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Part murder-mystery, all character-based slow reveal, this story oozes sweetness and danger in a delectable unwind, a gradual pooling of cloying tension, fear, and poignant urgency as we are forced to question – what do we really know, after all, about those we cannot help but love?
Set in the small New England town of Adams, New Hampshire, this story tells the tale of two women: Olivia McAffee, former doctor’s wife and now the divorced single-mother of Asher, her teenage son; and Lily Campanello, Asher’s girlfriend, “tiny, dark, with a smile so wide it completely changes the landscape of her face.“
Olivia, a beekeeper, is long-versed in the art of keeping secrets. A survivor of physical-abuse at the hands of her ex-husband Branden, Olivia is soon to discover that, for others in the small town of Adams (some of which are even closer to home), things are not always what they seem.
“The secret weapon of mad honey, of course, is that you expect it to be sweet, not deadly”.
Asher, with his “green eyes to make you think of June, when everything is in bloom”, is also a mass of confusing teenage behavioral contradictions, – the moody son she would die for – and one who may or may not be be following in the footsteps of his terrifying father. Chillingly proficient at wearing a mask, so charming and smooth, could it be that Asher is leaking at the seams with glimpses into a soul laced with violence? A thought no mother could bear, and yet, one that Olivia is suddenly unable to shake.
Lily’s story, told in an intriguing backwards-time format, unwinds mesmerizingly.
“Why is it necessary for me to justify the fact that I’m here upon the earth, to explain and defend the things I have know in my heart since the day I was born?”
On the run from her own patriarchal past, under the care of her National Forest Ranger Mom Ava (a sort of feminine super-hero, would that we all had moms like Ava), Lily is also hiding secrets, including the deepest of scars, some of which are only visible if you know to look for them.
With twists and turns so cleverly paced they seem to come out of nowhere, this suspenseful read is also a thoughtful one – guaranteed to awaken reflection on our own internal heroes, and the quest we each may undertake to “figure-out how to stop being sad” and reach for the reins of suddenly inescapable second-chances.
A great big thank you to Netgalley, the authors and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
