Elliott Rodgers

Like Bees To Honey is the latest novel by the amazingly talented Caroline Smailes. Her previous novels were very dark, Like Bees To Honey still has dark bits but these are interspersed with some brilliantly quirky, funny moments and imagery that will stay with you forever.

Nina is grief stricken and trapped by her past, unable to look forward to the future. Every day her grief spoils her life and drives a wedge between her relationships with those around her who love her. She leaves her husband Matt and daughter Molly behind and travels back to Malta with her son, to confront her painful past. Cast out from her staunchly religious family for becoming pregnant with Christopher out of marriage. Can she reconcile her past and mend old, but so obviously painful wounds?

Malta is a halfway house for dead spirits, between the here and whatever happens next. Nina has always been able to see the dead, a gift she passed onto her son, Christopher. These spirits bring an extra dimension to a story and bring an unusual way for Caroline to expose the many fascinating aspects of Nina’s story. As the twists and turns of Nina’s past come to light, with shocks and surprising, Caroline writes in a way that made me ache for Nina, cry for her and hope for a happy ending. There’s so much more I’d like to add but really don’t want to spoil someone discovering the book for themselves.

Sprinkled throughout Like Bees To Honey were fascinating like facts and stuff about Malta making it sound a tempting holiday destination. The snippets of Maltese added a further element to the story, that through clever writing actually drew me further into the story rather than spoiling the flow.

Every so often I read a book that stays with me, with characters that are so alive that after the last page is turned I desperately wish there was a next novel so I can check in on how they are doing. Like Bees To Honey was such a novel and will stay with me for a long time. Like Bees To Honey, is another of Caroline Smailes’ novels that’s on my list of must read books. I can’t recommend it enough. Get yourself something nice to drink, some nibbles, some tissues and a comfy place to sit. Like Caroline’s other books you wont want to stop reading once you start.

Caroline Smailes website and blog can be found at: http://www.carolinesmailes.co.uk/ and you can buy Like Bees To Honey from Amazon. You can find Caroline Smailes on Twitter http://twitter.com/Caroline_S

Like Bees To Honey is the second of Caroline Smailes’ novels that I’ve reviewed (The other was In Search of Adam)

QR Code for This Page