Tag Archives: netgalley

Review: Grey Matters by Kristen Costello

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Struggle is universal. But talking about it? Well, that’s not always encouraged – especially when those struggles involve mental illness.

Grey Matters is a poetry collection that urges us to have conversations about the things we’re told to suppress – to bring our darkness to light. It provides refreshingly honest and relatable depictions of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders while also offering sparks of hope to readers – healing may not be a linear process, but over time, it is possible. Things aren’t always black and white: Sometimes, the very thing you’re fighting (your own mind) can also be what saves you.

A beautiful collections of poems that are honest and raw about mental health. Kristen Costello has quickly become one of my favorite poets to put out a collection based on mental health. She is so real and holds nothing back. Her poems are full of beautiful sound – the alliteration in many of her poems creates almost lyrics as you read.

Just in the first poem, “Swallowing Shadows,” I got goosebumps at the line: “This is how we choke – / by swallowing words / we want to spit”.

The book is separated into four sections: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, healing. It weaves a great pathway through the mind and all of the intrusive thoughts we experience along the way.

I’ve already purchased a copy for myself and have recommended it to everyone I know.

Purchase your copy here and let me know what you think!

Review: The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent by Ann Jacobus

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Eighteen-year-old Del is in a healthier place than she was a year and a half ago: She’s sober, getting treatment for her depression and anxiety, and volunteering at a suicide-prevention hotline. Her own suicide attempt is in the past, and living in San Francisco with her beloved aunt has helped her see a future for herself.

But when Aunt Fran is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Del’s equilibrium is shattered. She’s dedicated herself to saving every life she can, but she can’t save Fran. All she can do is help care for her aunt and try to prepare herself for the inevitable—while also dealing with a crush, her looming first semester at college, and her shifts at the crisis line.

After Aunt Fran asks for her help with a mind-boggling final request, Del must confront her own demons and rethink everything she thought she knew about life and death.

This book kept me up reading until 3am because I was so pulled into the emotion and drama.

“The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent” is an emotional teen novel that doesn’t hold back. Suffering from depression and anxiety and not far removed from an attempt on her own life, Del is finding herself again and looking forward to college. Things are well until she learns her Aunt Fran has cancer again and has an unthinkable request. Not to mention, her distant crush is in town adding another layer of stress and frustration. The relationship between the Del and everyone around her creates a very strong emotional pull that makes you soak in every word.

A five star book about grief, mental health, and family to get you in your feelings.

Purchase it here!

Thank you to Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group for an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Trigger Warning: This book involves discussions of suicidal ideation and references to suicide. If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide, have any questions about suicide, are worried about a loved one and seeking guidance, or simply need a listening ear, you can call or text 988 or call 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). Both of these numbers connect to the confidential, anonymous Lifeline network of crisis lines in all fifty US states.

Book Review: Night Driving: A Story of Faith in the Dark by Addie Zierman

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Synopsis: How do you know God is real?
 
In the emotionally-charged, fire-filled faith in which Addie Zierman grew up, the answer to this question was simple: Because you’ve FELT him.

Now, at age 30, she feels nothing. Just the darkness pressing in. Just the winter cold. Just a buzzing silence where God’s voice used to be.

So she loads her two small children into the minivan one February afternoon and heads south in one last-ditch effort to find the Light.

In her second memoir, Night Driving, Addie Zierman powerfully explores the gap between our sunny, faith fictions and a God who often seems hidden and silent.

Against the backdrop of rushing Interstates, strangers’ hospitality, gas station coffee, and screaming children, Addie stumbles toward a faith that makes room for doubt, disappointment, and darkness…and learns that sometimes you have to run away to find your way home.

Review // It took me longer than I’d like to admit to finish this book. I’ll admit that this is one of the first nonfiction/memoir-type novels that I’ve read in quite awhile. My typical choice of book is a thriller of sorts.

Night Driving is not a thriller, but rather it’s a book that pulls you from page to page with its raw emotion. Continue reading →