I absolutely LOVED this debut novel! I thought the concept was so unique and relatable for readers who grew up in this time of young pop stars. The characters were fresh and easily connected to artists of the early 2000s. The conflict in the story was engaging and had you rooting for Amber the whole book. I thought each character was well developed and had a good mix of good/bad qualities in each. Very easy read and I devoured it in 2 days!

This book was the Y2K, pop nostalgia, boy/girl band book of my dreams! Fans of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, One Direction etc. should definitely read this book.

I thought that it was really well written, with poetic prose at parts. The incorporation of the lyrics of the songs was also very well done in my opinion, and I typically think that including lyrics is cumbersome and unnecessarily cheesy. They were included with apt timing and in a way that added to the storylines. Not too much of a focus was put on romantic storylines, but instead themes of friendship and character development were the main piece.

The book had cool behind the scenes looks at what could easily have been the pop stars that I grew up with. I’m not sure if the author was intentionally drawing connections to real 2000s stars, but I tried not to think too deeply about that. I didn’t want to miss the story in front of me by confusing bits of real life lore.

I received this book as an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you Isabel Banta and Celadon Books!

I loved this book. I grew up in the early 2000s and 2010s and was (and still am) pop star and boyband obsessed. I absolutely loved that this was written to seem like an autobiography and feel that I connected to Amber so, so much throughout the story. I loved the mixed media element as well. This was so raw and really gives the perspective of the part of stardom that may not always feel worth it. A phenomenal debut.

I originally received the paperback book ARC from Celadon to do a buddy read. Not everyone received their book, so they sent use to NetGalley so we could get to reading together.

I liked the book a lot when I started reading it, then it stalled out. It got to the point I contemplated doing a DNF, but I hate doing that. I got back into a groove for reading it, then it stalled out again.

Overall, I found the book to be decent albeit overhyped.

Honey by Isabel Banta is an ode to the pop singers and bands of the 90s and 2000s. The author has tried to give a voice to those young women who were subjected to innumerable things.

Amber Young has always wanted to sing, and she has a voice for that. After a lot of trials and errors, she does get that chance. But in a world where looks, connections, scandals, and objectification prevail, was she able to survive?

Having grown up in the 90s and 2000s, I definitely know some of the pop stars that this book is based on. Amber, though, is only one character here, she probably is multiple characters combined. There are so many layers of ism's in here that I was not surprised to read about. However, I wish that the author had shown the effect of all those things on Amber. They are just referred to and then skipped right over. I wanted more. The book is good paced, and it does grab the reader. I am definitely interested in reading more from this author.

Thank you, Celadon Books and Netgalley, for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an opportunity for read this book in exchange for an honest review. The book follows an aspiring 1990 pop star. I was a young adult in the the early 90’s and the main character reminded me of Christina Aguilera, and another character was Brittany. Amber, the main character, comes from a modest background with various traumas, her look somehow defines who she will be, how she will behave. She starts in a pop group with the others and eventually goes out on her own…the book follows her trials as a very young woman in a difficult, rumor fueled and substance addled industry. I did not enjoy the book because I was not interested in the characters, but keeping it real and to be fair to the author, the topic is too shallow now that I’m 50 something, that said, I loved Daisy Jones and the 6, I read music biographies, so I expected something else and it fell short for me. I felt like there were so many metaphors that didn’t add to the writing for me, i didn’t really feel invested in the outcome of the story.

I really enjoyed the nostalgia of the early aughts pop scene and public love triangles reminiscent of Britney, Justin, and Christina. It held a mirror up to the way we, as a society, both love and love-to-hate celebrities, and the way women are often held to impossible standards in contrast to their male contemporaries. I felt that, despite the celebrity aspect of the characters, so many of their feelings and experiences were relatable to anyone who has been a young woman and had to come to terms with trying to balance sexuality and desire against society’s Madonna-whore complex. Honey is an interesting look at womanhood and hunger, and the prose has an almost lyrical quality that made the reading experience very enjoyable.

Honey is the journey of Amber Young, a late 90s-early 2000s pop star. For anyone that was a fan of the Britney/Christina era, this book reads like a backstage view into their lives. Honey is about more than just pop stars though, it is about the struggle to find oneself at a young age and the beauty of friendships. Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the copy!

Include a quote from a Britney Spears song? Say less. I adored the line comparing mother’s and daughters to Russian dolls, so poetic when referring to young daughters getting their big break and mother’s living in their shadows- much like the show Gypsy. So I hope that line stays in the final copy of the book once released.

Amber’s journey includes many things expected from a wannabe pop star- Star Search, a troubled family with an alcoholic mom, and the failure of the beginning with a girl group. A little too played out at times. From the girl group she meets Gwen, who also begins a solo career very much mirroring a Christina vs Britney vibe. A little too on the nose. The men are all pretty much creepy and cringey in this one. Amber and the first love interest are so excruciating to read and awkward, I was prepared to skip all those parts. The story is so much better when focusing on Amber coming into her own and her career.

Even though the story lacks quite a bit of depth, maybe that’s the point in reflecting teen pop in the early 2000s, Amber’s transformation was the real “star” of the book. Even lacking points for me for creativity, this could be a good book for you if drawn to any stories of Hollywood and follow girly pop idols of the 90s and early 2000s.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon books for the digital galley of this book!
90s pop stars, boy bands, drama, publicity, and more! This book gives me very much 90s, Britney Spears vibes when it comes to what happens when you have the spotlight, who you can count on, and how to find yourself when everyone else has already formed opinions about you. It tackled how media treat women, women treat other women, and how women treat themselves.
Did I agree with the lifestyles of these characters? Not really. Did I really like how different it was and impulsively readable it was? Definitely.

I felt like I was slipped right back into the early 2000s. At the time I never would have said I was a fan of Britney or Christina and definitely not Jessica Simpson but reading this made me look back on the emergence of their genre in a much different way. The epilogue was chefs kiss. Pure creativity and I loved it.

Man oh man did I LOVE this book! I read it in one sitting I just could not put it down. This is what I imagine all pop stars to experience and I’m so here for it. I loved this!!!!

Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. The synopsis was promising, but I just did not enjoy the book like I thought I would. It bored me and it didn't encourage me to continue reading. I also found that there was a lot of unnecessary descriptions that seemed like it was trying hard to be "flowery".

3.5 stars rounded up. If you were a teenager in the late '90s or early aughts, you will recognize many of the characters in this book. Britney, Jessica, Xtina, *NSYNC, even the acclaimed producer Max Martin -- their counterparts can all be found in the pages of Honey: the story of iconic pop star Amber Young, her rise to fame, and the scandals and achievements that shaped her career.

Isabel Banta gets a lot right in her debut novel. She perfectly captures the culture of the late 1990s and early 2000s, largely defined by the feverish, meteoric rise of girl groups and boy bands. Through Amber (who reminded me of both Britney and Xtina at different times through the story) and her counterparts, Gwen and Savannah, Banta explores the artifices of fame, the never-satisfied need for recognition and success, the struggles of being cast in a public persona that doesn't quite fit, the role of public opinion in shaping a career, and what it feels like to live your dream while also lacking anything real and true. There's a lot of interesting commentary surrounding the ways these pop icons were exploited and oversexualized -- but also how they were underestimated, denied agency and often respect in the industry. I loved the multimedia aspect of the book, which includes web articles, magazine articles and quizzes (man, those quizzes were nostalgic!), and song lyrics.

All that said, however, the plot of Honey largely felt like a missed opportunity. I felt like there was a more interesting story to tell about these characters, rather than just casting them as players in a love affair that was supposedly "scandalous." I felt that Banta got to the heart of who Amber was, but never quite excavated the complexities of her relationships with the other characters.

But wow, was Honey ever a fun trip down memory lane for me -- and also a book that made me think about those back-in-the-day pop icons in a completely different light than I was capable of as a 15-year-old girl obsessed with the Backstreet Boys. Thank you to Celadon Books for the early reading opportunity.

This book was so nostalgic to me, growing up in this era. It was an easy read and good story but lacked a bit of depth to me.

This was such a different read than I was expecting! It had incredible 90’s/00’s vibes throughout, which brought me right back. The writing was lyrical (literally), beautiful, and confusing at times.

I enjoyed the plot and concept of the book, but was sometimes needing to read a section over again because I felt I missed something that would logically link it to the next section.

The themes were clear and I loved the characters. They felt interesting and young and dramatic. It was a bit of chaos, but welcomed chaos.

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Thank you so much to Celadon Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

A pop-star coming of age fiction debut set in the late 90s. This was perfect for fans of singers like Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore and was fantastic on audio narrated by my FAV, Brittany Pressley. Heartfelt and interspersed with fun news clips that really enhanced the audio experience. I will definitely keep an eye out for more by this new writer. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book feels like an iPod mini and Hubba Bubba gum and summer camp. Beautifully nostalgic of the late 90s and early 2000s pop craze, we get to follow a character as she gets swept into a current and then plants her feet firmly on the ground. For anyone who loved boy bands and solo girlies as a kid, this book will feel like coming home.

At 17 Amber Young gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she joins Cloud 9, a pop girl group. This allows her to launch her very successful solo career. The novel follows her as she comes of age with every aspect of her life being scrutinized by the media.

I’ve seen very mixed opinions of this novel so I didn’t know what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed following the Amber’s story and never wanted to put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing this book, with my honest review below.

I read Honey understanding the blurb but unsure what kind of story I’d be getting into. Would it be tragic? Hopeful? Romantic? Triumphant? Rageful? The story of someone who is ultimately flawed, damaged, maybe even pathetic? All of these things are coming up in retrospectives of various famous pop artists during the time the book took place. Ultimately Honey was a little bit of all of this, which various characters who represented each of these things or had elements that spanned the range.

This is not a look into the world of pop stars that tries to imagine how a Britney Spears would have navigated her experiences per se. It’s a frank look at a pop star who could have been anyone, a few pop stars really, during that time. Amber’s experiences are her own though they seem familiar to those who grew up during that time reading gossip or looking in. Gwen, her best friend, and Wes, her lover, also carry the same type of feeling. While I wish Honey would have gone a bit deeper, brought more in of the obsessiveness of fans and press, and spoke more to the advantages the industry took, this sucked me in and was fascinating all the same. Really, I just wish the story would have continued further into the 2000’s as the culture of celebrity and obsession reached a distasteful peak during that time. Instead we were left with the beginning of a young pop star who was flawed and tragic and a bit pathetic. Who had buried rage but was hopeful, experienced romance - both the toxic and healthy types- and who emerged triumphant, even though we may not have seen her fully breakthrough to that healthy end.