Honey and Venom

"Life is the flower for which love is the honey."

I was thrilled to receive this advanced reader copy of Andrew Cote's world of honey bees from Ballantine Books. My family currently resides in North Dakota, where there are nothing but miles upon miles of fields full of canola, flax, barley, etc. They honey bee plays a huge part in production of these crops, and you can't help but notice all the bee boxes as you traverse the countryside (pretty much the whole entire state). This is why North Dakota is the number 1 producer of honey in the United States. Therefore, I dove into Cote's memoir with eager anticipation about all the new things I would learn about the honey bee and the production of honey.

Andrew Coté is the founder of the New York City Beekeeper's Association and the executive director of Bees Without Borders, an international nonprofit that helps needy countries and communities develop their own beekeeping apiaries. Their organization has allowed them to travel to many corners of the world; Fiji, Zimbabwe, and Korea...just to name a few far flung countries, and getting to read of his travels was so fun.

Honey and Venom is divided into 12 chapters, covering a chapter for each month of the year. Each chapter is also told with a backstory where the reader gets to dive into Cote's family history, beekeeping fun with friends, his travels around the world, and how each month brings something new into the life of a beekeeper.

I'm a huge fan of a backstory within a story, so I was constantly drawn into each chapter as the story progressed along with my knowledge of the honey bee and it's keepers. Cote is not just rambling on about himself throughout the book. Instead, his tales include his family, friends and beekeeping community.

For those afraid that this is a 'typical memoir' where the author just drones on....pun intended...it is not. Cote has a fun way of telling his story along with the facts of bee keeping life by sprinkling knowledge of the honey bee and beekeeping throughout each chapter. I also found myself laughing along with him and his experiences as a beekeeper throughout the memoir.

I learned so much and quite a few fun facts about the honey bee. For example, did you know that honey bees can be trained to detect bombs or cancer? That the honey bee and dinosaurs coexisted since around the Cretaceous period?? And never eat bananas before....well....you'll have to read the story to learn that bit of trivia.

Andrew Cote's tale is truly memorable, educational, and endearing. The way he works with and is impassioned to help others truly endeared me to his life and his cause. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about the honey bee or would love to dive into the fun world of a beekeeper. And, I especially recommend this book to school teachers. I could definitely see myself teaching this memoir to my English class.

"Everyone should have two or three hives of bees. Bees are easier to keep than a dog or cat. They are more interesting than gerbils."

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.