this one’s a little tricky for me to rate. i was immediately pulled in by the premise, and that cover is absolutely stunning omg. i went in with high hopes, and while there were things i really enjoyed, there were also things that didn’t quite work for me.

i’m a very character driven reader, and unfortunately, the characters in this book just didn’t click for me. they felt a bit flat, and i struggled to connect with any of them emotionally. so from that angle, it was a bit of a letdown.

that said, what a unique and eerie little read. the writing was lush and lyrical, and the atmosphere was so unsettling. this book is definitely a ghost story, but more folkloric instead of jump scare horror. and my favorite part? the short ghost stories and town legends sprinkled between chapters. those little snippets were honestly the stars of the show for me.

overall, Honeyeaters was a beautifully written and atmospheric read, even if the characters didn’t quite land for me. if you’re into ghostly folklore, small town legends, and lyrical prose, this is still one worth checking out. 👻🥀🪦🌊

thank you to netgalley, the publishers, and the author for providing this ARC 🤍

I did not finish this book at 15 percent. The writing was very clunky and I could not get into the story.

Just dabbling in horror, and the only horrifying thing about this book is that I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON AT ALL. I get the whole parts of personification but I definitely do not understand this story. I felt dumber but also know there's a market for this reader out there!

Body horror & a dark fantasy? I ate this book up and the setting of this book was PERFECT.
The characters fell a little flat for me but I was so intrigued as to what was happening to them!!!

Truly a botanical fever dream! It had a slow start, but once it picked up I could not put it down. I was obsessed with Grace’s character and wanted to know more about Charlie. The floral immagery was extremely well crafted and unique. With the rise in botanical novels lately, this one certainly stands out above the rest!

What a year for waterlogged, moss-covered ghost stories!
This is stunning. The setting is its own special character, it’s simultaneously slow-building and wickedly twisty, and I loved every minute of it.

“ℑ 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔢.”
“𝔈𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱.” 𝔏𝔦𝔡𝔡𝔶 𝔩𝔢𝔱 𝔤𝔬. “𝔑𝔬𝔟𝔬𝔡𝔶 𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔰 𝔱𝔬.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Published: 02/09/25 (ARC)
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Horror, dark fantasy
Page count: 272
Format read: 📱
Other books read by this author: None

A visceral, botanical ghost story set in a small town, sub-tropical floodplain. I adored the way the story was framed by & intersected with neighbours gathering to tell local legends & unexplained experiences. The strong undercurrent of dread & sense of unreality that ran throughout, when coupled with intense & vivid imagery, made for a hallucinogenic fever dream of a novel. The one area this fell down for me was the characters, but purely in that I wanted to get to know them much better than we did. The vagueness of the prose, though beautiful, left me at times a little disconnected from the characters which meant I wasn’t as invested as I otherwise could have been.

Thank you so much to Kathleen Jennings, Tor Books, & NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!
***
"A richly imagined dark fantasy that pulses with the beautiful destruction of a town reclaimed by the natural world." In a town full of dark secrets, vengeful ghosts, and botanical horrors, we follow Charlie as he starts to unravel his own { and the towns } secrets.
***
If you enjoy very poetic, lyrical writing, then this is for you! While I do typically enjoy this writing style, the plot was too slow for my taste. I found it very hard to follow the story line because the characters had no depth or connection to one another or to me as the reader. I felt as though the whole time I was reading the book, I was missing a major piece of the puzzle.

Review posted to GoodReads & Tiktok.

As much as the premise piqued my interest, the rest fell flat for me. I had to push through, even though it was less than 300 pages.
I prefer reading the mini chapters in between the main storyline. Those little stories actually captured my attention more than the main story itself.

I give kudos to the author for vivid descriptions of the little town. It's dark, lush, and surreal. Almost hauntingly beautiful.

I would definitely check out other books by this author, but this book was not for me.

surreal, wet, and puzzling. the closest vibe comp I can think of is the third story in Netflix's THE HOUSE anthology, where those cats are struggling to get along in a drowning world.

but this book has more ghosts.

to be honest, I'm still not totally sure what happened there at the end, and I can understand that this level of dreaminess might now be everyone's cup of tea. but honeyeater was a lush, lyrical fever dream of a novel, and i enjoyed every moment basking in its strangeness.

Honeyeater
Kathleen Jennings
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book: 40
Favorite quote:
“We look at the lowered stars, and dredge up stories we once knew, or borrowed, or stole”

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and TOR publishing for allowing me to read this ARC of Honeyeater by Kathleen Jennings.
I will be honest, for the first about 20% of this book, I was confused as to what was going on. I understood that Charlie and Cora Wren’s aunt Ida died and they were in charge of clearing out her house. However, all of the circumstances around Charlie were a bit muddled but I think they were supposed to be. As someone who LOVES Silvia Moreno-Garcia and T Kingfisher, this book was right up my alley. It had the same convoluted and creepy vibes and some of her works. I can honestly say I did not expect the plot twist of the mastermind behind everything even though I feel like I should. I also loved the description of Grace as she decayed. I can’t wait until the book is officially released and we could potentially see some artwork. Overall this book was a great read and I kind of hope it has a collectible hardback with green vines and blue roses along the spine. Instant pick up!

Honeyeater is a strange and beautiful journey through a world that feels both haunting and alive. Lush with eerie atmosphere and gothic undertones, it reads like a quiet, lingering ghost story whispered through the trees. The prose evokes a landscape where nature is not just background but an active presence—calm and lovely in one moment, then brutal and reclaiming in the next.

The imagery stands out as the heart of the novel, casting a dreamlike quality over the entire narrative. It feels as though the characters are simply passing through, witnesses to a much older story playing out around them. The plot is secondary to the mood and tone, but that works in favor of the book’s haunting, almost folkloric feel.

This is a book best appreciated for its atmosphere rather than action. It’s strange, slow, and poetic—perfect for readers who love quiet stories with a creeping sense of dread, rooted deeply in nature and the unknown.

Thank you NetGalley & Tor Publishing Group for the ARC!

The beautiful cover pulled me in, and honestly, the authors writing is just as hauntingly beautiful.

The story follows a boy from a small Australian town who goes to back to help his sister clean out their family home. A girl with no memories appears at his door needing help, only knowing his last name, and blue flowers coming from her body. As they try to find answers on who she is, where she came from, and her fixation on the boy and his family, the flora rapidly takes over her body. They uncover secrets about the town and his family lines influence that may disrupt its balance.

The writing describing the flora and world in which this takes place is ghostly poetic. So much detail is poured into an eerie, gothic landscape, painting a vivid world of Australian flora and fauna that can creep into nightmares. The story has such beautiful prose, but unfortunately the characters fell a little flat for me. The POV it was written in made it a bit more confusing for me as well. With 3 main female characters and it rapidly switching who were speaking about but just always calling them she or her made me have double back to see who were talking about. One girl was never given a name, just the cab drivers daughter. By the end of the book, all the pieces begin coming together and motivations are very clear, but we’re just not given enough to understand or deeply care about the characters to keep engaged until then.

This earned 3 stars for me, because really it is still such an immersive botanical horror, the characters just aren’t the spotlight, the landscape is.

The writing style is lyrical and beautiful. But I had trouble feeling anything for the characters. There was not enough character development for me. At least not enough for me to actually really become invested in their story. The descriptions of the of botanical horrors was wonderful. Poetic at times and that is why I continued to read the story. This story has so much potential but the story falls flat simply because there is not enough character development to actual feel anything for them. So instead of feeling haunted like I imagined I would from the synopsis, I just felt blah, not immersed like I was hoping for.

Why I gave it a 3 even though I felt little connection to the characters? The 3 is all because the writing style is beautiful and the world building is exquisitely haunting. The author does exceptionally well when the writing botanical horror descriptions. They are so vivid and beautifully macabre. So it was the atmosphere the novel created that kept me intrigued.

Overall I enjoyed the descriptive world and botanical horror creation but the characters fell flat for me. I still recommend giving it a read though because the beauty of the writing style is well worth it.

This was so strange but wonderfully gothic. The plant-based body horror was fantastic. I loved how beautifully nature was described but also how violently. The writing was so lush and full and gave such an eerie feeling to the story, like a place you might've stopped briefly during a road trip but can't quite remember except that something was off. I really need more horror like this in my life.

This one was really out there. Dealing with his aunts house, he meets with a girl who has flowers growing from her skin, and as they make their way through the macabre parts of town, they have a lot of decisions to make.

You already know the cover was my vibe so I clicked request on netgalley.

This was a bizarre and beautiful read, ghostly and gothic. I really liked the imagery of this world, it was lush and haunting. There is a lot of nature that's pretty, calm and quiet but also violent and taking back what belongs to ot. The feeling of this for me was kind of a ghost story told between the trees and the characters were just there for the ride. Living in the unsettling town being manipulated along the way. I read someone else's review that said this sort of felt like coming home to a place that's half forgotten, half feral and entirely alive and that is 100% how I felt. I really enjoyed this and seeing how everything unraveled and rewrapped to the ending. The first half of the book I did feel the characters were a bit flat and their reactions seemed odd but the story and everything in this world really had me hooked.

The murkiness of the prose here overwhelmed me. I think the lack of handholds at the beginning was part of the point, but unfortunately I was never able to get my bearings enough to fully commit to the story being told. I'd definitely keep an eye out for other works by Jennings, but this was a bit of a rocky road for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the gifted copy.

The world-building in this book is intriguing. It is dark and paints a very gothic, horror, fairytalesque setting. The book starts off fairly slow for me, but it does pick up halfway through. When I say the world-building is intriguing, it feels as if the setting is the star of the show for me on this one. The characters are okay, but I'm more captivated by our dystopian world. I do enjoy that it's got that paranormal fantasy and whimsical feel paired with oddities and horror. I think overall, I like that it's different from what I am used to reading. I like books that have dark twists and turns, but aren't necessarily the ones that just has that jump scare type of horror stories.

This was my first time reading a book from this author and I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan of their writing style. While the prose is without a doubt beautiful and detailed, its also tedious to read. I found myself having to re-read lines over due to the strange sentences. The overall story is interesting and I enjoyed the idea. I still think you should give it a shot as it's a short read, it may just not vibe with me personally.