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A review by luluwoohoo
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
☀️☀️☀️
Happy Pride Month!
This slow burn horror/mystery had a lot of great elements that will stay memorable, but ultimately lacked something that could get me invested in the journey.
Firstly, La Sala's writing is lovely and atmospheric and definitely lends itself to these genres. At times I found the language choices a bit too *wink wink* for my tastes, but being YA I give it a pass. The few horror scenes in the novel were the most captivating with their visceral descriptions, though they were too sparse to pull the whole book up in quality.
Mars as a character was interesting to read about but was perhaps a bit two dimensional in the exploration of his gender fluidity - a huge conflict for the first two thirds of the book. This subplot is basically discarded at the climax which was disappointing. Mars' sense of self-preservation was good, as was the growth of his relationship with Wyatt.
The group of The Honeys as a concept was decent but the meandering vibes of the second act really didn't give us a good sense of their place in the story, which I'm guessing was intentional from the mystery standpoint but left me feeling multiple steps removed from the unfolding mystery. Once we were given the full truth at the end I found the 'surprise' disappointingly large in scale with quite a few plot holes revealed and never answered.
I enjoyed a lot of elements from this book but ultimately found myself detached from the drama and emotion too much to connect, and with an unsatisfactory ending I was left wanting more.
☀️☀️☀️
Happy Pride Month!
This slow burn horror/mystery had a lot of great elements that will stay memorable, but ultimately lacked something that could get me invested in the journey.
Firstly, La Sala's writing is lovely and atmospheric and definitely lends itself to these genres. At times I found the language choices a bit too *wink wink* for my tastes, but being YA I give it a pass. The few horror scenes in the novel were the most captivating with their visceral descriptions, though they were too sparse to pull the whole book up in quality.
Mars as a character was interesting to read about but was perhaps a bit two dimensional in the exploration of his gender fluidity - a huge conflict for the first two thirds of the book. This subplot is basically discarded at the climax which was disappointing. Mars' sense of self-preservation was good, as was the growth of his relationship with Wyatt.
The group of The Honeys as a concept was decent but the meandering vibes of the second act really didn't give us a good sense of their place in the story, which I'm guessing was intentional from the mystery standpoint but left me feeling multiple steps removed from the unfolding mystery. Once we were given the full truth at the end I found the 'surprise' disappointingly large in scale with quite a few plot holes revealed and never answered.
I enjoyed a lot of elements from this book but ultimately found myself detached from the drama and emotion too much to connect, and with an unsatisfactory ending I was left wanting more.
"Death isn't the end of a life, but the division of it. When someone dies, their soul scatters into all the things they've ever given away. Love. Bruises. Gifts. You struggle to piece together what's left - even the things that hurt - just to feel haunted."