This was a decent read but it had a tendency to drone one and make you scream "Okay we get it! You're depressed and you like each other." The relationships between the three character was really uncomfortable at times and I still don't know If I like Snake very much. Still it was a great plot idea and very funny and well written

DNF. I couldn't connect with this book at all and found it really hard to get into. I had high hopes for this, which is a shame.

I really adored this book. It reads very honest, raw, and has punches of strong emotion when they felt logical and realistic. This book told a wonderful story of complicated and realistic relationships.

I thought that this book was so incredibly beautiful. The characters were amazing and the story was just so, so important. Highly recommended!

This was my first book by Whitney Taylor and I would definitely read anything else she writes. 'Definitions of Indefinable Things' is a brutally honest portrayal of depression and one that I related to so much. Reggie was just such an incredibly complex character. I love unlikeable and snarky people so she was perfect to me. If you're looking for an authentic YA contemporary then you should give this a try.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

Thoroughly enjoyable book that is easy to book talk about, which I do, often!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. Unfortunately, I have lost interest in the title, partly due to trusted reviews, and will not be reviewing the title. I have, however, promoed the title through my weekly recap with links to Amazon. Thank you again, and I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Couldn't get into this book. Started but did not finish.

My first Whitney Taylor and I hope to read more in the future!

(I completely missed reviewing this last year. Sorry!)

Such an interesting concept. Totally something I'd recommend to my students.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Definitions of Indefinable Things by Whitney Taylor is a story about a young girl and boy who battle depression - each for different reasons and in different ways. While depression is no joking matter and has impacted many young people, this novel chose to portray this medical condition in an almost light and comical way - or so it seemed that way to me.

I'm not quiet sure how I felt about this book over all.... On the one hand, it was a cute story - girl meets boy, they like each other in a youthful and "I won't admit it" kind of way, there is a love triangle and lots of other really bizarre stuff that happens, and everyone ends up liking each other and the depression is being handled. OKAY!? Seriously??? So while the story was cute and I really liked the jokes and humor in it, I had a hard time believing that this story could actually happen as told. I also had a hard time connecting to the characters and believing in them.

I would say: if you are looking for a cute, quick read, then give this a go... don't expect anything deep in terms of the depression subject as it feels like it was added in for additional story depth instead of actually making an attempt to deal with the subject on a serious level.

I may recommend this book, but would have to take the person into consideration as I don't think this book will be enjoyed equally by all.

Happy Reading!

I am concerned that this book falls into the trap of romanticizing mental illness for the sake of fiction. I love the includion of realistic characters with flaws and problems, but am concerned that the use of depression to connect characters sends untrue messages about mental illness.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

I was not expecting to fall so brutally in love with this book, but I totally did! It was absolutely emotional, feelsy, hilarious, relatable, and so so beautifully written and concluded. The characters were complex and I laughed so hard I actually had to stop reading for a moment and collect myself. It's just exploding my heart that a book about people trying to feel made me feel so much.

It's about depression -- a really honest and brutal view of it. Depression is different for everyone, it's a spectrum just like literally every mental health issue out there. But I really felt this book GOT IT. It's also really gut-punching, because it features people who don't believe depression is real. Reggie's mum says out right that Reggie's depression is "her being selfish" and that's something a lot of mentally ill people struggle with: not being believed. The book incorporated that beautifully and brutally. This book doesn't coddle and turn mental illness into a romanticised picnic. And yet it's also hopeful! I am ever so relieved it stayed away from the "love cures all illness" trope which is so problematic and wrong. But NO! This book actually proved that the things that help depression are: medication, therapy, strong reliable friendships, finding you're not alone, taking care of yourself, and time.

Reggie is an unlikeable person and I loved her. She's so caustic and her depression makes her really cut away from feeling or caring about anything or anyone. She was bitter and almost cruel at times, but she was hurting. And she was just trying to be true to herself. And I can't even with how much I adore Snake. He's like this completely vainly grungy beautiful boy who quite thinks a lot of himself and is almost pretentious in the best possible way. He's an aspiring indie film-maker and he wants things and he's also been socked pretty hard in the jaw by depression. He's absolutely incorrigible. He acts like he's god's gift to the world but you can see most of it is an act. He completely stole my heart! And the way he was written made him so vibrantly leap off the page that I didn't want the book to end.

It's actually a love triangle, which I normally hate -- but this proves any trope can be done amazingly. Snake and Carla got pregnant in a one-night-fling and they aren't in love...and then Snake meets Reggie and he loves her so much and so hard but she knows he's going to be unavailable eventually because he's about to have a kid. So much pain. At least 9 buckets of angst. The difference is: this triangle is right out in the open and no one is intentionally manipulating other people's feelings. Plus everyone was complex and interesting. And like Carla and Reggie's slowly growing friendship was AMAZING. I just want to cheer for girls in books who are complex, interesting, relatable, struggle, make mistakes, are witty, powerful, and suffering.

ALL IN ALL: I seriously didn't expect to love this book so much. It's a roller coaster with one of the most brittle and relatable examples of depression I've ever read. I cry as they cry and shut down and ask what is the meaning of life. Yes it gets a bit pretentious and very very philosophical almost, at the end, but you know what? That is so true to teenagers. The characters just caught my heart and I loved the messages, the hope, the warnings, and the comfort it gave me. An exquisite work of literature that I can't love enough.

Okay, I hate books that show people who hace depression like this. Yeah I have depression but that doesn't mean I'm a fucking stereotype. I refuse to even read all of this because it just got offensive to me.

DEFINITIONS OF INDEFINABLE THINGS was an honest, intense book. I enjoyed the candid approach to depression and loneliness, as well as the humor that accompanied it. This probably isn't for everyone, but that's okay. I hope the right people find it. I look forward to seeing what Whitney Taylor does next.

For someone who hates love-triangles and insta-love, this was a much better read than I anticipated. Recommend if you like YA contemporary with sarcastic protagonists and a side of mental illness representation (that isn’t magically cured by love).

Rating: 3.5/5

Let me start off by saying--I hate love triangles. They are rarely ever worth the trouble and usually a girl ends up picking between two sub-par guys instead of having personal character growth. While Reggie’s relationship to Snake was just as icky and subpar as most love triangles, her relationship with Carla really saved the book. Carla is the ex-current-girlfriend, pregnant from what would have been a one-night-stand. Reggie and Snake are super pretentious and sassy and sarcastic and fall in insta-love which is complicated when Reggie realizes that he’s having a baby with his “enemy,” super bubbly, rich, spoiled coworker Carla.



What I liked:

-The different depictions of depression. I like that there were at least two different characters with depression and they had different experiences with it. The stages and background were different, the treatment was different, but they were both struggling with depression. Also, I liked that the male love interest had just as many (if not more) problems than the female. It’s better than the usual “cute guy fixes broken (manic-pixie-dream) girl out of the goodness of his heart.”

-I really loved that there were positive representations of therapy and medicine. So many people don’t want to start therapy or take medicine because of the way it makes them feel. So many fictional characters also push this narrative along. Therapy and medicine for depression and anxiety are not easy and the first combination rarely ever works out, just as in this book. But it’s important to ask for help if you think you might have depression and it’s very important to stick out your treatment as long as you have open dialogue with your doctor or psychiatrist. ALSO DEPRESSION IS NOT MAGICALLY CURED BY THE POWER OF LOVE.

-Families. Although Reggie and Snake both are moody teenagers with depression, their families react in very different ways. They love each other, but not every love is supportive or helpful.



What I didn’t like:

-Personally didn’t like the definition motif but that’s the quirk of the book.

-I also don’t really like books with teenage pregnancy. They either feel too didactic or full of pitiable characters making “bad” choices. Carla had the potential of being yet another dumb pregnant teenager and Reggie had the potential of being yet another “I’m better than the dumb pregnant teenager” but they both grew out to be so much more than that. Their friendship saved the story.

-Personally, I also didn’t like Reggie and Snake. I think their relationship feels forced and is stalker-y and weird. But if you like contemporary romance (love triangles and insta-love and all) then you’ll probably like this book.

Reggie’s a prickly girl, so it took me a little bit to warm up to her. I tend to struggle with those kinds of narrators because I find the sort of determined negativity exhausting. What won me over with Reggie was the hints at her underlying sadness and the quirky, fun banter between her and Snake.

Snake totally seemed like the kind of character author Matthew Quick would come up with, and I really couldn’t help liking him, even though clearly he was working through some big issues and not always making the best choices. I liked that he wanted to do right by his and Carla’s baby, even when he wasn’t sure what that meant for his relationship with Carla.

The story sort of meandered in some places, lingering long on the mystery of what triggered Reggie’s depression, and her fears about a potential relationship with Snake. I loved the moment when she’s able to reach out to him using her own experience with depression. I liked that their relationship never came easily, but that they had to find their own ways to trust and be open with each other.

Books where Christianity or devout Christians are disparaged or portrayed in a negative light tend to be difficult for me as well, not because I think it can’t happen that way, but because I feel like too often that’s the narrative. I can’t help sometimes feeling like we allow a lot more latitude for negative portrayal of Christianity in modern young adult literature than we do other faiths or worldviews, but that’s a whole separate soap box. For Definitions of Indefinable Things, I think while Reggie was pretty tough on her mom and her beliefs, eventually they began to see value in each other’s perspectives and to find ways to express their love for each other without compromising what they believed, which felt real and honorable.

If you liked Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick or The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski, you should check out Definitions of Indefinable Things.

This was a fantastic depiction of depression that left me feeling hopeful and and happy rather that down in the dumps.