You cannot have the Hornets Nest without the love story of Ryan and Lorraine Cody. In Honey Pot and Bad Honey, you see Ryan Cody as a gruff, heartbroken, and altogether sad man, one who is so busy holding himself together that he cannot find it within himself to try to heal or grieve with his broken son, Cael.
Ryan wasn't always that way, though. Ryan was full of life, love, and hope, back when he first met his Lorraine, the quintessential "girl next door", but really the girl next door to his good friend, but that never sounds as good. In So Long, Honey, you travel back in time to discover the beginning of the love story between Ryan and Lorraine, the original 'heart of the Hornets'.
Ryan, a small town baseball star who dreams of getting out of the essential Hell that he lives in, falls in love at first sight with his English tutor, Lorraine Fields, the mayor's daughter. Suddenly, his world is turned upside down when the girl that he loves shares her secret, and instead of running from her terminal illness, he loves her through it. He will be damned if he keeps her in a town that refuses to let her shine like the star she is.
Ryan Cody is the moon, Cael Cody is the sun, and Lorraine, well Lorraine is the stars that connects them to each other; beautiful and undying.
This story had me in my feels throughout each and every single page. The grief that Ryan and Cael feel is woven within each word, but so is love. "Grief, I’ve learned, is really love. It’s all the love you want to give but cannot give. The more you loved someone, the more you grieve. All of that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes and in that part of your chest that gets empty and hollow feeling. The happiness of love turns to sadness when unspent. Grief is just love with no place to go."
This novella should be read after Honey Pot, as it brings in characters that you meet in Cael's book, but just because it is short, does not mean that it is not heartbreaking. This is life, love, and grief all rolled into one; a movement through the stages of grief where most of us live.
I lost my "Lorraine" eight years ago, and I've never been the same since. Perhaps that is why I relate so heavily to this book. Thank you for giving me an outlet to let out some of my pain and grief over my loss, as well as feeling for the characters and the home that you have built. The fact that Ryan Cody was the one who created the two finger tap will be burned into my retinas and my soul for the rest of time.
The Nest is home, and the Nest is where we belong.
So Long, Honey, A Hornets Nest Prequel Novella:
Preexisting Characters
Prequel Novella
A Walk to Remember Vibes
High School Sweethearts
Baseball Romance