Kelli: Welcome back to Queer Girl Book Club! This time we read Honey Girl, the debut novel from author Morgan Rogers.

Honey Girl follows Grace, a newly-minted doctor of astronomy who is unsure about her next steps in life after spending eleven years working towards accomplishing this goal. On a vacation to Las Vegas, she meets Yuki, a New Yorker, and they drunkenly get married that night. Grace decides that instead of heading straight for the career path she's been planning, she'll spend the summer in New York getting to know Yuki and avoiding reality. 

Emily, I'm going to get this out of the way now: we both really wanted to like this book, and neither of us did.

Emily: Right. So you know, maybe just for the fun of it, before we talk about the myriad of reasons this book didn't work for us, should we maybe say a few things about what did work and why we were interested in reading it in the first place?

Kelli: Sure! Obviously, this is Queer Girl Book Club, and for me, the main draw here was the lesbian romance.

Emily: Yes, clearly part of the draw was lesbians. 

Kelli: Plus, this is a book about queer women of color BY a queer woman of color, which is really cool and exciting, especially since the book has been getting a lot of buzz. 

Emily: Yes, and I think both of us have been making a conscious effort to read more romance, because it's a genre I don't think either of us have read much of. So a romance about lesbian women of color... yes. 

Plus, for me, someone who has a PhD and then gave up on academia, a story about someone who is grappling with post-PhD life is interesting to me.

Kelli: For sure. And as a person living in NYC, I love a good New York story.

What are some things you liked about the book?

Emily: Okay let me really think about this. Haha.

Kelli: LOL.

Emily: I love the idea of Yuki's radio show and that she was doing a show about monsters. It was promising at the beginning, andI was kind of interested to see how that would be woven into the storyline. And I liked the premise of marrying someone and THEN getting to know them and falling in love with them. And I like that Grace is a Virgo and every now and then would be like "Omg I'm such a Virgo."

Kelli: Yes, I definitely enjoyed all of the astrology references! When you're talking about queer millennials, it would honestly be unrealistic not to bring up astrology, so good on Morgan Rogers for keeping it real.

Plus, Grace is an astronomy person so I like the idea of someone who can live in the space between science and mysticism. Which is I think part of what Grace's central struggle is as a character: her tendency towards romanticism butting up against the more rational part of her. 

Which is also super evident in the differences between her parents—her militant father and her free spirit mother. There was a lot here for me to relate to, especially since I, too, am a Virgo. Lol.

Emily: Yes, I think going back to the whole millennial thing... a lot of this story I think is very representative of a typical millennial's experiences. Grace sees herself as a late bloomer in a lot of ways. She's at this point where she's spent a lot of time working towards this one thing, and in the process, she's become disillusioned with it and is unsure of where to go next. But at 29, she feels disappointed with herself because she feels like she should know by now. Do you know how many times I've said, "At this point in my life, I thought I'd have my shit together"? I feel like that's def Grace's struggle.

I also appreciated the way this book explored how WHITE higher learning is and how conscious Grace was of being the other in that space.

Kelli: Yes, definitely.

Emily: Wow, we might have succeeded in making it seem like we liked this book.

Kelli: Yeah, uh. I think the problem is that we liked a lot of the ideas this book starts out with, or the things we think the book wants to explore, while taking issue with what the book actually ends up doing. Which is... nothing?

Emily: Yeah nothing really happened in this book. And not in a good way where we learned about the characters and explored ideas. 

Kelli: And that's not to say that I can't ever enjoy an intimate character study or a slice of life, because I can, and do.

Emily: Right, but we didn't get that either. I would finish huge chunks of this book and think to myself, "What did I get from any of that?"

Kelli: Right. It felt like a central struggle was outlined, and the rest of the book was spent grappling with that struggle in the exact same way without any kind of momentum, be it plot momentum or emotional momentum. It was extremely monotonous.

Emily: Yes. Should we talk about the language?

Kelli: Please.

Emily: This is my main issue with this book.

Kelli: Agreed. It bothered me from the first page and there was not a single moment where I wasn't noticing it.

Emily: It's trying desperately to be poetic and elevated, but everyone just ends up talking in this really inauthentic way. Like, I would be okay with one person talking in this dreamy poetic way, but everyone?  You can't have Yuki call Grace "Honey Girl" AND her friends call her "Star Girl." It's too much.

Kelli: Right. And I felt like it was overly descriptive without actually describing anything?

Emily: I know exactly what Grace's skin looks like. That's about it.

Kelli: Like Grace kept thinking the same thing about their night in Vegas, about how Yuki was her "champagne bubble girl," and I'm like, okay, but what does that really tell me about that night or the way you feel about Yuki other than the fact that you were both drinking? Like I understand the concept, that fizzy love/lust feeling, but saying it once is enough. Saying it twelve more times gives me nothing. Rogers used a LOT of repetition throughout the novel to the point where it was distracting and frankly annoying. 

Emily: Yes. Also it felt like she was trying to write romance? But this wasn't a very romantic book? Like honestly I wouldn't call this a romance at all.

Kelli: Yeah, even though it's definitely framed like one.

Emily: And, you know, it's okay for a book to not meet my expectations and be something else. But I feel like this was supposed to feel romantic, and there was just no chemistry. Probably because I know nothing about Yuki at all. 

Kelli: Yes. Yuki felt pretty hollow as a character, as did a lot of the supporting characters here.

Emily: The only character that felt like a character was Grace. Everyone else was just like, a sounding board for Grace to explore her problems.

Kelli: Yes. And then the other characters would talk about their problems and I'd be like, how does this factor into this story? How does it connect to anything? Like the entire plot with the siblings at the tea room, I was like... what is the purpose of this?

Emily: I also want to talk about this unrealistic portrayal of academia. Because, as I said in the beginning, yes, higher education is super white and that unfortunately doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. But that's about where the realism ends.The fact that Grace was not actively looking for work and just had a position essentially fall into her lap? That's not how any of this works.

It's extremely competitive getting a job in academia, even as an adjunct these days. You definitely can't get hired without going through a rigorous interview process. You usually have to do a guest lecture and visit the campus. This just doesn't happen the way it happens in the book.

Kelli: Totally. I also found a Goodreads comment that puts into words something I was feeling a bit reading this but wasn't sure how to express, being that I am a white person and can't really speak to this myself — but it was something I was wondering about.

From Lady H on Goodreads: "I also struggled a lot with the depiction of diversity and queer culture. My friend, with whom I was buddy reading this with, had this to say: ‘It almost feels like they perform their social identities and their realities are refracted through these essentialist snippets of what it means to be part of that social identity.’ Which I think is just so apt. Everything about these characters' identities feels so performative.

”But I mean, who knows. The people in this book hit really close to a very specific subset of Brooklyn yuppie liberal, so maybe there are people who are this corny in the real world, and it's just so far from my experience it feels unrealistic to me (even though I am a queer woman of color living in NYC!)."

I felt this ESPECIALLY about Yuki's roommates, who enter the picture seemingly to represent like, a queer chosen family? But don't seem to have actual personalities.

Emily: Yes, just in general. None of the friendships worked for me.... at all.

Kelli: All of the friendships felt a lot like what I imagined friendships to be like when I was in, like, middle school? All of these characters are constantly touching each other or laying on each other or crying to each other or saying sweet deeply-felt earnest things to each other that are so CRINGE. Like, I do not talk to my friends like this, or behave like this with my friends, and I don't know a lot of people who do, but I guess there are people out there who related to this novel, so what do I know, lol.

Emily: I would absolutely call my friend "Star Girl" in middle school. Which just speaks to another problem with this book. These characters just all read as really young to me. I kept having to remind myself that Grace was supposed to be 29.

Kelli: Right. Like, I am the exact same age as these characters and I was also feeling that way.

Emily: So after I finished reading this book, I went on YouTube and tried to watch reviews to see why people love this book so much. And I still don't get it. 

Kelli: Reading through the comments on Goodreads I feel like everyone who liked this book is writing their reviews the exact same way the book is written. Lots of emotion, very little substance to back it up.

This review from Bri Little on Goodreads also sums up a lot of the same issues we’re talking about.

Emily: "My first impression of this book is that the whole ‘plot’ was covered within the first 20 pages and kind of rinse-repeats throughout the book." THIS. And yes, Grace's FULL NAME gets said throughout this book SO MANY TIMES.

Kelli: Again: NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT. I feel like this review exactly sums up everything I feel about this book, lol.

Emily: Yeah why did we even write this review?

Wait, should we talk about the therapy?

Kelli: Oh, you mean the fact that it is like a huge deal that a 29 year old woman in academia would go to a therapist?

Emily: Yes, hahaha. I was like. "Oh? You're in therapy? Groundbreaking."

Kelli: Right? Again, something that would be more realistic if this character was 20 instead of almost 30.

Oh, and another thing that bothered me: you mentioned Yuki's radio show, and while I liked the concept, I am extremely confused by what it actually is.

Emily: Yes, I like the idea, not the execution. I was trying to say something positive at that point.

Kelli: Where exactly is this being broadcast? Like, is this on the actual radio? Because I'm pretty sure they don't give out slots for shows that are approximately five minutes long.

Emily: There's that episode of Sailor Moon where the bad guy breaks into a radio station and hijacks the airwaves. Maybe it's like that.

Kelli: If it's a podcast, fine, but also: what studio is giving her access to record this in? How does this five-minute long show have the funding to utilize an actual recording studio? Or is Yuki somehow paying for this with her wages as a waitress? Because that's also unrealistic. We have a podcast that we record in our bedrooms. Lol.

It felt like the idea of what having a radio show could be without any research done into how this actually works... which is how the academia stuff felt too. 

Emily: Yep. I just tried to look up her bio to see if she has any experience with grad school or radio and could find nothing.

Kelli: Anyway, we can harp on forever about how many things about this were unrealistic and how much we did not like it, but it doesn't give me joy to be mean about this book the way it gives me joy to be mean about something like Ready Player 2, because I'm sure Morgan Rogers is a lovely person, and I'm glad this book spoke to the people it spoke to. It just really didn't work for me.

Emily: Right. I'm glad that queer Black authors are getting published and getting attention. And if this book sounds good to you, go for it. I hope her next one is better.

Kelli: So, ratings?

Emily: I rated this 2 stars. I was probably being generous because the more I think about it, the more I'm like, "Why 2?" But I'll leave it as is.

Kelli: Yeah, exact same. I think I rated it 2 because of how much I wanted to like it, lol. 

There we have it, folks! Our lowest-rated QGBC book so far! Emily, what are we reading next time?

Emily: Our next book is The Upstairs House by Julia Fine. So here's what I know about it: It's about a new mom who is studying Children's Lit and is haunted by the ghost of the author of Goodnight Moon. I remembered all that without looking it up and I'm proud of me.

Kelli: Yay! I didn't remember any of that. I was like "it's something about Jane Eyre right?" Lol.

Emily: No, it has nothing to do with Jane Eyre.

Kelli: Yeah I think it was just the word "upstairs" that gave me that impression.

Emily: Yeah no, we're not going there again. The Wife Upstairs was AWFUL.

Kelli: Oh god.

Emily: And I also gave it two stars. IDK what's wrong with me.

Kelli: Nothing is wrong with us. It is simply our choices. 

Anyway, join us next time and pray for better luck!