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Honey Girl
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Debut Novel (2021)With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that.
This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her father’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.
When reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood.
This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her father’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.
When reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published February 23, 2021
2137 people are currently reading
114365 people want to read
About the author
Morgan Rogers
1 book1,583 followersMorgan is a queer millennial from Baltimore writing about queer millennials. She has a dog and a cat and dreams about one day owning a farm with horses and goats and chickens. Music is her biggest creative inspiration. Honey Girl is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 8,389 reviews
April 9, 2021
*1.5 stars*
Y'all... what is this? What. Is. It.
Now, I knew pretty much 30 or so pages in that this book would not be for me, but since this was one of my most anticipated reads for the first quarter, I pushed through. Unfortunately, it only went downhill.
My first impression of this book is that the whole "plot" was covered within the first 20 pages and kind of rinse-repeats throughout the book. Grace Porter (ugh, never wanna see that name again, Rogers repeats it SO MUCH) has just finished her PhD in astronomy and isn't sure what she wants to do next, but she feels immense pressure from her emotionally distant father to make something of herself. She goes to Vegas with her best friends and wakes up married to a Manic Pixie Japanese Girl from Brooklyn. That's really about it. This would be an intriguing story if it was written with any depth.
My biggest issue with Honey Girl is that it doesn't feel authentic AT ALL. Rogers relies far too heavily on corny imagery and dreamy diversity aesthetics in her writing rather than exploring relationships and conflict between the characters.
None of these characters were believable to me. And I didn't care about Grace at all and I found her to be immature for someone who is supposed to be 28 years old. Even though I too am a queer Black millennial with burnout, I didn't identify with Grace's existential dread simply because I wasn't convinced she had any problems!!!! After spending soo many years getting her PhD (in astronomy, which I'm 100% Rogers chose b/c she's into astrology and wanted to make a million universe/star metaphors), she had a job lined up in her advisor's lab but didn't want it. Cool. She bombed an interview. Ok. Then she acted like the world was ending and she would be homeless and her life would be over. Which was absolutely not the case.
She had the opportunity to take a break and do something else, working on an orange grove in Florida with her mother, but she cared way too much about her strict military father's approval, which she didn't have anyway because she didn't become a medical doctor like he expected her to. I can't even say that I understood their relationship dynamics because none of the dialogue was realistic! There's one part where she's about to go on this trip to Vegas and her dad is like "Don't let this trip ruin your chances of having a career" or something to that effect. Who says that to their 28 year old daughter??? No one.
I just didn't buy the characters in this book. No one had any depth, especially Grace's friends, and that made her relationships seem very cringe and forced. She allegedly loves her 2 friends "so much it hurts" but there was maybe one page of context for how they came to be so close, and they often just tell her not to cry and don't really provide meaningful support other than physical contact.
I pretty much didn't care for anyone in this book because they all seemed like distorted facsimiles of what "diversity" is supposed to look like. I didn't like that Grace is biracial--the author is a fat monoracial Black woman and that would've made a more compelling character TO ME--and she honestly read as a white girl. I didn't relate to her and the rare cultural conflicts/moments seemed half-baked and thrown in to remind the reader that you're supposed to be reading about a woman of color. Most of her friends were multi-ethnic and queer but it all felt so fake and more of what someone imagines cool Portland/New York gays are like rather than how they actually could be if they were actual people with depth.
The best line in this book actually is when one of Yuki's friends in Brooklyn is like "fuck white people!" and ironically that's the line that earned most of the 1 star reviews lmao
Even the romance part rang hollow to me. I didn't feel any connection to Grace and Yuki's relationship because it was based on cloudy images from a barely remembered drunken night in Vegas. I honestly would've just preferred if Rogers spent the book focusing on Grace's struggle to figure out her path in life and breaking free from her father's overbearing expectations. But alas, I had to read over and over her stilted entanglement with this Japanese waitress with a radio show who, for unclear reasons, is convinced Grace "was chosen by the sun" and her "honey gold hair" and "sea salt and crushed herbs" and "star girl" so many times I wanted to vom. NEXT!
_______________________________________
Hate to say it but this book was a huge disappointment.
Full, ranty review to come.
Y'all... what is this? What. Is. It.
Now, I knew pretty much 30 or so pages in that this book would not be for me, but since this was one of my most anticipated reads for the first quarter, I pushed through. Unfortunately, it only went downhill.
My first impression of this book is that the whole "plot" was covered within the first 20 pages and kind of rinse-repeats throughout the book. Grace Porter (ugh, never wanna see that name again, Rogers repeats it SO MUCH) has just finished her PhD in astronomy and isn't sure what she wants to do next, but she feels immense pressure from her emotionally distant father to make something of herself. She goes to Vegas with her best friends and wakes up married to a Manic Pixie Japanese Girl from Brooklyn. That's really about it. This would be an intriguing story if it was written with any depth.
My biggest issue with Honey Girl is that it doesn't feel authentic AT ALL. Rogers relies far too heavily on corny imagery and dreamy diversity aesthetics in her writing rather than exploring relationships and conflict between the characters.
None of these characters were believable to me. And I didn't care about Grace at all and I found her to be immature for someone who is supposed to be 28 years old. Even though I too am a queer Black millennial with burnout, I didn't identify with Grace's existential dread simply because I wasn't convinced she had any problems!!!! After spending soo many years getting her PhD (in astronomy, which I'm 100% Rogers chose b/c she's into astrology and wanted to make a million universe/star metaphors), she had a job lined up in her advisor's lab but didn't want it. Cool. She bombed an interview. Ok. Then she acted like the world was ending and she would be homeless and her life would be over. Which was absolutely not the case.
She had the opportunity to take a break and do something else, working on an orange grove in Florida with her mother, but she cared way too much about her strict military father's approval, which she didn't have anyway because she didn't become a medical doctor like he expected her to. I can't even say that I understood their relationship dynamics because none of the dialogue was realistic! There's one part where she's about to go on this trip to Vegas and her dad is like "Don't let this trip ruin your chances of having a career" or something to that effect. Who says that to their 28 year old daughter??? No one.
I just didn't buy the characters in this book. No one had any depth, especially Grace's friends, and that made her relationships seem very cringe and forced. She allegedly loves her 2 friends "so much it hurts" but there was maybe one page of context for how they came to be so close, and they often just tell her not to cry and don't really provide meaningful support other than physical contact.
I pretty much didn't care for anyone in this book because they all seemed like distorted facsimiles of what "diversity" is supposed to look like. I didn't like that Grace is biracial--the author is a fat monoracial Black woman and that would've made a more compelling character TO ME--and she honestly read as a white girl. I didn't relate to her and the rare cultural conflicts/moments seemed half-baked and thrown in to remind the reader that you're supposed to be reading about a woman of color. Most of her friends were multi-ethnic and queer but it all felt so fake and more of what someone imagines cool Portland/New York gays are like rather than how they actually could be if they were actual people with depth.
The best line in this book actually is when one of Yuki's friends in Brooklyn is like "fuck white people!" and ironically that's the line that earned most of the 1 star reviews lmao
Even the romance part rang hollow to me. I didn't feel any connection to Grace and Yuki's relationship because it was based on cloudy images from a barely remembered drunken night in Vegas. I honestly would've just preferred if Rogers spent the book focusing on Grace's struggle to figure out her path in life and breaking free from her father's overbearing expectations. But alas, I had to read over and over her stilted entanglement with this Japanese waitress with a radio show who, for unclear reasons, is convinced Grace "was chosen by the sun" and her "honey gold hair" and "sea salt and crushed herbs" and "star girl" so many times I wanted to vom. NEXT!
_______________________________________
Hate to say it but this book was a huge disappointment.
Full, ranty review to come.
April 27, 2021
3.5 stars. A solid debut novel. This would make a great indie film adaptation since it’s like a coming-of-age story for adults in their late 20s. I enjoyed the way this book opened up with the hazy yet romantic memories of the night the protagonist had, right as she is at the cusp of an existential life crisis. The author has a strong grasp of their own writing style where it’s lyrical and contemplative. Pairing this with a coming-of-age narrative will definitely make this book resonate with the specific audience the author is writing for.
The focal point of this book is the self-development of the protagonist rather than her romance with the girl she just married, which more so serves as a catalyst for her existential crisis. I think that’s a great setup, and found many of the issues she dealt with her career to be very relatable. Her struggles dealing with being a minority in a predominantly white field, feeling like she has to give 110% of herself and be the best all the time in order to be recognized at work, but then also questioning why she’s working so hard for something she feels like she “should” excel at but doesn’t give her much joy… all of those things are extremely accurate to my own experience in my industry, as I’m sure it is for many women of color in many areas of work. There’s a specific moment where she indulges in this new relationship she has, and she says: “I just want one thing to be easy”. This is a moment I identified with the most. You work so hard, constantly trying to excel and prove yourself, but it gets so tiring to do that all the time. That desperate need to have just one easy thing in your life where you don’t have to be “on” is such a relatable reprieve.
Although I find the themes to be relatable and am sure will resonate with many readers, I personally couldn’t find myself resonating as strongly. One major reason is that it’s very clear what the author is trying to do with this straightforward storyline and the protagonist’s character arc to the point where I felt like I was spoon-fed these things. The protagonist constantly emphasizes she has to be “the best”, has an overly strict dad that keeps telling her their family must be “the best”, her friends joke about how she loves to plan everything in advance, etc. It’s very in-your-face and sets up a predictable path: you know you’re basically going to read about how a type-A overachiever learns to confront familial and societal pressures by choosing her own happiness and joy. There’s no surprises, twists, or room for interpretation - it’s all spelled out for you.
The second major reason I didn’t vibe as much with this book is that as I kept reading on, I realized the writing was too saccharine for me. I found a lot of the lines and dialogue to be cheesy and trying too hard to be romantic, deep, or contemplative. Examples: the excessive amount of times that the characters call each other by their full names (no one talks like that unless they’re a cheesy indie film), the love interest going on tangents about how we’re all “lonely creatures waiting to be found”, and even a scene where, after the characters got into a fight, one of them texted to the other: “I didn’t know when you said you didn’t believe in monsters that you didn’t believe in me too”. These things were all too much for my tastes and bordered on Tumblr sentimentalities. Ultimately, the story didn’t hit me with the kind of poignancy the author was trying to go for, but I still think the book will be great for specific readers who are looking for this and will feel seen by this.
The focal point of this book is the self-development of the protagonist rather than her romance with the girl she just married, which more so serves as a catalyst for her existential crisis. I think that’s a great setup, and found many of the issues she dealt with her career to be very relatable. Her struggles dealing with being a minority in a predominantly white field, feeling like she has to give 110% of herself and be the best all the time in order to be recognized at work, but then also questioning why she’s working so hard for something she feels like she “should” excel at but doesn’t give her much joy… all of those things are extremely accurate to my own experience in my industry, as I’m sure it is for many women of color in many areas of work. There’s a specific moment where she indulges in this new relationship she has, and she says: “I just want one thing to be easy”. This is a moment I identified with the most. You work so hard, constantly trying to excel and prove yourself, but it gets so tiring to do that all the time. That desperate need to have just one easy thing in your life where you don’t have to be “on” is such a relatable reprieve.
Although I find the themes to be relatable and am sure will resonate with many readers, I personally couldn’t find myself resonating as strongly. One major reason is that it’s very clear what the author is trying to do with this straightforward storyline and the protagonist’s character arc to the point where I felt like I was spoon-fed these things. The protagonist constantly emphasizes she has to be “the best”, has an overly strict dad that keeps telling her their family must be “the best”, her friends joke about how she loves to plan everything in advance, etc. It’s very in-your-face and sets up a predictable path: you know you’re basically going to read about how a type-A overachiever learns to confront familial and societal pressures by choosing her own happiness and joy. There’s no surprises, twists, or room for interpretation - it’s all spelled out for you.
The second major reason I didn’t vibe as much with this book is that as I kept reading on, I realized the writing was too saccharine for me. I found a lot of the lines and dialogue to be cheesy and trying too hard to be romantic, deep, or contemplative. Examples: the excessive amount of times that the characters call each other by their full names (no one talks like that unless they’re a cheesy indie film), the love interest going on tangents about how we’re all “lonely creatures waiting to be found”, and even a scene where, after the characters got into a fight, one of them texted to the other: “I didn’t know when you said you didn’t believe in monsters that you didn’t believe in me too”. These things were all too much for my tastes and bordered on Tumblr sentimentalities. Ultimately, the story didn’t hit me with the kind of poignancy the author was trying to go for, but I still think the book will be great for specific readers who are looking for this and will feel seen by this.
February 28, 2021
Fuck me this was absolutely exquisite and I need everyone to read it immediately
This book is for every twenty-something who feels lost in a sea of expectation, for every person dealing with the existential dread that comes with the end of formal education and the start of your life in the real world. This book is for every lonely creature shouting into the dark and hoping that someone is listening.
This book is brillant in so many ways but to step away from the overdramatic poetics let me tell you what this story is about. In Honey Girl we follow Grace Porter, a 28 year old astronomer who has just finished her doctorate and who is struggling to find a job due to a number of systemic barriers in place as her womanhood, her blackness, and her queerness alienate her from her peers in the field. On a trip to Las Vegas, Grace wakes up hungover, with a ring on her finger and champagne soaked memories of a girl that smelled of flowers and sea salt. From here we follow Grace on her delayed odyssey of self discovery as she attempts to naviagate her intense burnout and existential angst.
Grace was so relatable to me and I adored her in all her complexities. This book is full to the brim with love and tenderness, not just romantic love but familial and platonic love so profound that I wanted to cry literally on every page. Grace's found family, her new wife, her new friends and the love they shared together made me so overwhelmed with emotion and any lover of the found family trope will enjoy this immensely. My favorite aspect of this is the fact that Grace has so many people who love her and care about her but this can't prevent her from feeling her lonely, burnt out, overwhelmed feelings. Loneliness is a feeling, not a state of being. That felt so real to me and I just loved being a witness to Grace's internal battles, I loved seeing Grace be loved and loving her friends so much it hurt. I just...I'm truly undone by this book, I'm tearing up just typing this shitty little review. Please read this stunning debut. It made me swoon, it made me cry, the writing is so stunningly beautiful and I've absolutely found my new favorite book. Please read it. Just Read It.
Pre-release thoughts: F/F romance??? Married in Vegas trope??? Black women in love!?? Own voices???? GIMME GIMME GIMME
This book is for every twenty-something who feels lost in a sea of expectation, for every person dealing with the existential dread that comes with the end of formal education and the start of your life in the real world. This book is for every lonely creature shouting into the dark and hoping that someone is listening.
This book is brillant in so many ways but to step away from the overdramatic poetics let me tell you what this story is about. In Honey Girl we follow Grace Porter, a 28 year old astronomer who has just finished her doctorate and who is struggling to find a job due to a number of systemic barriers in place as her womanhood, her blackness, and her queerness alienate her from her peers in the field. On a trip to Las Vegas, Grace wakes up hungover, with a ring on her finger and champagne soaked memories of a girl that smelled of flowers and sea salt. From here we follow Grace on her delayed odyssey of self discovery as she attempts to naviagate her intense burnout and existential angst.
Grace was so relatable to me and I adored her in all her complexities. This book is full to the brim with love and tenderness, not just romantic love but familial and platonic love so profound that I wanted to cry literally on every page. Grace's found family, her new wife, her new friends and the love they shared together made me so overwhelmed with emotion and any lover of the found family trope will enjoy this immensely. My favorite aspect of this is the fact that Grace has so many people who love her and care about her but this can't prevent her from feeling her lonely, burnt out, overwhelmed feelings. Loneliness is a feeling, not a state of being. That felt so real to me and I just loved being a witness to Grace's internal battles, I loved seeing Grace be loved and loving her friends so much it hurt. I just...I'm truly undone by this book, I'm tearing up just typing this shitty little review. Please read this stunning debut. It made me swoon, it made me cry, the writing is so stunningly beautiful and I've absolutely found my new favorite book. Please read it. Just Read It.
Pre-release thoughts: F/F romance??? Married in Vegas trope??? Black women in love!?? Own voices???? GIMME GIMME GIMME
June 30, 2022
5*you have my heart*stars to this!!❤️
Sending all the love I have to Morgan Rogers ❤️
Right now I am anything but calm plus I have been crying for an hour thinking about this book, the lonely creatures and what happens when you work too hard and don't know when to stop.
This book hit a bit too close to me , like if I say it's probably going to be one of my favourite books of 2021 it's going to be a bit of understatement .
The book follows up a story of a black, lesbian, astronomer Grace Porter who like worked too hard her entire life to be what she is now and after everything is done she don't know what to do and then she meet a girl and get married to her and now she is like confused , scared , terrified that nothing is going according to her plans.
this is not a romance genre book; instead, it’s a coming-of-age novel with a romance.
The book explores the theme of academic burnout, what happens when you want to stop but can't , lonely creatures who lurk in dark, what is loneliness?? , LOVE, friendship , importance of friendship, layers of friendship, mental health, LGBTQIAP+ representation of POC.
We will get back to each one of them.
Now moving on to characters but before that lets all thank the author for creating such likeable and realistic characters!
✒ Grace Porter :- black, lesbian, PhD student, astronomer,
Grace has lived a non-stop life because she’s never allowed herself to take a break. Eventually she gets exhausted and explodes. Now speaking of Grace ( sunkissed girl ) , I can marry her , like literally she is a total waifu material plus she makes good coffee what else I need??
But personally her character hit a bit too close , like what happens when you are working nonstop towards something and you want to take a break but you can't because the entire world is gonna go ahead of you. It's this feeling that keeps me awake nights and how Morgan Rogers touched that small niche of my heart that I safe guarded for years. And now I can't stop crying everytime I think about it.
✒Yuki :- Japanese - American ,lesbian, waitress , radioshow host and monster hunter
Now Yuki is my bestfriend, I can go to lengths to protect her, dare say anything about her and her stories and I will break you. She is the most beautiful lonely girl I have ever read about and I just wanna make her mine , like I wanna spend nights with her listening to Japanese mythical folktales and getting drunk and talking anything but life.
✒ Ximena (bisexual) Agnes ( bi/lesbian?) :- Grace's bestfriend + a couple
Now if I get a chance I will make them my bestfriends too , like they are so cool and awesome , Ximena would be like our mom friend and Agnes would be like "dare say anything about my girls, it will be the last words you ever uttered from your goddamn mouth."
✒ Meera + Raj :- Indian- American , siblings duo, Grace's long time friends + extended family
Raj would be my dad friend , like you know the one who advises you over life and shit , the wise and mature friend! Meera would be like "it's 2am wanna run off to somewhere". I love them soo much.
✒ Sani(trans character, black), Fletcher(Afro-Dominican-American, gay), Dorian(gay?) :- Yuki's roommates aka chaotic queer squad
I loved how they were all chaotic and mature at the same time.
All these biracial and LGBTQIAP+ representation fills my heart with so much joy.
WLW
I was pulled in because of the romance plotline: Grace gets married in Vegas to someone she doesn’t know, and after that, they start talking on the phone, getting to know each other and actually falling in love. But Again, this isn’t a romance genre book so it’s not super heavy on the romance after a certain part. That being said, I did love how Yuki helps Grace grow. They have such a soft love and I couldn’t help but smile at their scenes.
The book also acknowledge how parents play a really really important role in shaping kids and what it means to actually fullfill there expectations and what happens when you try hard.
In short :- Honey Girl is a story of burnout: when you realize that you’re not happy and that you haven’t been happy in a long time and the journey to healing and finding happiness again.
And I think I have said enough and given you enough reasons to read this book. JUST READ IT.
Sending all the love I have to Morgan Rogers ❤️
Right now I am anything but calm plus I have been crying for an hour thinking about this book, the lonely creatures and what happens when you work too hard and don't know when to stop.
This book hit a bit too close to me , like if I say it's probably going to be one of my favourite books of 2021 it's going to be a bit of understatement .
"Lonely creatures, what makes us so different from the stories we tell in the dark?"
The book follows up a story of a black, lesbian, astronomer Grace Porter who like worked too hard her entire life to be what she is now and after everything is done she don't know what to do and then she meet a girl and get married to her and now she is like confused , scared , terrified that nothing is going according to her plans.
this is not a romance genre book; instead, it’s a coming-of-age novel with a romance.
The book explores the theme of academic burnout, what happens when you want to stop but can't , lonely creatures who lurk in dark, what is loneliness?? , LOVE, friendship , importance of friendship, layers of friendship, mental health, LGBTQIAP+ representation of POC.
We will get back to each one of them.
Now moving on to characters but before that lets all thank the author for creating such likeable and realistic characters!
✒ Grace Porter :- black, lesbian, PhD student, astronomer,
Grace has lived a non-stop life because she’s never allowed herself to take a break. Eventually she gets exhausted and explodes. Now speaking of Grace ( sunkissed girl ) , I can marry her , like literally she is a total waifu material plus she makes good coffee what else I need??
But personally her character hit a bit too close , like what happens when you are working nonstop towards something and you want to take a break but you can't because the entire world is gonna go ahead of you. It's this feeling that keeps me awake nights and how Morgan Rogers touched that small niche of my heart that I safe guarded for years. And now I can't stop crying everytime I think about it.
"Who else, Grace wonders, can understand loneliness if not someone who sits in solitude all their own?"
✒Yuki :- Japanese - American ,lesbian, waitress , radioshow host and monster hunter
Now Yuki is my bestfriend, I can go to lengths to protect her, dare say anything about her and her stories and I will break you. She is the most beautiful lonely girl I have ever read about and I just wanna make her mine , like I wanna spend nights with her listening to Japanese mythical folktales and getting drunk and talking anything but life.
"Maybe Plato knew something we didn’t. Or maybe the gods did, when they split us in half and left us to reclaim our missing fragments."
✒ Ximena (bisexual) Agnes ( bi/lesbian?) :- Grace's bestfriend + a couple
Now if I get a chance I will make them my bestfriends too , like they are so cool and awesome , Ximena would be like our mom friend and Agnes would be like "dare say anything about my girls, it will be the last words you ever uttered from your goddamn mouth."
✒ Meera + Raj :- Indian- American , siblings duo, Grace's long time friends + extended family
Raj would be my dad friend , like you know the one who advises you over life and shit , the wise and mature friend! Meera would be like "it's 2am wanna run off to somewhere". I love them soo much.
✒ Sani(trans character, black), Fletcher(Afro-Dominican-American, gay), Dorian(gay?) :- Yuki's roommates aka chaotic queer squad
I loved how they were all chaotic and mature at the same time.
All these biracial and LGBTQIAP+ representation fills my heart with so much joy.
WLW
" The words for wanting things to be as simple as they were on a desert night with just two girls and a locked promise."
I was pulled in because of the romance plotline: Grace gets married in Vegas to someone she doesn’t know, and after that, they start talking on the phone, getting to know each other and actually falling in love. But Again, this isn’t a romance genre book so it’s not super heavy on the romance after a certain part. That being said, I did love how Yuki helps Grace grow. They have such a soft love and I couldn’t help but smile at their scenes.
"Lonely creatures, she has learned, will always find each other."
The book also acknowledge how parents play a really really important role in shaping kids and what it means to actually fullfill there expectations and what happens when you try hard.
In short :- Honey Girl is a story of burnout: when you realize that you’re not happy and that you haven’t been happy in a long time and the journey to healing and finding happiness again.
"How long she can burn before there’s nothing left. How long a thing can be buried before it combusts."
And I think I have said enough and given you enough reasons to read this book. JUST READ IT.
July 24, 2023
If you like:
- very purple and try-hardy prose with a style that is immediately apparent, never lets up, and is what I would politely describe as "not my cup of tea"
- characters who call each other inexplicable...nicknames? Including girlfriends call each other by their full name, first and last, or parents who call their children by their last name, which is also their last name, or ex-wives and offspring and current wives all referring to their ex-partner/permanent father/present husband as their military title
- adult novels that read like young adult novels but also don't
- spending the first two-thirds of a book thinking it's a clear easy one star and then kind of liking the last third but not really and maybe you just like it because it's different and that's refreshing
- cartoonish background characters with showy-not-telly relationships to the protagonist that don't make sense
- cartoonish main characters with...marriage to the protagonist? but ALSO it's a showy-not-telly relationship that ALSO doesn't make sense?
- 43 uses of the term "lonely creature"
- disliking a book so much that even though a copy of it has been waiting for you to pick up your order in your favorite bookstore, you'd rather cancel the order entirely than get any pile of novels that includes this one
then this is the book for you!
I, unfortunately, don't like any of those things.
Bottom line: Thank god I had my buddy read dream team to talk sh*t about this with. Otherwise I would have perished, probably. Or just been very annoyed.
Hard to say which is more likely.
---------------
pre-review
Tragedy Befalls Four Cutest Readers As Extremely Belated Buddy Read Called "Universally Disappointing"
review to come / 2 stars
---------------
currently-reading updates
if the contents of this book aren't as lovely as the cover i'm giving up.
buddy read it took us four months to get to with the dream team
---------------
reading all books with LGBTQ+ rep for pride this month!
book 1: the gravity of us
book 2: the great american whatever
book 3: wild beauty
book 4: the affair of the mysterious letter
book 5: how we fight for our lives
book 6: blue lily, lily blue
book 7: the times i knew i was gay
book 8: conventionally yours
book 9: the hollow inside
book 10: nimona
book 11: dark and deepest red
book 12: the house in the cerulean sea
book 13: the raven king
book 14: violet ghosts
book 15: as far as you'll take me
book 16: bad feminist
book 17: a song for a new day
book 18: one last stop
book 19: to break a covenant
book 20: honey girl
- very purple and try-hardy prose with a style that is immediately apparent, never lets up, and is what I would politely describe as "not my cup of tea"
- characters who call each other inexplicable...nicknames? Including girlfriends call each other by their full name, first and last, or parents who call their children by their last name, which is also their last name, or ex-wives and offspring and current wives all referring to their ex-partner/permanent father/present husband as their military title
- adult novels that read like young adult novels but also don't
- spending the first two-thirds of a book thinking it's a clear easy one star and then kind of liking the last third but not really and maybe you just like it because it's different and that's refreshing
- cartoonish background characters with showy-not-telly relationships to the protagonist that don't make sense
- cartoonish main characters with...marriage to the protagonist? but ALSO it's a showy-not-telly relationship that ALSO doesn't make sense?
- 43 uses of the term "lonely creature"
- disliking a book so much that even though a copy of it has been waiting for you to pick up your order in your favorite bookstore, you'd rather cancel the order entirely than get any pile of novels that includes this one
then this is the book for you!
I, unfortunately, don't like any of those things.
Bottom line: Thank god I had my buddy read dream team to talk sh*t about this with. Otherwise I would have perished, probably. Or just been very annoyed.
Hard to say which is more likely.
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pre-review
Tragedy Befalls Four Cutest Readers As Extremely Belated Buddy Read Called "Universally Disappointing"
review to come / 2 stars
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currently-reading updates
if the contents of this book aren't as lovely as the cover i'm giving up.
buddy read it took us four months to get to with the dream team
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reading all books with LGBTQ+ rep for pride this month!
book 1: the gravity of us
book 2: the great american whatever
book 3: wild beauty
book 4: the affair of the mysterious letter
book 5: how we fight for our lives
book 6: blue lily, lily blue
book 7: the times i knew i was gay
book 8: conventionally yours
book 9: the hollow inside
book 10: nimona
book 11: dark and deepest red
book 12: the house in the cerulean sea
book 13: the raven king
book 14: violet ghosts
book 15: as far as you'll take me
book 16: bad feminist
book 17: a song for a new day
book 18: one last stop
book 19: to break a covenant
book 20: honey girl
March 8, 2021
I'm sure this book will work really well for a lot of people, but it was way too sappy and woo-woo for me. It's like the book version of a manic-pixie dream girl. Everyone in this book is Quirky™ and behaves like they're in a highly stylized indie film. So much of the dialogue made me cringe into myself. Like, seriously, who the fuck talks like that? It's all just so damn corny.
I also struggled a lot with the depiction of diversity and queer culture. My friend, with whom I was buddy reading this, had this to say: "It almost feels like they perform their social identities and their realities are refracted through these essentialist snippets of what it means to be part of that social identity." Which I think is just so apt. Everything about these characters' identities feels so performative.
But I mean, who knows. The people in this book hit really close to a very specific subset of Brooklyn yuppie liberal, so maybe there are people who are this corny in the real world, and it's just so far from my experience it feels unrealistic to me (even though I am a queer woman of color living in NYC!).
The writing was sometimes really pretty, sometimes really over the top. A lot of scenes and conversations felt random and contrived. I preferred the book a lot more when Yuki, the love interest, was out of the picture. Honestly, if I hadn't been buddy reading this, and if it hadn't been so short, I probably would have DNF'd it. It felt like the worst combination of pretentious literary fiction and sappy romance. It was like walking through a cotton-candy soaked fever dream; nothing in it felt real.
I also struggled a lot with the depiction of diversity and queer culture. My friend, with whom I was buddy reading this, had this to say: "It almost feels like they perform their social identities and their realities are refracted through these essentialist snippets of what it means to be part of that social identity." Which I think is just so apt. Everything about these characters' identities feels so performative.
But I mean, who knows. The people in this book hit really close to a very specific subset of Brooklyn yuppie liberal, so maybe there are people who are this corny in the real world, and it's just so far from my experience it feels unrealistic to me (even though I am a queer woman of color living in NYC!).
The writing was sometimes really pretty, sometimes really over the top. A lot of scenes and conversations felt random and contrived. I preferred the book a lot more when Yuki, the love interest, was out of the picture. Honestly, if I hadn't been buddy reading this, and if it hadn't been so short, I probably would have DNF'd it. It felt like the worst combination of pretentious literary fiction and sappy romance. It was like walking through a cotton-candy soaked fever dream; nothing in it felt real.
Read
June 20, 2021
February 6, 2021
"My question to all the lonely creatures out there is who is your siren? Who is your fellow lonely creature who sees into the very core of you and knows which song to sing? What song do they sing for you, and do you follow? What would happen if you did?"
this book. THIS BOOK! i went in hoping for a great sapphic romance and i came out with a new favorite book. this is a call to all the lost and lonely people stumbling to find their way in the world. to honey girls touched by the sun and girls who bloomed roses. it is so sapphic and wonderful and i loved every word.
its a coming of age story for everyone in their twenties who have been following one path for so long they don’t know where to go when they reach the end. with queer found families, sapphic love, monster hunting and discussions of mental health, this book is truly special.
May 25, 2021
I looked to the stars and asked the universe what should my rating of this book be. Under the tutelage of the star dust inside my heart, I felt it in my soul that the planets had aligned for this read to be a waste of my time. Venus looked at me and smiled, as mercury whispered in my ear, "one star, Nikan. You are a Beitollahi, goddammit, and Beitollahis always do the right thing". So I opened my laptop, tasted the sea salt and sage in the air as the universe exploded inside of me, and clicked on the one star button, for I am a Scorpio, and it is in my nature to be honest to myself and others about the disappointment faced by a read with a boring and predictable plot, and with writing by someone who clearly knows nothing about academia or astronomy, that makes you want to wipe all the stars from the universe just so they can stop talking about them :)
February 23, 2021
4.50 Stars. This book! Honey Girl was on my list for most anticipated books of 2021. When I found out I was accepted for a review copy, I could not have been happier. I went into this book with a lot of high expectations and I’m happy to say that this book was excellent.
Grace is a hard worker and planner. She wants to be the best and needs to be the best, but everything starts to change after a drunken night in Vegas. A night that leaves her married to a women she doesn’t even know and who lives on the opposite side of the country. Can Grace pick up the pieces to get right back on track, or will Grace realize there is more to life than just what she planned?
I want to first start off by mentioning that this book is really more contemporary fiction, and coming of age, then it is a romance. It does have a romance, I just figured it would be more romance focused then it actually was. I ended up still loving the book so it wasn’t an issue for me, but if you go into this expecting more of a heavy romance you might be disappointed.
My biggest recommendation would be to have a box of tissues next to you while reading this. This book made me a blubbering mess and I stopped counting after I went through twelve tissues. This is not a depressing book, but it is a very emotional book. It’s about being lonely even when you are surrounded by people, it’s about needing to be accomplished and to prove to others that you made it in your life, and finally it’s about dealing with sexism and systematic racism. While there were some things I could personally relate to, there was plenty that I could not relate to. And in those cases, not relating didn’t matter one bit. It’s like I felt every emotional part deep down in my soul and the book just kept wrecking me. It’s such a testament to the fantastic writing that you feel so completely invested in the main character of Grace. Trust me and bring the tissues, you will need them.
While this book could be a little more cerebral at times, I still found it very easy to be just completely absorbed by it. I read this in one sitting and I could not put the book down until I was done. I only paused to get more tissues and that was it. I loved the mix of diverse characters and found all of the secondary characters to be almost as well written as Grace. I thought the book talked about mental health in an honest way and everything just seemed well done. Really, the only baby complaint is that I wished for a little bit more. I could have used a tad more time on the romance, say maybe another chapter. And I wished the ending was just a hair longer. Actually, what would have been perfect would have been an epilogue. I know this is not a story that needed to have everything tied up in a big fat bow, but I still wanted a little more. I wanted one peek at future Grace and I think an epilogue would have made this book just about perfect for me.
This is one of the better books I have read this year and I would easily recommend it. Just be aware, this book is a bit more on the cerebral contemporary fiction side than the romance side. It was wonderfully written and really got to me emotionally. Morgan Rogers is a name I won’t soon forget and I can’t wait to read more by her.
An ARC was given to me for a honest review.
Grace is a hard worker and planner. She wants to be the best and needs to be the best, but everything starts to change after a drunken night in Vegas. A night that leaves her married to a women she doesn’t even know and who lives on the opposite side of the country. Can Grace pick up the pieces to get right back on track, or will Grace realize there is more to life than just what she planned?
I want to first start off by mentioning that this book is really more contemporary fiction, and coming of age, then it is a romance. It does have a romance, I just figured it would be more romance focused then it actually was. I ended up still loving the book so it wasn’t an issue for me, but if you go into this expecting more of a heavy romance you might be disappointed.
My biggest recommendation would be to have a box of tissues next to you while reading this. This book made me a blubbering mess and I stopped counting after I went through twelve tissues. This is not a depressing book, but it is a very emotional book. It’s about being lonely even when you are surrounded by people, it’s about needing to be accomplished and to prove to others that you made it in your life, and finally it’s about dealing with sexism and systematic racism. While there were some things I could personally relate to, there was plenty that I could not relate to. And in those cases, not relating didn’t matter one bit. It’s like I felt every emotional part deep down in my soul and the book just kept wrecking me. It’s such a testament to the fantastic writing that you feel so completely invested in the main character of Grace. Trust me and bring the tissues, you will need them.
While this book could be a little more cerebral at times, I still found it very easy to be just completely absorbed by it. I read this in one sitting and I could not put the book down until I was done. I only paused to get more tissues and that was it. I loved the mix of diverse characters and found all of the secondary characters to be almost as well written as Grace. I thought the book talked about mental health in an honest way and everything just seemed well done. Really, the only baby complaint is that I wished for a little bit more. I could have used a tad more time on the romance, say maybe another chapter. And I wished the ending was just a hair longer. Actually, what would have been perfect would have been an epilogue. I know this is not a story that needed to have everything tied up in a big fat bow, but I still wanted a little more. I wanted one peek at future Grace and I think an epilogue would have made this book just about perfect for me.
This is one of the better books I have read this year and I would easily recommend it. Just be aware, this book is a bit more on the cerebral contemporary fiction side than the romance side. It was wonderfully written and really got to me emotionally. Morgan Rogers is a name I won’t soon forget and I can’t wait to read more by her.
An ARC was given to me for a honest review.
December 30, 2022
I fully went into this one expecting a rom com... OOPS. To be fair I had no idea what I was getting into. While this book had much more of a serious tone than I was expecting, there were still parts of it that I loved. Specifically the crisis that our main character is going through. She's just graduated and she feels completely lost as to what her next steps in life should be and it's sending her into an anxiety induced spiral. The relationship that develops was super sweet and I loved the podcast / radio show element that played a role in the book. Outside of those things I just left it feeling okay about it as a whole.
Read
May 1, 2021loved this <3 beautiful, contemplative, and very very healing for anyone feeling like there's just too much closing in on them
July 12, 2024
April 30, 2021
The thing is, I can't stop thinking about this book. And during the last 20 days I couldn't stop thinking about these characters and how they make me feel loved, I realised something.
It'll be a weird comparison, but I want to recommend this book to all of my fellow Wolfsong/Green Creek fans. If you are looking for similar vibes to the writing style and the family/friend relationships, you are in the perfect place.
April 10, 2021
I wanted to start my review with how I don't understand why the overall rating is not above 4 star, but watching/reading other opinions I think I get it.
It was advertised as a rom-com, and it's not. It's more about mental health, family, and finding yourself, your purpose. The romance is actually the subplot, so I can understand if those who came for that were disappointed. But fortunately for me, hard-hitting contemporary is my favorite genre. It made the story even better for me.
The prose was so beautiful and warm. The main friendship... oh lord. I'm a hoe for friendships with a lot of physical contact/touching, and what these three ladies have came directly from my dreams. I want that for me. They were one big comfy hug. Like when you can't decide if the love is romantic or very deep friendship? *chef's kiss*
I can't do justice to this beautiful, magical book with my review. You should go read it.
A new favorite. Absolutely adored it.
Definitely a reread material.
“It’s hard. This living in the real-world thing? Facing my problems head-on? A hundred percent don’t recommend.”
The thing is, I can't stop thinking about this book. And during the last 20 days I couldn't stop thinking about these characters and how they make me feel loved, I realised something.
It'll be a weird comparison, but I want to recommend this book to all of my fellow Wolfsong/Green Creek fans. If you are looking for similar vibes to the writing style and the family/friend relationships, you are in the perfect place.
April 10, 2021
I wanted to start my review with how I don't understand why the overall rating is not above 4 star, but watching/reading other opinions I think I get it.
It was advertised as a rom-com, and it's not. It's more about mental health, family, and finding yourself, your purpose. The romance is actually the subplot, so I can understand if those who came for that were disappointed. But fortunately for me, hard-hitting contemporary is my favorite genre. It made the story even better for me.
The prose was so beautiful and warm. The main friendship... oh lord. I'm a hoe for friendships with a lot of physical contact/touching, and what these three ladies have came directly from my dreams. I want that for me. They were one big comfy hug. Like when you can't decide if the love is romantic or very deep friendship? *chef's kiss*
I can't do justice to this beautiful, magical book with my review. You should go read it.
A new favorite. Absolutely adored it.
Definitely a reread material.
July 29, 2021
ok so i really enjoyed this book. it’s character driven, funny, and super relatable. the writing was phenomenal in my opinion. it’s very lyrical and poetic, i found myself underlining and tabbing my favorite parts throughout the whole book. it’s super quick and easy. if you’re looking for a book that will have you smiling cover to cover but also get your emotions going then this is for you.
it’s definitely not plot heavy but these characters make up for it. it’s so good just read it ok!!
it’s definitely not plot heavy but these characters make up for it. it’s so good just read it ok!!
June 12, 2021
3.5 stars
I liked this book. A lot.
What I loved about this story was Grace and her story. Meaning that I was really invested in reading about her struggles and how she comes to understand herself more through a lot of soul searching. That whole existential dread and burnout element really worked because I think it’s a prevalent issue among 20- somethings who have finished higher education but haven’t stopped to think of what comes next or if what comes next aligns with all their personal goals or if it’s just another tick on the long list of existence.
I could relate to the main character even if on paper we couldn’t be more different. Maybe it’s a commonality that our generation shares.. I don’t know, but all her doubts, her disappointments, her questions, they rang highly familiar.
The one part of the story I wasn’t so engrossed in, was the romance. I understand that the whole “got married in Vegas and don’t even remember doing it” is how the plot gets put into motion, but I just didn’t like Yuki and their blossoming relationship just lacked something.
But, all that being said, I did love the overall message of the book and that the main focus was on Grace figuring out who she is and what she wants. Learning to accept and love herself. The reflections on mental health were also well handled, and the many other issues discussed such as education did make for a very introspective read.
I liked this book. A lot.
What I loved about this story was Grace and her story. Meaning that I was really invested in reading about her struggles and how she comes to understand herself more through a lot of soul searching. That whole existential dread and burnout element really worked because I think it’s a prevalent issue among 20- somethings who have finished higher education but haven’t stopped to think of what comes next or if what comes next aligns with all their personal goals or if it’s just another tick on the long list of existence.
I could relate to the main character even if on paper we couldn’t be more different. Maybe it’s a commonality that our generation shares.. I don’t know, but all her doubts, her disappointments, her questions, they rang highly familiar.
The one part of the story I wasn’t so engrossed in, was the romance. I understand that the whole “got married in Vegas and don’t even remember doing it” is how the plot gets put into motion, but I just didn’t like Yuki and their blossoming relationship just lacked something.
But, all that being said, I did love the overall message of the book and that the main focus was on Grace figuring out who she is and what she wants. Learning to accept and love herself. The reflections on mental health were also well handled, and the many other issues discussed such as education did make for a very introspective read.
March 10, 2021
I’ve never felt more seen by a book.
February 18, 2021
This story was beautiful. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but it’s a great coming of age story and I really related to a lot of what Grace was going through. I adored the romance in this book, and I love that Grace has a phd in astronomy, and that most of this book takes place in New York 😍 Here’s a reading vlog where I read this book and explain more of my thoughts on it: https://youtu.be/p06Cutmiyco
April 24, 2021
I love this book so much, it hurts.
It’s a story that is so incredibly sad and lonely and my melancholic self latched on.
I don’t even think I can review it.
I cried buckets. My head hurts. And I guess one only really cries from reading a story because it triggers something fundamental within them, a core that they’ve been seeking out and they find it within a story.
And this story was it!
RTC maybe. Or maybe never.
It’s a story that is so incredibly sad and lonely and my melancholic self latched on.
I don’t even think I can review it.
I cried buckets. My head hurts. And I guess one only really cries from reading a story because it triggers something fundamental within them, a core that they’ve been seeking out and they find it within a story.
And this story was it!
RTC maybe. Or maybe never.
February 21, 2021
A refreshingly original take on coming to terms with one’s direction in life.
Grace Porter has always been in control. At 28 years old, she has a PhD in astronomy, and she’s worked damn hard for it. To celebrate, Grace and her two best friends decide to let loose and have some fun in Las Vegas. The last thing Grace expects to do on their last night there is meet a woman, drink too much, and marry her...
That is exactly what happens. Grace can’t remember all of the details the next morning, and the woman is gone, but there is proof the wedding occurred. As Grace tries to wrap her head around that, she also reflects on how hard she’s worked over the years, and how hard it is for her to get a job she loves. She’s highly qualified, but companies aren’t welcoming her with open arms. After all, she’s a woman, she’s Black, and she’s a lesbian.
She reaches a point where she’s all of a sudden not sure what she wants out of life. After tracking down her wife, Grace decides to spend the summer in New York with her and her roommates. As they get to know each other properly and fall in love, Grace is aware that her escape to NY is temporary, and that she needs to face the obstacles and unhappiness in her life if she ever wants to heal.
This is the #ownvoices debut novel from Morgan Rogers, and she does a phenomenal job of making Grace a fully fleshed out character. I felt as if I knew her and could feel the struggles she was going through. The book is at its best when painting a realistic portrait of what happens to a person when they do something unexpected that shakes them to their core. Grace feels her life went off the rails, which simultaneously reveals other struggles and hardships that she has gone through over the years...some of those with her own mother and father. She has a wonderful and eclectic group of friends around her who are always there for her.
I also appreciate the handling of heavy topics like depression and anxiety.
The aspect that I found less compelling was, oddly enough, the romance. I didn’t find Grace’s new wife, Yuki, to be likable. Yuki has an odd sense of humor and uses odd metaphors when speaking, some of them repeatedly. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two women, and while I understand why it was essential to the story (as it’s the first time Grace has lost control and it sets things in motion), I much preferred when the story focused on Grace, her personal struggles, and her friends and family.
All in all, an enjoyable debut that many in the book world will undoubtedly love. I’m looking forward to reading more from the author.
Thank you to Park Row Books for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for this book, and providing a widget through NetGalley. The novel will be published on 2/23/21.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
Grace Porter has always been in control. At 28 years old, she has a PhD in astronomy, and she’s worked damn hard for it. To celebrate, Grace and her two best friends decide to let loose and have some fun in Las Vegas. The last thing Grace expects to do on their last night there is meet a woman, drink too much, and marry her...
That is exactly what happens. Grace can’t remember all of the details the next morning, and the woman is gone, but there is proof the wedding occurred. As Grace tries to wrap her head around that, she also reflects on how hard she’s worked over the years, and how hard it is for her to get a job she loves. She’s highly qualified, but companies aren’t welcoming her with open arms. After all, she’s a woman, she’s Black, and she’s a lesbian.
She reaches a point where she’s all of a sudden not sure what she wants out of life. After tracking down her wife, Grace decides to spend the summer in New York with her and her roommates. As they get to know each other properly and fall in love, Grace is aware that her escape to NY is temporary, and that she needs to face the obstacles and unhappiness in her life if she ever wants to heal.
This is the #ownvoices debut novel from Morgan Rogers, and she does a phenomenal job of making Grace a fully fleshed out character. I felt as if I knew her and could feel the struggles she was going through. The book is at its best when painting a realistic portrait of what happens to a person when they do something unexpected that shakes them to their core. Grace feels her life went off the rails, which simultaneously reveals other struggles and hardships that she has gone through over the years...some of those with her own mother and father. She has a wonderful and eclectic group of friends around her who are always there for her.
I also appreciate the handling of heavy topics like depression and anxiety.
The aspect that I found less compelling was, oddly enough, the romance. I didn’t find Grace’s new wife, Yuki, to be likable. Yuki has an odd sense of humor and uses odd metaphors when speaking, some of them repeatedly. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two women, and while I understand why it was essential to the story (as it’s the first time Grace has lost control and it sets things in motion), I much preferred when the story focused on Grace, her personal struggles, and her friends and family.
All in all, an enjoyable debut that many in the book world will undoubtedly love. I’m looking forward to reading more from the author.
Thank you to Park Row Books for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for this book, and providing a widget through NetGalley. The novel will be published on 2/23/21.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
June 27, 2021
i thought this was fine! the prose was lovely at times, and i def related a lot to the main character’s feeling of being lost. this made me realize that i def need to seek out more coming of age stories for adults tbh. also loved the depiction of therapy and the friendships. i could also see this being such a fantastic film, so please someone make that happen! however, i struggled with lacking the drive to keep reading though at times - it was really clear from the beginning what the plot would be, and i just tend to prefer books that leave a bit more up for interpretation and don’t spoon feed you as much. i also thought so many of the characters were so flimsy and lacked real personalities, and i didn’t feel anything for the romance in this.
July 7, 2021
This book was unlike anything I've ever read, and while there were parts that were refreshing and fun, it wasn't quite the perfect story for me. I really liked both of the main characters and I appreciated that this book had a lot more depth to it than I was anticipating, but something about the maudlin tone of the story as a whole just didn't really click well with me, unfortunately. This wasn't bad but it just didn't really work for me the way I was hoping it would.
March 11, 2021
TW: anxiety, depression, racism, self-harm, existential crisis, strained relationships with parents
PROs:
- friendships/found family was literally the best thing ever in this
- side characters = best characters
- banter between various characters was funny and very millennial (lol)
- representation of mental health, privilege, higher education, rigid expectations, complex familial relationships, and still discovering yourself at an older age (29 y/o) was amazing
- i would totally listen to Yuki's podcast irl
CONs:
- how many times is this book going to tell me Grace Porter has golden hair and brown skin
- repetitiveness in writing
- corny and cringey OFTEN
- everything was a metaphor
- some dialogue did not feel natural but like a corny sitcom
- Yuki was VERY manic pixie dreamgirl
- i didn't really feel like Grace's self-harm was properly addressed
- relationship between Grave and Yuki was forced and VERY unbelievable. I felt like Yuki was fetishizing Grace and Grace was using Yuki's company as a way to escape her life. very toxic on both parts
- i felt like NO ONE in this book really took the fact that Grace got drunkenly married to a stranger seriously - which would not have been as much a big deal if the book as a whole didn't take itself seriously, but it did ... except for the part of being legally bonded to a stranger
- Grace was honestly, lowkey annoying. just annoying.
The first half was better than the second half. I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. Overall, it was okay. It depicted some things really, really well, but overall as a story, I'm not a big fan unfortunately.
PROs:
- friendships/found family was literally the best thing ever in this
- side characters = best characters
- banter between various characters was funny and very millennial (lol)
- representation of mental health, privilege, higher education, rigid expectations, complex familial relationships, and still discovering yourself at an older age (29 y/o) was amazing
- i would totally listen to Yuki's podcast irl
CONs:
- how many times is this book going to tell me Grace Porter has golden hair and brown skin
- repetitiveness in writing
- corny and cringey OFTEN
- everything was a metaphor
- some dialogue did not feel natural but like a corny sitcom
- Yuki was VERY manic pixie dreamgirl
- i didn't really feel like Grace's self-harm was properly addressed
- relationship between Grave and Yuki was forced and VERY unbelievable. I felt like Yuki was fetishizing Grace and Grace was using Yuki's company as a way to escape her life. very toxic on both parts
- i felt like NO ONE in this book really took the fact that Grace got drunkenly married to a stranger seriously - which would not have been as much a big deal if the book as a whole didn't take itself seriously, but it did ... except for the part of being legally bonded to a stranger
- Grace was honestly, lowkey annoying. just annoying.
The first half was better than the second half. I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. Overall, it was okay. It depicted some things really, really well, but overall as a story, I'm not a big fan unfortunately.
March 9, 2021
So there's a whale that calls at a 52-hertz frequency, and it's called the world's loneliest whale because no other whale uses that frequency to communicate. That's how I feel about this book: it has a specific frequency and it will resonate deeply with readers who are also on that frequency. Specific individuals will find a home in this book.
Honey Girl is a novel about love. It's much more than the 'got married to a girl in Vegas' pitch, though that pitch is very effective at reeling people in. I expected a rom-com and it's actually a story about discovery. It's about the love your friends provide you with, the love you can get from a found family, the love you receive from your significant other, and most importantly: the love you show to yourself. It's about how plans can be derailed, and how happiness isn't always in the form of the best-paying job at the most esteemed company, despite what society would have you believe.
Grace Porter is an incredibly human character. Many readers have related to her feelings of loss and confusion and her unsurety of where she belongs (furthered because of the fact she's a Black academic in the highly-white field of astronomy). The feeling of being at a crossroads is extremely common in many individuals currently because of the entire pandemic, but you can experience that confusion of 'where do I belong' at any stage of your life. I've been experiencing over the last few months, trying to decide where I want from life, looking over two paths that lead in different directions. As a reader, I appreciated Honey Girl for letting me see my own problems from a different perspective and I think many others who are grappling with the same thing will too.
Yet interestingly enough, it wasn't Grace I related to the most but her love interest Yuki Yamamoto. Mainly it's because Yuki is desperately trying to support someone she loves, but she also knows that person needs to look inward before they can look outward. It's a tough situation to be in, and it's a long and arduous process where there is nothing you can do but be patient and kind and wait for the other person. But Yuki, with her effusive optimism and her late-night radio shows beamed into the darkness of the night . . . she's such a slice of solace, a girl with the most infinite patience. (I will also admit I think there could've been a good opportunity for her to be called 'Hoshi' or have it has a middle name - hoshi meaning star - but yuki, meaning snow, also works in a different way. Also, not as catchy without that alliteration.)
Morgan Rogers is an incredibly talented writer of character and prose. For sure, some people won't like their writing style. In the acknowledgements, Roger's literary agent Holly Root puts it along the lines of it being like a blue house that others will want to inhabit and others won't. And there were points where I thought to myself surely no one talks like this when reading Yuki and Grace's extremely literary and beautifully-written texts and thoughts. But you know what, it's a style choice and it's extremely beautiful writing that serves the book's overall theme well. Also, I have written some extremely dramatic and purple-prose-y messages in my time.
I think many readers will find comfort in Honey Girl. There's so much I could write about this book that I've barely touched on here - the wonderful side characters, the wonderful range of rep, the use of late-night radio stations and orange farms as background settings to emphasise themes like loneliness and happiness. It's a good book to muse over, and captures the feelings of discontent and unsurety so many people struggle with but never know how to handle, because society has taught us all to just keep pushing on. Honey Girl shows that it's okay to step back and breathe - and that we should prioritise ourselves more, before we burn ourselves out to a husk. Morgan Rogers is incredibly talented, and I cannot wait to see what they write next.
> 4.5 stars
Honey Girl is a novel about love. It's much more than the 'got married to a girl in Vegas' pitch, though that pitch is very effective at reeling people in. I expected a rom-com and it's actually a story about discovery. It's about the love your friends provide you with, the love you can get from a found family, the love you receive from your significant other, and most importantly: the love you show to yourself. It's about how plans can be derailed, and how happiness isn't always in the form of the best-paying job at the most esteemed company, despite what society would have you believe.
Grace Porter is an incredibly human character. Many readers have related to her feelings of loss and confusion and her unsurety of where she belongs (furthered because of the fact she's a Black academic in the highly-white field of astronomy). The feeling of being at a crossroads is extremely common in many individuals currently because of the entire pandemic, but you can experience that confusion of 'where do I belong' at any stage of your life. I've been experiencing over the last few months, trying to decide where I want from life, looking over two paths that lead in different directions. As a reader, I appreciated Honey Girl for letting me see my own problems from a different perspective and I think many others who are grappling with the same thing will too.
Yet interestingly enough, it wasn't Grace I related to the most but her love interest Yuki Yamamoto. Mainly it's because Yuki is desperately trying to support someone she loves, but she also knows that person needs to look inward before they can look outward. It's a tough situation to be in, and it's a long and arduous process where there is nothing you can do but be patient and kind and wait for the other person. But Yuki, with her effusive optimism and her late-night radio shows beamed into the darkness of the night . . . she's such a slice of solace, a girl with the most infinite patience. (I will also admit I think there could've been a good opportunity for her to be called 'Hoshi' or have it has a middle name - hoshi meaning star - but yuki, meaning snow, also works in a different way. Also, not as catchy without that alliteration.)
Morgan Rogers is an incredibly talented writer of character and prose. For sure, some people won't like their writing style. In the acknowledgements, Roger's literary agent Holly Root puts it along the lines of it being like a blue house that others will want to inhabit and others won't. And there were points where I thought to myself surely no one talks like this when reading Yuki and Grace's extremely literary and beautifully-written texts and thoughts. But you know what, it's a style choice and it's extremely beautiful writing that serves the book's overall theme well. Also, I have written some extremely dramatic and purple-prose-y messages in my time.
I think many readers will find comfort in Honey Girl. There's so much I could write about this book that I've barely touched on here - the wonderful side characters, the wonderful range of rep, the use of late-night radio stations and orange farms as background settings to emphasise themes like loneliness and happiness. It's a good book to muse over, and captures the feelings of discontent and unsurety so many people struggle with but never know how to handle, because society has taught us all to just keep pushing on. Honey Girl shows that it's okay to step back and breathe - and that we should prioritise ourselves more, before we burn ourselves out to a husk. Morgan Rogers is incredibly talented, and I cannot wait to see what they write next.
> 4.5 stars
March 16, 2021
yikes don’t kill me for this 😳
so many things about this book were great! the diversity, the found family, the main character and the idea of still finding yourself as an adult - but for me it was overshadowed by the bad elements.
to me, this book was cliché and cringe-worthy in the dialogue and relationship. the main relationship was pretty toxic and no one took it seriously that they just got married while drunk ahhhh. the writing was also very repetitive (such as the use of “honey girl”) and, overall, the book just wasn’t my thing.
i’m so sad that i didn’t like this because it truly broke so many molds and had great elements, but that couldn’t save it for me. if you enjoyed it though i’m really glad! i could see why some people would
so many things about this book were great! the diversity, the found family, the main character and the idea of still finding yourself as an adult - but for me it was overshadowed by the bad elements.
to me, this book was cliché and cringe-worthy in the dialogue and relationship. the main relationship was pretty toxic and no one took it seriously that they just got married while drunk ahhhh. the writing was also very repetitive (such as the use of “honey girl”) and, overall, the book just wasn’t my thing.
i’m so sad that i didn’t like this because it truly broke so many molds and had great elements, but that couldn’t save it for me. if you enjoyed it though i’m really glad! i could see why some people would
August 16, 2021
"Everyone's just pretending they have it together, because they don't realize everyone else is pretending to have it together. None of our dumbasses actually have it together."
🙋 If this book is getting adapted, contact me for the role of Meera. This Indian family made the book so awesome!
"... and you know as an Aquarius I can't deal with that like a regular human being."
Yuki, hi!!!
I love them so much!
I love the crazy side characters as well.
I mean I wouldn't have loved this story as much as I am doing now.
Because a whining main character (because adulting is tiring and it's relatable to the core), a drunken night insta marriage (sounds much, much, much worse than insta love), and found family adults treating another adult like she's damn fragile and might lose her breath anytime. But it all worked for me. And I would love the same beings in my life! I need them actually 😩
I would say read this book and take your time with it. It almost feels magical. I love how the dialogues have been written. They so damn fit so well my reader soul cracks.
And these characters. Where do I find such people in real life? I want to meet these nerds and weirdos (my life severely lacks them and I need them asap!)
I find the writing so comforting. It hugged me from the very beginning.
I really didn't want to love a book this much when it deals with such issues but well, I couldn't help it. Dear author, you're awesome!
Character development is slow in the first half. Plot is there and good yet I still feel it lacked progression.
*I just wish there were more parts of Agnes, Xemina, Raj, Meera (I want to know her Monsta-X song list!) and Baba. And Yuki's friends as well. I want to know more of these characters. They are so different and unique.
*Do not expect a fast-paced story even though it started that way
*Pick up this book when you feel like you need a good, big bear hug. It delivers just that 💖
But this book is almost perfect still! The best part is that it's so comforting throughout.
The ending....
I cried.... like ugly cry.....
The parent-never proud of you things.... The therapy.. the way she was still feeling guilty of everything she did.
Damn....
We need to communicate more with our family members.
I can relate so well with the anxiety and MDD.
It's handled well and yes, dear book, it's not only the black women who are struggling like that. Most of us are in the same boat.
🙋 If this book is getting adapted, contact me for the role of Meera. This Indian family made the book so awesome!
"... and you know as an Aquarius I can't deal with that like a regular human being."
Yuki, hi!!!
I love them so much!
I love the crazy side characters as well.
I mean I wouldn't have loved this story as much as I am doing now.
Because a whining main character (because adulting is tiring and it's relatable to the core), a drunken night insta marriage (sounds much, much, much worse than insta love), and found family adults treating another adult like she's damn fragile and might lose her breath anytime. But it all worked for me. And I would love the same beings in my life! I need them actually 😩
I would say read this book and take your time with it. It almost feels magical. I love how the dialogues have been written. They so damn fit so well my reader soul cracks.
And these characters. Where do I find such people in real life? I want to meet these nerds and weirdos (my life severely lacks them and I need them asap!)
I find the writing so comforting. It hugged me from the very beginning.
I really didn't want to love a book this much when it deals with such issues but well, I couldn't help it. Dear author, you're awesome!
Character development is slow in the first half. Plot is there and good yet I still feel it lacked progression.
*I just wish there were more parts of Agnes, Xemina, Raj, Meera (I want to know her Monsta-X song list!) and Baba. And Yuki's friends as well. I want to know more of these characters. They are so different and unique.
*Do not expect a fast-paced story even though it started that way
*Pick up this book when you feel like you need a good, big bear hug. It delivers just that 💖
But this book is almost perfect still! The best part is that it's so comforting throughout.
The ending....
I cried.... like ugly cry.....
The parent-never proud of you things.... The therapy.. the way she was still feeling guilty of everything she did.
Damn....
We need to communicate more with our family members.
I can relate so well with the anxiety and MDD.
It's handled well and yes, dear book, it's not only the black women who are struggling like that. Most of us are in the same boat.
September 7, 2021
★
Good night, my lonely creatures. Are you listening? Are you there?
The only reason I'm giving this one star is because I'm too lazy to add a half-star rating to my spreadsheet. I don't even know how this book earns a whole star. I really, truly hated everything about it. There was not a single thing I enjoyed. My blood pressure is rising even as I write this.
Given that, I can't go with my usual review format, in which I explain what I do like before diving into what didn't work for me. So, instead, I'm going to give you a laundry list of everything that destroyed my soul over the course of my reading experience.
1. Grace is the absolute worst. I get that we're being introduced to her at her lowest, but that doesn't negate the fact that she's a terrible friend. She uses all of her friends for free therapy, doesn't support or comfort them at any point over the course of the novel, and drops off the face of the earth to "take care of herself" as if it's that difficult to shoot off a text message saying you need a break for a while before going ghost. Being inside of her head was maddening.
2. Yuki is equally terrible. Less so personality wise, more so because she doesn't function like any person I've ever encountered. She is a compilation of corny lines from the days of fanfiction.net and Pinterest boards. She is an apparition. Her podcast is peak cringe.
3. Has Rogers ever interacted with a real person? I'm not so sure. Real Things That The Very Real People In This Book Say include:
4. The side characters (AKA, everyone but Grace) only exist to perform their identities, to the point of discomfort. They don't get the opportunity to be presented as multi-faceted human beings, because most of the time they're just talking about how they are xyz, or the book is making a point to describe them in relation to their identities. I am more than my minority experience; so is everyone else.
5. On a related note, the degree to which Grace and Yuki focus on each others' identities is questionable to the point of fetishization. Grace literally refers to Yuki as her "Japanese wife" at one point. To her face. Who does that? Yuki comments on her edge control at one point, going so far as to say she doesn't want her wife to be a "bald-headed bitch". WHO DOES THAT?
6. If I had to hear about Grace's gold hair or the way Yuki smells like sea salt and herbs one more time, I was going to fling myself into the sun.
7. The book expects me to invest in Grace and Yuki's romance based on some deep investment on both their parts when the truth of the matter is that they just find one another hot. Dassit. They don't actually know anything about one another. The fact that Grace moves into Yuki's apartment despite the fact that she is a literal stranger perplexes me. At that point, she is a roommate. If I were Yuki's roommates, I'd be asking her for her cut of the rent.
8. The amount of nicknames Grace is given gives me a headache. Also, whose parents just refer to their child by their last name? For their whole life? Every single time? And Grace and Yuki being referred to by their full names? All the time? WEIRDO behavior.
9. The way this book tries to survive on vibes alone is infuriating. There is absolutely no substance to this book; nothing happens! Rogers really just took the "drunkenly married in Vegas" trope and wrote around it for 250 pages. There is no plot progression. The characters don't change at all. I don't get how this even made it to print. The book lives and breathes on (bad) purple prose that goes nowhere. It is a fanfiction packaged by a publishing company.
10. Because this book is just written around the one trope, the percentage of repetitive moments is higher than I've encountered in quite some time. Grace is a Porter, and Porters do x! People contain the universe! Are you listening, Honey Girl!!! ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
11. Rogers knows nothing about astronomy and just wanted an excuse to use star and universe metaphors ad nauseam. Which really doesn't do the book any favors, because it gives us so little to work with. Maybe Grace would be less grating if I actually understood what she does for a living!
12. My gears were most ground when we actually got some backstory for Grace and why she is so deeply type A and it was confined!!!!! TO A FEW SENTENCES!!!!!! You couldn't spare us a chapter and cut out some terrible metaphors to make room for some substance?
13. Grace's behavior is completely brushed off by everyone who's meant to care about her. Drunkenly marrying someone in Vegas is worrisome. Self-harm is worrisome. The book addresses neither, despite the fact that it's meant to be invested in Grace's betterment. That's literally the whole point of the novel.
14. This is a YA novel with adult characters. Almost all of the characters act like children. I did not sign up for that.
15. I respect that this hit home for a ton of people, but I really don't get why. Grace is not a relatable adult in any sense of the word. She doesn't pay rent, doesn't have a job, and is at no risk of catastrophic consequences for either of those two things. She's gone through so many years of schooling and presumably has no debt. No one ever holds her accountable. Is she actually an adult? I don't think anyone should be praising her for having a whole ass wife. In what world is she ready to be married?
If you want to read a mid to late twenties coming of age done right, just pick up Such a Fun Age. Please.
I want to live in the heads of people who really loved this. Show me your ways. I'm clearly just bitter.
P.S.: Also, don't listen to this on audio. York Whitaker is a terrible narrator. Over-enunciates, suddenly forgot how to speak like an actual person once they pressed record, just all around bad. It made the experience significantly worse.
Good night, my lonely creatures. Are you listening? Are you there?
The only reason I'm giving this one star is because I'm too lazy to add a half-star rating to my spreadsheet. I don't even know how this book earns a whole star. I really, truly hated everything about it. There was not a single thing I enjoyed. My blood pressure is rising even as I write this.
Given that, I can't go with my usual review format, in which I explain what I do like before diving into what didn't work for me. So, instead, I'm going to give you a laundry list of everything that destroyed my soul over the course of my reading experience.
1. Grace is the absolute worst. I get that we're being introduced to her at her lowest, but that doesn't negate the fact that she's a terrible friend. She uses all of her friends for free therapy, doesn't support or comfort them at any point over the course of the novel, and drops off the face of the earth to "take care of herself" as if it's that difficult to shoot off a text message saying you need a break for a while before going ghost. Being inside of her head was maddening.
2. Yuki is equally terrible. Less so personality wise, more so because she doesn't function like any person I've ever encountered. She is a compilation of corny lines from the days of fanfiction.net and Pinterest boards. She is an apparition. Her podcast is peak cringe.
3. Has Rogers ever interacted with a real person? I'm not so sure. Real Things That The Very Real People In This Book Say include:
“My battery is low,” she confesses, and the hurt of it unveils like a thorned flower. “And it’s getting so dark.”
“You are made up of stars and the black glittering universe.”
Yuki
1:34 a.m.
i didn’t know when you said
you didn’t believe in monsters
you meant you didn’t believe in me too
4. The side characters (AKA, everyone but Grace) only exist to perform their identities, to the point of discomfort. They don't get the opportunity to be presented as multi-faceted human beings, because most of the time they're just talking about how they are xyz, or the book is making a point to describe them in relation to their identities. I am more than my minority experience; so is everyone else.
5. On a related note, the degree to which Grace and Yuki focus on each others' identities is questionable to the point of fetishization. Grace literally refers to Yuki as her "Japanese wife" at one point. To her face. Who does that? Yuki comments on her edge control at one point, going so far as to say she doesn't want her wife to be a "bald-headed bitch". WHO DOES THAT?
6. If I had to hear about Grace's gold hair or the way Yuki smells like sea salt and herbs one more time, I was going to fling myself into the sun.
7. The book expects me to invest in Grace and Yuki's romance based on some deep investment on both their parts when the truth of the matter is that they just find one another hot. Dassit. They don't actually know anything about one another. The fact that Grace moves into Yuki's apartment despite the fact that she is a literal stranger perplexes me. At that point, she is a roommate. If I were Yuki's roommates, I'd be asking her for her cut of the rent.
8. The amount of nicknames Grace is given gives me a headache. Also, whose parents just refer to their child by their last name? For their whole life? Every single time? And Grace and Yuki being referred to by their full names? All the time? WEIRDO behavior.
9. The way this book tries to survive on vibes alone is infuriating. There is absolutely no substance to this book; nothing happens! Rogers really just took the "drunkenly married in Vegas" trope and wrote around it for 250 pages. There is no plot progression. The characters don't change at all. I don't get how this even made it to print. The book lives and breathes on (bad) purple prose that goes nowhere. It is a fanfiction packaged by a publishing company.
10. Because this book is just written around the one trope, the percentage of repetitive moments is higher than I've encountered in quite some time. Grace is a Porter, and Porters do x! People contain the universe! Are you listening, Honey Girl!!! ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
11. Rogers knows nothing about astronomy and just wanted an excuse to use star and universe metaphors ad nauseam. Which really doesn't do the book any favors, because it gives us so little to work with. Maybe Grace would be less grating if I actually understood what she does for a living!
12. My gears were most ground when we actually got some backstory for Grace and why she is so deeply type A and it was confined!!!!! TO A FEW SENTENCES!!!!!! You couldn't spare us a chapter and cut out some terrible metaphors to make room for some substance?
13. Grace's behavior is completely brushed off by everyone who's meant to care about her. Drunkenly marrying someone in Vegas is worrisome. Self-harm is worrisome. The book addresses neither, despite the fact that it's meant to be invested in Grace's betterment. That's literally the whole point of the novel.
14. This is a YA novel with adult characters. Almost all of the characters act like children. I did not sign up for that.
15. I respect that this hit home for a ton of people, but I really don't get why. Grace is not a relatable adult in any sense of the word. She doesn't pay rent, doesn't have a job, and is at no risk of catastrophic consequences for either of those two things. She's gone through so many years of schooling and presumably has no debt. No one ever holds her accountable. Is she actually an adult? I don't think anyone should be praising her for having a whole ass wife. In what world is she ready to be married?
If you want to read a mid to late twenties coming of age done right, just pick up Such a Fun Age. Please.
I want to live in the heads of people who really loved this. Show me your ways. I'm clearly just bitter.
P.S.: Also, don't listen to this on audio. York Whitaker is a terrible narrator. Over-enunciates, suddenly forgot how to speak like an actual person once they pressed record, just all around bad. It made the experience significantly worse.
September 29, 2024
I received an early copy of this book from the author in exchange of an honest review
Content warnings:
When I first read the synopsis of the book, just like most everyone, I expected to find myself reading a fun romance, with its deep and hard moments, but a fun one nonetheless. That's kind of the knee jerk reaction when you hear "Vegas wedding on a drunken night", you know? But a few pages into the book and I quickly knew I had to readjust my expectations, because although this book has a strong romance component, it is not the central element nor the point of the story. Honey Girl, at its core, is a coming of age story about a twenty-something biracial Black lesbian who feels burnt out, lost and lonely and I had no idea how much I needed to read about that right at the moment when I read it.
There's this pressure and expectation from society that once you hit your mid-twenties you have to have everything figured out, that you should know who you are and what you want, but once you hit that age and you realize that you're far from having your life together, you think you're alone in not having things figured out because since everyone says that and no one talks about the struggle, then it must be true. Being twenty-something and questioning things can be an isolating experience, even when you're surrounded. An that's exactly why this book is so important and we need more like it.
Full review on my blog here: https://wordwoonders.com/review-honey...
Content warnings:
When I first read the synopsis of the book, just like most everyone, I expected to find myself reading a fun romance, with its deep and hard moments, but a fun one nonetheless. That's kind of the knee jerk reaction when you hear "Vegas wedding on a drunken night", you know? But a few pages into the book and I quickly knew I had to readjust my expectations, because although this book has a strong romance component, it is not the central element nor the point of the story. Honey Girl, at its core, is a coming of age story about a twenty-something biracial Black lesbian who feels burnt out, lost and lonely and I had no idea how much I needed to read about that right at the moment when I read it.
There's this pressure and expectation from society that once you hit your mid-twenties you have to have everything figured out, that you should know who you are and what you want, but once you hit that age and you realize that you're far from having your life together, you think you're alone in not having things figured out because since everyone says that and no one talks about the struggle, then it must be true. Being twenty-something and questioning things can be an isolating experience, even when you're surrounded. An that's exactly why this book is so important and we need more like it.
Full review on my blog here: https://wordwoonders.com/review-honey...
March 17, 2021
the way this book called to every single fibre of my lonely heart and said ‘I know you’ ended me.
July 8, 2021
wow this was gorgeous, might write something here about all these ~feelings~ i'm having idk
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