I really enjoyed this book! I loved the comparisons to bee life, I love the oddities of the characters and I love reading about life, love, lose and growth through it all. This book made me laugh and it really made me think about how you can find your purpose even in the strangest situations.

Heartwarming is in fact the perfect word to describe this book. I finished it with such a big grin on my face. It was a good book, didn't blow me out of the water, I liked the plot and the way it tied up.

I grew up in Hood River, Oregon, the setting for this story. I was hooked by the first sentence, which mentioned my high school! Reading this book was like visiting home, which I haven't seen in over 20 years. I was able to picture clearly each place mentioned and it brought back all the feelings associated with growing up and watching a beloved place change. I loved the plotline and multiple pov used to drive the story. Simply put, The Music of Bees was just a really good read!

“Sorrow releases us from common constraints, and in our grief we can choose to be our true, bald selves. If others choose to witness that, to truly see us, well, it changes everything.”

This book was a slow start for me. Probably because the three main characters are broken and all have sad stories. It weighed me down. But about halfway through, I switched and listened to the audiobook and it grabbed me. It could be because the narrator picked up the mood in the way she read. Or it could be because at about the half point, their stories started a turnaround. But when the characters find their stride and realize purpose and find true friendships, it’s like sunshine. Especially for Jacob, the paraplegic teen. His ability to really feel what others don’t, makes him absolutely shine. His connection to the bees and the overwhelming joy they bring him and his gift of empathy brought tears to my eyes. The side characters of the dog, the kite surfer dude, the young deputy and Noah (the high school friend) also brought much needed laughter and relief that kept my heart engaged. And of course, I developed a whole new understanding of bees…fascinating creatures! Overall, once it got going, I enjoyed the ride.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I was not able to get in to the storyline of this one. If in the future I attempt to read this again I will update my feedback!

Alice is a hobby apiarian who suffers from anxiety. She invites Jake to stay with her to help care for the bees after she runs his wheelchair off the side of the road. She also hires Harry to help with maintenance around the farm. Together they learn how to care for the bees, make new friends, and heal from their tragic pasts.

This is a feel-good story about friendship, working as a team, and healing from the past. It is told from each character’s perspective and smoothly moves between the present and the past. I loved watching the characters interact with each other and create a strong bond. I learned a lot about bees from this book because each chapter starts with a quote about working beehives and the storyline is laden with facts about bees. I found it very interesting. This would be a perfect book for bee lovers and readers that enjoy a good read!
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Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Audiobook

I like this book! It was a sweeter story than I was expecting and really enjoyed the character development of Alice, Jake, and Harry. I actually learned a bunch about bees and that was a nice addition! I didn't see much of this book when it came out last year and I feel like it would appeal to a lot of readers.

This honestly was a really beautifully written book. I'll admit that I am not the biggest fan personally of interweaving storylines but this was still a good book that I know would appeal to a lot of readers. Themes of loss and new beginning mixed with friendship and understanding are so important in the literary world so I'd give this book an almost perfect score.

There are three main characters in this book and you will appreciate how their lives become entwined. I have come to enjoy books that deal with beekeeping and have learned a lot. You will appreciate getting to know the quirky characters … Alice, Jake, and Harry. The relationship these three form is not expected. But there was so much depth to the story and it was heartwarming to see the growth and strength that developed as you travel through the pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Tried reading this one and it just was not meant for me. This does not mean that it is not a good book, I just was not in the right place to be reading it and have decided to not try picking it up anytime in the near future.

An absolutely beautiful story about friendship that was recommended to me by a dear friend. I loved it!

I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately I did have to DNF. I may have tried to read it at a time that was not good for me. I think the cover was beautiful and the story did sound intriguing. However, it did not hold my attention. Thank you to Penguin for the opportunity to read this one.

Bees bees and more bees! I enjoyed learning about beekeeping. The story follows Alice, Jake, and Harry. A little too hallmark for me to really love and sink my teeth into.

Hobbyist beekeeper Alice Holtzman works for the county and long ago abandoned her plans to have her own orchard. With the untimely death of her husband, Buddy, her plans whisked away. Into her life quite unexpectedly come Harry Stokes and 18-year-old, paraplegic Jake. She's not quite sure what to make of her new acquaintances as they have both struggling with their own senses of direction.
This is a lovely tale of friendship in not-looked-for places.
We also have the community effort against SupraGro, which is a damaging new pesticide/fertilizer for the area orchards and farmers to use. It's the super villan of the story.
Set in the Pacific Northwest, the story is engaging and applicable to modern problems. The author did a creative job in teaching the reader about honeybees with the hives and their community as the thread of the story.

This is a charming debut novel. Alice is grieving her husband’s death. She’s in a thankless job and she raises honey bees. When she runs into Jake with her pick up truck, she finds herself intrigued by him.
Jake is in a wheelchair and adjusting to his new life. He is my favourite character in the book. His homelife is not great. His father is quite cruel to him so he finds reprieve when Alice invites him to her farm. He becomes interested in Alice’s bees and is quite a natural with them.
Alice also hires Harry to work at the farm. Harry has an interesting background too and although he wasn’t my favourite character, I really liked the friendship he has with Jake. The three of them are trying to figure out how to carry on when they have lost so much and life is not what they were hoping it would be. They find friendship with each other and become chosen family.
The novel reads quickly and the lives of bees and what we can learn from them was weaved into the story in a natural way. The book has a hopeful message about friendship and healing and leaves you with a heartwarming feeling.
#NetGalley #TheMusicofBees

Alice and Jake meet when Alice accidentally runs Jake off the road. At first, Alice is mortified because she sees Jake’s wheelchair on its side, but once she sees that he’s ok, she starts scolding him for being in the middle of the road. Jake then notices Alice’s beehives as she scurries to set them upright. What Alice and Jake both don’t know is that Jake’s musical talent has a hidden perk: he can hear how the queen bee is faring by listening to the hive. While Alice drives Jake home, she tells him all about bees and about a job opening at her apiary.

A town away, Harry is applying to Alice’s open position - hoping to reset his life after his stint in jail.

There’s obviously much more to their individual stories and the book is beautifully written. I genuinely enjoyed most of the book and, were it not for the rushed ending, I definitely would have given this book 5 stars. 10/10 recommend if you enjoy a feel-good book and like reading about bees and the environment. Thank you for the ARC!

I found this book utterly fascinating! Heartwarming, uplifting, inspirational. I have recommended it on my Facebook page to friends who are always asking what I am reading and most of the time they end up liking it too. The three main characters were so likeable and I found myself rooting for them throughout the book. At times sad, other times joyous, and educational with information about bees in general that I found fascinating.

Three lonely people become involved through their efforts to care for bees. Alice is a suffering widow who tends beehives as a hobby. Her day job is tedious and unfulfilling but she enjoys her apiary. When she accidentally bumps into a young wheelchair-bound man, she becomes entangled in his life. Jake became a paraplegic in the not too distant past and his homelife is horrible. When Alice sees firsthand his father’s callous treatment of the young man, she is appalled and suggests Jake might work for her.

There’s also Harry, a self-described “dumb ass” who went to jail because he was the driver for so-called friends in a botched robbery. Released from prison, he headed to Oregon for a fresh start. There he lived with his mother’s uncle, a sickly loner who lives in a decrepit trailer in the middle of nowhere. Harry needs a job but as a felon, that’s not easy to accomplish. Fortunately, he answers Alice’s classified ad for a worker and gets hired. He’s 24 but actually acts younger than the 18-year-old Jake. Both young men have baggage and welcome the outstretched hand offered by Alice.

Jake doesn’t let his disability stop him from helping with the hives. He is unafraid and has an ability to hear the music of the queen and her workers. Harry uses his knowledge of carpentry to help with the hives. But the honeybees are in danger from a pesticide that the local government is promoting.

As Alice’s bees suffer, she becomes involved in a protest of the new pesticide. The book highlights how the bees’ survival is crucial to the local farming community. Just as there is a relationship between crops and bees, the essential need for human connection is also showcased. Alice is protective of her hives just as she is protective of the young men.

All three characters grow as the story unfolds. They move beyond their initial isolation and the
their evolution is heartwarming and life-affirming. This is a story about connections, the value of human interaction. It’s a feel-good story that is sure to brighten one’s outlook and also give readers an appreciation of the value bees.

Three strangers who need a new start in life are brought together through a bee farm. Alice is an older woman who has become a loner after the death of her husband and a series of heartbreaks. Harry is a young man with social anxiety who has made some very wrong decisions in his short life. Jake is a teen who life was upended when he became a paraplegic through a tragic accident.
I absolutely adored this book I found the gradual build up of the characters interesting and was fascinated by the amount of detail about the business of keeping bees. This is one of those books that are in turn fascinating, touching, and definitely gets you emotionally involved in the story.

At first glance, The Music of Bees grabbed my attention. The beautiful yet simple cover made me curious about the story inside, and as I was reading it's premise, I got a feeling it is beautifully written literary fiction.

In a way, I can blame myself for having my hopes so high, as there weren't so many reviews out there at the time.

The story follows three characters, Alice, Harry and Jake.
If I am being completely honest, I didn't click with any of them at first.
I wasn't a fan of the way Alice and Jake met each other, and I feel like Harry was big mystery, like we didn't get to really see him, understand him.

It took 60% of the book for me to really get into the story.
That reflected on my reading pace as well. I read those slow 60% for days (when I say days, I mean more than a week), and the last 40% I finished in a day.

I loved how bees were present through the story and I feel like I've learned a lot about them.
I was thinking how the author did a really good job researching, but then I read that she actually is a bee farmer, so that makes more sense.
She obviously knew what she was writing about.

In the end, I want to mention that one character has disability (jake) and is in a wheelchair.
I can't speak from personal experience (although I had to be in wheelchair for two months after the car accident), but I feel like the character is described respectively and fairly.