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.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the perfect summer read in our nostalgic era as we follow the rise of the members of a 1990s girls group. Banta is deft at writing metaphors that jump off the page alluding to the sexism that these characters face at the hands of fellow celebrities, producers, and fans. It is difficult to believe this is a debut because the author is wholly in control of her narrative. You will be thinking about these characters long after you turn the final page. The finale is so richly earned, I was cheering while reading.

The cover art is also perfect hinting at the many layers of this stunning novel. Banta is definitely an author on the rise!

I will admit that this was a stretch for me and there were things that I appreciated about it. I thought that the author was very good with language; there were parts that seemed lyrical, which seems appropriate given that this was about a young girl in the music industry. There were times that I was mesmerized by the author's arrangement of words.
This novel follows the rise of Amber, a young girl from a working class background who enters the music industry and rises outwardly but loses herself in the process. She meets people who take advantage of her and experiences inner turmoil as she wants all of the things that success can give her but suffers consequences from it. The premise is strong. I wanted a bit more, though. It is fine, good even, for Amber to want the things that fame brings especially given her background. However, in some ways Amber was not very likeable because as much as some others may have taken advantage of her, she seemed to react in kind and she also seemed to lack self respect. All of this is fine, and perhaps this wasn't the book for me, but I feel like I wanted this to be a story with a feminist angle to it and it wasn't. I wanted Amber to discover things about herself, but I feel like she didn't.
Also, this book had a very young adult feel to it, which is not a bad thing. I don't read a lot of young adult books so I am not as familiar with the landscape as some. At the same time, there were times that Amber seemed hypersexualized and the text became very explicit with her sexual encounters. I am not a prude but this is a book that many young adults might want to read, but I don't think that the level of detail about sex would be appropriate for that audience. While this was done well (again, the author is good with language), I am not sure it was necessary. It is fine and even good that Amber had sexual agency (and it appears that her decisions were her own and not forced upon her), this could have been conveyed without the level of detail of her sexual encounters that were in the book.
That said, I liked the writing style which felt very tied into the music aspect of it. I would love to see where the author goes with her next book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

3.5 rounding up to 4.

Honey is a surprisingly sweet coming of age story about a young singer in the often-brutal popscape of the late 90s and early 00s. I liked the interspersed interviews, song lyrics, and articles as it brought dimension to Amber’s world. I do wish we had more character development - it doesn’t feel like we always know what Amber actually wants or cares about - but this was a fun summer read.

This coming-of-age story focuses on Amber - a young teen trying to make a career in the music industry. I thought the premise of the story sounded very promising, but unfortunately the story didn't work for me; it felt very disjointed with not enough character development to make me care of Amber. I think it did do a good job highlighting the medias obsession with famous people and how people are forced to create an image of themselves just to placate the masses.

2.5 rounded up
Overall, it’s a fun summer read but felt unrealized. I never felt I fully knew Amber and I can’t put my finger on the reasoning. I also felt like the book needed more of a struggle or theme. Everything seemed relatively easy overall, and the only thing Amber seemed to struggle with was her dating life— even her family struggles seemed glossed over for me.

Honey capture the life of Amber Young, a pop-star on a rises in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

This reads like an autobiography, giving you a glimpse behind the scene of what your favorite females artists might have went through during those times. Showing how cruel the media can be toward young girls and applying pressure on them to be something they’re not.

Since a young girl, Amber was always desperate for praise. Not having the confidence and looking for everybody approval beside herself, she tend to get push to things she wouldn’t do. We’re following her journey through fame, friendships, relationships and self healing.

I love the writing style, how she describes some scenes and her metaphors was incredible. Although , I wish she didn’t rush through some plots. Diving into her relationships more or even seeing her living her famous life when she finally made it would had made me care more.

Overall, I enjoy this book and is looking forward of more Banta books.

I didn’t enjoy this book at all. From the very beginning it is all over the place. The pacing makes no sense. It read more like a cumulation of diary entries than one persons story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for offering an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I even begin? At first, I was weary of this book, but I will not lie. At first, I thought the prose was a bit clunky, and at times, it felt like reading one long run-on sentence. But then, it all started to click.

We are in the mind of Amber Young, a child with aspirations to sing like Whitney Houston and to become somebody. As the reader, the clunky structure and run-on sentences start to make sense because we are in a child's mind. A child forced to grow up very quickly to live the dreams she always wanted.

Honey is very clearly inspired by the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, and as someone who adores the 00s and its culture, I felt very giddy reading this. I loved the inclusion of multi-media to show the progression of Amber's career (as I, too, used to play those J-14 games to determine whether Beyonce would be my friend).

Overall, it was a gut-wrenching story that forces all of us to realize how we over-sexualized pop stars back in the day, how men are allowed to dictate how we feel about ourselves, and the complicated relationships we have with people who tear us down but say they love you.

I highly recommend this book!

I loved the beginning of this book - it gave me very Evelyn Hugo vibes from the beginning when I got to read about about a girl turned mega star. I went in also thinking about Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake as well. I had super high hopes and was excited to begin reading. I think it felt very nostalgic for me (as someone who was born in the early 90s and grew up through that era) and I do like that the novel was fast paced so I was able to get through it fairly quickly. The novel lightly touches upon some heavy topics (but never really goes into too much detail) and part of me wonders if it was because of the fast paced nature of the novel. Amber was a bit too narcissistic for me to really like as a main character, and the character development (along with the relationships) felt a bit too superficial but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

I started reading this book because I grew up during the time of the Pop Princesses and the Boy Bands. I was a little excited to read this one, because I imagined it wasn't that dissimilar from how it might have happened.

However, I STRUGGLED through this book. Literary fiction isn't a genre I typically read and this book solidifies why. Nothing really happens in this book. We learn how the main character, Amber, gets into the music business, how she's received by people and those in the industry, and we see her career "take off." There is really no climax or resolution to the story. It just was flat.

The main character was also irritating. She was very self-deprecating, so much so when someone complimented her, she thought they were lying. I did like how she was, "this is me, this is what you get," but in general, I didn't like her.

Overall, I give this book 2.5 stars (3 rounded up). If you grew up in the Pop era of the late 90s and early 2000s, you may enjoy this book, but don't expect much to happen other than reading how a pop star goes through a handful of years of her life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon books for a digital copy and Bookish First for a physical copy in exchange for my honest review. Honey is out June 25, 2024.

4.75 stars

This. Book. Is. So. Good.

This is my food blogger recipe intro, where I tell you something you don't care about when you just want to know how many eggs you need, but it felt necessary, so bear with me. When I was growing up I loved reading books about people getting famous, and one of my favorites was "Pop Princess" by Rachel Cohn. Every summer we'd visit my grandma and grandpa, and their local library was much larger than mine at home and had a more expansive YA section. Several years in a row I checked "Pop Princess" out to reread instead of a new book because I loved it so much. "Honey" felt like a much more grown-up version of this, and having it set in the late 90s-early 2000s made it even more nostalgic. I will definitely be adding it to my reread roster.

Growing up as a teen in New Jersey, Amber Young has always wanted to be liked, to be chosen. When she is told that she's meant for more than a normal life and picked to join a girl group, she's thrilled. And then immediately terrified: that she's not good enough, that she's the weak link of the group, that people won't like her, that she's not ambitious enough, that her new friends like each other better. 
Amber is forced to grow up and dumb down quickly, and learns that celebrity comes with its own set of problems; top of the list being that what the public thinks has happened can often be more important than what actually did. From the era's obsession with thinness, the sexualization of girlhood, darkness of parasocial relationships, and the exploitation of private lives, this story will make you feel a new kinship and sorrow with the idols of your youth. We follow Amber throughout several years as she transitions to a solo career and is marketed as a sex symbol despite being underage. We feel for her as she navigates the close friendships and innate competition of bonding with other celebrities, and the hope and devastation of first love and heartbreak. 

The plot here is great and very entertaining, but it really shines as a character-driven story. The writing is beautiful, but felt very authentic to Amber and her voice, to the point that the smallest descriptive observations in the narrative had me going "That sounds like Amber", the way you're reminded of a friend. I really loved witnessing her growth throughout the story, and the ending felt so satisfying it had me misty-eyed. I won't get specific, but there's a character who grows in importance toward the latter half of the book that I really loved, and their dynamic was so refreshing and comforting to read. Basically, I could gush about this book all day, and writing this review has just made me want to read it again. Thank you to Celadon and the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review, I can't wait to see what Isabel Banta writes next!