Tag: mental health

Review: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

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Review: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13BTitle: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Author: Teresa Toten
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Publication Date: August 27, 2013

four-stars
Summary (from Goodreads):

Two-time Governor General's Award nominee Teresa Toten is back with a compulsively readable new book for teens!

When Adam meets Robyn at a support group for kids coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he is drawn to her almost before he can take a breath. He's determined to protect and defend her--to play Batman to her Robyn--whatever the cost. But when you're fourteen and the everyday problems of dealing with divorced parents and step-siblings are supplemented by the challenges of OCD, it's hard to imagine yourself falling in love. How can you have a "normal" relationship when your life is so fraught with problems? And that's not even to mention the small matter of those threatening letters Adam's mother has started to receive . . .

Teresa Toten sets some tough and topical issues against the backdrop of a traditional whodunit in this engaging new novel that readers will find hard to put down. 

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Review: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13 B

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten teaches about and describes OCD, a very important mental health issue. This book also provides the reader with well developed characters and a mystery to solve. Toten has created a unique, humorous and fast-paced story that will entertain and educate at the same time. Continue reading →

Book Review: All the Bright Places

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Book Review: All the Bright PlacesTitle: All The Bright Places
Author: Jennifer Niven
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 6, 2015

four-stars
Summary (from Goodreads):

The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
 
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. 

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❃ I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃


Book Review: All The Bright Places

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is a hard book to review. It definitely took me on a roller coaster ride! I was a bit skeptical when I started reading this book because of all the comparisons to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. I sometimes caught myself comparing the aforementioned books to All the Bright Places as I was reading. These comparisons are a disservice to the book. It is a riveting story about friendship, mental health, and suicide. Continue reading →

Review: Mosquitoland by David Arnold

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Review: Mosquitoland by David ArnoldTitle: Mosquitoland
Author: David Arnold
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 3, 2015

five-stars
Summary (from Goodreads):

 I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange.

After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the "wastelands" of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.

So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane.

Told in an unforgettable, kaleidoscopic voice, Mosquitoland is a modern American odyssey, as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. 

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❃ I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃


Review: Mosquitoland

Mosquitoland by David Arnold is INCREDIBLE! I am so happy that I had the opportunity to review this well-written book. It is so clever and fast-paced. A must-read for those who enjoy road trip books. Continue reading →

Review: Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson

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Review: Don’t Touch by Rachel M. WilsonTitle: Don't Touch
Author: Rachel M. Wilson
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 2, 2014

four-stars
Summary (from Goodreads):

A powerful story of a girl who is afraid to touch another person’s skin, until the boy auditioning for Hamlet opposite her Ophelia gives her a reason to overcome her fears.

Step on a crack, break your mother’s back. Touch another person’s skin, and Dad’s gone for good.

Caddie can’t stop thinking that if she keeps from touching another person’s skin, her parents might get back together... which is why she wears full-length gloves to school and covers every inch of her skin.

It seems harmless at first, but Caddie’s obsession soon threatens her ambitions as an actress. She desperately wants to play Ophelia in her school’s production of Hamlet. But that would mean touching Peter, who’s auditioning for the title role—and kissing him. Part of Caddie would love nothing more than to kiss Peter—but the other part isn't sure she's brave enough to let herself fall.

Perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson, this debut novel from Rachel M. Wilson is a moving story of a talented girl who's fighting an increasingly severe anxiety disorder, and the friends and family who stand by her. 

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Review: Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson

Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson is an interesting book to review. It explores mental health and also has some wonderful lessons. The allusions to Hamlet make it intriguing. This is one to add to your TBR. Continue reading →