Honeybees and Frenemies by Kristi Wientge ~ Publication Day 6-4-19 @kwientge Review by Guest Blogger Katy Schuessler

Twelve-year-old Flor faces a bittersweet summer with a pageant, a frenemy, and a hive full of honey.

It’s the summer before eighth grade and Flor is stuck at home and working at her family’s mattress store, while her best friend goes off to band camp (probably to make new friends). It becomes even worse when she’s asked to compete in the local honey pageant. This means Flor has to spend the summer practicing her talent (recorder) and volunteering (helping a recluse bee-keeper) withCandice, her former friend who’s still bitter about losing the pageant crown to Flor when they were in second grade. And she can’t say no.

Then there’s the possibility that Flor and her family are leaving to move in with her mom’s family in New Jersey. And with how much her mom and dad have been fighting lately, is it possible that her dad may not join them? Flor can’t let that happen. She has a lot of work to do.

Honeybees and Frenemies Review by Guest Blogger Katy Schuessler

Honeybees and Frenemies is a book about a girl named Flor. When she finds out that her best friend is going to band camp all summer, she’s devastated. What is she going to do all summer now? Her question is soon answered when she goes to her father’s store. She’s helping out her mom and dad when Mrs. Thorton comes in. She need Flor’s mom and dad to sign something. When they tell Flor what’s going on, she immediately tells them she can do it. But when Mrs. Thorton calls Flor’s ex-best friend, her answer changes. Now, she’s stuck doing a contest with her worst enemy. Even worse, they have to work together! How can Flor survive the summer without going insane?

I really enjoyed this book. I liked it because I felt like I could relate to Flor. I’ve had many “friends” who always congratulated me on something, but immediately has to say what they did or what happened to them, which is always so much cooler than what I did. In lots of books, the main character has a nemesis, but it’s not not very common that the main character has to deal with it on their own, without any friends.

I also liked it because it deals with other issues, like moving, and failing businesses. Not many books have people who are struggling with money. Lots of book characters are from the middle to upper middle class. Books that have problems like these in them are great, because they raise awareness and teach children about them when they are young. That’s why I liked this book. I highly recommend that you read it!

Kristi Wientge is originally from Ohio where she grew up writing stories about animals and, her favorite, a jet-setting mouse. After studying to become a teacher for children with special needs, she spent several years exploring the world from China to England, teaching her students everything from English to how to flip their eyelids inside out. She’s spent twelve years raising her family in her husband’s home country of Singapore, where she spends her days taking her four kids to school, Punjabi lessons, and music. With the help of her mother-in-law, she can now make a mean curry and a super-speedy saag. She is the author of Karma Khullar’s Mustache and Honeybees and Frenemies.