Helen Jukes is feeling disconnected and stuck in the day-to-day of a monotonous job- something needs to give. In an effort to make her new home and garden more lively, as well as to bring some purpose back into her life, Helen decides to start beekeeping. This book is a biography of Helen Jukes' year of beekeeping, but also ends up being fairly educational to the reader on the subject of beekeeping.

The concept behind this book had me intrigued, and I still think this is an incredibly interesting story to write. The opening imagery of the garden was well-written and I liked how she described the impulsivity of deciding to get her own bees to liven up the place after learning how to care for them occasionally from a friend of a friend who keeps bees. I also found that I liked the idea that in this work life that she's struggling to find herself in, where she's killing plants on her desk and her coworker comments on the "madness" of the idea of her keeping bees, that she is motivated to do it and embark on this journey regardless.

What I didn't like was that after just a few chapters I found this book to drag. The idea, while amazing, doesn't itself provide a lot of substance for a reader to engage with unless there is enough subplot going on to keep the reader entertained. I understand this is obviously non-fiction, but when this feels mostly educational/informational it's harder to stay interested the entire way through.

I really did love this entire idea, that this woman who is unfulfilled did something productive and good, and it was for her own happiness. I wanted to love this more than I did just for that.

Thank you to Helen Jukes, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and Netgalley for giving me this DRC in exchange for an honest review.