Honey

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What to expect

I didn't like to perform. I liked to be loved.

'Like Daisy Jones soaked in Britney Spears' Curious' HOLLY BOURNE

'It's a delightfully bubblegum novel of hot summer nostalgia' LITHUB

'A sexy swagger of a debut' EMMA STRAUB

It is 1997, and Amber Young has received a life-changing call. It's a chance thousands of girls would die for: the opportunity to join girl group Cloud9 in Los Angeles and escape her small town. She quickly finds herself in the orbits of fellow rising stars Gwen Morris, a driven singer-dancer, and Wes Kingston, a member of the biggest boy band in the world, ETA.

As Amber embarks on her solo career and her fame intensifies, she increasingly finds herself reduced to a body, a voice, an object. Surrounded by the wrong kind of people and driven by a desire for recognition and success, for love and sex, for agency and connection, Amber comes of age at a time when the kaleidoscope of public opinion can distort everything, and one mistake can shatter a career.

Inspired by the starlets of the 90s and noughties who became as infamous for their personal lives as their hypersexualised music videos and lyrics, Honey is a novel about the journey from girlhood to womanhood and how far we are willing to go in the pursuit of love . . .

Readers LOVE Honey

'Honey is going to be one of THE books of the summer'
'A knockout debut novel'
'Daisy Jones meets 90s/00s early pop!'
'From start to finish the nostalgia I felt while reading this book was UNREAL!'
'This definitely gives Britney Spears, Mandy Moore and Christina Aguilera vibes'
'I was captivated every second'
'My favourite book of the year so far, hands down'
'I loved each and every character'

Critics Review

Honey is a sexy swagger of a debut. The ambition and grit of its heroine are matched by the dextrous smarts of its writer, and it is deeply satisfying to see the mistreated pop princess of the millennium get the respect that they--as complicated humans--deserved all along
Emma Straub, New York Times Bestselling Author
Honey was everything I was hoping it would be and more. Beautifully defiant, persistently empathetic, and the writing itself is absolutely crystalline
Courtney Summers, New York Times Bestselling Author
Isabel Banta has delivered an all-access pass to the early-aughts pop world of my dreams in the form of this gorgeous, powerful, and unapologetic romp of a novel. Dripping with sweat, sex, and yes, honey, the character of Amber Young will forever redefine how we think of the perils of stardom, paparazzi, and becoming who you're meant to be despite it all. Effervescent and full of energy, the lessons in Honey are as needed today as they were in the age of Britney and Christina. A rare, shining star of a debut
Chelsea Bieker
Honey parts the shimmered curtains of Y2K pop stardom and ushers us to a place beyond the schoolgirl/jezebel binary: the rich inner world of a young woman discovering her own depth and life force, authentic sexuality and artistic intelligence. Show up for Honey with your sticky notes ready, because there's much to bookmark here: not only the deftly written heat, but a hundred keen and quotable observations about creating a life of truth and wholeness
June Gervais
Like Daisy Jones soaked in Britney Spears' Curious
Holly Bourne, Bestselling Author
An utterly addictive, juicy read that perfectly captures 90s and 2000s pop culture and the entertainment industries of that era. Full of drama, heartbreak, ambition and desire - Honey is ultimately a story about a woman finding herself. The kind of book that leaves the reader feeling utterly satisfied at the end, and maybe with an urge to put on some 90s pop songs
Katherine Webber Tsang, Bestselling Author
It's a delightfully bubblegum novel of hot summer nostalgia that also lands some serious blows to the patriarchal mores of a cultural milieu we still haven't fully shaken off
LitHub
While memoirs from former teen stars are starting to expose behind-the-scenes exploitation and abuse, this fictionalisation brings readers close through the kind of rich, immersive worldbuilding and gut-punch depth of feeling that only a masterful novelist can provide . . . A provocative, quietly foreboding examination of the teen idol industrial machine, arriving at the perfect cultural moment
Kirkus
This delightfully nostalgic debut full of millennial-bait Easter eggs charts early aughts teen pop-princess Amber's rise to stardom. Pressured by the demands of music producers, the media, and fans, she shakes off the need to please and finds her truest self. Honey is delicious
PEOPLE
Honey is the debut novel every millennial needs in their beach bag . . . For fans of Daisy Jones & the Six and A Visit from the Goon Squad, Honey is an exciting read about the dark side of fame, early aughts pop culture and the transition from girlhood to womanhood
PureWow

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