents, but also find happiness for herself. By Grace's age (28), we're expected to have everything fiured out, but Grace is stuck. Racism and Sexism hinder her job prospects, and she's drowning in her father's expectations. This beautiful mystery woman may just be the push to the surface she needed - but Grace still has to learn to swim to shore.


This is a beautiful story about finding your way even when you have a path, and about defining what "success" actually means for you. It's also a look at mental health, familial & societal pressures, and the extra expectations placed upon Black women entering the workplace. A stunning #ownvoices debut.

Grace Porter...Dr. Grace Porter (!) is 28, living in Portland, OR with her found family, roommates Agnes and Ximena, and co-workers Raj and Meera. Grace celebrates her doctorate completion with a girls' trip to Las Vegas. But what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas and that definitely applies to a drunken marriage to a mysterious stranger. That marriage is the only instance Porter has veered from the path laid down by her father, Colonel, but it's the catalyst for her realization that she has been bottling up all her frustrations, vulnerabilities, and emotions for the past 11 years. Grace flees Portland to find her mystery wife in New York, but fleeing one place doesn't mean those internal problems don't follow you, too. Despite spending the summer getting to know her wife, Yuki Yamamoto, Porter is still plagued by the fear of imperfection, family obligation, stifling professional uncertainty, and anger at inequities in academia that she cannot run away from.

This book is written in 3rd person with Grace's POV with the exception of the prologue written in 2nd person. This hit me in the gut having felt that sense of professional and personal limbo (hello quarter-life crises!) and Morgan Rogers hits the nail on the head for what it feels like to struggle with and be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and anxiety. The way Rogers tackles mental health is spot-on especially in recognizing how difficult it is to be vulnerable and want so badly to feel "normal."

I loved Grace's found family and the steps taken to repair the relationships with her parents. The book doesn't end with a perfect conclusion and a pretty bow on top, which is very realistic of the work it takes to nurture relationships. I also love the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation. This was a very real, heart-breaking and hopeful book for those of us trying to figure life out while dealing with mental health.

Gripes: I liked that the marriage was a catalyst for Grace, but I wasn't a huge fan of Yuki. She reminded me of the manic pixie dream girl trope ONLY BECAUSE I feel like I didn't get to know Yuki outside of her Lore-type radio-show and her own found family in NYC. Some of the prose slows down a bit mid-way, which I think is why it took me a bit longer to get through the book and I wish I had seen more of the intricacies and building the foundation Grace and Yuki's relationship.

Still. I enjoyed this book, the spotlight on mental health, and the emphasis that we are not expected to have all the answers, no matter what age.

I think I have said before I don’t read that many romances, but this was different. It was all about women of color, who were also queer, and where yes, there was romance, but that wasn’t the main point of the story.

Grace finds that she has Las Vegas married a woman who she only remembers vaguely, and so seeks out to find her, and see what drew her to her in the first place.

And at the same time, she has just come to the end of her 9 year PhD program in astronomy and finds that all the doors she thought would open for her, are not. What does she do now? She has always been told to never give up.

Heart breaking, and lovely and touching at the same time. Racism is thrown in Grace’s face, and life is hard.

There are so many quotes, but here is one that struck me: No one told her astronomers {...}don’t have sungold hair. They don’t have sun-browned skin. Those astronomers don’t have ancestors that looked at the stars as a means of escape and not in awe.
<em> Thanks to NEtgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

Honey Girl is a fantastic journey of what happens when a destination is reached and what is best needs to be redefined. Grace's story is tender, lyrical, and spellbinding.

Slow. Clunky. Mediocre contemporary romance.

The beginning of the novel is awkward because of the pacing and transitions. I had to reread passages because the words didn’t flow smoothly, especially the text messages. I didn’t get into the book until about the halfway point. The romance between the married couple is cute at times and the love scene is slightly spicier than a Hallmark movie

The best parts of the book are the wife’s podcast, which were insightful and beautifully written.

PROS: LGBTQ characters and interracial relationship.

4.50 Stars. This book! Honey Girl was on my list for most anticipated books of 2021. When I found out I was accepted for a review copy, I could not have been happier. I went into this book with a lot of high expectations and I’m happy to say that this book was excellent.

Grace is a hard worker and planner. She wants to be the best and needs to be the best, but everything starts to change after a drunken night in Vegas. A night that leaves her married to a women she doesn’t even know and who lives on the opposite side of the country. Can Grace pick up the pieces to get right back on track, or will Grace realize there is more to life than just what she planned?

I want to first start off by mentioning that this book is really more contemporary fiction, and coming of age, then it is a romance. It does have a romance, I just figured it would be more romance focused then it actually was. I ended up still loving the book so it wasn’t an issue for me, but if you go into this expecting more of a heavy romance you might be disappointed.

My biggest recommendation would be to have a box of tissues next to you while reading this. This book made me a blubbering mess and I stopped counting after I went through twelve tissues. This is not a depressing book, but it is a very emotional book. It’s about being lonely even when you are surrender by people, it’s about needing to be accomplished and to prove to others that you made it in your life, and finally it’s about dealing with sexism and systematic racism. While there were some things I could personally relate to, there was plenty that I could not relate to. And in those cases, not relating didn’t matter one bit. It’s like I felt every emotional part deep down in my soul and the book just kept wrecking me. It’s such a testament to the fantastic writing that you feel so completely invested in the main character of Grace. Trust me and bring the tissues, you will need them.

While this book could be a little more cerebral at times, I still found it very easy to be just completely absorbed by it. I read this in one sitting and I could not put the book down until I was done. I only paused to get more tissues and that was it. I loved the mix of diverse characters and found all of the secondary characters to be almost as well written as Grace. I thought the book talked about mental health in an honest way and everything just seemed well done. Really, the only baby complaint is that I wished for a little bit more. I could have used a tad more time on the romance, say maybe another chapter. And I wished the ending was just a hair longer. Actually, what would have been perfect would have been an epilogue. I know this is not a story that needed to have everything tied up in a big fat bow, but I still wanted a little more. I wanted one peek at future Grace and I think an epilogue would have made this book just about perfect for me.

This is one of the better books I have read this year and I would easily recommend it. Just be aware, this book is a bit more on the cerebral contemporary fiction side than the romance side. It was wonderfully written and really got to me emotionally. Morgan Rogers is a name I won’t soon forget and I can’t wait to read more by her.