The Honeybee Emeralds is a lovely debut historical fiction/mystery with some side romantic plots by Amy Tector

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Honeybee Emeralds is a debut historical fiction/mystery with some side romantic plots by Amy Tector. The eBook version is 391 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at eleven and a half hours and is narrated with lots of different accents by Lameece Issaq.

Alice Ahmadi is an Iranian British intern at a struggling magazine in Paris, until one day she discovers a famed diamond and emerald necklace and finds herself in a world filled with courtesans, spies, and secrets. Hoping that they can use the Honeybee Emeralds necklace to help save the magazine, Alice along with her American editor Lily and Lily’s best friend Daphne–the director of the International Art Registry–create a “Fellowship of the Necklace” to find out the actual history of the jewels.

The three women pull in a motley crew of others: Luc, who inherited the magazine from his mother, Lily’s college friend and writer Jacob, and Icelandic perfumer Alexander, the guy next door. They all learn about more than just the necklace, they also find many of their personal relationships challenged and changed along the way.

The book alternates between present-day and various flashbacks and is told through many multiple points of view, which got a little confusing to me in the first half of the book. By the second half, the POVs gelled more for me since I knew all of the characters a bit better. Turns out the necklace was owned by three different historical divas! To learn who, you’ll have to read the book.

Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own. The Honeybee Emeralds is scheduled for release on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.

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