I'm not really sure what this book was meant to be. At various stages I wondered whether it was based on z true story as it seemed very "mickey mouse club". There was nothing offensive about it but it just seemed pretty pointless unfortunately.

Honey by Isabel Banta
Rating: 4/5
Release Date: 25 June 2024

Isabel Banta's "Honey" captivates with its exquisite writing, marking a stunning debut novel.

Following Amber Young, a burgeoning pop star in the 90s, it delves into the complexities of womanhood under the glare of fame.

From the outset, I sensed the allure of "Honey," foreseeing either a rapid page-turner or a journey of savouring its literary enchantment. Surprisingly, it evolved into the latter. Every sentence held a profound beauty, compelling me to enjoy each moment within its pages.

"Honey" closely resembles an autobiography, unfolding through the first-person POV of its protagonist, Amber. Spanning various timelines, it commences in 2002, before leaping back to 1990, immersing readers in Amber's childhood experiences at school.

The narrative is deeply touching and heartwarming, characterised by the strong presence of Amber's voice and attitude. Her likability shines through, portraying her as a determined young woman.

"Honey" is a remarkable nostalgic journey, skilfully written to captivate readers and immerse them in the story of a woman striving for her dreams, while also evoking a feeling of disgust at the mistreatment she faces from various industry figures.

Thank you so much to Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre, and the author, Isabel Banta, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Amber Young has an astonishing singing talent and lives for the attention that fame brings, desperate to be loved by the public. This book takes a close look at fame and the ruthless path young people have to traverse in order to make it in the music industry. The schedule is brutal and its shocking the lack of care these young people receive. I really felt for Amber trying to work out who she is when a corporate machine has decided how she should present herself. It really made me think about young popstars like Britney and the way they were exploited by the press and the industry. A really well written novel that fans of Daisy Jones and the Six will enjoy.

This should have been a hit for me - a fictional coming of age exploration of 90s and early 2000s teenage pop stars? Yes please, I regularly and consistently froth at the mouth over historical fiction centring on fictional celebrities. Unfortunately, there was very little I enjoyed about this.

My biggest issue was the complete lack of characterisation. None of these people felt real, and I was so confused at who they were meant to be. Amber’s inner thoughts were completely contradictory to her actions. She says she is desperate for control, fame, to be loved, for people to think she amazing, for people to watch her in awe, but none of this comes across in her actions. In reality, she is quite passive and complacent, which could have been a powerful way of showing how she is a tool on the system, but this wasn’t really touched on.

I also felt confused by the career movements and growths of Amber, Gwen, Wes, and the others. There wasn’t a very natural progression for anyone, and I couldn’t always tell if they were famous or still in the stages of becoming famous. We didn’t get to see any real upward movements, only mentions of concerts, events, parties, yet none of these give us any information about their place in pop culture.

I also felt that the author focused far more on the prose than on the story. The text is overrun with similes that don’t fit, and language that feels forced. So much dialogue was written to be quoted, but in the context of a conversation between two nineteen year olds, it’s completely disingenuous. This made any commentary on real issues faced by young female pop artists feel forced and shoehorned in, rather than naturally arising.

I think there is far too much telling rather than showing in this book. We don’t get to see anything for ourselves, we are just told about it. The amount of times we would build up to a concert Amber was performing at, only to then immediately skip to the aftermath of it. Why aren’t we witnessing her stardom? Why don’t we know how the crowd is reacting? How this makes her feel? She tells us she gets a rush from performing and being the centre of attention, but only when she’s reflecting on this after the moment has passed. We don’t even know if she’s good, we just believe she is from what we’ve been told!

What I did like was the way that the record labels and the media would create personas for each artist, whether they fit or not, and the way these personas are used to pitch women against each other. I wish this would have been a bigger focus, but I felt that as soon as we got to the point, we swiftly moved on to something less interesting.

For a book that is focused on a persons rise to stardom, there is so little focus on said persons rise to stardom. The majority of this book centres on Amber’s relationship with Wes and Gwen, and even this feels very shallow. I don’t feel like we learn much about any of them, and I finished this feeling quite confused at what the point was.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up in the 90s/00s many playground lunchtimes were spent "performing" as popstars with my friends. While none of our lunchtime aspirations came into real-life fruition (for which I'm grateful) it's crazy to see the other side of pop stardom. I'm glad none of us ended up in the toxic celebrity world like Amber did. It's the perfect read for anyone who grew up in the 80s/90s/00s with that shared history and context that Honey brings.

Thank you to Zaffre + NetGalley for the opportunity to read Honey before it releases on 25th June 2024 #Honey #NetGalley

I was hoping for a type of Daisy Jones and the Six story but this didn't work for me, sorry. I found the characters flat, the action dull and could not empathise with the protagonist. It's a shame because the premise was good. I got a quarter of the way through but did not finish it.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

Found this quite hard work. The characters were pretty flat, and it felt repetitive - it didn't live up to the promise for me.

Honey reads like an autobiography including lyrics, Wikipedia entries and newspaper articles, which gave me Daisy Jones and The Six vibes. It was also a great way of building momentum quickly.

The book is more character driven than plot driven, and the reader is taken through different stages of Amber’s life. I like the unique usage of a Wikipedia page in place of an epilogue as a sort of “years later” device.

Some key parts of the story seemed to end abruptly, which I would have liked to have been picked up on later.

Amber has been chasing fame from a young age. All her dreams come true when she joins girl band Cloud 9. After a taste of fame Amber finds the courage to launch a solo career. However, growing up in the spotlight brings as many challenges as it does rewards. Grappling with sexist headlines and being taken serious in the industry, and a secret romance, Amber is pulled in different directions.

Overall, a unique and well-written book, that is just missing a little more action.

Another review I saw for this said they didn't really get what the point of this book was and I have to say I agree. I wish I could see what all the hype is surrounding this book but this definitely wasn't for me.
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It had begun with a fair amount of potential which is what made me want to keep going but by the time I finished I wished I'd just DNF'd. The writing felt juvenile and the whole thing was like a YA fanfic with more smut scenes than anything of substance. This is meant to be a coming of age story following Amber Young as she progresses into stardom as a teen popstar in the 90s and early 2000s but I didn't really get that side of the plot. Everything felt messy and I was expecting more than just reading about a young girl obsessed with sex and lust.
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I did enjoy the female friendship element and how strong that can be, especially as teenagers but even that by the end seemed to fizzle out and it all became flat. None of the characters were particularly memorable or likeable and I found it difficult envisioning them most of the time with the lack of descriptions and bland writing style. The song lyrics got tiring to read, it just made the general layout of the book messier to me and didn't really add much to the general plot.
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Overall, this definitely should have been marketed as something different as I wouldn't say it's really a "coming of age" story nor does it "redefine the narratives" of famous popstars we know from the 90s. It's a shame as I had really high hopes for this because the concept is great, it just wasn't executed very well for me.

I wanted to love this but I was expecting a more bittersweet ‘memoir’ of success and failure. The style was amazing but the story just didn’t come together for me. I am very interested to read what this author writes next, however, as I suspect this was a wrong book wrong time scenario.

I couldn’t do it, I am sorry. I really appreciate the arc and the request to review but it just wasn’t for me. The characters fell flat and the story felt like it has been told a thousand times before. I just struggled to get through it and not sure to what avail

Honey is a swarming, sweating, poetic novel, which reads like a memoir. Compared to Daisy Jones and the Six, Banta twists the narrative of fame and success to depict the more harrowing and aimless feelings of failure, unhappiness and unfairness.

I loved the style of Honey, it was the perfect blend of the poetic and the blunt, which is how I would describe our main character. This novel thrives in the quiet moments between Amber and Axel, and I wish this was expanded on more. Some parts were tricky to follow, but I think that is part of the messy stylistic choice of the book.

I really enjoyed this novel which transported me back to a formative time in my own life.

Thanks to Isabel Banta’s excellent characterisations, I was totally invested in the main character’s life - and found it so refreshing to see complex, nuanced female relationships portrayed.

Despite ‘Honey’ being eminently readable, it’s also a searing critique of celebrity culture and the misogyny of the pop music world. It’s no mean feat to achieve this!

Perfect for fans of 00s pop icons like Britney and Christina Aguilera.

This was more of a YA novel than I had anticipated, but definately full of adult themes.
It took a little bit of time for me to get into this, the writing was quite stylised and characters felt a little harsh and unsympathetic (as well as being very young). Plus, the lifestyle of the characters is very far removed from any that most of us would experience - that of wildly famous young American popstars!

However, the themes and experiences of the lead, Amber, are universal, and the author does a fantastic job of narrating the everyday sexism, exploitation, micro-aggressions and fetishisation of young women in the workplace. Amber has to navigate quite a hostile landscape whilst living with her own internal dilemmas. Her interior dialogue is quite mature for such a young person but it did help to outline how women have to question themsleves constantly and whether they have control over their lives, bodies, sexual pleasure, careers etc.

I definitely got and enjoyed the references to the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera etc and it did make me think that while everyone assumes they live such a wonderful, charmed life, behind the scenes the reality is very different and usually quite awful. Plus, there were some great references to how men and the media love pitting women against each other, when they really can be friends!

By the end I was really rooting for Amber and Gwen and even the boys, who - whilst were given much more freedom to make mistakes - were still being manipulated by a much larger money making machine.
Not a read I would normally select but I am glad that I did.

I loved this book, though the style of writing made me feel slightly detached from the characters. But it was a sweeping look at the music industry in the 90s, when I was a teenager, and it rang so very true.

It is an enjoyable read but the main character is not very engaging. This makes it hard to pull for her.

I found this book a really interesting take on fame in the 90's / 00's. I was gripped reading about life as a teenage girl and to see Amber finally discover who she is and what she wants from life. Such a good easy read for the summer.

In Honey we follow Amber on her journey to become one of the world's most famous artists and what it takes to become one. It made me think of all the pop artists I know from the 90s with which I kind of grew up with and trying to guess which artist may represent the characters from the story. Loved the plot and the characters even the flawed ones because of their role in the story.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. For me, the writing style was hard to read and I just didn’t connect with any of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

This is a light read and I enjoyed it very much. I suppose there is nothing much to it, a bit like a milder version version of Daisy Jones but it is a page turner and I raced through it.

Amber and Gwen and Axel are great characters, so likeable and I really sympathised with Amber and her struggles with the media. It gives you a bit of insight into how "the talent" are manipulated by the record companies and the sleazy executives and journalists who like to label women according to their appearance, not their talent.

A 4 for sheer readability.