Read with Fern

“What did you want to be?”
“What I am now. I just imagined it differently.“
“Different how?”
“I imagined I would be happy.”

Honey, Isabel Banta

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I had seen so many great reviews of Honey that when Book of the Month had it as a June pick, I grabbed it immediately. Then I got the advanced copy of the audiobook, and ended up listening to it instead. I was so excited for a trip back to the 90s, with pagers and CD sales, ridiculous outfits, and maybe a few bad talk show experiences. Instead, I got a weird mishmash of bland “life on the road” moments, a boy band clearly inspired by One Direction, and pages of dialogue that would never come out of a 19-year-old’s mouth while at an afterparty for an awards show. 

I did enjoy the parts of the book that actually followed Amber and her rise to fame. We’ve all seen versions of this play out in real life, and it’s a fun dream to live in. The book follows her from a failed girl group to going solo, starting as an opener for a boy band and growing to sell out stadiums on her own. There’s the well-known pitfalls of falling in love with a boy band member, navigating PR relationships, and the reality of forced body dysmorphia. 

And while all of those parts should easily create a book about a pop star, there was something missing. The book’s synopsis claims Amber had a rich inner life that slowly died to give way to her stardom. But there was no inner life the readers got to experience. And honestly, there was no peek at her stardom or shattered career either. There’s entire pages about how Amber was labeled as a more promiscuous figure than her pop-culture counterparts, and even that was boring.

Instead of being a redefining moment for pop culture history, this felt more like a YA coming of age novel. It painted a realistic picture of what working to become a star looked like before the internet, and how isolating and lonely that experience could be. Amber’s narration feels accurate to her age from 17 to early 20s, even when the supporting characters around her feel a little off. 

If any of this book’s weirdly specific traits caught your eye, you should definitely give it a shot! I’d also recommend it if you absolutely love all things 90s and all things pop. However, if you’ve recently read Britney’s memoir or spent any amount of time in the 90s popstar universe recently, this might fall flat.

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

PS – I’m so serious about ETA being One Direction inspired, and that was the final nail in the coffin for me.