Younger me thought this was an amazing book and older me was a bit scared that my memories were wrong, which is why I didn’t read this book for years (apart from the fact it’s extremely yellowed, another sign of age, this book is not in my Goodreads catalogue, so I don’t even know when I first read this!). Well, I finally tackled this and I still enjoyed it.

Of Bees and Mist is a family drama with a lot of magic thrown in. Meridia grew up in a dysfunctional household – her dad, never spoke to her except to criticise, while her mum was prone to forget about her entirely. So when she falls in love with Daniel, she takes the chance to leave the house. Unfortunately, her mother-in-law proves to be just as bad – her snide remarks soon turn into financial and emotional abuse.

Like I mentioned, this is a family drama with magic. When I was younger, I thought the magic was the coolest thing ever and I thought the narration was absolutely lyrical. On this read, I really enjoyed the style of this book, but the magic felt a bit more heavy handed (they are basically metaphors for what’s going on) and I can see that if I read it now, I might think that style is overwrought. Thankfully, the emotional tension and the rose-tinted glasses helped me to overlook all of this until I finished the book and could think about it a bit more.

What I really enjoyed in this book was Meridia’s character. [Spoilers involved here!] She grew up under trying circumstances, but I loved how she managed to learn how to stand up for herself by the end of the novel and develop a good relationship with her sisters-in-laws. One thing I really liked was that she learnt from the past and was the one who set the pace for the reconciliation with her husband and didn’t let him guilt-trip her into forgiving him before she was ready.

When I talked about this in my daily rereading update, I said that this was a fantasy. I’m now not too sure about that because it has so few fantasy tropes (there’s magic, but that’s about it). On the other hand, there’s a bit too much magic for it to be magical realism. I guess it’s something like magical realism on overdrive or family drama with magic? I think that if you’re going to pick up this book, you should be looking for something that explores family relationships and tensions rather than a quest-based fantasy.

Overall, I’m really happy that this book has largely stood up to my first impression! The magic can be a bit in your face at times, but I really like how the characters and their relationships were developed. Even though this was a reread, I was still captivated.