Witty, thoughtful and provocative, a story about two young adults navigating adulthood on the idyllic island of Guernsey. A lot of issues are covered and I didn’t always get everything, but there’s great style and characterisation and verve.

Renee and Flo, childhood friends from Guernsey, reconnect at a funeral and decide to live together, despite their differing personalities and lifestyles. Renee, a carefree 22-year-old aspiring writer, still lives on the island, while Flo, a more serious marketing professional, returns from London after a personal crisis. As they navigate their renewed friendship, they face their own struggles, secrets, and fears, all while adjusting to adulthood, grief, and new responsibilities. The story blends humor with emotion, capturing the complexities of friendship and the challenges of growing up.

Dawn O’Porter is the queen of in-your-face novels. Throughout her books she’s tackled many subjects few others would dare (remember the train scene in So Lucky?) and her latest novel is no exception.

Several years after the last instalment of Renée and Flo, they’re back in Guernsey after a few years of widening their horizons off-island. Neither of them are in a great place in their lives, and they haven’t talked for a long time - but circumstances are about to throw them back together and it’s going to get messy.

The book explores some really difficult subjects - alcoholism, grief, career difficulties, family breakdown - and yet it’s not as bleak as it sounds. It is uncomfortable though. Like, I full-body cringed reading some scenes, because O’Porter takes some of the worst turning-up-naked-to-take-an-exam-you-haven’t-studied-for nightmares and puts them down onto the page like she isn’t just destroying any peace you will ever have again.

It’s the humour and the humanity that makes the book though. The author adds just enough of each to stem the tide of awfulness and avoid overwhelm. Everything that happens to Renée or Flo feels like something that could happen to any of us - maybe just not all of it at once!

Mostly the girls’ stories are about that weird period in your early 20s when you’re grown up to have finished full-time education, to live on your own and support yourself, but when most of us are not quite old enough to have the first clue how to actually be an adult with any measure of success. Even if I suspect I’d have more in common with the boring homebody background characters than either Renée or Flo, I related to many of their worries.

O’Porter grew up on Guernsey and she talks of the island with such warmth and fondness that I’d really love to travel there. Her exploration of what - and who - constitutes home goes right to the heart of not just Renée and Flo’s stories, but the reader’s also. Overall a brilliant addition to the series, and a big leap in maturity too.

I really enjoyed this book.
It had a bit of everything: friendship, grief, love, heartbreak, and I feel the mental health aspects were covered really sensitively.
I really felt everything along with the two lead characters and found myself getting rather emotional at points !
I didn’t realise it was a sequel which is a credit to the author and shows it works well as a stand alone book. I will be hunting down the previous instalment now!

I'm a huge Dawn O'Porter fan. I love the way she writes her female characters. This book is a sequel to a YA book which I've not read however this did not detract from the story at all. Flo and Renée find themselves back on Guernsey where they grew up. Adulthood is not going to plan for either of them and with very witty and sensitive writing we ride along with them as they try to find out who they are and where they are supposed to be.

An excellent read with a special shout out to Aunty Jo, I'm right there with you lady!!!

I really enjoyed this book as the characters were so down to earth and relatable. I found parts of the book endearing, funny and uplifting. Dawn O'Porter has been a great job with this book and I again will await more of her stories, as I know afterwards I will feel good and it will keep me hooked throughout.

This was an easy, nostalgic read and a lot of it made me laugh - I loved the immaturity of Renee as a counter to Flo (who I related to more). I didn’t realise this was part of a series until after I had read the acknowledgments but that’s credit to the book as a stand-alone piece. I agree with some reviewers that there were a lot of themes, perhaps too many to be explored properly. I enjoyed the setting and importance of Guernsey, I didn’t really get the bee theme, and the menopause / 9/11 stuff felt a bit at odds, but I appreciate they might have been close to the author.

Honeybee is the second book from Dawn Porter that I have read, and I really enjoyed this book about friendship and Adulthood.
Renee and Flo are childhood friends and realise that Adulthood is not all that is cracked up to be, Renee wants to fulfil a career as a writer, but she hasn’t left her childhood home on the Island of Guernsey that she live with her aunt, and she doesn’t really know what to do with herself apart from partying and not taking life too seriously. After all she is only 22. Flo has a job in a Marketing firm in London. But something happens and she rushes back to Guernsey and transfers her job to their branch on the Island. She takes her job very seriously
The two girls happened to meet at a funeral, and they rekindle their friendship. As the two girls enjoy their company together. Renee persuades Flo to move into her flat. But the two girls’ personalities are far part then they where when they where children. Is this a recipe for disaster?
Honeybee is the second book from Dawn Porter that I have read, and I really enjoyed this book
This is an endearing story about friendship and Adulthood getting though grief of a loved and taking responsibility for one’s life. Although this was such an emotional ride It had some funny moments too This is a great read. 5 stars from me.

I have greatly enjoyed Dawn O'Porter's previous books so I was keen to read Honeybee. I did however struggle with it a little; it didn't capture me as quickly her previous stories and I found myself leaving big gaps between reading. It's not a bad book, but I did find I wasn't motivated to keep going. This may entirely be me and not the book, sometimes you're just a bad combo.
(Copy received via Netgalley in return for an honest review)

I hadn't realised these characters had been written about before. It made no difference, so can definitely be read as a stand alone. Honeybee is all about female friendships and our flaws, I would recommend it, I enjoyed it.

Honeybee by Dawn O’Porter is all about female friendship and growing up. This being the third book about Renee and Flo’s friendship we follow the two into adulthood now. Flo returns to Guernsey from London starting a new position within a marketing company she is all about being professional and no fun at all. Renee being her absolute childish self that we know from the other books (note I only read the first and third, they work perfectly fine as standalones) gets a job at Flo’s new work place. What could potentially go wrong. While I enjoyed seeing both holding onto their friendship and growing up I at the same time was so annoyed with them. Yes you were supposed to be irritated by Flo’s behaviour so the job is well done because I actually at some point wished to not get Flo’s perspective anymore. Renee annoyed me with a lot of her childish and sexual decisions that I personally did not want to know about. But Renee grew in this book massively and took responsibility which I was glad to see I just wish there would have been more of it earlier. The ending was although rushed great.
The writing is as usual easy to follow and reads quickly. I would take into account that I am not a young adult anymore which probably contributed to me getting annoyed with certain traits and behaviours of these characters.
I give it a solid 3 stars as I think it portrayed friendship and the mental health issues very well.

When I heard that Dawn O'Porter had a new book coming out I was excited, an author I have gravitated towards for over a decade. However when I realised that this was not just a new book, but a new tale from the characters that made me fall in love with her writing I was on edge. I actually had to check my goodreads to remind myself its been 11 years since I first met Flo & Renee in Paper Aeroplanes. I, like them, was also a teenager discovering the world and everything it meant back then, while navigating turbulent times, and I always felt a comfort in that book I couldn't put down at 16.

Now 22, Renee & Flo's lives haven't panned out exactly how their younger selves imagined they would, work wise, life wise or romantically, and we follow them back to Guernsey for a funeral. Its such an untapped resource, that depressing ageing and fizzle out of friendships as you get older. Distance and paths cause you to space yourself out from people, and Renee & Flo are no different. Both dealing with their own struggles, their reunion is first met with that awkwardness of two people who know each other so well and yet, now have secrets and fears the other knows nothing about. As we the reader are reconnecting with the characters, so too are they with each other. Our own distance and nostalgia blending on the page with them. I was reminded instantly that I loved them. These two friends, who couldn't be more different, the forced proximity as they re-adapt to the place they grew up and the person who was once the most important in each of their lives.

O'Porter's portrayal of friendship is always my favorite, but here especially feels real, as you see Renee & Flo attempt to fix what broke them and fit their new selves into their new friendship years later. Honest, funny and heartfelt as always, I couldn't put it down and immediately it left me wanting more. A stellar addition to their story.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for an early arc in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read. It had me wanting to shake both Renee and Flo at various points but this was a reflection of how caught up in their lives you became.

The underlying friendship between the women was central to the story as they dealt with their own struggles.

Would recommend but unlikely to re-read.

This is the first novel of Dawn O’Porters’ that I have read and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the idea surrounding womanhood and the struggles with friendship. Flo and Renée, the main characters I enjoyed that they both had flaws and were returning back home to Guernsey to try and work through their flaws. There were some funny parts, but also there were many parts that you wanted to jump inside the book and give them a hug and tell them that it would get better. I would definitely read more by Dawn O’Porter.

Firstly this is a brilliant book about friendships, flaws and would definitely recommend reading this. The book follows on from the first 2 books based on Renee and Flo who are now 22. I haven’t read the first two books however this can easily be read as a standalone.
Renee is returning from Spain where she has been living with her Dad who she doesn’t have a great relationship with and Flo is coming back from London to their childhood home Guerney and they bump into each other again at the funeral of a girl they went to school with. They rekindle their friendship and end up living together in Flo’s Brothers flat while he is out of the country. An elderly lady called Lillian also lives in the same block is nicknamed Mrs Mangel initially as she always moans about them slamming the doors however as the book progresses we also get to learn a little more about Lillian and then scene in the cafe made me laugh out loud.
Flo is suffering and doesn’t appear to ever have got over the grief of her Dad dying and the resentment she feels at her Mum and this has led her into alcohol issues, Renee isn’t sure where her life is heading, she knows she wants to be a writer but embarks on an affair with a married man, which makes her realise she has never felt the same way about a man before.. Working together does bring added strains to Renee and Flo’s relationship but ultimately they are there for one another, providing support when needed and felt that by the end of the book they showed a maturity, as if they suddenly grew up and realised they need to take control.
This book also touches on the issues of menopause, living with someone in a care home and dealing with the loss of your parents and how this can affect people.
If you want a book that has great characters, shows how real friendship can endure the tough times and the mess ups that friends make then this is the book for you.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing an advance copy however the opinion is completely my own.

I had high hopes for this; it was my first DoP book but I’d heard such good things about her others and, being of a similar age to Renee and Flo, I was looking forward to this.

Guernsey came across beautifully, I’d love to go. Unfortunately I just could not connect with the characters, they were a bit flat and 2D and their actions really frustrated me. I didn’t like the two main characters at all.

Sadly not for me, but I am sure this will be loved by the authors usual fanbase. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my copy

I loved this story and Dawn O Porter as a menopausal women I identified with the aunty. The connection between the 2 friends was lovely and also the office dynamics especially the error with emails which I admit I’ve also done!

Best friends Renee and Flo return to the island of Guernsey to start being adults, but they soon discover it’s not all it’s cracked up to be!

This was an entertaining read with lots of amusing and cringy moments which the author is famous for, as well as some more tender moments. I loved how the girls came together to rekindle their friendship, although probably felt myself relating more to menopausal Aunty Jo! It was also really interesting to learn about how growing up on a small island impacted them, it never occurred to me that Guernsey didn’t have trains!

Firstly thank you to netgalley for sending Honeybee in exchange for an honest review. I have really enjoyed all of Dawns books, I find her writing funny and relatable!
This book was a follow on from Paper Aeroplanes (which I kinda wish I’d re read to familiarise myself with their stories again however I think it would be fine if you hadn’t ever read Paper Aeroplanes).
There was lots of nostalgia in this book, very character driven and some deep, sensitive challenges that Reneè & Flo face however I must admit it wasn’t my favourite of Dawns, I felt she was holding back on the storylines somewhat but that’s just my opinion!
It has made me want to visit Guernsey though!
(Also if my phone changes Honeybee to Hornybee one more time I’ll go mad 😵‍💫🫣😂)

Oh, this story filled up my heart very nearly to bursting! Flo and Renee, 22 years old and desperately trying to find a grown up way in the world, cue, love, friendships and misunderstandings aplenty but also some wonderful laugh out loud moments, thank you for this story