This was my first time reading work written by Tiye and I must say that I am thoroughly impressed. I love a story that makes me feel multiple emotions.

This Side of Beautiful felt very layered to me because not only does it explore love, whether that be self-love or how to love others while not changing yourself, but it also explores the mental aspect of being in the music industry, having parents or even just one parent who does not reflect what we have been told is the parental image, and it is a piece of art that features found family!

I would recommend this to those who are comfortable with the topics that are explored. Also, I want to get my hands on those discussion questions 💖

Tiye really knows how to pull at your heart. This Side of Beautiful is an emotional, layered story about healing, love, and rediscovering your worth. I felt every bit of Sanaa’s journey; her grief, her growth, and her strength. The romance was slow, intentional, and full of depth. This book was soft in all the right places but didn’t shy away from the pain that comes with starting over. I loved it from beginning to end. Easy 5 stars.

This side of beautiful is an emotional read that exposes the reader about the ups and down of rockstar life and the battles of addiction. While I appreciated the writing and the backstory, I struggled with the FMC.

6⭐️
This was such a real, raw & emotional read for me! A beautiful love story that touches on the hardships of dating with mental disorders and past traumas .

Our FMC Janae, is a bold, beautiful artist who “fell off” due to Bipolar disorder , drug addiction and alcoholism. she decided to pop back out as an artist with a documentary about her life and rekindling with a band she previously worked with , after trying to change her life for the better.

Our MMC Landon, is an anti-social, anxious guitar player who is apart of the band that is helping Janae fix her image in the media . After running into each-other again, sparks fly & they both realize each others anxious ways.

this story was so deep and beautiful. it touches on self harm, bipolar disorder, familial issues, abuse, alcoholism & it’s effects on a persons mind forever. it was so relatable and just heart wrenching at moments . But it also touched on healing and how that process is almost never an easy task. 🤍

This book is a powerful and emotional read definitely check the trigger warnings first. Landon and Janae's story tackles mental health in a raw, honest way that really resonated with me. It shows the silent struggles so many people face, and it's beautifully done. Janae's childhood trauma and Landon's own battles felt so real. What I loved most was how they recognized their trauma bond and prioritized healing individually before trying to be a couple. It's a story about growth, self-discovery, and healthy love truly beautiful. Thank you to NetGalley and Honey Blossom Press for this ARC.

This was an intense music industry love story. Both the FMC and MMC were beautifully flawed. If you enjoy a forced proximity trope and an opposites attract trope, then this read is for you. However, it was so much more than that. The book did an incredible job of demonstrating the struggles and complexities associated with bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and neurodivergence. I love that so many tough but necessary conversations between the characters were had throughout the book. Even if you haven’t struggled with the specific issues of the characters, I think there was still lots of wisdom to be gleaned from this story. Great romance read but loved the depth and layers of the book. Great character development as well. 🫶🏾

I'm going to give this one a solid 4 stars! It had me locked in even though, I was not necessarily invested if that makes sense. Thank you to Net Galley and Honey Blossom Press for this early advance reader copy!

This book is incredibly hard for me to rate - because I am both a person who loves drama AND a psychologist. On one hand - wow, Janae and Landon are so damn engaging and interesting characters both in their own rights. Their love story is full of ups and downs and so many highs and lows! BUT as a psychologist and therapist - my goodness this was a train wreck. I feel like shows a very accurate display of navigating mental health as you are healing. Did I enjoy it? Kinda. Was it realistic and engaging? absolutely. Did it cover a lot of ground and intense topics in a short time span? also yes.

One sentence summary - When Landon and Janae's world incidentally collide, they both for the first time see each other clearly and emotionally, which sends them into a love story with big highs and lows as they navigate both being together, creating music, managing their individual mental health struggles and dealing with their families.

I feel like both Landon and Janae are great compliments to each other, but my goodness they were also building co-dependency at every turn. This book is very raw and emotional - there are a lot of heavy topics discussed and displayed on page. Be sure to read the trigger warnings. I would recommend that this book for folks who enjoy raw and gritty love stories that touch on subjects of mental health battles, addiction, family issues, heartbreak, second chances and trauma.

This emotional slow burn is one for the books. Watching Jane and Landon overcome their individual struggles while finding love when they least unexpected it is definitely something worth seeing. This story had my emotions all over the place but wouldn’t trade one moment with it for anything. The Hollow Bones was definitely a great supporting cast and I hope to see more of them!


Tiye brought her A-game with this one. It’s one of her best one yet. This story covers topics like mental health, fractured families, and addiction. I would definitely recommend this to everyone.



Received a ARC for HoneyBlossom via NetGalley for an honest review.

This was my first book by this author, and honestly, I totally picked it up because of the cover. This book dove into some really intense stuff, and it felt so real and honest. The way it portrayed the struggles with mental health was so authentic.

Janae and Landon definitely had a connection and their story took me on an emotional ride. I was feeling all the feels right along with them. The writing was so good, too! I was completely hooked and just had to know what was going to happen with these two. Definitely glad I grabbed this one!

“This side of beautiful” embraces a thoughtful and passionate journey through mental illness and emotions.

Janae and Landon are two broken people who struggle to find a middle ground to commit to their relationships. Janae, through her diagnosis, faces a battle within her. Her musical career suffered a downfall, and she is trying to start again, but still fighting her demons. While she is flawed, Janae is a person who wants to be loved and respected, she has trust issues and those contribute to her sense of loneliness. Landon also struggles with some things and would rather be alone, but he has to work with Janae and through her, he keeps pushing his boundaries and try to stay out of his comfort zone.

“This side of beautiful” is very raw and emotional. It is a story about two people with a lot of flaws that try to find a common ground and try to survive in a world that feels out of shape for them. It is beautiful but also very demanding for the reader in terms of feelings. Landon is an amazing MMC and Janae is correct a lot of times in terms of his behavior towards her. The most beautiful thing about their relationship is that they both fight for each other. Sometimes they quit, sometimes they fight, but one or the other pulls back and confronts the other. Sometimes they do not have a common ground and with disagreements they both reach a conclusion to that, but they communicate.

“This side of beautiful” proves that love is not enough - building a relationship requires not only love but also trust, communication, and both individuals desiring the same outcome and working towards it.

Whew - this book was a rollercoaster - thank you to Tiye and NetGallery for the ARC, I really appreciate it!

I am a sucker for stories about the music industry and stories about mental health and character struggles. This was both of these - and yet, despite the stories that have explored these two in tandem previously, this book did feel like it explored a different aspect and had its own unique place among these books. If I were to describe this book with a single word it would be ‘real’. Real can be a double-edged sword in that it is both the book's greatest strength, but also possibly the cause of some of the aspects I less liked about the book. Although the main plot does revolve around the music industry - Janae Warner was a previously successful artist - one who has had a fall from grace due to personal struggles she was not able to overcome, but is now trying to mount a return to this industry - I do feel the main selling point of this book is in its depiction of trauma, mental health and neurodivergency. I cannot fully speak on all aspects of its depiction since I have not gone through all the experiences written about myself, but of what I can tell - Tiye has really done a great job to try to portray these struggles realistically. For example, the characters' struggles don’t magically fix overnight, the exploration of how some of their traits are just part of who they are and should not be expected to be ‘fixed’ and the depiction of healing does not occur in a linear fashion, but is a messy occurrence. This however, led me to my first gripe - which was the characters. Especially at the start, the characters, and Janae in particular - can be quite hard to like. Perhaps because the issues she has struggled with were quite different to my own, I found it very hard to relate with her and place myself in her mindset to understand some of her more frustrating actions. Despite her awareness of the issues that had landed her in the position she finds herself in at the beginning of the book and despite the initial promise she shows in wanting to change, her actions are a slap in the face and where she is at times (I’m really sorry!!) unapologetically entitled (demanding respect when respect is something that should be earned through actions - and in her case, rebuilt, given her history). I really was trying my best not to judge her, especially at this point when we do not know the full extent of what she is going through - but it did make it a little hard to read on at the start when I could not connect with her and felt my compassion for her waning a bit due to her actions (which would not have been as bad if she acknowledged her mistake in them, or if other characters did not side with her for behaviour I really did not agree with). Ironically, this is also what makes her depiction so real - how imperfect she is and how much of a mess she is - and I am sure that perhaps there are people out there who might really connect with her. I just wish, given she was already aware of her situation, she was just a little bit more humble and careful with her actions - it’s completely okay and understandable to make mistakes as long as it comes off as she is genuinely trying and taking steps, but her attitude towards it all was just off-putting to me. This did improve as the book progressed and I really like the character growth Tiye put the characters through.

Her relationship with Landon was another core aspect of the story as well and one which I think was great to explore - it really demonstrates how important surrounding yourself with good people are and how having people in your life can really help with struggles you’re facing. Having Landon in the story also opened the door to explore more struggles individuals might face, and I think that for that reason, many people may be able to relate to at least one aspect of this book. I like the way the characters support of each other was explored and this was one of the brighter aspects of the book. I was not fully onboard with all aspects of their relationship however - my main gripe being how quickly their relationship developed at the start which felt a bit inorganic (it was only 8% in when their first *you know what* happened). It did slow a bit after the first 15% and for the rest of the novel thankfully which worked well for me as I felt this gave them more time to genuinely bond and get-to-know each other, and for their relationship to feel more organic. I also liked the exploration of our protagonists’ relationships with other characters and their development over time.

I do think this book was a very character-driven one - especially given its heavy emphasis on mental health. The plot was not the most memorable or exciting - but this is forgivable if you are going in with this with the knowledge that the focus really is on characters, how they’re feeling, and how they will develop. I don’t think it is impossible, however, to have a book that does both - so that is probably where some of my detraction towards the rating is going towards. I think it was this, combined with my struggles with Janae, that made the first 30% of the book quite hard to get through (although I will give a shout-out to the opening chapter which I liked because of the mystery that existed - but unfortunately this mystery was quite quickly unravelled and I had little to drive me reading forward besides wanting to write a review). Once I got past this 30-40% mark however, as the characters were developing a bit more - I did find myself enjoying the story more and becoming more invested in their journeys.

I think the actual writing was generally nice - again, shout out to the opening chapter - where I could really feel her anxiety coming through and I liked the way variation in sentence length was used to create that tense atmosphere, establish a mystery, and give us tidbits of her past to get the reader initially hooked. For example, just a random example - “I forced a smile. Wide. Girl-next door wide. The kind that had disarmed teachers when I was a kid, softened angry producers when I was late, charmed interviewers when I was high”. I love sentences like this which drive forward the plot whilst offering insight into her character and her past.

This is getting quite long, so I will finish up by summarising: this book is about overcoming inner demons - it is perfect for those who really want a book that explores mental health at its forefront and one that does so in a way which feels authentic. We get realistically imperfect characters who truly struggle at times, and we get to see how through supporting each other, they grow.

Thank you again for the story!

I received an ARC of This Side of Beautiful by Tiye through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book. It dives deep into how two artists handle the pressures of society while navigating mental health struggles like anxiety, substance use, and, unexpectedly, the autism spectrum. It was a heartwarming and powerful story, filled with honesty and raw emotion.

At the start, the author includes a letter to readers that sets the tone, explaining that this is a story of redemption, love, strength, and finding beauty in broken pieces, and she was absolutely right. It was beautiful to see how growth, healing, and transformation can happen even in the midst of chaos.

There were moments where I felt like some chapters dragged a bit or had unnecessary details, but overall, this was a meaningful and touching read. I highly recommend it—100%.

What a beautiful betrayal of mental health and neurodiversity rep. I also really enjoyed the music scene. I always enjoy when a book features characters who aren’t perfect but still deserving of love. If I’m being honest, this one is really hard for me to rate because for the same reason I liked the book is the same reason the characters frustrated me to no end.

I may come back and update my stars as I sit with this one even more. As it is, I’d put about a 3.75.

4.5 Stars
A beautifully written story. I enjoyed Janea and Landon's individual healing journey and how they found support in each other. I was a little concerned about those two, lol, but they figured it out. The characters were well developed, the mental health topics were handled with great care and the flow of the storyline kept me engaged and invested in their outcome. I would recommend this book to others.

Ａｕｄｉｏｂｏｏｋ & Ｅｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
🌟🌟🌟🌟.2
This side of beautiful by Tiye was written so nicely and touched on some heavy topics. This book is about irresistible love, unwavering resilience, redemption, and acceptance. In the beginning of the story, Janae got on my nerves; her character felt very self-destructive. But once you get a very up-close and personal look at Janae and the trials life has thrown her way, you start to understand her a lot more and will root for her character to get the happily ever after she truly deserves. Landon's character also kind of irritated me with his self-centeredness when it came to Janae and what he thought best suited her, but in reality, he was her number one support system and knew she could overcome what she was going through. I just wish he had made it a little easier for Janae to help him. But overall, this story is beautiful; the character development is amazing! The epilogue could easily be a tearjerker. Fair warning! Highly recommend.

The audiobook is a dual narration, narrated by Taryn Delaney and Myles Washington! They both brought depth to the characters, were easy to listen to and understand, and both of their voices fit the characters. Listened at 1.8x speed.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬:
•black romance
•mental illness | health

Thank you, NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Honey Blossom Press for the audiobook and ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this read, but there were times when I fought to get to the end. Initially, I thought Janae was selfish in her action, but as the story went on, I could understand why. I enjoyed reading about her growth and fighting through her personal battles from beginning to end. I also enjoyed the exploration of mental health, overcoming personal struggles, family trauma, and healing throughout. The love between Janae and Landon was raw and refreshing, and I'm glad we got to witness both the ups and downs. I feel like so many people can find themselves in this book and would be well-received by many.

Music themed and spicy - yes! This was a beautifully written story, and I was engaged throughout the book. Tiye is an exceptional storyteller. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is a raw, beautifully written journey of two broken souls finding safety in each other. A fallen singer battling bipolar disorder and the weight of public judgment is forced on tour with a quiet, guarded guitarist who’s just as lost in his own silence.

What starts as tension and distance slowly melts into understanding, then into something deeper—something neither of them expected. It’s not just about music or fame—it’s about healing. About learning to trust someone enough to let them stay, even when you’re at your lowest.

Two lonely hearts, shutting out the world—but never each other.

Intimate, emotional, and honest in all the best ways. This story doesn’t glamorize the pain—it honors the fight, and celebrates the quiet, steady love that rises from it.

This book completely wrecked me in the best way possible. It was raw, emotional, and so carefully crafted. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but now I know one thing for sure—I need more from this author ASAP.

The way she tackles mental health is thoughtful and deeply compassionate. You can tell she poured real care and understanding into every word. It’s not an easy read—there’s weight to this story—but it’s told with such honesty and beauty that it stays with you long after the last page.

I’ll absolutely be adding the physical copy to my shelf. This one’s going to stick with me for a long time.

ARC Review

Pub date: May 6, 2025

*Please check trigger warnings*

"This Side of Beautiful" was the perfect title to depict Janae and Landon's love story.

Janae and Landon are both musicians. Janae is a fallen hip hop star who is on the path to rising again and showing the world that her past doesn't define her future, all with coming to terms with her mental illness. Landon is a guitarist who plays in a band, is also dealing with his hidden struggle, and coming to terms with defining it.



Their story deals with different mental health battles, addiction, family issues, heartbreak, pain, trauma, hurt, second chances, and love. Through all these things, this story will take you on an emotional, sometimes painful, but beautiful ride that leads to an amazing love story. When I started reading this story, I thought to myself that Janae and Landon are either going to ruin each other or help each other grow and continue to be each other's "life jackets" in a healthy way. I am so glad the author showed us the down of someone dealing with mental health but also with therapy and support the ups of it. Janae and Landon's connection was one of a kind and I am so happy that in the end they both were able to come to terms with their mental health, themselves, and finally soar individually and together.

Thank you, Netgalley and Homey Blossom Press, for my advance copy for my honest review.