Well. I really adore Sarah Crossan's verse novels from young adults and I was excited to read something from her aimed at an adult audience. I was intrigued by the title and the cover is gorgeous.

Sarah Crossan has such an incredible skill of creating relateable characters with interesting relationships. And Here is the Beehive was such an emotional journey for me. Already it takes such skill to write a novel in verse, but I was amazed by how many surprises there were in this book, how I really came to know Ana and understand her decisions. Here is the Beehive is about Ana, a solicitor who has been having a three year affair with (married) Connor but when the worst happens and Connor dies, Ana's grief is largely invisible because nobody knew that he meant anything more to her.

This story is told in the present as Ana is struggling to come to terms with her own grief and complicated feelings about her relationship with Connor but it's also told in the past, so we can see Ana and Connor's relationship forming and the lines that are crossed and the decisions that are made, the justification. I loved that as soon as I thought I knew these characters something unexpected is revealed.

Here is the Beehive was one of the stories that creeped up on me. I hadn't realised how emotionally attached I was until that final quarter of the book where all the heartache just built into this crescendo. Beautiful.

Ana is making a will for her client, Connor, and they begin a three year affair. When she receives a call from Connor’s wife, Rebecca, Ana struggles to hide her grief.
I absolutely loved this book. There is just something about Crossan’s style of writing that is so captivating. She is one of the most unique authors I have ever come across.
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is superbly written. It is the first adult verse novel I've read and it definitely won't be the last. I've enjoyed Crossan's YA novels in the past and it was great to read a story with adult characters.

Here is the Beehive is full of complicated characters, whose lives are messy and imperfect, but refreshingly real. There were so many moments where I wished I could speak to Ana - perhaps a result of the style it is written in, but also because she was so fleshed out. There's so much to talk about with her - she's a character you could study and write essays on. I could definitely write an essay on all my thoughts about her (the only reason I'm keeping this brief is because I was to avoid spoilers). I didn't agree with a lot of her actions, but I understood why she was making them and throughout the novel I desperately wanted her to heal and be happy. She is a character I could discuss endlessly and I can't wait for more people to read this book so that I can.

Crossan writes in first person but addresses Ana's partner, Connor, as 'you' throughout. This heightens the emotion within the verse and also assumes the reader already knows everything, which leads to some big surprises in the plot. I was never sure how or where Here is the Beehive was going to end. The final page brought me to tears.

Crossan's attention to detail is brilliant. I loved the tiny character studies of figures in the background which brought the world vividly to life and small moments have stuck with me long after I read the last page.

I enjoyed this book. Written in classic Sarah Crossan prose with not a word wasted. Intriguing and so very different from anything else I’ve read.

Ana is making a will for her client, Connor, and the pair begin a 3 year affair. Ana receives a call from his wife Rebecca to say Connor has died. Struggling to hide her grief, Ana tries to cope with losing Connor whilst also drifting apart from her husband Paul. Rebecca is her last link to Connor but will befriending her reveal their affair?
I have conflicting thoughts on this because I thought this was a really interesting exploration of grief and loss and parts of the writing were beautifully done. However, it felt very surface level in that for such an emotional story I didn’t feel anything. I don’t think it’s a matter of being too short, I thought this ended at an appropriate part of the story. I found Ana as a narrator to be unnerving, her detachment to her family was surprising and her obsession with Connor’s was uncomfortable in parts.
I’m glad to have read this, I finished it in one short sitting but I can’t say that this is something I will be thinking about in the future.

If I've not read all of Crossan's books I've read almost all of them. In her early career she experimented with style, Breathe is a very standard 2012 dystopian thriller and Apple and Rain uses poetic prose. Fortunately she has found and stuck with verse novels, most famously with One but also my favourite The Weight of Water. This is her first book for adults and unfortunately doesn't break ground in the way she may have hoped. If anything, my disappointment reminds me of reading Almost Love by Louise O'Neil, something about the transfer to adult has made her more ordinary. This story of hidden grief is oddly repetitive yet leaves areas underexplored, with too tidy an ending. It's also overlong, taking me two sittings and hours to read.

It's also worth mentioning the shocking typesetting on this Netgalley edition, which was scarcely eased even by reading on Kindle Fire. There's a significant copy and paste error affecting around a page at around 80% and the -1-0-1 interrupts the text every page. As a verse novel, losing clarity of the line breaks has inevitably affected my enjoyment as well.

A one-sitting wonder.
Having read most of Sarah Crossan's YA novels I was really keen to read her first foray into Adult Fiction. Her distinctive sharp prose is used to devastating effect in this compelling novel.
Ana has been conducting an illicit affair with Connor for 3 years. Both are married with children but Ana is prepared to leave her marriage, but Connor reluctant to do the same. But then devastation, as Connor dies. Unable to grieve publicly as noone knew about their relationship - how does Ana deal with this life changing event in silence.
To complicate matters Ana had met Connor as his solicitor drawing up his will - so now has to deal with his widow amongst her own grief.
Powerful as all of Sarah Crossan's books are. Her sparse prose proving once again that less is more.
This book reminded me a lot of Louise O'Neills writing - particularly Almost Love - and like O'Neill Sarah Crossan has proved she is adept at speaking to all age-groups.
Highly recommend.