I seem to have made it to book 13 (unlucky for some) in my Goodreads Reading Challenge!  My latest read was Waiting for the Bee Stings by Calvin Wade.

‘Mia Maher is nearing forty. She arrives at the funeral of an old friend, Chrissie, who has died suddenly. Happily married, with two school age children, Mia is unaware that this will be the day that changes everything and her life will switch on to an entirely new path.
‘Waiting For The Bee Stings’ is a story about the lives of four friends who met at Newcastle University in the mid-1990s. It is a tale of love, friendship, passion and betrayal.’ (Thanks Amazon!)

Waiting for the Bee Stings begins with Mia Maher attending the funeral of Chrissie, her best friend when she was young, but someone she had lost touch with over the years.  Mia, Chrissie, Gary and Jason had been firm friends throughout their university years when they had their whole lives ahead of them.  The novel is told from the viewpoints of Mia and Jason as they reconnect following Chrissie’s funeral.  With the story told from both characters point of view, we get a well rounded view of how Mia came to marry Gary, and how the four friends came to be estranged after having such a close friendship.

There’s very little more I can say without starting to give away how this story progresses.  I will say however that I enjoyed the different characters within the novel and whilst I did guess some of the plot, other parts remained a mystery which is always a winner in my view!  I felt that Mia was a little naive (if not a little stupid actually) as some of the things that happened were rather obvious, however I really enjoyed the character of Jason even if he was often a little wounded.  Well worth a read, and I will be exploring other novels by Calvin Wade.

Rating: 📖 📖 📖