Arrows Tipped with Honey (Natural Forces Book 2) - Jean Gill

 

Exiled in the Forest, Mielitta, Queen of the Warrior Bees, could be happy but for her responsibilities to the very people who think her a freak and a traitor. Her hopes for change in the Perfect society of the Citadel rest on one man.

Trapped in a society he loathes and fears, Mage Smith Kermon's mission becomes a test of survival. Can he remain loyal to Mielitta in the double life he leads as her spy in the Citadel? He is quickly embroiled in deceit and subterfuge, forcing him into actions that make him doubt himself and everything he values.

Nobody can be trusted. Least of all the Mages bound to Mielitta's treaty by blood oath. When the dead don't stay dead, a broken oath could be Mielitta's doom.

Block Nature out and she'll force a way in.

What did I think?

Having really enjoyed Queen of the Warrior Bees, the first book in the Natural Forces series, I read book 2, Arrows Tipped with Honey, whilst the story was still fresh in my mind.  As this is a continuation of the story, I would say that you really need to read Queen of the Warrior Bees first, although some of the previous story is covered to ensure that any new readers don't completely lose the plot.

Following the Battle of the Forest, Mielitta along with Jannlou and Drianne have escaped the Perfect society of the Citadel.  Now they are free to be who they are meant to be in the forest, without having their minds sealed to give the illusion of perfection in the Citadel.  Their friend Kermon is their link to the Citadel and now that he is the Mage-Smith, he can encourage changes to be made to so-called Perfection.  

I loved Kerman's visits to the walls and seeing another world through his eyes had almost a dreamlike quality.  It's a world where you can taste honey and chocolate but like a flip of a coin there's also danger hiding around the corner.  I can't say any more about Kermon for fear of spoiling the story but it's like something out of Harry Potter, especially He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.  

I've been a fan of Jean Gill for a while now and I love how she manages to sweep the reader away with her beautiful writing, not only to a fantasy world but into the midst of a beehive.  I loved hearing the voices of the bees and seeing how they communicate through dance and rely on smell as they protect the hive and their queen.  Aside from producing honey, there's also a mention of propolis which is an an amazing antibacterial balm also produced by bees.  I only discovered propolis a few years ago and think it's an excellent salve to have handy in every home.  Reading about the bees also made me think of how few we see buzzing around our gardens these days.  I have heard that bees are in decline so it's more important than ever to act now to save these marvellous creatures.

Wonderfully imaginative, Arrows Tipped with Honey is an excellent continuation of the Natural Forces story and it leads on perfectly to book 3, The World Beyond the Walls.

Thank you to Jean Gill for sending me an ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Queen of the Warrior Bees (Natural Forces 1) - Jean Gill

Epic eco-fantasy from the award-winning author of The Troubadours Quartet

One misfit girl and 50,000 bees. Together they must change the world. As the Mages of the Citadel fight amongst themselves and prepare for war against the Forest, Mielitta, a despised servant, has her own battle to face. Bastien and Jannlou, the boys who terrorised her as a child, have grown into their status as Mages and she cannot escape them forever.

In desperation, she flees to the forbidden Forest and its dangerous attractions. Her scent angers thousands of bees and, although she survives their attack, she has changed. A strange bee symbol glows on her thigh and her senses are altered. She learns that her connection with bees enables her to summon their aid and gives her the power to shift shape.

This new-found bond works both ways and the bees need Mielitta's help as the rift widens between Forest and Citadel. Can one girl and a colony of bees reunite Man and Nature, or is the split irreversible?

Block Nature out and she'll force a way in.

What did I think?

Jean Gill is one of my favourite historical fiction authors so when I heard that she had turned her hand to fantasy, I just had to read Queen of the Warrior Bees.  It goes without saying that the quality of the writing is exceptional but the story is amazing too and I found myself fully immersed in the magical world that Jean Gill has created.

Mielitta is a wonderfully strong female character; as a child, her orphan status set her apart from her peers and the boys in particular used every opportunity to bully her.  This may have caused irreversible damage to a weaker character but Mielitta is destined for great things and rises above their taunts.  The Citadel is definitely a man's world but Mielitta knows her own mind and doesn't want to fill her brain with dresses and flowers.  When a bee sting changes Mielitta forever, we see just what she is made of.

I don't read a lot of fantasy but I do think that you really have to allow your imagination to run wild in order to enjoy books in the genre.  Jean Gill certainly has the amazing ability to use her beautiful words to paint a picture of a fantasy world that is as vivid as the world outside my window.  I have been a fan of Jean's for quite some time so I know that she is a beekeeper herself and the prose is peppered with her knowledge of bees that I found very informative.

In a world where it means more to be male than female, Queen of the Warrior Bees is as much a feminist novel as a fantasy novel.  It has as strong a feminist message as The Handmaid's Tale but it has the added entertainment of magic and of course bees.  It may feel like Margaret Atwood mixed with JK Rowling but it's unmistakeably the extraordinary talent of Jean Gill.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: The Hive - Jane Holland

It's a fabulous Rachel's Random Resources blog tour today!  You know what that means?  You not only get to read my review of an amazing book, but you also get the chance to enter a giveaway to win your very own paperback copy of the book!  So get clicking after you've read my review!

Scarred by fire from infancy, with a persistent stammer, Charlotte has always been in the shadow of her glamorous theatrical parents. So it's a shock when her mother commits suicide.

Left to care for her sick father in the dark maze of her childhood home, Charlotte begins to unravel. First, there's the mysterious arrival of a box of dead bees. Then buzzing noises in the attic. People are watching her. Listening to her.

Everyone thinks she's losing her mind. But an old photo suggests another, more sinister possibility ...

What did I think?

Anyone who enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will know what I mean when I say that the magic of a book is so often in the quirkiness and originality of the character; a character who is not the most popular in real life but one who finds a special place in the heart of every single reader who picks up the book.  This is how I felt about Charlotte in The Hive, the likes of which I have only ever experienced before in Eleanor Oliphant.  Don't mistake The Hive as being similar to Eleanor Oliphant as quirkiness aside, Charlotte's life is about to get very bad indeed.  

Charlotte is a character who I understood immediately as we share many of the same anti-social traits.  Charlotte is definitely not a people person, although this is more due to her circumstances than an inbuilt character trait; she avoids people in an attempt to avoid attention being drawn to her facial scars caused by getting burnt in the fireplace as a young child.  She works as a data analyst and has an affinity for number patterns but she doesn't think she can progress in her job as she says: 'Numbers, I can handle. People, I can't.'  I'm right there with you, Charlotte!  Numbers and I...we go way back!

Charlotte returns from holiday with her boyfriend to discover that her mother has committed suicide.  Charlotte's father is suffering from Alzheimer's and thinks his wife is still alive, so he can't help Charlotte put together the missing pieces to find out what led up to her mother's death.  The key to the puzzle seems to lie in a mysterious parcel that was delivered on the day of Charlotte's return: a display case of dead bees.  As disturbing as this is, it becomes even more scary when Charlotte starts to hear the buzz buzz buzz.

Creepy right?  I'm not a huge fan of stripy flying insects so it had my skin crawling at not only the thought of the dead bees in the house but the buzzing noises.  I could imagine the house tumbling down around Charlotte and a million bees swarming out from the rubble.  She's a braver gal than I when she ventures into the loft with her boyfriend; of course I have a ladder phobia so I couldn't have gone up there anyway.  The mystery of the bees deepens when she finds an old photo of her father in a beekeeper's outfit with the name 'Bee Hive Cottage' on the back.  To find out what happened to her mother, she must go back to her father's past but what she finds there is more horrifying than a gigantic swarm of bees.

What an outstanding book!  It really kept me on my toes and kept me constantly guessing as it went in a completely surprising direction, making it a lot darker than I expected.  Jane Holland is a new author to me and one I definitely plan to read more from.  I don't know how I haven't come across her before now; I must have literally had my head in a book!

The Hive is as creepy, terrifying and dark as it is compelling, gripping and impossible to put down.  As scared as I was at times, I couldn't take my eyes off the page and found my eyes trying to sneakily jump ahead as my brain wasn't reading fast enough.  A bee-rilliant thriller (I had to get a pun in somewhere) that had me on the edge of my seat and scratching my crawling skin.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon UK
Buy it from Amazon US





About the author:

Jane Holland is a Gregory Award-winning poet and novelist. Her thriller GIRL NUMBER ONE hit #1 in the UK Kindle store in 2015, and again in 2018, catapulting her into a life of crime. She's published dozens of novels with major publishing houses under various pseudonyms, including: Beth Good, Victoria Lamb, Elizabeth Moss, Hannah Coates, and JJ Holland, and also self-publishes.

Social Media Links –

Twitter: https://twitter.com/janeholland1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaneHollandAuthor/

GIVEAWAY!!!!

Giveaway to Win 1 x Paperback copy of The Hive by Jane Holland (UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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