The Castle School (for Troubled Girls), By Alyssa B. Scheinmel ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Coming-of age, Contemporary Fiction, Mental Illness, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 2nd, 2021

400 Pages

Synopsis: When Moira Dreyfuss’s parents announce that they’re sending her to an all-girls boarding school deep in the Maine woods, Moira isn’t fooled. She knows her parents are punishing her; she’s been too much trouble since her best friend, Nathan, died—and for a while before that. At the Castle School, isolated from the rest of the world, Moira will be expected to pour her heart out to the odd headmaster, Dr. Prince. But she isn’t interested in getting over Nathan’s death, or befriending her fellow students.

On her first night there, Moira hears distant music. On her second, she discovers the lock on her window is broken. On her third, she and her roommate venture outside…and learn they’re not so isolated after all. There’s another, very different, Castle School nearby—this one filled with boys whose parents sent them away, too.

Moira is convinced that the Castle Schools and the doctors who run them are hiding something. But exploring the schools will force Moira to confront her overwhelming grief—and the real reasons her parents sent her away.

The Castle School (for Troubled Girls) was not what I was expecting, which was more along the lines of another boarding school mystery that’s so popular in YA fiction. Instead, it’s a thoughtful exploration of various mental health disorders in teen girls. The students of the Castle School suffer from a myriad of illnesses: cutting, selective mutism, depression, kleptomania, trichotillomania (obsessive hair pulling), and alcoholism. While most of the story is focused on Moira, each of her fellow classmates have their own chapters which briefly relate what led them to the point where they wound up at the school. This is the strongest part of the book. The so-called “mystery” of why there are two schools is superfluous and actually detracts from what the characters are going through, and I wish the author had simply stuck to the main theme of the story. Despite this, I think The Castle School (for Troubled Girls) would be a solid choice for YA book discussion groups.

The Obsession (The Obsession #1), By Jesse Q. Sutanto ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Domestic Abuse, Drug Dealing, Mental Illness, Suicide, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 2nd, 2021

304 Pages

Synopsis: 

A classic sort of love story…except somebody might wind up dead.

No one knows Delilah like Logan does. Nobody. He makes sure of it by learning everything he can through her social media and watching her through a hidden camera he has trained on her house. Some might call him a stalker. Logan prefers to be called “romantic.” 

But after Logan sees Delilah killing her abusive stepfather, he realizes there’s still more about her to discover. His sweet, perfect Delilah isn’t so perfect after all.

Delilah knows she should feel guilty, but all she feels is free. She’s so over the men in her life controlling her. Except Logan saw what she did, and he won’t let her forget it.

Delilah is done being the victim. And she refuses to be a character in Logan’s twisted fantasy. If Logan won’t let her go…she’ll make him.

Ahh, young love. Is there anything sweeter than that first teen romance? Well, not in Jesse Sotanto’s crazy, twisted The Obsession. The premise is quite simple: Boy meets girl. Boy stalks girl. Boy discovers secret about girl and blackmails her. Girl is not what she seems and turns the tables on her stalker/blackmailer. The alternating views between Logan and Delilah help flesh out both their personalities which is essential because as you can probably guess from the synopsis, they’re pretty complicated. The dialogue between them is sharp and even occasionally humorous which is a nice contrast to the dark themes of the story. The pace is very fast, in some scenes, a little too fast, especially with regards to the ending, but I can unequivocally state that The Obsession kept me completely mesmerized and I can’t wait for the sequel. I highly recommend this for fans of Pretty Little Liars, and You, by Caroline Kepnes.

What She Found in the Woods, By Josephine Angelini ~ 2.0 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, Serial Killers, Substance Abuse, Suicide, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: December 1st, 2020

384 Pages

Synopsis: Running from a scandal at her New York private school, Magdalena heads to her family home to recover under the radar.

Over-medicated and under-confident, she’s fearful she’ll never escape her past.

Until she meets Bo out hiking. Gorgeous, wild, and free he makes her believe she might finally be able to move on.

But when a mutilated body is discovered in the woods, Magdalena realizes she can’t trust anyone.

Not even herself.

I’ve enjoyed Josephine Angelini’s previous books, especially her Starcrossed series, so it comes as a shock that I really didn’t care for her standalone What She Found in the Woods.

My biggest issue was the way social issues like mental illness and drug addiction were portrayed. I don’t want to venture into spoiler territory, but in my opinion these themes were used as shallow plot devices instead of being a thoughtful exploration of the afflictions that plague so many. I feel terrible writing this after reading Angelini’s reasons why she included these topics as part of the story, but as always, I feel the need to be honest with my review.

While the enigmatic Magdalena was a puzzle to me that I felt the need to solve, most of her teen friends were pampered, entitled brats who annoyed the heck out of me. The romance between Magdalena and Bo was sweet, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the main problems I had.

There were some elements here that I enjoyed, namely the mystery of what was really happening and who was responsible, but as intriguing as that was, my distaste for the mainly superficial depiction of the all too real illnesses that millions battle, overrode everything else. There are many positive reviews of What She Found in the Woods, on Goodreads, so if your interest is peaked by the premise, don’t just go by my opinion, as I believe I’m an outlier regarding my feelings. As I said, I’ve enjoyed Angelini’s other books, so I’m looking forward to her next.

 

The Lost Village, By Camilla Sten ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 23rd, 2021

320 Pages

Synopsis: The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.

Documentary film maker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959 her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center, and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

But there will be no turning back.

Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startling clear to Alice:  

They are not alone.

They’re looking for the truth…

But what if it finds them first?

Come find out.

When I read the comparison of The Lost Village to The Blair Witch Project and Midsommar, I hesitated, because for me, that was setting the bar pretty high. I took a chance though, praying this wasn’t going to be a humongous disappointment, and I’m thrilled to say it wasn’t.

The story is centered around the disappearance in 1959 of 887 residents of a small mining village in Sweden. The chapters alternate between the present day, where Alice, a descendant of one of the families who vanished, and who is attempting to film a documentary about the mystery, and 1959, when Elsa, her great-grandmother sees her beloved village succumb to evil. Whether that evil is supernatural in nature or human caused, is slowly revealed. My one and only issue is with character development. Except for Alice, the others came across a bit featureless. However, I wound up being so fascinated by Alice and Elsa, that this didn’t bother me as much as it usually would. While I suspected in part what the ultimate fate of the villagers was, and who was responsible, there were a couple of twists that managed to surprise me.

The Lost Village is a mesmerizing dark and eerie mystery, that while technically not horror, details the horrifying things people are capable of under the right circumstances. I need to list some trigger warnings that could bother some readers: implied rape, violence against a disabled person, discussion of a suicide attempt, and depression and psychosis. Otherwise, I highly recommend this creepy, atmospheric tale. I believe that while Camilla Sten has written a few previous books, this is the first one to be translated into English. I can definitely say I’m looking forward to reading future works by her.

What Lies Between Us, by John Marrs ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Dysfunctional Families, Mental Illness, Mystery, Substance Abuse, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: May 15th, 2020

371 Pages

Synopsis: They say every house has its secrets and, the house Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.

Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.

But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.

Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.

I’ve been trying to stick with light, fluffy “escapist” fare lately, for obvious reasons. What Lies Between Us is definitely not that. No. This is more “WHAT. THE. HELL. DID. I. JUST. READ?” kind of book!

Everything, EVERYTHING works here. To say Maggie and Nina are complicated is a huge understatement. I went through the first part of the book thinking one was pure evil. Then, about the midway point, I changed my mind and was sure the other was the spawn of Satan. And then during the last few chapters my opinion changed yet again! Between these and the other jaw-dropping revelations, my head was spinning when I finished this three hours after I started.

Just like its characters, the storyline is dark, twisted, and deeply disturbing. Yes, what happens most likely would never occur in real life, but in a story like this, who cares! Marr keeps ratcheting up the suspense bit by bit until it almost becomes unbearable, and from chapter to chapter I didn’t know what was going to happen next. The only thing that was certain was that I wasn’t putting this down until I reached the end. Speaking of—what an ending! I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it in the last 24 hours since I finished!

What Lies Between Us is definitely going to be on my shortlist of favorite books of 2020. Unsurprisingly it’s already been snapped up by Hollywood (Renee Zellweger’s Big Picture Co/MGM TV production company). I’m already thinking Amy Adams as Nina, and Glenn Close or Meryl Streep as Maggie. I cannot recommend this nail biting thriller for readers who love dark, twisty mysteries and loads of family drama. It’s a memorable read which I guarantee will take up long term residency in your head after you’ve finished! Preorder this from your favorite retailer, or file a request at your library now. I guarantee this is going to be one of the most buzzed about books of the summer!

The Lucky Ones, by Liz Lawson ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Coming-of age, LGBTQ, Mass shootings, Mental Illness, Romance, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: April 7th, 2020

352 Pages

Synopsis: For fans of “Thirteen Reasons Why,” “This Is How It Ends,” and “All the Bright Places,” comes a new novel about life after. How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you’ve lost it all?

May is a survivor. But she doesn’t feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting, that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through—no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her.

Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister…and the one faithful friend who stuck around. His best friend is needy and demanding, but he won’t let Zack disappear into himself. Which is how Zach ends up at band practice that night. The same night May goes with her best friend to audition for a new band.

Which is how May meets Zach. And how Zach meets May. And how both might figure out that surviving could be an option after all.

After reading The Lucky Ones last night over a two hour period I feel comfortable in saying this will be one of the most talked about books of 2020.

Told in alternating perspectives from May, the only survivor of a school shooting and Zach, whose mother has taken on the case of the shooter, the story explores the aftermath, when the cameras have left and the media’s and country’s attention has moved on to the next calamity-driven news cycle. May, who lost her twin brother is not only angry but is also suffering from survivor’s guilt and PTSD. Her fury and anguish are so palpable and just tore my heart in two. And Zach, a sweet awkward boy, has gone from having a normal social life, to dealing with being ostracized simply for being the son of the lawyer defending the shooter. That these two should meet and actually start healing each other shouldn’t have worked, yet it does. Their relationship has its ups and downs, but it develops in an utterly believable way. It’s messy, and tension-filled, and at times even humorous, but what remains constant is the need for these two lost souls to beat the odds and stay together. They each have a support system in place with their small group of friends, and thank goodness for that because the adult/parental disconnect is prevalent. By the end of the book though there’s hope for a strengthening in the bond between May and her mother, and Zach and his parents.

The Lucky Ones is an impressive debut for Liz Lawson, and I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from her. I’m not going to lie. This is an emotional, gut-wrenching tale, and I recommend that you have a box of tissues handy. It’s also a book that I feel privileged to have been granted an early copy and it’s one that I highly recommend for teens, parents, and any adult who cares about what kids are having to deal with today, things that we didn’t have to. The story doesn’t get political or wade into the gun control debate, although I recommend you read the author’s afterward where she discusses why she wrote this. Instead, it puts a human face to what life is like after a mass shooting. If there is going to be one book that I nag everyone to mark their calendars (4/7/20) and read, it’s The Lucky Ones. This is a book that every high school and public library should have on its shelves, so if you can, please put in requests to purchase to your libraries now. 

Baby Teeth, by Zoje Stage ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Dysfunctional Families, Horror, Mental Illness, Psychological Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 17th, 2018

320 Pages

Synopsis: Sweetness can be deceptive.

Meet Hanna.

She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of, ideally for good.

Meet Suzette.

She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette’s husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.

 Let me say from the onset that Baby Teeth will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s dark and disturbing, and when I finished it last night I found myself unable to sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

The 3rd person narrative alternates between Hanna and her mother. Hanna is a seven-year-old precocious child, who presents two completely different sides to her parents, Suzette and Alex. With her father, she’s a sweet little angel, but with her mother, she increasingly demonstrates how much she resents and hates her. While seeing Hanna’s perspective adds to the intensity of the story, there are some inconsistencies with her thinking and actions. As each of her chapters begins, she sounds and acts like the seven-year-old she is, albeit a disturbingly creepy one. But then her mental thoughts turn into sophisticated ones that come across as way too adult, even for an exceptionally bright child. This aside, the author crafts her into at times a sympathetic figure, but more often than not, a menacing one who scared the heck out of me.

While Suzette isn’t perfect by any means, I felt a lot of empathy for her. She suffers from a particularly nasty case of Crohn’s disease, and this coupled with her surviving a childhood filled with neglect, had me forming an instant connection with her, even when I didn’t agree with her responses to Hanna. She loves her daughter yet is increasingly afraid of her. When you add in anger and resentment, you have a mother who’s not only at war with her daughter, but also herself.

I didn’t care for Alex in the beginning as he’s written as your stereotypical father who’s clueless and in denial about his daughter, but about halfway in, he starts to realize that Suzanne may be right about Hanna. Watching him come to grips with the truth, trying to protect his wife while still loving his daughter, adds another layer to this twisted yet  captivating tale.

The ending wasn’t a huge surprise, but it was one of several that I had envisioned and I found it believable. Overall, I enjoyed(?) Baby Teeth and I’m impressed with Zoje Stage’s debut. It’s an unflinching look at at childhood mental illness and a couple’s difficulty of finding help and coping with it. It’s a riveting domestic thriller with horror added in which should appeal to fans of books such as Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Go Home, Afton (Afton Morrison, Book 1), By Brent Jones ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, Sexual Assault, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Brent Jones for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 25th, 2018

156 Pages

Synopsis: We all wear masks, and Afton Morrison is no exception.

A small-town librarian with a dark side, Afton,twenty-six, has suppressed violent impulses her entire adult life. Impulses that demand she commit murder.

Blending her urges with reason, Afton stalks a known sexual predator, intending to kill him. But her plan, inspired by true crime and hatched with meticulous care, is interrupted by a mysterious figure from her past. A dangerous man that lurks in the shadows, watching, threatening to turn the huntress into the hunted.

Go Home, Afton is the first of four parts in a new serial thriller by author Brent Jones. Packed with grit and action, The Afton Morrison Series delves into a world of moral ambiguity, delivering audiences an unlikely heroine in the form of a disturbed vigilante murderess.

Have you ever read a book and thought that the author seemed to write it specifically for you? That’s exactly how I felt after finishing Go Home, Afton. I first saw this reviewed on Nicole’s fantastic blog—The Bookworm Drinketh. If you’d like to check out her review, please visit: https://thebookwormdrinketh.com/2018/06/19/go-home-afton-by-brent-jones/ After reading her review I had an inkling I was going to enjoy it, but little did I know how much!

Afton is a complicated character. She’s definitely suffering from multiple mental illnesses including dissociative identity disorder, which stem from a certain incident in her past, but she stubbornly fights against her murderous impulses, before finally deciding to kill only those who deserve it. She has an alter she talks to who represents the truly violent side of her. Their snappy dialogue is one of the best parts of the book. I emphasized with Afton in a few ways, particularly her dislike of the some of the mothers who bring their children to storyhour. She isn’t a sociable individual, but she has a brother who she’s close to and reluctantly forms a bond with her young, teenage library aide, Kim. While Afton has selected her first victim, a sexual predator who has been charged several times with sexual assault yet remains free, things don’t go the way she wants them to. Adding to her troubles is the mysterious and sinister “Man in the Shadows” who seems to be stalking her. This first novella ends in a cliffhanger, but thankfully the 2nd book will be available 8/7/18.

I cannot recommend Go Home, Afton highly enough. It’s a refreshingly original thriller that I breezed through in a couple of hours. Afton is a snarky anti-hero that readers will find themselves emphasizing with and liking. And for a novella, it’s remarkable how much detail the author includes. I do warn you that while it’s not graphic, the story centers around sexual assault which could be a trigger for some. This is a fantastic start to this series and I can’t wait to pick up Book 2, See You Soon, Afton.

Alone, by Cyn Balog ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Family Relationships, Horror Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 1st, 2017

288 Pages

Synopsis: When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda’s almost excited to spend the summer there. The grounds are beautiful and it’s fun to explore the sprawling house with its creepy rooms and secret passages. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate—which means they’re not going back to the city…or Seda’s friends and school.

As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They’re about to be cut off from the outside world, and she’s not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her.

Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter, even though she knows danger lurks in the dilapidated mansion—and in herself. And as the snow continues to fall, what Seda fears most is about to become her reality…

Welcome to the Bismarck-Chisholm House—where murder is only the beginning of the fun! Stay in one of eighteen comfortable guest rooms. You’ll sleep like the dead. We guarantee it…

How bone-chillingly cool is that opening? If you think the premise sounds vaguely familiar, you’d be right. Alone pays homage to The Shining , even mentioning it during one scene, yet it has several unique twists of its own. 

Seda is an unreliable narrator and her actions kept me off guard throughout the story. She’s isolated in a creepy rundown mansion that used to be a hotel that held themed murder mysteries for their guests. Except for a general store twenty miles away there’s no other contact with the outside world as they have no cell phone service or landline. And to top things off, the father, fed up with his wife’s insistence that the house only be sold to someone who will stay true to its history, deserts the family. After four months of this, Seda seemingly goes from a once popular sixteen-year-old girl, to a socially awkward one who has a difficult time with even the most basic conversations. Part of this is explained by the secret she’s been keeping from everyone for years. I’d be sympathizing with her one moment, and left scratching my head at her puzzling actions the next. Every time I thought I had a handle on who she was, something would happen and I’d be right back at the beginning. It was infuriating yet mesmerizing at the same time. 

The rest of the characters didn’t stand out all that much, although I thought Seda’s younger siblings (two sets of twins), were adorable. The mother was a little out there and I wound up disliking her intensely. I thought her actions were selfish, neglectful and uncaring. She supposedly loved Seda and her siblings but aside from inventing entertaining games to keep them distracted, she seemed otherwise disengaged. The stranded teens pretty much fit the standard roles: romantic lead, mean girl, loner, etc. and didn’t add all that much until the end of the book.

The descriptive setting was the best part of the story. You can feel the eeriness and claustrophobic atmosphere creep off the pages and surround you. Each chapter begins with a heading that ties the crumbling ruin back to its heyday of being a popular hotel, which was an imaginative touch. The pace though, was extremely slow for about 70% of the book, and at times, I was ready to tear out my hair waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen! And then it finally did, and yikes! What a rollercoaster ride! There’s a huge twist at the end that I still can’t make up my mind as to whether I loved or hated it. Either way, I’m still thinking about it two days after I finished the book, which makes it a success in my mind. 

While Alone didn’t quite live up to my admittedly high expectations, I still enjoyed it and I think it’s a good read for teens, especially this time of year. It’s creepy and unsettling and I guarantee the ending will give you goosebumps!

 

We All Fall Down, by Natalie D. Richards ~ 3.0 Stars

Tags

Codependency, Friendship, Mental Illness, Romance, Supernatural tv series, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebook Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available lNow

268 Pages

Synopsis: Theo’s always been impulsive. But telling Paige how he feels? He’s obsessed over that decision. And it’s time. Tonight. At the party on the riverbank, under the old walking bridge, site of so many tales of love and death.

Paige has had a crush on Theo since they first met, but she knows her feelings are one-sided. She’s trying to move on, to flirt. A party at the river is just what she needs. Except a fight breaks out, and when Paige tries to intervene—Theo’s fist lands in her face.

All Theo and Paige want to do is forget that fateful night. But strange events keep drawing them back to the bridge. Someone, something is determined to make them remember…and pay for what they did.

I have to admit We All Fall Down has left me frustrated and torn over my rating and review. The premise is original, and the two protagonists are sympathetic and likable, but there just seemed to be something missing.

Both characters have mental health issues. Theo has severe ADHD and ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and Paige suffers from debilitating anxiety and panic attacks, and sleepwalking. They were so real and believable that my heart ached for both of them. I did think that more attention was spent on Theo and his struggles with the medications that are out there to treat his disorders. There’s also the relationship between him and his Uncle Denny who also has ADHD, which brings in the genetic component, and shows how an adult lives with this illness.

When Paige is suffering from anxiety or a panic attack, it’s meticulously described, from her feelings to what the triggers are. There’s a mention of how her overprotective mother also suffers from anxiety, but there’s nothing more and I wish the author had spent a little more time exploring their relationship like she did with Theo’s and his uncle’s. 

The friendship and romance between Theo and Paige is sweet and you can understand why these two are drawn to each other, yet at the same time I found myself agreeing with Paige’s parents that their relationship is based on codependency and is toxic. 

The plot is what ultimately took away from this book. Natalie Richards chose to add supernatural elements, and a bland mystery. I’m not sure if the author included these simply to try to attract more readers, but at best it was bland and uninteresting, and at worst it was distracting and confusing. And, the ending left me scratching my head. There were some questions answered, but quite a few issues were left unresolved. Hence, my frustration.

For the last day I’ve dithered over giving We All Fall Down, 2 or 3 stars. I’ve decided to go with the higher rating because of the likability of Theo and Paige and the attention Natalie Richards gives to mental illness. This is one of the better YA books I’ve read in regards to this topic. Despite my issues with the actual story, I would recommend this, particularly to teens who struggle with these illnesses.