"I'm starting to think that no unscathed kid has ever entered this industry. You have to have some emptiness, some cavity that needs filling."
-Amber Young

Honey by Isabel Banta is a fantastic throwback to the 90's pop music era. Following Amber Young as she sets off to gain stardom after being discovered at a school talent show, This novel immerses the reader into the underworld of the music industry and all the highs and lows that come with trying to rise to the top. Intially I thought this book was going to be a little "bubblegum-ish" but it quickly dives deep into the struggles Amber faces internally, the difficulty of developing and sustaining relationships of any kind, and unpacking the baggage of your past in order to look to your future. This was an unexpectedly intriguining novel! Great summer read!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!

ouuu this was good! i am such a sucker for books about fake famous people! and this one felt really real and believable and had really lovely prose :)

I enjoyed this book and think it was a good debut novel! I loved the concept of it but I did feel like it maybe tried to jam too many issues into the storyline and I wish we had gotten to know the characters a bit better!

Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the eARC of this book.

Honey is a book about a young girl who wants to be a singer. She has a but of a dysfunctional home life and isn't good at school but she knows she can sing. She sings at her school talent show and gets spotted by a talent agent who is there to see her nephew.

I liked that the book takes you on this journey from a young girl through the years who is trying to make it in the industry. You get to see the friendships she builds, the boyfriends, as well as the music she makes. Lyrics are provided, articles, liner notes, reviews, etc. I liked how these are interwoven with the story. Really well done.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked the characters, I thought the story was well told, and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction.

A nostalgic look back at the 90s as the story follows Amber Young, a young pop star trying to navigate her way through love and fame.

I would have loved to have had a more in-depth understanding of each character and their role in the novel. While some roles were obvious, there was some disconnect with others, like the members of ETA.

Otherwise, this was an overall enjoyable read. I loved all the throwbacks to the TRL days and 90s nostalgia. This novel got it right, as it wasn’t overtly shoved in my face to remind me that everything took place decades ago.

This is a very enjoyable summertime read. Grab that frosty beverage, slap on some sunscreen, and lounge in the sun with this unique and memorable novel.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read this in one sitting. I honestly expected so much more from it. I got Britney vibes from it which was great, but I felt it dragged mid story and it got boring. I feel like it could’ve been executed better and there were many things that could’ve been explored more.

💿 Honey - Isabel Banta 💿

"Because even after all we've accomplished, all we hope to still accomplish, love is the bedrock of all our want. We can't build anything steady without it."

Amber Young is living the life that most girls only dream of in 1997. Joining the girl group Cloud9 seems to be everything she ever wanted until the harshness of the music industry ends up being more than she expected.

Isabel Banta brings all the 90s nostalgia with this beautifully told story of what it's like to dream big and achieve it. I truly felt like I was right there next to Amber, thinking her thoughts, feeling her emotions and performing all of the songs on stage.

This book brought me back to my pre-teen days, singing to my poster plastered walls, wishing I was a Britney dating a Justin and living the glamorous life. It also sheds a gleaming light on the viciousness of an industry that builds women up only to tear them right back down.

I recommend this delicious read to anyone who loves a boy band, a pop queen, and a love for all things 1990's.

Thank you to Isabel Banta, Celadon Books and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, Celadon and to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review!

Honey follows the career of Amber Young, an aspiring singer, through her comeuppance in the pop world of the early 2000's. From lows to highs to even lower, the story is told from her POV. As a teenager of the early 2000's I was so excited to read this book! I'm happy to report that it did not disappoint. I'm sure some will say this is going to heavily rely on the nostalgia factor, and I don't disagree with that, but I really enjoyed the emotional journey that this book took the reader on.

If you loved Britney, Christina, BSB and N Sync, definitely give this one a try!!!

Honey is the perfect book for those that were teens in the noughties. brought me right back to that time, and it was incredibly fascinating to reexamine that time and see how society views "pop stars".

Honey is a coming-of-age story that follows the meteoric rise of singer Amber Young as she navigates fame in the late-90s and early-2000s era of pop music superstardom.

I absolutely loved the nostalgia of this book! Isabel Banta nails this and had me totally immersed in this time period. Think MTV's heyday with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Simpson too plus the boy bands like the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.

This behind-the-scenes look realistically portrays Amber navigating the pop music world while trying to figure out who she is, what happiness is, and looking for love. Amber is mostly on her own but thankfully she has Gwen, a fellow pop star, by her side.

I really enjoyed the side characters. Their stories felt authentic and added a lot to the book. Like Amber, they were trying to navigate this cutthroat industry as best they could. I was just as much invested in Gwen's story as Amber's.

I loved how song lyrics, interviews, articles, emails, and more are woven into this story. It made the book even more engaging.

I picked up this debut for the nostalgia factor, but the thoughtful look at family, friendship, and identity made me love this book.

Thank you to Celadon Books for a gifted copy of this book.

First off, I take offense to this being labeled as "historical fiction." ;)

But seriously, as al elder millennial, I loved this book. I keep imagining Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, and of course Britney, in all of these roles/situations. I really enjoyed this inside peak of the industry, as well as how to make it, you had to fit into a certain label/image that you had to upkeep.

The premise of this literary work is intriguing, however, regrettably, the execution failed to meet my expectations. The narrative centers around Amber, a burgeoning pop icon. I anticipated a memoir-esque or interview-style approach, akin to that of TJR's Daisy Jones, yet the storytelling lacked cohesiveness. The weighty themes woven throughout the plot were superficially addressed, resulting in a lack of emotional connection to the characters. While not entirely lacking in merit, this book falls short of my recommendation to others.

This book reads like it was copy and pasted from the ‘life & career’ section of a Wikipedia article. I had to physically drag myself through 40% before I called it quits.

You’d think the main character who has these huge dreams of being a pop star would have a little razzle dazzle to her but good lord that girl is dull as dishwater. In fact, not a single character had any kind of sparkle. Do you know how bad a book has to be for you to get 40% of the way through it and have literally no one to root for?? An overcooked chicken breast of a book—dry, flavorless, and I think I’d rather eat my own shoe than look at it again.

Isabel Banta’s debut novel, Honey, takes the reader back in time to follow Amber Young, an up and coming pop star in the 90s and early 2000s. After reading this, it’s hard to believe this was a debut novel. The writing was fast and snappy (although a bit heavy in metaphor/description at times) and reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six.

Honey has a compulsive, unputdownable energy that makes you want to stay up late to finish. My favourite part was the friendship between Amber and Gwen, that channeled the spirit of the 90s pop era and I liked how their relationship grew throughout the story. I also really liked Axel and the quiet slow burn relationship with Amber.

My only critiques would be that I think it tried a bit too hard to include song lyrics, interviews, Wikipedia articles, etc which felt like they didn’t add to much to the story. I felt this especially at the end, which I think would have worked much better as a flash forward chapter.

Britney Spears. Christina Aguilera. Jessica Simpson. *NSYNC. BSB. These are the artists/groups I thought of while reading HONEY by Isabel Banta.

Honey is a coming-of-age story of perseverance, friendship, heartache, first love, and having the drive to follow your dreams. Amber is singing in a talent show when a talent agent discovers her. After many failed attempts to break into the business, her mom stops taking her to auditions. This is a story of Amber finding her way to achieve what she has always wanted. I loved the 90s to early 2000s setting as I was Amber’s age and was taken back in time to my late teen/early 20s years. While I’m nothing like Amber, I loved her character.

Honey was believable and felt like reading a memoir.
For fans of Daisy Jones and The Six by TJR and The Woman in Me by Britney Spears.

I really enjoyed this book and loved reading with my #CeladonReadsTogether buddy group @youhadme_atmerlot @mom.read.sip.repeat and @readswithnatalieb! Many thanks to @celadonbooks for this copy and including me in this #buddyread!

Also, many thanks to @macmillan.audio for the audiobook! I did a combination of reading with my eyes and ears and flew through it. It was hard to put down! Narration by Brittany Pressley was fantastic!

Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Isabel Banta for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This was a book that I was really hyped for and getting approved for it made my day. It follows Amber Young as she deals with fame in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Amber is a pop singer and goes from being in a band to going solo. She stays close with some people that she’s known over her career and you learn more about her over the book. I started to really care for her character and was rooting for her.

My only complaints about this one is that sometimes the pacing felt a little odd and I wish some things would have been expanded upon. Someone around the 40% mark I thought that things were slow, but I think I just cared more about some parts of the book than others.

I liked a lot of the themes and characters but would have liked to have learned more about them - especially Gwen. Overall, though, this was a good read. I’m glad I read it and I think people will really enjoy it! It’s also a great summer read

DNF at about halfway through and omg... this was hard to listen to. These were the most uninteresting characters I've ever read about. Amber was a narcissistic sex crazed immature girl with absolutely no redeeming qualities. In fact, all of the characters were like this. Even more boring was Wes, her "love" interest and Gwen. I mean, could she even call Gwen her friend? Their relationship was so weird and please don't get me started on the music lyrics and the weird way the narrator read them.

Also, couldn't stand the audiobook narrators voice. awful.

I was really looking forward to reading this as I love any music based novel and I was born in the mid 80s so this couldn't hit home more. However, I didn't love it as much as I hoped. I just kept waiting for something to happen. The story doesn't really build. It reads kind of like an autobiography. It also seemed a little all over the place with stories and thoughts jumping around. Honestly, it gave strong The Woman in Me vibes, but clearly more well written. I had a hard time becoming emotionally invested in any of these characters, they all just seemed flat and I kept assigning them real life counterparts, like Savannah was Jessica Simpson and that may have contributed to my inability to connect to them as a fictional character. Overall I enjoyed the nostalgia and the clever way Wikipedia entries, magazine articles, etc were incorporated into the novel.

Thank you to Net Galley and Celadon Books for the ARC!

The premises for the story did a lot of the heavy lifting for me. I was expecting it to be slightly more buzzy and pull on a lot of the nostalgia from the early aughts. But I honestly feel like this story could’ve taken place in many different eras. The mentions of smoking cigarettes and alluding to certain y2k fashion definitely helped to paint the picture, but I may have gone into the story with higher expectations, which led me to be slightly underwhelmed.

The second half definitely picked up for me and I enjoyed seeing Amber become more involved in the process. For me, the story became more enjoyable here.

Amber was angsty and unapologetic which I appreciated. But the story left much to be desired for me. Also, I’m not afraid to admit I judge books by their covers and this cover art is great.

This book had lot of promise as a historical fiction about a girl group. But I couldn't really feel very connect nor could I root for the main character. It made the story drag a bit so this was not for me.