We learn from the afterword or acknowledgments that the Jodi Picoult/Jenny Boylan co-authorship started with a dream of Boylan's and was nurtured with a Twitter DM exchange, which is awfully sweet. I don't think I've read Picoult before, and I've only read Boylan's nonfiction. Their collaboration started I believe as a shared outline and each other writing one character's chapters. They say that with extensive editing, each can't entirely tell which parts she is responsible for. I share that just because it's interesting, not entirely germane to my review. However, I do think it's a smart way to give dual narrators a different feel from one another.

Boylan's character is Lily, who started senior year at a new school and almost immediate fell in love with Asher, whose mother, Olivia, is Picoult's narrator. Olivia is a beekeeper, of all things, and her narrative is skillfully entwined with what seems to be deeply researched and rendered beekeeping lore that bumps up the novel's literary cred. I believe Picoult is perceived by the Franzen crowd to be a lightweight, but I'd say she's boxing above her weight class.

Both main characters have depth and relatability. I was particularly in sync with Olivia, despite having little life experience that is similar. The one weakness with Lily is the author's need to explain and justify certain things, which says more about readers than the writer.

When the story becomes a legal battle, Olivia's brother jumps in, giving this depressing, but accurate advice to his client

Remember the whole point of a trail is that it's an adversarial process. We're supposed to attack each other, in the hopes that the truth is the only thing left standing after the carnage. I'm going to do the best I can.

And here's Lily comparing Jesus Christ and Charlie Brown

Actually, I sometimes think there is something very Jesus-like about Charlie Brown--his heartbreaking patience, his endless suffering.
You have to admit the show would have a different ending if, after he and Linus bought the sad little Christmas tree, the other kids in the Peanuts gang came after them with a hammer and some nails.

Lol, who even knows. Lily's mind is full of eclectic knowledge. In the same way Olivia furthers her story with bees, Lily's is embroidered with trenchant factoids.

As I write this, two weeks after I finished reading the book, I'm realizing it really made an impression. I look forward to digging into other novels by both writers. The one disappointing element, alas, is the final whodunnit.