Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers is the sapphic romance novel for all anxious mid to late-twenties millennials out there. I don’t make the rules. Thank you to Netgalley and Park Row Books for the opportunity to read Honey Girl ahead of its release on February 23rd! I had a great time.

Honey Girl follows Grace Porter, PhD, who wakes up after drunken revelry in Las Vegas to find out she’s gotten married to a mystery woman she can hardly remember. But Grace has a plan. And getting drunkenly married in Vegas is not part of that plan. So she compartmentalizes (she’s great at that) and heads back to Portland with her friends to pursue the plan she has made for herself.

As many us know, the transition from graduation to employment isn’t always smooth. Grace has pushed herself hard and suffered under the burden of other’s expectations. Not to mention the institutional prejudices she comes up against as a Black lesbian. She is burning out. So she runs. Away from her plans, away from her friends and family. Grace runs to New York City to spend the summer with the wife she doesn’t know.

I loved this book a lot. Grace is anxious, depressed, self-harming, and doesn’t know how to ask for help. She doesn’t know if the life she planned for herself is the one she actually wants. She has a strong support network with friends that are more like family, but sometimes that isn’t enough. I’ve gone through enough existential crises (even as someone who landed a great job a month out from graduation) that I really related with Grace and her struggles.

If you are someone who loves found family in book, look no further. Honey Girl brings it hard.

I like that we got to see development throughout all of her relationships, not just her romantic one. There is codependency, there is anger, and there is frustration. But, there is also love in many forms. Grace doesn’t just figure herself out because she falls in love. She figures herself out because of the influence of her friends and family.

I also appreciated that we got to see how other people are harmed by Grace’s actions, even in small ways, without vilifying her or mental illness. Or how we got to see how people trying to do the right thing negatively affected Grace. It is important to be selfish, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t feel hurt by your actions. What we think is the best for someone, what we think is helping someone, can be harmful.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and their relationships. They felt developed and realistic. Did I cry? A couple times. Some stuff just hit really close to home.

My only real criticism, beside a couple of personal things (I’m just not big on touchy feely friendships and sometimes it throws me off in books, but that really is just a me issue), is that I wish there was a little more content at the end. It was a great close to the story, but I would have liked to see just a little bit more. To have had a little bit longer after the resolution of the romantic arc. It felt a little abrupt to me.

I would highly recommend giving Honey Girl a read. It’s a great queer millennial romance that deals with mental health in a positive light despite Grace’s difficulties.