For Love & Honey

American professor of archaeology meets a beekeeper on Malta. Who would've guessed archaeologists and beekeepers had so much in common. Except, he doesn't like honey and he's allergic to bees.

There is a treasure map (no, he's not Indiana Jones) and there is a treasure hunt...

I do wonder why Hallmark movies are now putting the first kiss at the one hour point instead of at the end of the movie, but that's probably my personal issue....

This young couple "plays" Indiana Jones and "Indiana Jane". Honeybees are the center of this movie and are parts of all of the clues, so pay attention.

It's Hallmark, so it's the predictable formula; you know they'll be a happy ending.

I thought this movie was as romantic as most hallmark movies starring Andrew Walker. He was really fit in this movie. Wow. He's always sweet and adorable. Cute smile. He has chemistry with most Hallmark actresses. He kisses not just smooches. Which is fun. There was definitely a spark when Austen took the Eva's hand and gently pulled her to take that evening stroll. I loved that this was filmed in Malta. Such beautiful scenery. I thought the adventure they went on was quite interesting and exciting at times. Bees 🐝 don't just make honey. They pollinate and without them humankind could not prosper and would come to an end. I didn't like honey til I went to a booth at a festival and tried some. Being in Az there was red chilis in my favorite. I watch Hallmark for the actors I have grown to care for and the romance. The movies of course have plots but they are changing from main characters moving from the city to small towns and to being filmed in unique locations. Andrew Walker is loyal to Hallmark unlike some stars who have left cause they are bothered by diversity. Shame on them.

This movie was so difficult to watch. It felt like it could have been a good story/concept but it was so poorly executed. Here's everything that went wrong:

• NO chemistry whatsoever. I think it was supposed to be a grumpy/sunshine sort of trope, but just came across as him being a weak/beta male while she was very entitled and basically hated him the entire time for no reason. She seemed to enjoy pushing him around and making him mad. The grumpy/sunshine trope really only works when "grumpy" hates everyone but their love interest. This was the reverse, she was nice to everyone EXCEPT her love interest.

• SO MANY THINGS WRONG with the beekeeping part of the story. As a beekeeper myself I felt insulted that they did so little research. From things like their "wild" hive which was a foot long piece of honeycomb smashed on a wall, her removal of that comb where she just smashed it up even more and stuck it in a box, getting pissed at the MLI for swatting at a frickin drone bee, her going back to the removal site the next day to capture a SINGLE LEFTOVER DRONE to take back to the beehive, and finally talking about how bees "mate for life"????? No species of worker bee ever mates, only the queen. And when she does she takes like 25 partners in one day and never again in her life. So many things wrong it was literally making me cringe.

• Horrible dialogue. I won't even rant about this one. I'll just leave it with a quote "what kind of loyal drone would leave his queen in a time of need" ~ MIL weak attempt at flirting (also the sole purpose of a drone is to leave his queen to mate with another and consequently die)

This sadly is a disappointing review with a disappointing rating. Andrew Walker is one of the finest....maybe the finest actor ....on the Hallmark roster. He easily could make a PSA deserve a rating of 7 just on his own acting abilities. Virtually in every movie he has starred in....at some point....he makes you feel something. Especially in a Hallmark movie, somewhere you should feel something...be touched by something.......but not this time....not this movie. Throughout the entire movie, there was more time spent on bee stories with almost nothing spent on the human relationships. In this movie, there was nothing to be felt by the viewers. They never got us to feel...be touched....even care about their story. This movie was more like some primer or a PSA on bees and their place in the ecology....completely devoid of all human emotions. Unfortunately, even Andrew Walker couldn't bring a good rating to this PSA. Hallmark wasted his talents...and the location of Malta.

Complaint about writing, not acting. The leading lady (character, not performer) was unpleasant, entitled, willfully ignorant, and cavalier about cultural artifacts. She did everything short of tearing apart a 400-year-old census that belonged to the library, just because a guy didn't want a bee sting.

Her little sister was smarter, more thoughtful, and much nicer to be around. The older one treated her little sister like a pest. She treated the foreigner like a pest. She treated her neighbors like pests.

The romance was between the guy and the wrong sister.

Again, my complaint was about the writing, not the acting.