Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

( agoraphobia / obsessive-compulsive disorder / self-harm )

For an incredibly close, real look at life with various anxiety disorders, this is the book for you. Even with a lighter note of friendship and budding romance throughout this still manages to pack a punch and shed light on the reality of mental health. Tentatively hopeful with more of a focus on recovery than triggering scenes.

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

( schizophrenia / grief / munchausen syndrome by proxy )

A slightly more mature read, but by no means complicated or inaccessible. Written by someone with a history of mental health nursing, this is a beautiful depiction of how the loss of a loved one can impact your own health. Sensitive yet still realistic, this spends a lot of time looking at two brothers and how their lives change.

After the Fire by Will Hill

( post-traumatic stress disorder )

Although not apparently obvious which mental health issues are present in this book, it is obvious that the children from inside The Fence have some. Moonbeam's time inside has left her damaged, and this follows her on a journey of acceptance and healing. Set heavily in a clinical facility that looks at her memories and tries to unpick them, there are mentions of more sensitive topics including rape, imprisonment, and gun violence.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

“Steffi doesn't talk, but she has so much to say.
Rhys can't hear, but he can listen.
Their love isn't a lightning strike, it's the rumbling roll of thunder.

Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life - she's been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He's deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she's assigned to look after him. To Rhys, it doesn't matter that Steffi doesn't talk, and as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she's falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.”

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

“Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora's brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora's fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life. 

With little more than the words "be brave" inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to Svalbard, Norway, the land of the midnight sun, determined to find Drake. But from the moment she arrives in the arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must "be brave" if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home.”

TBR Feature #69

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

TBR Feature #68

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

“Agoraphobia confines Norah to the house she shares with her mother.

For her, the outside is sky glimpsed through glass, or a gauntlet to run between home and car. But a chance encounter on the doorstep changes everything: Luke, her new neighbour. Norah is determined to be the girl she thinks Luke deserves: a ‘normal’ girl, her skies unfiltered by the lens of mental illness. Instead, her love and bravery opens a window to unexpected truths...”

TBR Feature #65

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

“Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?

Everything, Everything is about the thrill and heartbreak that happens when we break out of our shell to do crazy, sometimes death-defying things for love.”

TBR Feature #58

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

TBR Feature #56

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

“Fifteen-year-old Frankie Landau-Banks has grown up a lot over the summer. She's no longer daddy's little girl - and almost immediately after starting the new semester at her highly prestigious school, she bags goofy-but-gorgeous Matthew Livingston as her boyfriend. They get along great but then Frankie discovers that Matthew is a member of a boys-only secret society that specialise in 'hilarious' pranks. Which hardly seems fair... especially when Frankie knows she's smarter than any of its members. And to prove this, she's going to teach them a lesson.

Impersonating lead member Alpha by using a fake email account is surprisingly easy, and soon Frankie is setting the boys up with all sorts of ridiculous schemes and sending them on wild goose chase after wild goose chase. Alpha's not prepared to lose face and admit it's not him sending the emails - but the fun can't last forever, and soon Frankie will have to choose between what she think she wants, and the reputation she deserves.”

TBR Feature #54

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

“In the Hackensack Police Department, Vic Benucci and his friend Mad are explaining how they found themselves wrapped up in a grisly murder. But in order to tell that story, they have to go way back...

It all started when Vic's dad died. Vic's dad was his best friend, and even now, two years later, he can't bring himself to touch the Untouchable Urn of Oblivion that sits in his front hall. But one cold December day, Vic falls in with an alluring band of kids that wander his New Jersey neighbourhood, including Mad, the girl who changes everything. Along with his newfound friendships comes the courage to open his father's urn, the discovery of the message inside, and the epic journey it sparks.”

Read Me Like a Book by Liz Kessler

Read Me Like a Book
Liz Kessler
Genre(s): Contemporary, LGBT, Young Adult
Published: May 14th 2015
Pages: 297
Rating: 2 stars

“Ashleigh Walker is in love. You know the feeling - that intense, heart-racing, all-consuming emotion that can only come with first love. It's enough to stop her worrying about bad grades at college. Enough to distract her from her parents' marriage troubles. There's just one thing bothering her . . .

Shouldn't it be her boyfriend, Dylan, who makes her feel this way - not Miss Murray, her English teacher?”

When you can't stand the main character in a book, it's hard to like the book as a whole. This was the case for me when reading Read Me Like a Book.

Ash was one of the most annoying characters I've ever come across: dumb, self-centred, one-sided, and far too arrogant for my liking. There was nothing redeeming about her and she continually made stupid decisions in order to seem cool and fit in. She made everything about her, completely ignoring the fact that other people can also be affected by things and have their own problems. I can't be overly critical of her, though, as the rest of the characters were just as bad. Cat and Dylan were cookie cutter stereotypes of the badass friend and slick player, respectively.

I had issues with the writing as well; it was very simplistic and nothing felt like it was coming from teens. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't badly written, it just didn't feel like it was written for young adults as there was no challenge or complexity

Being in my fourth year of studying A-Levels and in the process of applying for university, I also couldn't help but notice some discrepancies and falsehoods about the whole college situation. Kessler did a good job at trying to capture the essence of Year 13, but it felt very much like an adults perspective of what goes on at sixth form. Yes, you have the typical parties and drunken escapades, but you also do have tutors cracking down and handing out disciplinaries for not attending or completing work. However, I did appreciate the way Ash turned things around in the second half of the novel. If it had come a little earlier it would have worked better for me, as it was too little too late.

I also took issue with the fact that the LGBT elements only really started to come into play when the book was nearly over. I went into this expecting a strong, if taboo, lesbian love story. Instead, I got an afterthought. I felt no real connection between Ash and Miss Murray - or even Ash and Dylan, for that matter - and did not buy into the idea that Ash was struggling with her sexuality.

Going into this I really wanted to like it - I mean just look at the cover! - but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations at all. For a younger audience, I feel like this could be a good gateway into realistic and LGBT young adult literature, if taken with a pinch of salt. The intention was there, which I appreciate, but it just didn't work out.

Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

Fans of the Impossible Life
Kate Scelsa
Genre(s): Contemporary, LGBT, Young Adult
Published: September 10th 2015
Pages: 336
Rating: 1 star

“Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with mischief glinting in his eye.

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.

As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.”

This book may be called Fans of the Impossible Life, but I wasn't a fan of it at all. I was hoping it would be good, seeing as it has quite a diverse cast of characters and tackles mental health, but it wasn't to my taste at all.

My biggest problem with it was the fact that I couldn't stand the writing style or the main characters. The story is told through multiple perspectives - not an issue, when done well, but this was just plain weird. Jeremy's chapters were in first person, Mira's in third, and Sebby's in second. While certainly unique, it didn't work, and I did not appreciate being turned into my least favourite character from the story. 'You did this, you thought this' no, I didn't, because I couldn't stand Sebby and didn't relate to him.

While the writing was unique, I felt that the rest of the book wasn't. It felt like every other young adult novel that tries to tackle mental health and more serious topics. The humour was very John Green and All the Bright Places-esque and I couldn't stand the pretension and try-hard behaviour of the characters. Sebby in particular felt very like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl - holier than thou, better than everyone else, selfish, full of himself, and above everything in life. The adults in the story felt very absent, too, and very dumb when they were included. It was as if the teens knew best and didn't have much respect for anyone other than themselves, especially not their bumbling parents.

Overall, things just felt very cliche and trope-y. Call me cynical, but I couldn't shake the feeling that this was written just for the sake of shoving as much typical young adult stuff as possible into one book. Kind of like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Nothing felt real or genuine, and I couldn't even get excited about or appreciate the diversity because it all felt so fake and 'look at how inclusive I am!' Don't waste your time on it.

TBR Feature #48

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Letters to Eloise by Emily Williams

Letters to Eloise
Emily Williams
Genre(s): Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Published: February 17th 2017
Pages: 293
Rating: 4 stars

“When post-graduate student Flora falls unexpectedly pregnant during her final year studies she hits a huge predicament; continue a recent affair with her handsome but mysterious lecturer who dazzles her with love letters taken from the ancient tale of ‘Abelard and Heloise’, or chase after the past with her estranged first love?
But will either man be there to support her during the turmoil ahead?”

A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my thoughts.

Letters to Eloise is a simple yet captivating, heart-wrenching story that follows Flora, a post-graduate student who has found herself newly pregnant. It sounds a little cheesy - especially when you read that she's torn between two men - but trust me when I say it's worth reading and you'll come out of it eternally grateful that you gave it a chance. It's a short book and a really easy read, so what's stopping you?

From the very start you're drawn in to Flora's story, as the prologue introduces the letters and leaves an air of mystery that isn't touched upon until much later in the story. It's a good tactic, as even if you don't really care for Flora you'll want to find out just what happened. But trust me, you'll end up caring about Flora.

Yes, some of her letters to her unborn child were a little weird in terms of content (talking about intimate relationships? I hope she doesn't read those to the child when it's young!) and the fact that they're written less like an informal letter and more like an informal story, but they continue to draw you in. You pick up on Flora's excitement and worries, the support she receives from her friends and family, and it all paints a very honest picture of pregnancy. It's not all perfect and glowing; there's morning sickness, annoyance at growing fat, but also unconditional love and pride.

The story is full of twists and turns, especially when Flora enters her third trimester and moves home. It makes you question loyalties and whether things are actually going as smoothly as the doctors say. And the epilogue... Well. Let's just say it's a little intense.

The biggest issue I had with this - and it's really quite minor, in the scheme of things - was that there were quite a few spelling and grammar errors. Easily overlooked, but also easily fixed in later editions, they don't take away too much from the reading experience. And Flora and Eloise's journey will overshadow any problems you may stumble across as you can't help but want the best for them.

Letters to Eloise is a roller coaster of emotions and a frank look at juggling pregnancy and studying. If you get the time, give this a chance. You just might end up loving it like I did.

Emily Williams and her work can be found at...
Blog
Twitter
Amazon (UK - US)

TBR Feature #41

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

TBR Feature #39

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

TBR Feature #23

TBR Feature is the chance for me to, every Wednesday, pick one of my unread books and discuss it: why I picked it up, when I'll get round to reading it, if I'm still interested in it at all etc.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart