by: Morgan Rogers
published: February 23, 2021
genre: Romance, Contemporary
283 Pages, E-Book
GoodReads Link
Synopsis
With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that. Staggering under the weight of her father’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.
When reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood.
I. The Story/Plot:
In “Honey Girl,” Grace Porter, an adult grappling with self-imposed stress, impulsively marries a waitress/radio host, Yuki in Las Vegas. The narrative, however, left me uncertain about what Grace was truly seeking—perhaps chasing after elusive stars.
The storytelling felt coerced, as if author Rogers aimed to impose an existential awakening on the reader. It vacillated between a poorly written self-help guide and a romance novel, leaving me unsure whether to feel motivated, discouraged, or reckless in love.
II. The Characters:
Grace Porter, at 29, lacked the depth of life experiences one would expect. Despite her seemingly put-together demeanor, she inexplicably marries a stranger in Vegas and opts to spend the summer with Yuki in New York. Her strained relationship with her rigid father, known as Colonel, and their stilted exchanges felt contrived and grating.
Yuki Yamamoto’s character raised concerns with possessiveness and neediness, echoing Grace’s co-dependent tendencies. Both characters seemed in need of extensive therapy. Secondary characters, like roommates Agnes and Ximena, lacked purpose and felt odd, while others, like Dhorian, Fletcher, Sani, Raj, Meera, and Baba, seemed extraneous.
III. The Writing:
Despite the expectation of a quick read, the writing failed to captivate. Excessive dialogue and superfluous words left me unengaged. Yuki’s radio shows added little to the plot and heightened existing concerns about the character.
The writing often veered into “fake deep” territory, and the attempt to make Grace’s reunion with her mother impactful fell flat due to the mother’s negligible presence throughout the story. The narrative hinted at Grace’s deep-seated issues but fell short of exploring them in a meaningful way.
IV. My Final Thoughts:
While “Honey Girl” didn’t resonate with me, acknowledging that I might not be its target audience is crucial. The book served as a fitting start to my Black History Month reading, even if it didn’t align with my personal preferences.
whitneydaniell 