Review: Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell

Title: Honeysuckle
Author: Bar Fridman-Tell
Publication: March 24, 2026 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Folklore
Find it on: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Blackwell's | Waterstones
Rating: 5/5★

The Bear and the Nightingale meets Weyward in this deeply compelling debut about love and power, autonomy and consent.

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Once upon a time, on the edge between meadow and forest, there was a lonely child with only his older sister for company. In exchange for being left in peace, his sister made him a playmate—Daye, a girl woven from flowers and words. And for the first time, this boy, Rory, had a friend.

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Rory couldn’t be happier, until he learns that Daye is a short-lived creature. At the end of each season, she must be woven back together or fall gruesomely apart. And every time Daye falls apart might be her last.

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As Rory and Daye grow older, and the line between friendship and romance begins to blur, Rory becomes desperate to break this cycle of bloom and decay. But the farther Rory pushes his research and experiments to lengthen Daye's existence, the more Daye begins to wonder just how much control she really has over her own life.

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As a loose reimagining of the story of Blodeuwedd from Welsh mythology, Honeysuckle is an entrancing, inventive, and unsettling debut.​

Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell is loosely inspired by the Welsh myth of Blodeuwedd. It weaves folklore together with an empowering feminist theme and delivering a powerful message.

Daye was woven from flowers to be Rory’s childhood playmate to keep him occupied. But each season Daye must be rewoven or risk falling apart for good. As they grow up their friendship turns into romance and Rory gets more desperate to stop Daye from unraveling. The boundary between love and obsession starts growing thin as the years go on. As Rory’s experiments to keep her alive grow bolder, Daye begins to doubt her own autonomy and see how little control she really has.

Honeysuckle is Bar Fridman-Tell's debut novel and it impressed me so very much. It was wonderfully written, even when things turned hauntingly dark. Daye and Rory's relationship started innocent in a friendship as children but as it turned to romance as they grew up it was hard not to wonder how much it was actually shaped by Rory's desires. Could Daye truly consent to any of it since she was created for Rory?

Honeysuckle explored the themes of dependency, the ethics of creation and the delicate balance of power and consent. The story also showed how a relationship can turn toxic when one person manipulates or disregards the other's autonomy. It was an atmospheric read with touches of botanical horror and dark fairy tale vibes. I would highly recommend it!

About the author:

Bar Fridman-Tell has a BA in art history and an MA in English literature. (She gleefully wrote her thesis about Victorian vampires.) She has worked as a bartender, a bookseller, a translator, and a library assistant. She is currently studying for a master's in library and information sciences, hoping to stay in a library for good. She lives in Toronto with her professor husband and two very fluffy cats. Honeysuckle is her debut novel.

Website | Instagram | Goodreads

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn @ The Book Date.
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What I Read Last Week:

The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White

What I'm Reading Now:

Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell
Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher

What I'll Read Next (Maybe):

Sparking Fire Out of Fate by Brigid Kemmerer
The Brides by Charlotte Cross

Have you read any of these books? Do you want to?

Review: The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White

Title: The Fox and the Devil
Author: Kiersten White
Publication: March 10, 2026 by Del Rey
Genre: Gothic Fantasy
Find it on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Waterstones
Rating: 4.5/5★

An obsession with a beautiful serial killer entangles a vampire hunter’s daughter in an immortal sapphic romance in this enthralling gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying.

Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to studying vampires—up until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful woman looming over his body. A woman who leaves no trace behind, other than the dreams and nightmares that plague Anneke every night.

Spurred by her desire for vengeance and armed with the latest in forensic and investigatory techniques, Anneke puts together a team of detectives to catch her mysterious serial killer. Because her father isn’t the only inexplicably dead body. There’s a trail of victims across Europe and Anneke is certain they’re all connected.

But during the years spent relentlessly hunting the killer, Anneke keeps some crucial evidence to infuriatingly coy letters, addressed only to Anneke, occasionally soaked in blood, and always signed Diavola. Devil. The obsession is mutual, and all the more dangerous for it.

The closer Anneke gets to her devil, though, the less sense the world makes. Maybe her father wasn’t a madman, after all. Diavola might be something much worse than a serial killer . . . and much harder to destroy. Because as Anneke unearths more of Diavola’s tragic past, she suspects there’s still a heart somewhere in that undead body.

A heart that beats for Anneke alone.

🖤 Gothic Fantasy

🖤 Belle Époque Europe

🖤 19th Century

🖤 Sapphic Yearning

🖤 Vampires and Other Supernatural Creatures

🖤 Found Family

After her father’s murder, Anneke Van Helsing hunts an otherworldly beautiful serial killer known only as Diavola across Europe but she hadn't counted on falling into a dangerous attraction that blurs the line between vengeance and obsession.

The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White was right up my alley. A gothic fantasy set in 19th century Europe featuring a sapphic romance between a vampire hunter’s daughter and a supernatural serial killer. The mutual obsession they had with each other, the vengeance driving Anneke forward, the fierce found family formed in the chaos of it all. It was a deliciously addictive read!

The setting of the book was also one I loved so much. Kiersten White took her readers all over Europe as Anneke hunted Diavola from Amsterdam to Budapest to Brussels to Paris and even Lesvos in Greece! I also absolutely loved the friends that Anneke made along the way. Dávid, Maher and Inge were are so wonderful to read about. They made for quite the dynamic group together and Anneke definitely needed their support, even when she pushed them away at times.

My one and only minor point was that it did take a little effort to fully get into the story at the very beginning, as it started off somewhat slowly. However, once I got used to the slower pacing and became familiar with the characters, I completely fell in love with it. It was also quite a sad story at some points. Just a heads-up for future readers: don’t get too attached to some characters. But that’s all I’ll say!

If you've also (just like I have) read and loved Kiersten White's book, Lucy Undying, then you will absolutely enjoy this newest release as well. It has similar pacing, friendships and sapphic yearning. Overall, The Fox and the Devil was a dark, thrilling, and utterly addictive story of obsession, vengeance, and found family.

About the author:

Kiersten White is the #1 New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning, and critically acclaimed author of dozens of books for readers of all ages, including The House of Quiet, the And I Darken trilogy, the Sinister Summer series, the Camelot Rising trilogy, Star Wars: Padawan, Hide, Mister Magic, and Lucy Undying. She lives in San Diego with her family and their surly tortoise, Kimberly.

Visit her online at kierstenwhite.com and @authorkierstenwhite on Instagram and Threads.