The Words We Keep – blog tour (ARC review + quotes + mental health rep)

Author: Erin Stewart
Publication date: March 15, 2022
Genre: YA contemporary
My rating: 4.5/5 stars

By turns painfully real and softly hopeful, The Words We Keep is a striking exploration of the effects of mental illness not just on an individual, but on an entire family. It addresses the pervasiveness of mental health struggles across all types of individuals–social butterflies, high-achieving academic types, and nonconformist artists. And it does so through the eyes of anxious girl doing her best not to come unraveled even as her world seems to be falling apart around her. I couldn’t get over how much this story resonated with my own memories of high school and college–through those years of my life, so much of this main character’s experience could have been my own–and I sincerely hope this book is picked up by students working their way through high school today, as the stakes and anxieties have only gotten higher the past few years. Read on for a full review, as well as some quotes from this book that I really appreciated.

WWW Wednesday – 2/3

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these! But in the name of getting back into blogging, dangit, I’m going to do my best to get back in on these weekly memes and other fun stuff. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking On a World of Words. Every Wednesday, bloggers present our answers to the 3 W’s:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

As usual, I’m reading entirely too many books at once, but here’s a rough outline:

The Gravity of Us – mini-review

Author: Phil Stamper
Publication date: March 4, 2020
Genre: young adult, contemporary, LGBTQIA+, romance
My rating: 3.5/5 stars

You’ve got to admit, no matter what you think of the book, that this is a gorgeous cover.

Once again, I’m finding myself in a position where I’m a little too worn out to write full reviews, but I do have thoughts I want to share on books! To that end, I present you with this mini-review of a cute, if not remarkable, queer YA contemporary (with a splash of romance, a ton of commentary on media, and a hefty dose of outer space).

World Mental Health Day – 8 Books Depicting Mental Illness

As you all may know, I am a huge advocate for mental health awareness. So when I saw a post on Rae’s Reads and Reviews all about books featuring mental illness, since today is World Mental Health Day, I realized I could easily do the same. Here are some of my favorite books about various mental health conditions. (And you should definitely check out Rae’s list as well, because we only have one book in common!)