The Enlightenment of Bees

By: Rachel Linden

Narrated by: Madison Lawrence

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

In a romantic adventure across the globe, The Enlightenment of Bees beautifully explores what it means to find the sweet spot in life where our greatest passions meet the world’s greatest need. “I combed through the pages with delight. This book is going to cause a real buzz.” (Debbie Macomber, number one New York Times best-selling author)

Sometimes a shattered dream leads to an amazing journey.

At 26, apprentice baker Mia West has her entire life planned out: a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, a job baking at the Butter Emporium, and her first love - her boyfriend, Ethan - by her side. But when Ethan declares he “needs some space”, Mia’s carefully planned future crumbles.

Feeling adrift, Mia joins her vivacious housemate Rosie on a humanitarian trip around the world funded by a reclusive billionaire. Along with a famous grunge rock star, a Rwandan immigrant, and an unsettlingly attractive Hawaiian urban farmer named Kai, Mia and Rosie embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

From the slums of Mumbai to a Hungarian border camp during the refugee crisis, Mia’s heart is challenged and changed in astonishing ways/ways she never could have imagined. As she grapples with how to make a difference in a complicated world, Mia realizes she must choose between the life she thought she wanted and the life unfolding before her.

©2019 Rachel Linden (P)2019 Thomas Nelson

Absolute Gold - Read this book!

I absolutely loved everything about this book. The performance was amazing - the accents, voices, and all. And the content. I literally gasped out loud at certain points. I laughed, I cried, I got all the feels. I really felt connected to the characters and saw a lot of my own life within the words. I love the way the author describes the space around her. From the feel and smell of food, to the vivid colors and landscapes. I highly recommend this book.

Great Read

I loved the story and the adventure it takes you. I recommend the book. Wonderful story.

Here’s to more people like these characters!

I loved that this story revolves more around Mia finding herself than her love relationships, and that the story encourages people to find where their passion binds with their soulful wish to do good in this world! I also wish people would read this book for a glimpse at what it means to be a refugee…💜☯️🧘‍♂️🦋

Had potential but didn’t deliver

This book could have been so much better. The main character’s frequent habit of referring to her future, purpose-filled self as “Saint Mia” was annoying and ruined what the author was going for, which is how it feels to be lost in terms of your career goals, and trying to find a path to do good in the world. The other characters were interesting but underdeveloped. The narrator was wonderful, however, which is why I finished the book.

Enjoyable with some thought provoking ideas

I enjoyed this book, and plan to take one of its ideas forward in my life. I will look for more from this author as well.

Sweet story

I appreciate the premise of the story but the main character falls very short. Mia is Sweet but so narcissistic - Distractingly so that she is quite unlikeable. She whines throughout the entire novel and everything is about her. The noble did have poignant lessons and a sweet story. I debating giving up but glad I followed through until the end. The reader did her best white what she was given!

Disillusionment

I have no idea why I made myself finish this book. The main character is quite self-absorbed and the tone of the entire book is horribly ignorant in how the world actually works. Perhaps I have too much jaded life experience for this to be valuable.

Well written, clean with a good message

I’m all over the board with this one. It starts out feeling very Eat, Pray, Love, and I felt like I was going to be disappointed because of it (Loved EPL, didn’t want a ‘do over’). But about a third of the way through, the book takes a sharp detour and is nothing like EPL and begins to stand alone, with some hiccups for the protagonist and a neatly tied ending.

Mia is 6-years into her relationship, expecting the ring, when she gets the, “We’re going in different directions,” speech from Ethan. On a whim, Mia decides to apply for a 9-week humanitarian adventure to three countries with her roommate and bestie, Rosie. While doing some light volunteer work in India her team is sent to a hard-core refugee camp in Hungary where she realizes what she is smitten by another volunteer and she learns what she wants with the rest of her life.

The writing is so good that it held me at times when I was frustrated over the plot. The girl lies on her application to get into the volunteer position and it’s not really even addressed. I couldn’t quite get past that. There were many times in the story where the author could have dug deep, but kept it superficial leaving the conflicts feeling sugar coated. I wished it would have hit harder, it definitely had the legs for it. Side note, the title was an head scratcher for me.

And then came the author’s notes and my mind and feelings were flipped again. Rachel Linden is amazing, as a person, a humanitarian, and writer. I hope to read another of her works and I hope she finds the courage to really get down into the dirt with her next story. You will not be disappointed with the Enlightenment of Bees.

Thoroughly enjoyed! inspiring!

I enjoyed the message in the story and characters in the book. I wanted the story to keep going!

Thought provoking?

What is your life's best work? How can you make the world a better place?