genre: contemporary suspense
For Lily, moving to New Hampshire was supposed to be a new beginning, a fresh start. Starting a new high school your senior year isn't ideal, but at least there is a chance at it being a better fit than her California school.
For Olivia, coming back to New Hampshire with her son Asher after a traumatic marriage was it's own kind of fresh start, where she could live in her childhood home and spend her life among the bees she loves. When Asher falls in love with the new girl, it seems like maybe fresh starts CAN have happy endings.
Except, in a tragic turn of events, Lily passes away in tragic circumstances and Asher is the obvious suspect. For Olivia, the choice to believe or not believe in her son should be an easy one, but in matters of the heart, few things are ever easy. Her own trauma, her small town, her love for Asher, all of it makes knowing how to handle the situation so unbelievably hard. Without the steady rhythm and needs of her bees, it might have been impossible.
I'm not going to do anything to spoil this book because it went in such a different direction than I'd anticipated and I loved that pivot. It made me think and feel and open my heart up in some big ways. It was seamlessly written, with both the changing viewpoints and back in forth in time never tripping the story up in my head. I loved how the bees and the honey lore and history are woven throughout this painful and yet beautiful story. I'm glad I went into it knowing nothing because it really kept my attention, even the legal proceedings were interesting to me. Five stars for all the ways it made me think and feel.
Content Warning: abuse, intense bigotry
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