Blurb

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Alternatingly heart-pounding and heartbreaking. This collaboration between two best-selling authors seamlessly weaves together Olivia and Lily’s journeys, creating a provocative exploration of the strength that love and acceptance require.”—The Washington Post
 
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • PEOPLE’S BOOK OF THE WEEK • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising their beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that 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 she wonders if she can 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 Ash, 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.

Review

Mad Honey is not a book I ever would have purchased myself, but my wife and I share an Audible library and she recommended reading it before sorting it out of my library. She gave it a high recommendation in her review more than a year ago.

Mad Honey is written with chapter trading style, jumping from one character narrating to another–Lilly, the victim, and Olivia, the mother of the accused. The co-authors wrote each character separately, although they said a fair amount of collaboration went into the editing process.

I typically do not love books that time jump, but with this book putting of the main character’s demise early in the book, time jumps were necessitated. Having the split chapters helps keep it sorted in its own way.

As for twists and turns, yeah there are plenty. The first major one changes your view of the victim, or at least is suppose to. I’ll try not to spoil that one. The last major twist felt cheap to me. You spend most of the book debating who the killer is, or if there was a killer. I will say where they went with that one missed the mark for me. I was hoping for more out of that.

The book was not a waste of time, and I can see why it was much beloved by many critics, but I’m also glad I did not spend an Audible credit on it myself. Call this another one I respected more than I enjoyed it. Soft recommend .