Review: Just A Normal Tuesday by Kim Turrisi + GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED)

Hello, everyone! I'm really excited to bring you guys my stop on the blog tour for JUST A NORMAL TUESDAY by Kim Turrisi hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Also, a HUGE thanks to Kids Can Press for sending me a review copy!

I was sent a physical copy of this book in exhcange for an honest review as part of this blog tour.

Down below is my full review of this novel, the purchase links should you fancy buying a copy, the author's links, tour link and finally, a GIVEAWAY! Please enjoy!

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Add It To Goodreads!

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Young Adult

Score: ❤❤❤❤

Page Count: 256

Stand Alone

Publisher: Kids Can Press

Published: May 2nd, 2017

It's just a normal Tuesday for sixteen-year-old Kai, until suddenly it's anything but. She's received a letter from her beloved older sister, Jen, a letter that begins, My very bestest sister, Kai, if you are reading this, I am already gone. From that moment on, Kai's life will never be the same, as she is forced to deal with the shock and horror of losing Jen to suicide. 

Consumed with grief, Kai looks for answers, lashes out at people who love her and eventually turns to excessive drinking and drugs, all with disastrous results and no relief from her suffering. Struggling with their own sorrow, Kai's parents realize she needs more help than they can give, and they enroll her in the Tree House, a "grief camp" for children. Though reluctant to go, once she's there, Kai finally finds others who truly understand her loss. No longer alone, she's able to begin dealing with her pain. And to see light at the end of the dark tunnel. 

Kim Turrisi's beautiful, wrenching young-adult novel sheds a much-needed light on the subjects of mental illness and suicide. Using the unique idea of a grief camp, Turrisi lays out a process for healing and moving forward for readers who have been touched by loss. But this book's appeal reaches beyond that. With combined elements of tragedy and romance, compellingly told in Kai's authentic voice, this ultimately hopeful story will be an unputdownable read for any teen.

Review:

PROS:

1. I was so super happy when I got a spot on the blog tour for this book because I just LOVE my mental health reads. I've said before that they're my favorite kind of books to read even though most of them are pretty heartbreaking. I love reading about mental health because it is such an important topic that affects so many people and it isn't talked about enough in YA literature. So when I found this novel, I just knew I had to try getting a chance to review. And I did! Here's my review:

2. First off, the book starts off raw and doesn't let up. The story opens up with Kai having a normal day at school and coming home to find her sister's suicide note, or letter rather, and her world comes crashing down in an instant. One of the things I liked about Kai's character was that she reacted in anger. There is no right or wrong way to mourn but I've noticed that mainly sadness and depression set in when a main character experiences a loss in the books I've read thus far about suicide or grief. Kai, however, chooses to let her anger take over and instead of turning to professionals for help or even her own parents, she turns to alcohol and drugs, blame and anger to help her cope. Kai wants someone to blame and be mad at for her sister's suicide and she's constantly pointing her finger at someone new, including herself and her sister. I liked seeing this new reaction to grief as some people do use anger to help mourn the loss of a loved one. Kai was drowning in grief and used her anger to disguise how heartbroken she was, almost doing some serious damage to herself before she's able to get help at a grief camp.

3. Kai has to learn throughout the book that sometimes, you just don't get to have the answers you're looking for. She soon realizes that she truly isn't alone in her loss, that it's okay to be mad about what happened and suicide causes a domino effect, hurting more people than just a couple. I loved that the book portrays Kai's journey through grief in such a real and raw way. We get to see how Kai thinks, justifies her actions and emotions even when she herself can't seem to justify them enough for her own liking. The writing paints a beautifully painful picture of how suicide is a hard thing to accept let alone admit to yourself that it happened and there's no changing things. Kai has to come to the harsh reality: the past is the past and there's nowhere left to go but forward.


4. This book really was heartbreaking and I'd suggest having a box of tissues with you if you choose to read this one, which I HIGHLY suggest you do. Even though it's short and a quick read, it holds a lot within its pages that's totally worth reading. The reason I didn't give this book a five-star rating is because while I enjoyed the book a lot, I couldn't help but feel the book got a little tropey towards the end when the romance really comes into play. At first, it was subtle but towards the end of things, it took too big of a role for my personal liking in these kinds of stories. If the romance hadn't felt too much like a trope, I would've totally given this book a full five stars.

You Can Purchase The Book Here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

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About The Author:

A graduate of Florida State University, Kim Turrisi began her career in film and television. After a year of on-set production (getting coffee, wrangling actors and taking lunch orders) Kim segued to the development side of the business. First working as a development executive at Columbia-Tri- Star and eventually shepherding many projects in family entertainment for Disney, Viacom and Hallmark.

Kim created and wrote an online web series for which she won a Daytime Emmy. She wrote for ABC Family's webisode series, PRETTY DIRTY SECRETS, an internet companion piece to smash hit PRETTY LITTLE LIARS.

While she’s always been a voracious reader and writer, she never thought about writing for teens until she immersed herself in the children’s publishing world as the Director of Special Projects for the Society of Book writers and Illustrators. There, reading children’s literature is a big part of her job.

Her debut Young Adult novel JUST A NORMAL TUESDAY is loosely based on the author's own experience, the debut YA novel follows 16-year- old Kai as she struggles through the emotional aftermath of her sister's suicide. Kai spends a month at grief camp, discovering a roadmap to piecing her broken heart back together.

One of Kim’s favorite parts of the writing process is to create playlists for her characters that she listens to when she writes. When she revises her manuscripts, she’s generally in mismatched plaid and her desk is riddled with junk food. She collects Chuck Taylor’s, Van’s, and has a killer sock collection.

Born in Hawaii, she credits her love of travel to her life as an Air Force brat moving every two years. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found obsessing over her dogs, Riley and Rocco.

Author Links:

Goodreads

Website

Twitter

Instagram

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmin Warga

Add It To Goodreads!

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Contemporary, Mental Health

Score: ❤❤❤❤

Page Count: 320

Stand Alone

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Published: February 10th, 2015

A stunning novel about the transformative power of love, perfect for fans of Jay Asher and Laurie Halse Anderson.

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There's only one problem: she's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution—Roman, a teenage boy who's haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner. Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other's broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together.

Rating:

PROS:

1. I've been wanting to read this book ever since it first released but I never actually got around to reading it until now. Whoops. However, when I finally bought a copy of the book for myself, I was even more eager to read it and decided that this year of 2017, I was going to devote as much time as possible tor reading the books on my TBR that have been sitting there for LITERALLY FOREVER. And I'm not exaggerating there. Anyhoo, before I can ramble on anymore that I already have, let's get onto the review! 

2. First off, I thought the writing was beautiful. I loved all the emotions that just lifted right off the page and really enveloped me in the story. It was such a raw story about depression and grief and I was really impressed with how easily the mood of the story is set and stays consistent throughout the book. It followed the same emotions and patterns that you get in THE FAULT IN OUR STARS or THIRTEEN REASONS WHY. The characters felt so real because of how honest and insightful as well as sensitive the book was when it came to the subject of depression and suicide. 

3. I also thought the story was very clever in including the theory of relativity and perspective. Everyone's mind is different and emotions affect everyone differently based on their personality and what type of person they are. I thought the story did a good job of making that known, showing that you don't have to come from a broken family or have a dark past in order to suffer from depression or any other mental illness. The author also did an amazing job of writing descriptions of Aysel's inner struggles and the emotions that the people around her such as her mother are going through. Mental illness affects more than just one person, it affects the people around them too and I loved that that point was evident in this story.

4. Finally, I loved the characters. I thought Aysel was such a smart and talented girl and it was sad to see that someone like her could be so willing to take her own life. Even Roman who was a very talented basketball player and closeted artist had so much going for him but since both of them suffered from depression, it was difficult for them to see past that darkness and grief they felt. I also loved that Aysel's voice felt so much like a real teenager dealing with these heavy and dark feelings. She had an intelligence to her that went past her love of physics and into describing what depression really feels like and what it is exactly:  

"What people never understand is that depression isn’t about the outside; it’s about the inside. Something inside me is wrong. Sure, there are things in my life that make me feel alone, but nothing makes me feel more isolated and terrified than my own voice in my head."

CONS:

1. This book had such a strong story going up until the last hundred or so pages, give or take a couple of chapters. I thought this book was developing and carrying such a great story about depression and suicide until Asyel admits her feelings for Roman and almost instantly, her depression is almost completely washed away. Asyel starts finding reasons why it might be hard to leave her loved ones behind from the start of the book but they didn't really have any effect on her so the romance aspect being the thing that changes her mind was too much along the lines of a trope and stigma. It was disappointing, to say the least, especially since the story was such a good one. I still really enjoyed the story, however, and I still think it's worth the read.  

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I hope you all enjoyed this book review! Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Review: Teach Me To Forget by Erica M. Chapman

Add It To Goodreads!

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Contemporary

Score: 3.75 stars

Page Count: 287

Stand Alone

Publisher: Merit Press

Published: December 2nd, 2016

This is the story of Ellery, a girl who learns how to live while waiting for the date she chose to die.

Ellery's bought the gun, made arrangements for her funeral, and even picked the day. A Wednesday. Everything has fallen into place.

Now all she has to do is die.

When her plans go awry and the gun she was going to kill herself with breaks, she does the one thing she has control over--return it and get a new one. After tormenting the crusty customer service associate by trying to return the gun with the wrong receipt, Ellery gets caught by the security guard who also happens to be someone she knows--the annoyingly perfect Colter Sawyer from her English class.

Colter quickly uncovers what she's hiding and is determined to change her mind. After confessing a closely held secret of his own, he promises not to tell hers. Ellery tries to fight her attraction to him as the shadows of her past cling tight around her, but when she's faced with another tragedy, she must decide whether she can learn to live with what she's done or follow through with her plan to die. 

Review:

PROS:

1. First, I want to give a huge thanks to Merit Press for sending me a physical copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I was really excited to get my copy in the mail since it sounded like it was going to be a heartbreaking story but also a good one. I love reading books about mental health, as you probably know by now if you've been following my Instagram or blog for a little while. I even have a list of all my favorite mental health reads that you can check out. I'll be updating it soon once I have more books to add to a second list but for now, let's get started with this review, shall we? 

2. I really liked our main character for a few reasons, one being that Ellery is dealing a huge weight of guilt and grief that she carries on her shoulders as the story pans out and we really get to see what goes on inside her head. She pretends to be happy on the outside, even calling her non-self by the name of "Happy Ellery" while on the inside, her mind is waging a war against itself. She feels lonely, tired, and blames herself for what happened to her sister. She hides her pain and self-harm from everyone she loves or cares about, including her mom, best friend Jackson whom she's known since they were kids, and Colter who enters the picture and seemingly wants to help Ellery, knowing that there's something darker going on inside her head. Ellery pushes people away slowly, little by little, in order to make it easier on herself and everyone around her when she finally decides to take her own life. She has a plan on how she'll do it, when, and we get to see her reasons why she thinks this is the best thing for her and everyone she loves. 

3. Even though we follow Ellery's story, there's also a subplot that pops up that I felt made me even more invested in the story and the characters as the story progressed. While Ellery is fighting her own battles and planning her suicide, she runs into an old friend named Dean, who she finds out is self-harming and also plans to take his own life. He just isn't sure when he'll do it. As Dean and Ellery reconnected after so many years of not talking to each other, I thought this aspect was a nice touch since it shows how Dean doesn't want Ellery to kill herself and vice-versa. It's an interesting view we get of these characters since they care about each other and want the other to be safe and happy when they themselves are planning to take their own lives. 

4. The story had a nice pace, a great cast of characters, themes of grief, depression, loss, guilt, and a feeling of hopelessness that gave the book a melancholy tone with little hints of humor tossed in every now and then to break it up a little. It also had what I would call a slow-burning romance which I enjoyed, even though the romance between Ellery and Colter happens over the course of about a month but we got to some important moments between the characters that I think kept it from falling under the category of insta-love. I also appreciated that even though Colter was determined to help save Ellery from committing suicide, he also accepted that no matter how hard he pushed her to let him in, it was ultimately her choice and he wouldn't be able to stop her from taking her life should she choose to go through with it. 

CONS:

1. The reason why I didn't give this book a five-star rating is while I liked that the story was engaging and tugged at the heartstrings, even making me tear up a bit while I was reading, I thought the character depth could have been a tad bit better. I also think that the reason why Ellery wants to kill herself was breezed over once we got the full story of what happened the night Ellery lost her sister. If the story had focused on that reason for just a couple of more pages at least, it would have felt more emotional in the long run. 

2. I also felt like even though the romance was nicely paced, showing us those important moments between Ellery and Colter, it felt a bit trope-y towards the end of the story. It was gradual at first which kept the romance from immediately becoming that stigma of girl meets boy and then isn't depressed anymore but it started to go down that path a little more after trying not to for at least half of the book. I still enjoyed the book and recommend it if you want a quick book to read that has a raw and heartbreaking storyline or if you're a fan of mental health reads like me. I look forward to reading more by this author.

You Can Purchase The Book Here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Google Play

Book Depository

IndieBound

Audible

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About The Author:

Erica M. Chapman writes dark, emotional YA novels with a burst of humor, and lighter contemporaries with smart-ass protagonists. Her first novel, TEACH ME TO FORGET will be published by Merit Press in December 2016. She's a member of SCBWI & Sweet16s, and a lifetime Lions and Michigan football fan who loves alternative music. She loves to tweet and watch various CW & Freeform shows while typing her next story on a MacBook in a Detroit Lions Snuggie. 

Author Links:

Twitter

Goodreads

Instagram

Facebook

Tumblr

Pinterest

Goodreads

Website

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I hope you all enjoyed this book review! Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Review: A Fantastic Mess Of Everything by Beck Medina

Hello, everyone! I hope you've all had an awesome weekend so far! I'm here today with another review and I'm excited to bring it out for you guys. Today, I'll be reviewing A Fantastic Mess Of Everything by Beck Medina for the blog tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours so a huge thanks to the both of them! 

I was sent an e-copy of this book in exhcnage for an honest review as part of this blog tour.

Down below, you'll find my review, the links to purchase a copy of the book for yourself, and don't forget the author's links and a link to follow the rest of the blog tour. Without further ado, let's get on with it!

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Add It To Goodreads!

Rating: PG

Genre: NA Contemporary

Score: 3.5 stars

Page Count: 183

Stand Alone

Publisher: First

Published: August 13th, 2016

Millie Alvarez is a college senior with dreams of being a best selling science fiction writer like her favorite author, sci-fi mastermind Luke Danielson. She fantasizes about dating Rod, her handsome, young writing professor, who has a fan base of his own.

Of course no one knows this but her two best friends, Fran and Mike. In the real world, Millie is anything but a success. She always gets casted in the worst roles in her college's musical productions, has a single subscriber to her writing blog, and struggles to be with anyone but Fran and Mike. She even avoids meeting Trent, an exchange student from London who matches with her on the dating app Charmed. Sam always wants to hang out with Millie, but he isn't her type; he's too skinny and happy and won't stop asking Millie about all her favorite things.

But things spiral out of Millie's control when Fran moves out of their dorm room to live with her sister and her estranged dad won't stop calling her to make amends. To top it all off, the pain inside of Millie's chest is worsening. Millie must decide if she's ready to face everything head on. Can she do it? Is she stronger than she thinks she is? All Millie knows is that her life is one big mess that she cannot seem to escape. 

Rating:

PROS:

1. I thought this book sounded like it was going to be a good one when I first read the synopsis because it sounded like a nice contemporary read that would potentially be a little more mature character wise and less juvenile. I was really excited to read this book and I'm happy to say that it was better than I was expecting, especially since there are such good reviews of this book on Goodreads and I was afraid I might not like it as much as everyone else seemed to. Here's the review:

2. I really liked our main character, Millie, because she was very relatable and a Hispanic female lead. She was introverted, grew up in a single parent home with her mom after her dad left her when she was a kid and she harbored anger towards him ever since then. Throughout the book, she struggles to trust people again, specifically guys whenever they showed any interest in Millie because she was hurt by her dad. Millie thought people only came into her life to leave a second later so she held most people at a distance to avoid getting hurt by them. 

She also lived with anxiety which I thought was a nice character trait since a lot of people suffer from anxiety and I'm also a huge supporter for mental illnesses being in more YA or NA literature, it's a topic I find is ignored in most books and I appreciate that this book had that element. It doesn't dive into the very depths of Millie's anxiety, however, but it does make it known that she has anxiety and takes medication for it. I also really loved Millie's friends as they were really fun and very supportive of each other in all aspects of life. I also loved the love interest, Sam, though I would have liked to get to him a little more since I didn't get to know much about him really but what I got was satisfying enough.

3. This book has a nice pace, it's not too slow but not too fast and it plays out quite nicely as the book progresses. It was also quick and easy to read that had a sweet and slow-burning romance, little to no drama as well as some humor added into the mix. It wasn't very descriptive which I liked but more straight to the point which I also really enjoyed especially since it's a contemporary novel that didn't have a ton of drama and the writing style kept the story moving without rushing through it. I would recommend this book to someone who just wants a nice and realistic read such as FANGIRL was that also has themes of writing books and aspiring authors which I think is fitting since it's currently NaNoWriMo. 

The reason why I didn't give this book a five-star rating is because the second love interest, Rod, really didn't have a strong enough presence in the story. It seemed like he was just kind of there, popping up every now and then and then disappearing and being forgotten for a majority of the book. He seemed to be more like a backup plan to add interest to the book when I honestly think the story was strong enough to carry itself without Rod. It also irked me that he was Millie's professor and I don't care how young he was, it was gross. A teacher and a student? Nonono. I also didn't care for how some of the dialogue was laid out. It felt like I was reading text messages instead of reading an actual conversation the characters were having:

Millie: “Upstairs.”

Sam: “What's upstairs?”

Millie: “Nothing interesting.”

Sam: “You seemed upset.”

Millie: “I wasn't.” 

Overall, I did enjoy this book and though it wasn't perfect, I still liked it and give it a thumbs-up for being a very well-written book that I was able to really like for what it was, what it had to offer, and I'm glad I was able to read it when I did. I think this book is very fitting for fans of FANGIRL as previously mentioned but also fitting for fans of ELEANOR & PARK. 

You Can Purchase The Book Here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Story Cartel

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About The Author:

Beck Medina is a writer and comedy performer residing in Los Angeles. She can be seen performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater with Geraldo, her all-Latino comedy group. 

Author Links

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Instagram

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FOLLOW THE TOUR!

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Book Talk #11: My Favorite Mental Health Reads!

Howdy, everyone! Since tomorrow on October 10th is World Mental Health Day, I thought I would put together a special post in honor of such an important topic. Mental illness is something that is very important, normal to some and abnormal to others, and it's so important to learn more about the different mental illnesses that affect people all over the world. Mental illness affects so many people and it's rare to come across such topics in YA literature which I find is a shame since it's something that I feel as a reader is very important to address.

I've had my own struggles with such things as anxiety and OCD and have people very close to me who deal with it as well, people who have in the past dealt with eating disorders, depression, and self-harm so it's always been a part of my life in some way. I love seeing any type of mental illness in YA novels especially if it's done without those stigmas that surround mental illnesses. Below, I have put together my favorite novels I've read over the years that talk about many different mental illnesses that I think are great insights on such things. 

I know there are a lot more books that I want to read that talk about mental illnesses so please, leave any suggestions down below because I would LOVE to read more books that deal with such an important topic. I hope you guys enjoy this post!

WARNING: THESE BOOKS MAY CONTAIN TRIGGERS

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Title: The Last Time We Say Goodbye

Author: Cynthia Hand
TOPIC: Suicide, Depression

Synopsis: There's death all around us.
We just don't pay attention.
Until we do.

The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.

Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be.

As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.

Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn't have to be real to keep you from moving on.

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go. 

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Title: Made You Up

Author: Francesca Zappia
TOPIC: Schizophrenia 

Synopsis: Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

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Title: Paperweight

Author: Meg Haston
TOPIC: Anorexia, Bulimia, Sucide, Depression, Self-Harm

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.

Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at mealtime, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid.

Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she too will end her life.

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Title: It's Not Your Journey

Author: Rebecca Lombardo
TOPIC: Depression, Suicide, Self-Harm, PTSD, Anxiety, OCD

Synopsis: In her first published work, Rebecca Lombardo collects her internationally followed blog into the pages of “It’s Not Your Journey”. The memoir candidly details Rebecca’s two year long chronicle of her struggles with Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Self-Injury, and recovery from a Suicide attempt. Rebecca shares her very real, raw feelings on these subjects, as well as addressing other issues that have contributed to her downward spiral and eventual climb out of her own pit of despair. Issues such as the loss of her mother to lung cancer, the death of her brother, abandonment from friends and family members due to her hospitalization, and more.

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Title: Thirteen Reasons Why

Author: Jay Asher
TOPIC: Suicide

Synopsis: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

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Title: Dreamland
Author: Sarah Dessen
TOPIC: Abusive Relationship

Synopsis: Wake up, Caitlin

Ever since she started going out with Rogerson Biscoe, Caitlin seems to have fallen into a semiconscious dreamland where nothing is quite real. Rogerson is different from anyone Caitlin has ever known. He's magnetic. He's compelling. He's dangerous. Being with him makes Caitlin forget about everything else--her missing sister, her withdrawn mother, her lackluster life. But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him?

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Review: Paperweight by Meg Haston

Paperweight by Meg Haston

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Contemporary, Mental Health

Score: ❤❤❤❤

Page Count: 288

Stand Alone

Publisher: HarperTeen

Published: July 7, 2015

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.
Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at mealtime, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid.
Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she too will end her life.

Review:

PROS:

1. I was pretty interested in this book when I found out about its release a few months ago and I couldn't wait to dive into its story. Obviously, its not really a lighthearted book at all so I had to wait a while before I was finally in the mood for it because, you know, it talks about some pretty emotional subjects. I finally got around to reading it so without further ado, here's my review:

2. I really loved the characters in this book so first, we'll start with our main character Stevie. I thought her character was so realistic and raw and you could really see her way of thinking and how she felt towards food and her weight. She was obviously upset that she was sent to the treatment center and didn't want anything to so with her nurses, doctors or therapists, even the other girls there as well. I loved that as the book progressed, you could clearly see the changes happening in Stevie, both for better or worse, and you could see the amount of development in her. Her eating disorder was also very realistic which was an obvious sign of a very well researched subject by the author. Stevie comes from a broken home and you can see just how much she lets her emotions control her and I thought it was very interesting to be able to see so well into Stevie's mind.

3. I also really loved that the book explored different aspects of the characters, such as their home life. Stevie comes from a broken home- her mother leaving when she was young, and her brother now dead- and she's still angry about both events. However, I loved that all the girls in this book had very different home lives. One girl came a family in which she felt ignored by. Another was being abused by her own sibling. One girl even knew for herself that she had a great life with loving parents who blamed themselves for her having an eating disorder. I thought it was a great way of showing that you don't have to go through something traumatic in order to develop a life-or-death issue or even have a not-so-happy background. There are many different walks of life we take and I adored the fact that the book acknowledged that.

4. The writing was so beautiful and even poetic at times with its descriptions of emotions. You could really get a sense of just how little Stevie valued her life and you could tell just how much she wanted to kill herself and how determined she was to do so. The descriptions of how the girls felt towards their own lives and bodies was very realistic and beautifully portrayed just by the mood of the book and the writing style and even the body language of the characters with all due respect to the illness. You really got into the minds of the characters and though it was very sad to see how much they hated themselves, it was very well written.

5. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a good book that talks about emotional subjects that are rare to see in YA literature, such as eating disorders. Now I want to give you guys some trigger warnings just in case you may have any. I don't care if some people might find these trigger warnings to be spoilers, it's more important to look out for the well being of the readers, right? This book talks a lot about Anorexia, Bulimia, Self- Harm and Suicide but it also touches on Physical Abuse, Depression, and Purging. I think this book is a great one to read if you want a book about these subjects if you've never really tried to read about them and if you want a book about learning to accept that you're not perfect and that no one else is perfect either. This book really talks about acceptance of your body, yourself and the past and learning to let go of the past.

I didn't give this book a five-star rating because I felt the ending was a bit rushed and a little slow. I would've liked to have seen it drawn out a little more to really feel satisfied with the wrap-up of the story. Also, it didn't click with me on an emotional level but then again, it takes a lot for me just to tear up while reading a book.

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Review: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Contemporary, Mental Illness, YA Fiction

Score: 4 1/2 stars

Page Count: 448

Stand Alone

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Published: May 19, 2015

 

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

 

Review:

PROS:

1. Over the past couple of weeks, I fell out of a contemporary mood because of all the ones I was reading in June. I kind of got tired of that genre but I still really wanted to pick this one up. I decided to try just one more contemporary and read it and see what it had to offer. I was more excited to read this one because of the fact that our main character has a mental illness that I haven't seen in a book, like, ever. Maybe that's just me but hey, I wanted to shake things up a bit! That and I'm a sucker for that type of story. Here's my review:

 

2. Obviously, I was really impressed with the set of characters in this book. I really loved them for many reasons. One was that our main character, Alex, is schizophrenic and has to try her best to hide her "problem" from the rest of the school including her new friends. I really loved seeing a character with a mental illness that I've never actually seen before in a YA fiction and that was what originally made me want to pick this book up in the first place before it was released. Alex has to struggle with her illness and decide what was real and what was purely her hallucinations. I also fell in love with her friends and family. Her friends were those that I wished I could have in my life. They were very loyal and goofed around a lot with each other and just made a really awesome group of supportive friends. Alex's parents were also very supportive and loving towards her and her sister and that was really nice to see. Usually I don't get attached to a character's parents in books but her mom and dad were quite a different case.

 

3. This book was completely character driven but also had a bit of an interactive element to it. The character development was so great that the entire book could've lacked a plot and I still would've probably loved it. Other than the development, the book was also part mystery and a psychological read. You as the reader had to follow Alex as she tries to determine what she imagines and what's really reality and had it's incredibly surprising moments that literally had my mouth hanging open. I really loved getting to not only get to know the characters so much more with each chapter, but it also kept me incredibly entertained trying to figure out the mystery of what Alex and her friends had to uncover in this book. It was a contemporary with a little bit of edge if you will.

 

4. I really loved how everything in this book came back around to Alex being schizophrenic. Alex tried to hide her illness from her friends because of it and she also had to struggle with training herself to see the difference between imagination and reality. Even the romance and mystery that played big roles in the book came back to the fact that she was schizophrenic which was awesome because you never forgot that about Alex. I love that I constantly reminded me of her illness and I guess that's why Alex was such an interesting character to me in the first place. She was constantly doubting herself and her theories because of her illness and she was also driven by it as well. I loved that the book stayed to the theme of Alex and didn't wander off into a weird layout.

 

5. I loved the way the entire story played out and how it wrapped up as well. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride with all the mystery, surprise, heartbreak, shocking truths and also a bad case of the feels going on but it was fabulous nonetheless. It was a seriously entertaining read that I know I'll be picking up again in the future. It's a perfect summer read and also a great rainy day one. I recommended this to any YA lover who's looking for something a little different for a contemporary. The mystery was intriguing, I read it in just a couple of sittings and the romance was sweet and gave me so many feels that I couldn't even deal. Yep, it was that good!

 

The reason why I didn't give this book a five star-rating was because I want more. I need more of this book, like, right now. Sequel anybody?

 

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I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!