"Mad Honey" by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Mad Honey- by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
April 2023
Four Stars

Single mother Olivia has already had her share of trauma as she was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband. She and her son Asher now live on the family homestead where she is a bee keeper and fruit farmer. The setting of rural New Hampshire is idyllic, which is my personal #1 feature in fiction.

Asher finds his girlfriend dead at the bottom of her staircase just as paramedics arrive and he becomes the number one suspect. I was completely drawn in by the mystery, and read this book in record time. Olivia is fortunate her brother is top notch defense attorney but things don’t look good for her son.

I was fascinated by the chapters when Olivia harvested honey, replaced a Queen bee, and rebuilt a hive. It was clever how the miraculous culture of the bees mirrored the complexity of our own society. This book has another important story to tell, and since I am avoiding spoilers I won’t name it.
This book is a mystery, a tragic love story, and enlightening all at once. The subject matter was important, relevant and poignant. Even in the worse of circumstances, love can prevail.- Kim Luke

Book Blurb-
A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind.

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.

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