After reading this very special book, I took several days to process the unique story it tells. Often, after reading an especially compelling non-fiction book, I say it reads like fiction, but this book blends a great deal of fact into a fictional and timely narrative.

These authors create a dual narrative., told by both Lily and Olivia It begins with the death of Lily, one assumed to have been caused by a homicidal rage. It incorporates the story of spousal abuse. The narrators tell their back stories which come together during a stirring and shocking trial.

So many timely topics are incorporated into this well researched novel. I learned a great deal about bee-keeping, since one of the narrators is a bee-keeper. The book explores, in great detail, gender issues and the concept of gender affirmation surgery. Working in a university setting, this was invaluable. Additionally, another issue, very much part of campus life (sadly) is the abuse of women by their partners.

This is a book that should be widely read on campuses and by reading groups. There are myriad topics worth discussing. It’s so beautifully written that I was engaged throughout this thought provoking journey.

Thank you Netgalley for this opportunity. This is really a must read on many levels.

Mad Honey was an enjoyable read with a very liberal slant. The writing was decent, and maybe I should have guessed what the 'surprise' twist was based on the authors, but I didn't.

This was pretty good but nothing amazing. The story kind of went all over the place and didn't really seem to have a focus. It's like they were trying to cover too many themes & topics in one book. In contrast, the Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard is about a mother whose son is in a similar situation but it's a much richer story.

I would describe this joint effort nothing short of a gift for the entire world. Picoult has been well known as an author who seeks out social issues that are misunderstood by most, and often the subject of willful ignorance. Here she teams with Jennifer Finney Boylan to reveal the lives of yet another protected group that is anything but protected. I’ll leave the subject group to the reader to discover but merely acknowledge that this book shook me to the core by illuminating most of my own life experience in the central character, Lily, an attractive young woman taking a delayed senior year at a new high school as one of the town’s newest residents. Life has never been easy or simple for Lily, and has left her the only child in a single parent home. Her mother has made Lily the central part of her life for all of Lily’s life and is devastated when tragedy strikes. That devastation serves as the backdrop for yet another individual who is left to struggle for his own existence in the aftermath of the tragedy. Picoult and Boylan accomplish something truly beautiful in this novel, writing with a seemingly single voice, something that is rarely accomplished for writing duos. The duo combines their voices and life experience to give the reader something no single author could have. Please, give yourself the gift of this effort and grab this book at your earliest opportunity. Soak in the insights the authors sprinkle throughout and open your mind.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Boylan

Plot:
Olivia McAfee grabbed her son and fled her violent husband to start a new life in New Hampshire. Olivia takes over her family bee farm while Asher grows into a well-rounded son, student, and hockey player.

Teenager Lily Campanello has run away from her life to start afresh, searching for her identity, in New Hampshire with her mother Ava, the only person who really understands her.

Asher meets and falls in love with Lily. And their lives just can’t get any better. Until Olivia receives a phone call from Asher that Lily is dead. Days later, Asher is arrested and charged with first degree murder. Is he capable of murdering the only girl he’s ever loved? Is he more like his father than Olivia wants to believe?

PS: If I were a high school girl, I would have been in love with Asher.

Thoughts:
Jodi’s back! I feel like her latest few books have been mediocre and don’t leave you with that gut-wrenching “I hope I’m never in this situation” feeling that her earlier books did. This one here…it reads like one of her earlier books. It’s sooooo good. She co-wrote it with Jennifer Boylan (this is my first experience reading anything by her.) I didn’t realize until reading the author’s notes at the end that Jodi wrote Olivia’s perspective while Jennifer wrote Lily’s. Their flow is amazing! Clap, clap, well done ladies!

The story is told from the perspectives of Olivia and Lily in alternating chapters. Olivia tells the story from post death forward while we learn Lily’s story pre death backwards. For a little while, reading Lily’s story told in reverse was a bit annoying but it worked itself out and made sense.

As Picoult normally does, this book made me reflect and think about some things.It’s still swirling in the back of my mind and I’ve read a couple of books between reading this one and writing this review. There is so much going on in our society now that it’s hard not to get overloaded and brain whiplash from all the information being thrown our way. This book offered perspective that I hadn’t had the chance to consider before. It’s a well done, carefully considered story of, well, I don’t want to say because it’s part of the bombshell of the storyline.

This novel is a collection of suspense, courtroom drama, love, identity, and relationships.

Recommendation:
Did I like this book? Oh yes! READ IT!

Rating:
5/5

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title for review.

Here’s the good news: I had read nothing about this book OTHER THAN the fact that it was by Jodi Picoult. That was all I needed. So, I didn’t know the story and I got to be so. Friggin. Blown. Away. By the plot and the brilliance of the writing by these ridiculously gifted ladies.

The bad news: it was an ARC and now it’s over. 😢

I am so grateful to NetGalley for this book. It was stunning in its sadness, gorgeous with grief, breathtaking with the beauty of everyday love and the exquisite, hard-earned, aching pull of this story. I’ve already read everything Jodi Picoult has written. So now I’ll read everything Jennifer Finney Boulanger has written. With pleasure. 💜💜💜💜💜📚

So very good…I had a good cry at the end. Not necessarily because the ending was sad, but because you realize the difficulties people have every day that aren’t apparent to you. The secrets they hold that threaten to crush them. And how much it must hurt. I don’t want to give anything away, and I hope nobody else will either. It is part of what makes the story so beautiful.

To say that I am a huge Jodi Picoult fan would be an understatement; I love everything she writes and think that she is the queen of contemporary fiction. Even with my very high expectations for each of her novels, this one really blew me away. She and Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote a seamless novel that explores multiple serious topics. I can't name one of them without giving away a huge plot twist, but believe me when I say that this book has everything: mystery, love, courtroom drama, family issues...it really is an exceptional novel and has so many layers. I was legitimately sad when it ended because it was such an incredible story. I also really enjoyed the author notes from both authors at the end - it was interesting to see how this dual-author masterpiece came to be. I'll be recommending this book to everyone that I know!!
Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

Jodi Picoult has done it again. “Mad Honey” is another stunning novel from this author who never misses. A must read!

Jodi knocks it out of the park again, and the addition of a new (to me) author to work with her? ABSOLUTELY worked on SO many levels!

I knew nothing about this book or about the co-author. I always read Jodi Picoult's books, so it was natural for me to just start reading. I'm so glad I did. I highly recommend that readers know NOTHING about this book or its authors before jumping in. You will enjoy the book so much more! Read it now! Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Ballantine Books for providing an ARC.

Mad Honey is fantastic! I love the combination of Picoult and Boylan’s writing styles. The beekeeping stuff could have gotten distracting really quickly, but it was expertly woven in. Lily’s story is told with such care. I look forward to adding it to my HS library shelves.

Co-authored by one of my all-time favorites, Jodi Picoult, and new-to-me Jennifer Finney Boylan, Mad Honey is a compelling story of two families whose lives intersect when high school seniors Asher and Lily meet and fall in love. They each live with their mothers, who have left their abusive husbands behind to start new lives in the small town of Adams, New Hampshire. When secrets surface, resulting in unbelievable tragedy, all their lives are forever altered. The story is told through the voices of Olivia, Asher's mom, and Lily, Asher's girlfriend, in alternate chapters which also move between before and after the tragedy. The collaboration between the two authors is perfect--the reader will not detect who is writing which voice. They describe some of
their co-writing techniques in the author's notes at the end of the book. In addition to the seamless writing, the authors share an amazing amount of background information about the beekeeping world of Olivia and the forest ranger world of Lily's mom, Ava. This is a compelling read, one that I did not want to end.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this advance copy.

Mad Honey is a beautifully written book with characters I will think of even now that I’ve finished. There is so much to unpack in this novel and will be perfect for book clubs although more than one meeting may be needed to discuss all the subjects that come up in the book.
Mad Honey is very poignant and I was filled with aching sadness more than once. This is not a lighthearted book but one that tackles subjects that need to be addressed, Transgender, abuse, and what it really means to be a woman.
I was devastated for Lily and her mother but gratified to read the afterword by author Jennifer Boylan to know she felt as I did, and for the same reasons. Lily is a very compelling character and I loved her even more as I read her back stories. How brave and fierce both moms Olivia and Ada are when it comes to their children, changing their lives for them, and I loved the relationship between Olivia and her brother.
I loved learning the intricacies and little know facts of beekeeping and honey. I especially loved learning more about transgender, the treatments, the mind thoughts, the surgeries, all things I thought I knew about, but didn’t.
As you can see there is a lot I loved about Mad Honey. I hope these two authors will team up again because their voices together are seamless.

Overall, another great book by Jodi Picoult. I enjoyed her co-author Jennifer Finney Boylan's chapters as well. I was completely shocked by the turn of the story at the halfway mark (and glad I hadn't heard or read any spoilers) and it made me gasp out loud. I loved the rest of the story but didn't really care for the ending of 'what really happened'. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. Readers are going to love this book!

This book. I don’t even know where to start. It is definitely going to stick with me for a while. I loved the 2 voices of Olivia and Lily and honestly never once thought about which author wrote which chapter- I just know I couldn’t read it fast enough. What Lily went through makes my heart ache and honestly it is a story I will carry with me.

In todays world with so much happening i was a very timely book cowritten by 2 different styles of authors. I really enjoyed the storyline from different perspectives and all the twists and turns.
The character development especially Asher kept me reading and reading long into the night. For sure this is a must read and will be a much talked about book. I look forward to more books coauthored again.

Wow! I'm not sure I have the words to articulate how much this book moved me! I could not put it down! Its hard to believe this was written by two authors, it is so seamlessly written! The novel is exceptional! The story was told from multiple points of view, moving back and forth in the characters history. I especially liked how lily's story was told backwards. Wonderful writing, incredible plot twists! This book is going to have people talking and will be the jumping off point for some great discussions! This would be an excellent book club pick! Thank you for the chance to preview this novel!

Mad Honey was a fantastic read and had me hooked from the beginning. I liked that you learned a lot about beekeeping, general knowledge and animals (thanks to Lily). Some of it seemed to be a bit much but it didn't take away from the story. Once everything kicks off with Asher, it feels as though you are really in the courtroom. There is a big shocker twist that was completely unexpected. My heart hurt for Lily and all that she'd been through. I had my thoughts of who could have killed Lily but I was way off the mark! I also felt bad for Olivia as well. She is a good mom and had been through just as much. I kept questioning why more people, like Dirk, were not being questioned during the investigation. I loved Olivia's relationship with her brother Jordan and her sister-in-law. The ending was not satisfying to me at all. There was definitely a double standard.

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The big twist of this book got spoiled for me before I read this book--a big hint is in the list of Jennifer Finney Boylan's previous books. Overall I enjoyed the book, but I think maybe I would have enjoyed it more without the spoiler. It's an important book to help understand a topic that a lot of people (including myself) do not fully understand. But for me, the flimsy evidence that was presented in the court case and the random trivia inserted throughout the book detracted from it overall. I thought the authors did a good job of co-writing because it seemed cohesive. Overall it was an enjoyable book that had a few minor flaws.