Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

TW: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self-harm, Suicide, Violence

Girl in Pieces is a story about life after the hospital. Charlie gets out with no family and has to continue life from the ground up.

This book shows a lot of the good that can come from getting the help you need, but isn’t 100% realistic. Girl in Pieces shows some of the bad, but ultimately Charlie gets a lot of what she needs right away. This story shows the more fortunate side of things, as Charlie finds a place to stay and a place to work almost immediately. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Charlie has a lot of baggage that she hides and she refuses to tell anyone about her past. Glasgow makes it seems as if not sharing her past is the worst thing she could ever do. Realistically, Charlie doesn’t have a duty to tell anyone anything.

This book pushes a lot of ideas that the author has about what should be done when someone is struggling. These may not be the right thing for everyone and that is very important to note when reading this book. Generally speaking, it was an okay book plot-wise. It didn’t do anything extremely out-of-the-ordinary or special, but wasn’t that bad.

Rating: 5/10

How it Feels to Float by Helena Fox

TW: PTSD, Suicide, Self Harm, Depression, Panic Attack, Greif 

How it Feels to Float is a story about loss, grief, and finding the light at the end of the tunnel. The main character, Biz, lost her dad and is struggling to cope.

This book follows the 4 stages of grief and how Biz deals with it (not well). Biz blames herself for her dad’s death, and is extremely distraught over it. She goes on a trip with Jasper where she wants to find her dad, mistakenly believing he’s still alive. Jasper notices something is odd because Biz starts hallucinating and begins to visibly show her struggle. Throughout the book she repeats feeling like “she’s just floating,” but this statement transforms into “she’s just sinking”.

This is definitely an emotional read but is very poetic. The comparison of floating and sinking was a really good analogy for what Fox was trying to accomplish. The ending is one of the best parts of the book, because you are put into  Biz’s head and it becomes really wacky, really fast. I recommend this to anyone who has strong emotional control.

Rating: 8/10

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

TW: Panic attacks, drug usage, Alcohol abuse, Assault

I Was Born For This follows a pop star and his biggest fan. Told through two perspectives, Jimmy, the pop star has dealt with abuse, hate, and harassment. He can’t figure out how to cope. Towards the end of the novel, his side turns into more of a horror story than anything else. Angle, his biggest fan, is just along for the ride until the two worlds collide.

This book shows the extremities of mental health struggles. Nobody knows what to do or how to help until it becomes too late. Jimmy struggles the most and a lot of the other characters are scared to talk about it. It demonstrates the silencing side of mental health and how a lot of people assume it’s caused by the LGBTQ+ community. Overall this is a very intense book. The ending even became hard to read after a while. Although there are some stereotypes are thrown in here and there, they get dealt with in a delicate way. If you’re ready to sit down for an emotional rollercoaster of a book, grab this one.

Rating: 6/10