Between You, Me, and the Honeybees

April 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 Josie has just graduated from high school, and she is not looking forward to telling her best friend, Nan, and her mother that she turned down her acceptance to the only college she applied to. Josie doesn't want to go to college; she wants to work in the family business--beekeeping. She puts off telling them as complications arise, such as her grandmother's worsening Parkinson's disease, her own social anxiety, and meeting and falling in love with Ezra, the grandson of her family's beekeeping rivals. Josie's friendship with Nan becomes increasingly toxic, with devastating results. Throughout Josie's expressive and sympathetic first-person narrative, Coombs, a beekeeper herself, inserts nonintrusive information about beekeeping by way of her protagonist's enthusiasm. Her portrayal of Josie's anxiety issues is convincing and inspires empathy. The story is packed with romance as well as self-reflection, seen especially in the contrast between Josie's personal growth and Nan's lack of conscience or empathy. Josie is a courageous protagonist who learns self-respect and overcomes the anxiety that keeps her from growing.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2021
As a fourth-generation beekeeper, high school senior Josie Hazeldine has honey-making in her past--but she's very stressed about her future. One major cause of anxiety is her mother's insistence on her going to college. Although Josie applied and was accepted, she secretly turned down the offer, preferring to remain in her comfortable, ramshackle Northern California home and support her young single mother in the family beekeeping business which she hopes to inherit. When Mom goes to visit Gran, who relocated to Florida, in order to check on her health, Josie's relationship with hunky 18-year-old Ezra blossoms. But things get complicated when Ezra turns out to be a member of the Blumstein clan, rival beekeepers with whom the Hazeldines have had a long-standing feud. The stress of keeping their relationship from her mother and hiding the fact that she turned down a college offer while also trying to earn respect for her beekeeping skills causes Josie's anxieties to increase. Faced with complicated choices, Josie learns to acknowledge her true strengths and, ultimately, to follow her heart. The authentic descriptions of beekeeping, gleaned from the author's personal experiences, and the sensitive depiction of teen anxiety elevate this story. Josie's sympathetic personality and determination to overcome her challenges make for a satisfying read. Main characters present White. A sweet romance with deep undercurrents. (Romance. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.