This story depicts bipolarism and its effects on a family. The story did not grab me in the first 1/3 of the book, therefore I lost interest and did not finish it.

4 Stars for this debut novel about the stigma of mental illness & the family dynamics of Will and his family, who really just want to live a "normal" life! This is not easy to do when living in a small town, where everyone knows his business & he can't erase the traumatic events of his past! There is a secret revealed at the very end of this book & I wish there would have been more time & explanation spent on that- but otherwise a good read! Thank you to the publisher for this ARC!

Insipid, unrealistic, cringeworthy. This book attempts to fit four viewpoints into one in a hurried novel that rivals Nicholas Sparks in terms of cheesiness. I think that everything with Will's disorder was also overblown. This is not the first novel to tackle a mental health disorder, but it's one that does it in an irresponsible way. There were no likable characters in this book... except maybe Lindsay? But her declarations of love made me roll my eyes. I could get get into Regan and Lane because I'd felt like we saw little of them. The only relationship that had enough time was the father daughter one--but Will was such an ass throughout that i found myself not caring.

3.5 stars
*I received this ARC from Spark Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Having a mental illness is an awful thing to carry throughout your life. It condemns you to a life where you have lost control of yourself, placing an enormous burden on your family, and becoming a pariah to society. Such was the case with Will Fletcher, his sister Janey, and eventually Will's teenage daughter, Regan, who finds her dad after witnessing the suicide of her mother thus left with having no one to care for her.

Will Fletcher was formerly a successful veterinarian, a happily married man to the daughter of the mayor of his town, and a father to a newborn daughter. After the death of his newborn child, Will starts his descent into the world of mental illness. He is diagnosed with bi polar disease (later changed to schizophrenia, which his dad suffered from) and becomes what he believes to be a menace, not only to himself, but also to the people around him. He becomes the brunt of the town's teenagers' jokes and pranks. Their incredible viciousness is evident in the way they treat this poor man. The townspeople shun Will and treat him as a pariah. His sister becomes his custodian and Will losses his profession, gets divorced, and takes a job mucking out cages at the local shelter. Into this turmoil comes his daughter, Regan. He is shocked and thrown off kilter by Regan's arrival as he knew nothing of her before and he suffers with guilty feelings that he was the cause of his infant daughter's death. He initially rejects Regan but through Regan's desire for a dad and her need for love in what had been her very troubled life, she ultimately succeeds in making inroads with her dad. Will feels that he is undeserving of love, any kind of love and even though the town's high school principal falls in love with him, Will thinks he does not deserve her love or any love for that matter. Meanwhile, because of numerous episodes Will engages in, the town, pushed by Will's former father in law, gets a petition to have Will committed. A court case ensues.

This was a moving saga of the life a mentally ill person oftentimes faces. The problem for me with this book was certainly not the subject matter, but that oftentimes the author tried to cram too much into its telling. Her characters were all flawed but the author seemed, in a desire to show their flaws, to touch on too many topics. In my opinion, that took away from the main idea of the book, that of mental illness. Often too, the book seemed to meander and lose focus making the reader wonder who the author was writing up with abrupt changes of focus. Perhaps a better editing job would have been beneficial.

However, I do applaud Ms Patrick for broaching the topic of mental illness and presenting her main character as a person who was to be respected and not judged for a condition he could not help.

A good character study about a mentally ill man, his surprise daughter, his controlling sister and the daughters boyfriend. The relationships between them all was interesting to read about and how the characters grew and changed during the book was satisfying.

This was a delight to read an amazing book, well written and so graphically describing the issues of mental illness. Will was so well described that it was hard not to fall in love with him and his gruffness when he was trying to hide his true feelings from himself. The title of the book is made clear throughout in so many ways, starting with Regan giving a clear understanding but there are many different threads of this meaning hidden within the story. This puts across a clear vision and understanding of mental illness mixed with a variety of other life issues that centre around the main characters and brings it all together in a clear and concise way. I found that all of the characters were so well described that I could picture them in my local environment. The final words of the judge brings mental illnesses into perspective so well with a clear logical set of statements. Jenna Patrick has written a moving reading medical type drama. I would highly recommend this book for everyone to read and also think that it should be a part of all school pupils required reading lists.

Here is a review by Jennifer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2000430923

This is Patrick's debut novel , which comes out June 6th. I was excited to receive a digital copy of this for free from NetGalley, prior to its publication. I found that I enjoyed Patrick's writing style and that the pace of the book was good. The characters were believable, likable and I was really happy with the first 2/3 of the book. However, I felt that things fell apart at the end.

In Rules of Half, Regan Whitmoor, along with most of the other characters, is dealing with a lot. Her mother committed suicide in front of her, leaving her with an abusive stepfather. Regan runs away and finds her biological father, Will, a man who is bipolar, and dealing with his own divorce and the recent death of his infant daughter. Regan's aunt, Janey, is a lesbian and dealing with the discrimination of a small, backwards thinking town that is run by a power hungry mayor. She has left her home and girlfriend in NYC to take care of her brother.

This book had the potential to shed light on mental health issues that deserve recognition and thought. However, there were so many other major issues that distracted me from Will and his struggle to deal with his illness. It may be too much to expect one book to tackle mental illness, homophobia, parental abuse, teenage romance, and the death of a child.

My major issue with the book however, was its ending. The book has an epilogue that takes place one year after the "end" of the story. In my opinion, that epilogue should not have been included. I was so upset by the way the author left things; I did not feel that the character's actions were authentic or true to the way they would have acted, based on what I had come to know about them. The author had left some loose ends at the end of the story and it seemed like she was trying to tie them all up in a page or two; which didn't work in my opinion.

The reviews of this book on Goodreads are fantastic (4.11) so clearly my opinion is not shared by many. Even though I had trouble with the ending, I would read something else by the author in the future.

This book tells the story of Will Fletcher and his struggle with bipolar disorder. It is funny and sad and thought provoking. His sister looks after him and he has a daughter who appears that he didn't know about. There is the right balance of family life and coping with the illness. This is a story I enjoyed reading and will definitely recommend.

THE RULES OF HALF is a unique and engaging debut novel. Very enjoyable and informative. Memorable and reliable characters.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I found it rather formulaic and predictable. Teens may appreciate this more than adults.

4 1/2 Stars
What an amazing debut by Jenna Patrick! This book was delivered beautifully. As the story progressed the reader was completely immersed. A story of mental illness and so much more. A book that has you on edge as you root for the underdog. A story rich with emotions and redemption with a perfect ending that leaves you rethinking the whole novel. Wondering what if ... Well done!!

Absolutely loved this book. It's so beautifully written, showing the impact bipolar disorder, depression, grief and guilt can have on life, how that effects the individual, family members and friends. While also having to deal with the stigma of mental health from there community.
Jenna Patrick brings the four main characters alive, intertwining there problems, thoughts and personalities so realistically. you feel you are part off them, sharing their emotions which will have you laughing and crying to the very end.

Thank you Netgalley, Sparkpress and Jenna Patrick for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This complex novel contains enough subplots for 3 books. 16-year-old Regan shows up on her father's doorstep after her mother committed suicide in front of the teenager. Regan is eager to escape an abusive stepfather, but finds herself in over her head when she discovers that her father has bipolar disorder and is deeply grieving the loss of his infant daughter and the end of his marriage to that child's father. Small-town politics, several romances and many layers of grief make for a compelling story despite the sad subject matter.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my ARC copy for a fair and honest review.

What would you do if you had nothing to lose because you had already lost it by the age of 15? That's the case of Regan Whitmer, a teen girl that had been raised on the streets of Chicago by her mother, until her mother married a pastor by the name of Steven. This all takes place before the start of the book and we learn more and more about what Regan has faced as she thinks back to what she and her mother had endured prior to her mothers suicide.

How would we behave if we saw our own parent kill themselves with our own eyes? Would we even resemble normal? Well Regan runs away from her stepfather to look for her father, a man that her mother had said was a hero, and other great things, but what she finds is a man that the small town has shunned as crazy and scary. Is he really those things? Is he dangerous, or simply misunderstood. These are things that you will find out as you read this heartbreaking, but at times funny, story about what it's like living with someone with Bipolar Disorder. The high highs and the low lows, mania and severe depression, not easy things for anyone to deal with, but with support from the people that love you, the proper meds and therapy many people can lead normal lives. The author covered all these things beautifully!

It's hard to not care about Regan, her father Will, her Aunt Janey, boy friend Lane and her Principal Lindsey. They all play an important part in how Will handles life after the loss of his baby daughter, meeting his teen daughter that he didn't know he had, and simply life in a town that seems to despise him as they believe he was the cause of his infant daughter's death.

It shows how our own misunderstandings, our own biases and our own ignorance can easily affect others. This is one of those books that I could not put down and am very much looking forward to reading more by this very talented author and see what other issues and faces she will put on them to make them real to the masses!

RULES OF HALF BY JENNA PATRICK
This is an incredibly complex multilayered debut novel that explores several themes and streamlines them together so that they all emerge together.

-----Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply
for another person.

-----Tennessee Williams

Regan Whitmer is running away from an abusive stepfather from Chicago after her mother shoots herself in the head in front of Regan. Regan hitchhikes to the little town of Half Moon Hollow with a population of around 1500 people. She has come here to find her biological father who doesn't yet know she exists. She is walking the deserted streets of town when she is offered a ride from a postal worker. When she takes the address out of her pocket and tells the postal worker where she needs a ride to the postal worker replies that she is going to the old Fletcher place. She tells him that's right. Then she asks if there is anything wrong to which he replies "Nope, but I can't say the same about Will Fletcher."

The whole town is cruel and does not have anything nice to say about the Fletcher's. Regan's father, who is Will Fletcher suffers from Bi Polar disorder. I do have to say that Will gets into trouble quite a bit, most recently he was sentenced to serve six months of community service, in addition to the six years he has already racked up. The judge said that Will has to serve it in some fashion other than volunteering at the animal shelter. This time he has to use his sentence to help out humans.

Regan shows up on the Fletcher's doorstep and Will's sister Janey welcomes her by allowing her to stay there. Will is very apathetic towards Regan and ignores her and doesn't seem the least bit interested in getting to know her. Janey is Will's legal guardian and she takes care of him, making sure he takes his medication regularly. She has sacrificed living with her girlfriend Gretchen, who is also her agent for comic books Janey creates. Will tells Regan to call him Will and says that she looks just like her mother Michelle. Regan is fifteen and loves the Fletcher's house. Everything about the house, the yard and the barn which Will had wandered out to felt right.

Will is out in the barn where he is going to sleep and he tells Janey when she asks him what he wants to do: "I don't know what I want you to do," "But I know I can't be a father to that girl. And you know it, too." Will thinks he could never make Regan feel safe. That was too big a responsibility to carry. Far too much to ask from a guy who could hardly match his clothes. "I'm sorry. I just can't. I wasn't meant to have a job like that." Regan was better off without him. Regan had been through enough and, he could only offer her more hurt and disappointment. One day she would realize it; the people will loved always did. She was better off without him, Will thought.

There is a new principal at the high school where Janie and Will register Regan. Her name is Lindsey. Linsey is the only one in town that has been nice to the Fletcher's so Janie invites Lindsey over for dinner. They become friend's and Janie wants a romantic relationship with Lindsey. As Regan attends school she gets into arguments with all the kids who are mean to her because of her father. Regan is protective of her father. Regan begins to take her lunch and walk to the nearby cemetery and sits in a split oak tree when she spy's her father sitting next to a grave stone and talking. With some searching around the house she finds out her father is talking to her little sister named Emma.

The more Regan see's her father talking to her dead sister she begins to feel bad because Will goes to the cemetery and pours his heart out to her dead sister, yet he is very hands off with Regan. She confronts Will after snooping around the house and finding out the information she needs and demands him to tell her why he never told her she had a sister. Will accuses Regan of spying on him and it feels like he is upset to know that she has been listening to him. The circumstances about Emma is a big part of why Will refuses to bond with Regan, but they begin to slowly form a relationship. It is heartbreaking to read about how close he is to Emma, his dead child while he couldn't have a relationship with his live daughter who craves it.

Janie is nominated for an award for one of her books and Lindsey encourages Janie to leave Will in Lindsey's care and go to the ceremony. Janie finally agrees to go but as I said she is carrying a torch for Lindsey and kisses her which Janie realizes is something she should not have done. When Janie arrives at the hotel she finds Gretchen, her lover and her agent in her room and breaks it off with Gretchen telling her there is somebody else. Janie is constantly calling Lindsey to check up on Will. Sparks start to fly between Will and Lindsey and then all hell breaks loose.

There is so much that happens in this novel that explores a multitude of situations that happen. You will learn what happened to Emma. Why Will is so afraid of relationships and of hurting everybody that he get's close to. You will learn about Regan's boyfriend Lane and how he is related to Ellie. You will learn about Ellie and Will. There is a bit of sibling rivalry between Will and Janie about Lindsey. The catalyst that sets everything off on a collision course starts the book rolling and everything that I have left out will make sense. I loved the ending. It was an absolute genius idea and it changes everything you thought you knew about this story. Turns everything on its head.

Thank you to Net Galley, Jenna Patrick and SparkPress Publishing for my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Congratulations to Jenna Patrick on an absolutely stunning debut novel! I loved it. This novel portrays with depth and feeling the trials of Will trying to cope with bipolar disorder and the effect on both himself and his family. I raced through the book with both tears and laughter as the various family dramas played out. The story is well delivered and the characters well developed. Keep writing Jenna Patrick - I will look forward to more!

Many thanks to Jenna Patrick and SparkPress through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting and refreshing approach to mental illness in fiction, through the character of a thirty-five year old man (Will Fletcher) with bipolar disorder (later reevaluated) and I really enjoyed reading this book.
The characters are rounded, the small-town setting creates a framework for the conflicts to emerge and various meaningful relationships develop.
I really liked the depiction of the hero and his connection with his sister, Janey, and the dilemma they face with this kind of situations (the same happens with our elderly): “are they better off in the care of a mental health facility or in the care of family members who love them” (quote from ARC)? The answer seems obvious, but I guess in real life it’s not that easy.
I also liked the sexual ambiguity of the character of Lindsay, I wasn’t that certain that she would end with whom she did, so there was a little suspense that was nice.
I thought that Regan – and, to an extent, her boyfriend, Lane – was too mature for her 16 years. Additionally, I tended to find any conversations she participated in a bit far-fetched for a person her age. Nonetheless, she’s a lovable girl and a key element in her father’s recovery.

The Rules of Half by Jenna Patrick. After Regan Fletcher's mother commits suicide, she runs away from her stepfather's home to find her biological father. Will Fletcher, once a successful veterinarian, now suffers from bipolar disorder. Confronted with the daughter he never knew about, to say that Will is reluctant to assume fatherhood is an understatement. Fortunately, his sister Janey is more willing to undertake the responsibility, but Regan doesn't find the stable, loving home she dreamed of because Will's illness requires vigilance to be sure he takes his meds and stays out of trouble.

There is a bit of mystery to be uncovered relating to the onset of Will's illness. The characters are well-drawn and complex. The attempts at creating the family Regan wants and needs are full of unpredictable stumbling blocks, but at least the members of this unusual family do their best--most of the time. Situations alternate between hopeful, heartbreaking, and ridiculous.

An excellent debut novel. Read in March. Review scheduled for April May 19
NetGalley/Sparkpress

Coming of Age/Psychological. June 6, 2017. Print length: 300 pages.

“No one in this town wanted his help. No one liked being in the same room with him. They scattered like ants hiding from a thunderstorm when he came around, unless of course he did something crazy; then they brought the popcorn bucket.”

What is a man to do when he is cast as the local loony? If he has serious mental health issues and suffered a tragedy that would bring any loving parent to their knees, well he embraces what is expected of him. In the small town of Half Moon Hollow there is a grave that Will Fletcher talks to, where his infant daughter lies beneath. With one horrific mistake, his life as a successful Veterinarian, loving father and husband vanished, and like a curse the townspeople turned on him. But truth can be convoluted, particularly when the town mayor is your former father- in-law.

Fifteen year old Regan has just suffered a tragic loss of her own, she has come to Half Moon Hollow in search of the father she never knew but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of Will. He isn’t stable, is shunned by the townsfolk and cannot open his life to her. She didn’t expect to wake up in his house, and have them think she is just another cruel teen that broke in to harass the ‘crazy Will Fletcher.’ Her Aunt Jane’s first reaction is one of disbelief and anger, her brother cannot handle some strange girl claiming to be the daughter he never knew about, not when he just had another humiliating episode in town. But sometimes fate has other plans. Shamed by the loss of his baby girl, he has too much guilt and fear to attempt to be a father to Regan. It is a betrayal to the daughter he lost to make room in his heart for her, in his thinking, he is a dangerous man and she is better off without him. Jane, Will’s self-sacrificing sister has spent years since the tragedy caring for her brother. Being ripe for ridicule in Half Moon Hollow is nothing new for her, being the town lesbian whose own father had severe schizophrenia. She has spent her life navigating her family’s mental illness, giving up on her own dreams of art, and love. But how much can a person sacrifice when the brother you love won’t help himself? How much is a life worth? Always the caretaker, she cannot let Will abandon the opportunity to get to know his only living child and maybe just maybe there is hope at healing? Dare she dream that maybe Will could stop punishing himself and maybe find a new future with her niece?

But Regan’s presence may just set off episodes that threaten Will’s freedom, which fits just perfectly into the mayor’s scheming. Regan in the meantime, struggles with her peers not for being the new girl, but for being the daughter of the ‘crazy Will Fletcher.’ Stronger than him, she stands in defiance to anyone who would bully her dad, if only Will could learn to love her. She has been abandoned and betrayed so much in her young life that when she sees kindness in a boy named Lane, she doesn’t believe she can trust it. With her dead mother’s voice as a driving force, she forges ahead in trying to become a part of this strange new family. Her and Will have more in common than they know, both feeling responsible for deaths in their lives.

The family finds friendship in the soft-hearted new Principal (Lindsay) at Regan’s school, one of the few people who doesn’t shun the family. But the closer she gets, the more it strains the bond between the siblings. Lindsay may come to help them in the end, as much as her choices hurt them. Lindsay is one of the best characters used to show how easy it is for people to automatically go along with the crowd before really knowing the truth about a person. It’s easy to believe what you see and hear but many times the truth is far more complicated. As she gets closer to Jane, Will and Regan her heart becomes entangled with the Fletchers. More than she could ever have imagined, and so much that she may be willing to risk everything she has in life, even her career.

The entire novel takes the reader into the hearts and minds of Will and his loved ones and the difficulties of living with mental illness. It also exposes the reality of caring for loved ones affected by psychiatric disorders. But what really hits the gut is how those outside the family react to it. The cruelness exists in the mockery and ugliness when then should be compassion. We like to think we’ve moved past social shaming, but the truth is- many people are scared of differences, which may well exacerbate illnesses. It’s easier to dismiss what you don’t understand, which says something rotten of our inhumanity to each other. At the novel’s final moments, the truth alters everything Will has built his life on, but what does it change in the end? I think the author’s ending was perfect. I always enjoy a novel that makes readers internalize a situation. I certainly admire Jane’s tenacity in caring for her brother, because it is a thankless job most of the time, but it comes from a place of pure love inside of her.

As an aside, it is a sad fact that people shun others that live with mental illness. Sadly, the most people hear about it is when someone has committed a crime, so it feeds the fear. It’s a vicious cycle, because when people are shunned, they retreat further into themselves and even people of ‘sound mind’ , if you can call anyone sound, don’t do well without interacting with others. We have voices for speaking, bodies for touching, and starving anyone of human contact is cruel, changes us on an emotional level but when you are already suffering, is it any wonder why their mental illness worsens? For Will, the towns expectations turn his obstacles into seemingly insurmountable mountains.

The Rules Of Half is a love story, not just between man and woman, but between siblings, children and their parents and friends. More than an anniversary of grief, Regan’s arrival marks what will be an anniversary of a new life for everyone in the novel, including herself. A lovely tender story.

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

SparkPress