Mad Honey: A Novel

I really enjoyed the book and became completely engrossed. I thought the character of Lily was very well-developed, as was that of Asher. I liked the technique of telling her story from the end to the beginning, as even though she is murdered early on, she is brought vividly to life, along with flashbacks to when she was younger. Her story is very moving. I also found the parallels between the two young lovers very interesting, and not over-stated. I was a little frustrated with Asher’s attorney, who would have liked the authors to grapple a bit more with the ethical issues raised by his approach to Asher’s case. It wasn’t very client-centered. The best defense attorneys that I have known have been much more client-centered, so it was hard to understand why he was at the top of his field. The relationship between Olivia and Mike also seemed a bit contrived, and her abusive marriage and its impact on her was a critical part of the story, but not overly convincing. The bad fathers seemed a bit two-dimensional to me. All in all, a compelling, engrossing story, but it could have been even better if the adults were as well developed as Asher and Lily.

It took me 50 pages to settle in. Then I could not lay it down. Read it in 24 hours…and I did sleep but more reading was the first thing I did when I woke up at 4:50 this morning. I have been a long time fan of Jennifer Boylan’s work. When my son was interviewing on the Colby College campus I went to lunch by myself. I was invited to sit down at a table with a group of young women. One of these women was one of Jennifer’s advisees. This woman’s face lite up when she spoke about her professor and advisor. I had already read She’s Not There…so it was an added bonus to also learn from her this woman that Professor Boylan was as authentic in person as her writing., My son was not admitted to Colby…but the day was memorable and made special by meeting these young women and hearing their stories of life on the Colby campus. Getting to hear about Professor Boylan and her teaching style was a real perk., This book is very creative. I loved the back and forth of the stories of Lily and Olivia. I wondered at the start how they wrote it together. More than anything I appreciated the narrative of the two lives of Lily and Olivia. There lives more alike than not. The education about the trans community is important as well about the process of grief., Thank-you for a memorable experience. Ava, Lily, Asher and Olivia will be with me for a long time. Good work and congrats to the two of you. Job well done.

This book is like being on a swing. It goes up and down. I enjoyed reading Lily’s story and I liked Asher from the beginning and their live story. I didn’t realize this was a transgender story in the beginning and had to go back and take a second look. I always felt like Asher wasn’t the killer and was guessing who could have killed Lily. I didn’t guess correctly but I was saddened by the fact that we don’t learn much once the person responsible is named. That was a let down. I wanted them to pay. I liked learning about the bees but it was so much information and I wanted more of the rest of the story. I wanted to know if Lily’s dad ever contacted Ava. I wanted more money f Jordan and his wife because I loved them just from the descriptions from Olivia’s story. I learned so much in this book about transgender. I learned terms that I don’t typically hear and I felt compassion for Lily and Ava. I wanted Lily to live and experience an amazing love with Asher. Finally, I think Mike was amazing and I’m happy for Olivia. It would be nice to read a sequel and find out what’s happened to these characters 5-10 years from now. I think Asher will become an attorney fighting for the rights of transgender individuals. One of the surprises was reading the authors’ notes at the end and finding out how this story was created and how they felt about the characters. It begins slowly and then you can’t put this book down