He Should Have Told The Bees by Amanda Cox Review

About the Book

Title: He Should Have Told the Bees

Author: Amanda Cox

Release: August 2023

Genre: Christian Contemporary, Women’s Fiction

Uncovering long-held family secrets may sting at first–but the result can be sweeter than honey.

Beekeeper Beckett Walsh is living her dream, working alongside her father in their apiary, until his untimely death sends her world into a tailspin. She suddenly finds she must deal with a new part owner of the family business–one who is looking to sell the property. Beck cannot fathom why her father would put her into the position to lose everything they built together.

When Callie Peterson is named in the trust of a man she’s never heard of, she’s not sure what to do. Her fledgling business has just taken wing and her mother has reentered her life asking for help getting into rehab for her lifelong substance abuse issues, making Callie’s financial situation rather . . . precarious. She’s sure she has no right to someone else’s farm, but the money from the sale could solve her problems and give her the stability she’s always craved.

As these two women navigate their present conundrum, they will discover a complex and entangled past full of secrets–and the potential for a brighter future for both of them.

Get your copy at link below!

About the Author

Before becoming a stay-at-home parent, Amanda Cox spent her time counseling children, families, and individuals through life’s challenging moments. Now she uses those same skills to develop layered characters and stories, bringing them on a journey of hope and healing. A journey she hopes her readers experience in their own lives as they read.

A few of her favorite things are the sanctuary of the great outdoors, the feeling of pen on paper, the sound of her children’s laughter, and exploring new places with her husband of 18 years. (Oh, let’s not forget good fiction and good coffee. She’s addicted to both.) You can stay connected with her latest writing updates at http://www.amandacoxwrites.com. You can find her on social media by searching Amanda Cox Writes

To get a free short story featuring characters from The Edge of Belonging visit: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/fuj7mlfd83

My Impressions

“He’s gone. He’s not coming back. It’s just me now.”

Two young women, strangers and alone in the world, find themselves thrust into each others’ lives in an irrevocable way. Finding their common denominator brings its own crisis, as each would have given her eye teeth for what she believes the other had. Can the young women with so little in common, work together to forge a better future than the pasts they endured? Will they allow others around them into the deepest parts of their hearts and lives, or will they continue as they were, totally alone, totally “safe”?

With He Should Have Told the Bees, Amanda Cox has penned a poignant, angsty, yet faith-endowed story that will stay with me for a long time after the last page swipe. My heart hurts. Yours might, too, and you might need Kleenex. This is really the story of two grown-up children.

Both Callie and Beck have become young adults, but their troubled backgrounds keep their emotional growth stunted. Beck hides out on her farm, continuing to raise her father’s beloved bees, and Callie is trying to get her own small business going when the past comes back in physical form.

I was happy to see that Cox mentions therapy a lot in the book. Some issues are too deeply ingrained for a person to find their way out alone. I was also happy to see how well she describes panic attacks (people that have never had one, often don’t understand the seriousness of one.) And these are serious! I wanted to cry for these little girls grown up so many times.

But… there are many people who are knocking on their heart’s door, trying to get in to offer support, comfort, and a listening ear, if not wisdom. Will either or both girls open their hearts’ door, or had they slammed them too tight years ago?

My runaway fave secondary character is Katya or Fern. Because of her imagination. Her love for the bees. Her quick “adoption” of Beck, whether Beck wanted claimed or not!!

I highly recommend this book. I received a copy from Revell Reads. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotables:

“It’s hard to know the difference between tough love and giving up on someone.”

“…beauty comes from the light. Dust doesn’t change itself. The light does that.”

“Healing is like an onion. It might feel like you’re going in circles, but you’re actually discovering new layers.”

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Magnificent!! So heart-rending!! But because of God… there is Hope!!