Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Honestly Ben cover art

Honestly Ben

By: Bill Konigsberg
Narrated by: Dan Bittner
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Music of What Happens cover art
Boyfriend Material cover art
An Unexpected Kind of Love cover art
Straight Boy cover art
Kamikaze Boys cover art
Pride High, Book 1 cover art
Jay's Gay Agenda cover art
The Temperature of Me and You cover art
The Gravity of Us cover art
The Charm Offensive cover art
The New Guy cover art
Dear Rachel Maddow cover art
Denton Little's Deathdate cover art
Noah's Song cover art
Almost Infamous cover art
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck cover art

Summary

In this companion to Openly Straight, Ben confronts pressure at school, repression at home, and his passion for two very different people in figuring out what it takes to be Honestly Ben.

Ben Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past.

Except...there's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else...and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.

Perfect for fans of David Levithan, Andrew Smith, and John Green, Honestly Ben is a smart, laugh-out-loud novel that will speak to anyone who's struggled to be "honestly ____" in some part of their lives.

©2017 Bill Konigsberg (P)2017 Scholastic Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dan Bittner's narration develops the unique personality of 17-year-old Ben, a secondary character in Konigsberg's earlier book Openly Straight.... In this follow-up, Bittner quickly reveals Ben's intelligence and introspection.... In a complex portrait, Bittner captures Ben's confused central conflict - is he gay, or straight, or is he only 'gay-for-Rafe'? Keeping the plot engaging, Bittner highlights Ben's search for his identity." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about Honestly Ben

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    67
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    63
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    58
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

absolutely wonderful

loved this song much !! it's a beautiful story and beautifully told. awesome job! thanks

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ben

A most excellent sequel. Characters wholly believable. Deserves yet another sequel. So many questions are still out there.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I LOVE THIS

just completely incredible. I love Bill Konigsberg. the writing and dialogue is just supreme.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An eye opening read and a fantastic sequel.

Could even be appreciated as a stand-alone novel which is a lesson to learn for sequels in general, to be able to stand on its own story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

let down from the first book

I loved the first one so much, that anything less than perfection would be magnified.

The reader didn't stack up to the first books reader either. some pronunciations were off and some voices were changed entirely (Alby, Steve).

still worth the listen if you've read the first.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

YES YES YES!

I was worried going into this because of some other reviews and after my love for the first book.

However, from now on I'm going to judge books for myself, and for me, this was perfect, it was... Honestly Ben. 💖

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not as good as it could have been

Openly Straight was really well written and engaging throughout so I bought this follow up without auditioning it first. That may have been a mistake. This feels much more like a first attempt at a novel than a follow up. The narrative wanders at times and loses focus. There are however some touching moments and some good thought provoking scenes but it's just not as polished as Openly Straight which is shame.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

Thoroughly enjoyable book, easy to follow and hard to stop listening. Particularly good listening to it following the prequel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic sequel, minor continuity issue

The moment I finished the previous book (Openly Straight), I knew I wanted to start listening to this one. The characters come alive once more, with Ben’s POV being a refreshing change.

The only issue was with the voice actor - while of course it can’t be helped that a different voice actor, there appears to be little attempt at maintaining continuity with many of the characters sounding very different.

Despite this I strongly recommend that people who read and loved Openly Straight read this book too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!