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A review by 13rebecca13
Honey: A Novel by Isabel Banta
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Honey tells the story of Amber Young in the nineties and early 2000s. Singing is the only thing she is good at. She enters a show called Star Search when she is young but loses to a boy called Wes who can't believe his luck, as he thinks Amber is a fantastic singer.
At the age of seventeen, Amber is put into a girl group called Cloud9. There, she becomes good friends with bandmate Gwen, and the Cloud9 girls open for boyband ETA, Wes's band.
The novel follows Amber leaving the band and making it as a solo artist. The vibe feels nostalgic and it focuses on the industry, tabloids, the sexualisation of female artists. She is competing against other female solo singers (including her best friend Gwen), her relationships are highly publicised, people online say things about her.
There are some aspects of mixed media in there too and whilst I love that, I would have enjoyed an extra chapter on Amber now in her forties with her husband and child and how that came to be, rather than it being akin to a Wikipedia article.
I really enjoyed this book and it is a great, easy to read debut.
At the age of seventeen, Amber is put into a girl group called Cloud9. There, she becomes good friends with bandmate Gwen, and the Cloud9 girls open for boyband ETA, Wes's band.
The novel follows Amber leaving the band and making it as a solo artist. The vibe feels nostalgic and it focuses on the industry, tabloids, the sexualisation of female artists. She is competing against other female solo singers (including her best friend Gwen), her relationships are highly publicised, people online say things about her.
There are some aspects of mixed media in there too and whilst I love that, I would have enjoyed an extra chapter on Amber now in her forties with her husband and child and how that came to be, rather than it being akin to a Wikipedia article.
I really enjoyed this book and it is a great, easy to read debut.