Hello! I’m back with a review for a blog tour this time is for Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers. Thank you so much to Park Row Books / HarperCollins for the e-arc and the opportunity to participate in this tour.
I received an ARC of this book which did not influence my thoughts in any way. Thank you once again to Park Row Books for providing me with a copy.
Review for Honey Girl
CW: self-harm
This book blew me away! From the character relationships to the prose, Honey Girl, had everything I would want in a Romance book. It had been a while since I read a romance book, but I was super excited for Honey Girl. What drew me to it was the sapphic romance, the getting married in Vegas trope, and the topics it seemed to tackle from its description.
Romance, characters, topics, and the likes
The dynamic between Grace Porter and Yuki was so electrifying. The words they would use to describe each other gave me butterflies. They were adorable and getting to see how their relationship blossomed was a joy!
I enjoyed that we saw each character in this relationship being as a whole person. I say this because we got a sense of who Yuki was, not who Yuki was in relation to Grace but who she was as a character. Her character was cohesive and I loved getting to learn about her as the story goes on, her quirks, likes/dislikes, and her work was amazing! I want to listen to some monster podcasts.
Grace’s journey was one that I identify with and her development was exquisite. We start the novel with a character who has just graduated and according to her has everything figured out. As it progresses however we see the reality of Porter and how the choices and the circumstances she has been in have taken a toll on her. Her development is not solely based on Yuki, it includes many factors like relationships with biological family, her found family, and friends.
There is so much more that goes on in the novel besides the romance. There is a beautiful exploration of family expectations and mental health and this is what really spoke to me. Morgan Rogers navigates these topics in manner which I hadn’t encountered before and it brought this book to another level. I was not expecting the exploration of this at least to such extent. So often at times mental health is glossed over in books that I have just come to expect it, but not in Honey Girl. We get a great scope of how mental health can affect our relationships with ourselves and those we love. How those relationships can bring about the suppression of our self-care. The exploration of anxiety was great!
Other elements of Honey Girl that I loved were the found family and friend relationships. The interactions Grace has with them are so sweet and they support her in her journey. Their interactions showed the importance of having a good support system.
Overall, Honey Girl was a pleasant surprise. The romance was amazing and made my heart full. Even though I loved the romance I was drawn to Grace’s journey and relationships. Another aspect of the novel that I enjoyed was how modern it felt, sometimes contemporary stories don’t feel like they are set in the present they feel a bit like they are set in the earlier 2000s. Honey Girl was an amazing debut with swoon worthy romance and beautiful character relationships.
My conclusion: Highly Recommend (5 ⭐️ )
Author info
Morgan Rogers is a queer black millennial. She writes books for queer girls that are looking for their place in the world. She lives in Maryland and has a Shih Tzu named Nico and a cat named Grace that she would love to write into a story one day. HONEY GIRL is her debut novel.
Honey Girl is out now!
Get your own copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Powell’s
Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense says
I love the sound of this one so much. It sounds like Rogers handles mental health really well. Definitely one I want to check out. Great review!