Book Review: The Honey Queen by Cathy Kelly

To discover the sweetest things in life, you sometimes have to lose your way…

It’s easy to fall in love with the beautiful town of Redstone – the locals wave and chat to each other, the shops and cafes are full of cheerful hustle and bustle. And amidst all this activity, two women believe they are getting on just fine.

Francesca’s boundless energy help her to take everything in her stride, including a husband who has lost his job and the unwelcome arrival of the menopause, which has kicked in – full throttle.

Peggy, on the other hand, has always been a restless spirit. But now, focused and approaching thirty, she has opened her own knitting shop on the town’s high street. It’s a dream come true, but she still feels adrift.

When Australian-raised Lillie finally makes it back home to Ireland, she is drawn right into the heart of Redstone’s busy, close-knit community. But what she thought would be an ending is actually just a beginning – all is not quite as it seems in the picturesque town.

Soon, Lillie’s hard-earned wisdom will be called into play as she helps new friends navigate unchartered territory…

Estimated Publication: 1st March 2013
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Goodreads:  Click here
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

My Review     9 out of 10

I have been having a year of first reads this year with quite a few new authors that I am adding to my 'love to read' list and Cathy Kelly is definitely going to be added to this list.

What I loved about this story
There are many many things that I loved about this story.  Let's talk about pace to start with.  Its not very often I come across a book that makes me relax so much as this one.  I liked the way the stories expand slowly, with the dramas coming and going.  I do have the bad habit of when I get nearly the end of the book I get inpatient and want to speed read through the rest (and most of the time I don't speed through) but with the pace of this story it would not let me and I honestly did not get the inpatient moment.

I also liked the dynamic between the characters in this story, especially Lillie who has come over from Australia to stay with her newly found step brother.  Lillie is a character who makes friends  with everyone and helps people mend their relationships without interfering.  Peggy is another really great character who has a past that maybe she needs to confront before she can move forward.  There are so many people that I can mention here but do not want to spoil the story so I won't.

What I was not so fond of with this story
There was only one thing that I struggled with a bit, at the beginning, in this story and that was the amount of characters.  There are three main character families that you follow in this story (the story of Lillie and her newly found step brother Seth, the story of Peggy and her past and the story of Seth (the newly found step brother) and his wife Frankie).  Along with those three stories you have all the side characters, friends of the characters etc and it took a while to get to know each character and remember who is friends with whom.


Best wishes

Debs