Read. Write. Listen. Create.

Woohoo! This is my 100th post. Thank you to those who have stuck around and welcome to those who have just found my blog!

This book was one of my favorite feel good books I’ve read in a while. While I’m not a paraplegic like Jake in the book, I use a wheelchair and we share certain life adjustments that come along when learning to live with a more recent disability. I’m always interested to see how characters using wheelchairs are shown and represented in books. I gave this book 4.25 stars.

The Music of Bees is a novel about three strangers who turn into friends; Alice, Jake, and Harry, who find friendship, healing, and a second chance on a honeybee farm in Oregon. Alice is a middle-aged beekeeper and widow who is struggling with panic attacks and unfulfilled dreams. Jake is an eighteen year old paraplegic who is learning to adapt to life in a wheelchair after an accident at a high school party. Harry is a twenty-four year old who is recently homeless with a prison record and social anxiety trying to start fresh.

This book weaves in real life struggles in farming with chemicals and how bees are dying. I liked the organization of the book and how every part felt like it was needed in the story. I was never bored and always ready to dive back into the story. I liked Alice, Jake, and Harry’s individual back stories.

Jake used to be in band at his school so it was fun how he could hear the different notes of the bees and pick out the buzz of the queen bee. Jake and Harry’s friendship felt real and I love how they quoted the skateboard movie, Lords of Dogtown. It was a random and welcomed surprise since I used to watch it in high school!

I felt like this book did a good job of explaining how hard and emotionally challenging and exhausting it can be learning to live with a disability and use a wheelchair, but it doesn’t dwell on it. It makes it clear there’s hope on the other side of what Jake went through.

There isn’t much I would change about the book, but I wish Jake had more closure with his parents. He comes from a rough family life where his father never really supported him and especially once he starts using a wheelchair. I wish he could’ve proven to his father that he can still accomplish his dreams and move on from his life at home.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who needs a feel good book!