The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd

Front cover

Date read: 15 - 21 August 2018
Length: 274 pages


Lily runs away from home after helping Rosaleen, her black servant, escape the hospital and a jail sentence. With only a photograph left by her long dead mother, the pair find themselves in the care of three beekeeping sisters. Yearning to learn more about her mother, Lily seeks the council of August, who knew her mother right before she died. Lily and Rosaleen have a new home!


Oh my goodness! It has been a long time since I've read a book like this. One where you're thinking about it all the time and you just don't want to put it down at night. I found myself going into a daze during the say, thinking about this book and what would happen in the next instalment when I read again. I just wanted to get home so I could read.

I wish there was a sequel. Sort of a many years down the line story, what happens when everyone is settled and their life looking after the bees.

I like the sisters names, how they are all months of the year starting from April. It's sad about what happened to her, and May. I felt sucked in to their world and felt real sadness with these characters. You really feel for them and it's kind of like you're there with them, experiencing all the same things they are.

The Secret Life of Bees is set in South Carolina, America at the height of racial discrimination.  This was a time when a coloured person could be beaten up or even killed, just for the colour of their skin. But Lily is a kind hearted soul, and didn't care about any of that. She cared about what was on the inside. The sisters she goes to live with are coloured, and a few people who came to visit, mentioned to her that this was strange, she was lowering herself by being in their presence, living with them etc. But Lily didn't care. She was happy and she loved these people.

I have a few more Sue Monk Kidd books, so when I get around to them I will be very excited!

FYI, The Secret Life of Bees film is also really good. I actually saw it years ago, before I read the book, and I loved it then too. I will be re-watching at some point soon!




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The Wee Librocubicularist

A Dance With Dragons 1: Dreams and Dust (A Song of Ice and Fire #5 part 1) by George R. R. Martin

A Dance With Dragons 1: Dreams and Dust
A Song of Ice and Fire #5 part 1
George R. R. Martin

Front cover

Date read: 29 July - 14 August 2018
Length: 624 pages (687 including appendix)


Dany is struggling to hold Mereen and control her three dragons. The citizens are restless and some are angry. Jon Snow is Lord Commander of the Nights Watch and has to make some difficult decisions. Jorah Mormont has Tyrion Lannister hostage and aims to deliver him to the queen, but which queen?


I love Dany. Always have from the start. In this book you really get to see her struggle between what she wants and what she should do as queen. You realise how much she has grown in these novels.

One character I usually like, but I've kind of went off in this book is Jon Snow. He seems to be a bit ruthless and he loses his good buy charm. I know he is trying to prove himself as Lord Commander but it makes me a bit sad.

I want to learn more about Bran. He goes off on his own adventure and it gets quite interesting, so I am eager to read more about him!

I hope the second half of this volume has some answers because it is the last one published, and it might be a while before the next one is out! I'm really looking forward to reading it but at the same time I don't want it to be over!




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The Wee Librocubicularist