I DNFed this I think. Somehow this got lost in my NetGalley list! I'm terribly sorry! But I do love the cover.

I unfortunately did not finish this book and stopped halfway through. I found the premise intriguing, but the main character did not compel me enough to continue on with it. I still think this book would be great for someone else though.

Honestly, it took me awhile to get into this. It is sort of a coming of age story, with a very uplifting feel, even as family and mental health issues are explored.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get around to this book! From what I did read I really enjoyed it. I apologize for not being able to give this book my full attention when I read it. I really enjoyed the writing style and the cover. Lily was a very related character. I like the idea of a girl protecting a baby elephant because the mom attempted to kill the baby. I appreciate the opportunity I had to receive this book for review. I plan on reading other works by this author. Overall, the writing was very captivating, I just fell into a reading slump half way through the book.

When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer is an enchanting novel about eighteen-year-old Lily who has spent the last eleven years coming to terms with the abuse she suffered at the hand of her schizophrenic mother. Lily knows she is at high risk for succumbing to schizophrenia herself, but she has a very strict twelve-year plan to avoid all possible triggers. That plan is put in danger when she, as an intern reporting for the local newspaper, witnesses an elephant at the zoo reject her own newborn calf, Swift Jones. The article she writes about the event leads to the possibility that the zoo will lose Swifty to a circus on the other side of the country. Determined to continue her job without upsetting her twelve-year plan, Lily tries to remain neutral and unbiased, but can anyone really do that around a sweet baby elephant?

Fischer writes carefully, but clearly, about schizophrenia, both as experienced by Lily's mother Violet and of the possible mental illness pursuing Lily herself.

Crazy is genetic....I've officially entered the danger zone, ages eighteen to thirty, when females with my genetic history are most likely to manifest symptoms of schizophrenia.

Because she knows it could be coming for her, Lily has sworn off drugs, alcohol, boyfriends, stress, and even caffeine in hopes that if she can just make it to thirty she will be safe. She also describes several distressing moments in her early childhood when her mother's illness took hold of her, causing Violet to hurt her daughter.

There is some very awkward writing about the alternating attraction and revulsion she feels toward a young man she meets at the circus and there is some brief sexual content, but otherwise I felt this story was engaging and very well written. It doesn't treat mental illness as an "interesting plot device" or as a toy for the reader's entertainment. Instead it is presented with accurate statistics and with both hope and honest reality. As she says:

The only promise with schizophrenia is that there's both hope and despair...But there are all different kinds of happily-ever-after.

I really enjoyed this book and I think it would make a wonderful topic for discussion, for adults or for older teens. I will leave you with the last bit of the Author's Note:

My wish for every single one of you: live in the moment when you can. Find something or someone to love. Fight for what's important. Change the world one elephant calf at a time.

I second that.

I really wanted to like this book. It started out fairly compelling with our main protagonist dealing with some heavy mental health issues in her past and a fear of Being the same as her mother because of her genes. But then you add in animal rights issues, a dream to be a writer, LGBT themes with her best friend and her own love story and it’s just too much all at once, and none of it ends up being done really well.

Lost interest about 1/3 of the way in. I honestly forgot that I never marked this book as DNF until just now, over a year later. The unreliable narrator aspect was too much, and other than trauma from a car accident, I didn't really see how that can qualify as mental illness rep. Plus, the Harry Potter references were over the top.

This was my second read of April and it was even better than the first one, Keep This To Yourself.

I wasn't expecting to love this book, or to have as much of an emotional response like I did. I have been avoiding writing this review because I'm not sure how to put into words how much this book affected me.

The cover is just okay to me, I love the color and I can see how it would fit the book. But it's just kind of... Meh.

I love mental health books, anyone who reads my reviews knows that. I haven't read too many books about schizophrenia but I loved reading about it from the POV of a loved one of the person who had schizophrenia. Does that make sense?

Anyway. This is a great book about mental health. Lily does everything in her power to keep from ending up like her mother. She lives a boring, easy life. She doesn't have but one friend, she doesn't go out much, do anything exciting.

And then she takes an internship at a paper and everything just goes crazy.

She realizes that sometimes life is worth the risk and that maybe if something does trigger her schizophrenia then maybe it wouldn't be that bad of a thing.

Then on top of the schizophrenia, you have the animal abuse and the thing with the circus, and then you also have the thing with her best friend, about his dad hating him for being gay, and you also have her realizing how selfish she was being and it's just a whole big thing all wrapped up into one book.

The only thing is the romance part of the book. I liked the romance in general, it felt natural and sweet and I loved the development of it. However I almost wish it wasn't in this book. I think I would have liked to see her come into herself without adding a guy into it.

And let me just tell you, I love the elephant. I wanted nothing more than to take care of her. I wanted her to live and I never knew I'd be so invested in an elephants story.

It started out just a little bit slow and kind of kept that pace over the whole book. But it fits the book I think, it's just a very level pace.

I feel like the author did a really good job in writing about the mental illness. She made it all feel very real.

The emotions were written well, they were raw and real and powerful. I felt a lot when reading this, and that's something that's not easy to do. It's not easy to make the reader feel these kinds of emotions. Maybe if it's something that the reader feels personally, like for me anything about self harm, depression, etc. But for something such as schizophrenia to hit me so hard? I don't know anyone who has schizophrenia.

Nancy really made me want to keep reading this book, I was completely surrounded by this book and I didn't want it to stop. I already mentioned how invested I was in the elephant's story and man was I ever invested. I was scared and worried and I wanted her to be okay and I feel like you have to be a pretty good author to make me feel so much for an animal that doesn't talk or anything.

I absolutely loved Lily's growth in this book. I had mentioned it above, but she really does grow and come to the realization that life is short, and it's best to live your life to the fullest. What's the point of living if you're going to be miserable?

I also loved her best friend Sawyer, I felt so bad for him. He was so sweet and such a great friend, and all Lily did was talk about herself and not even think about his feelings.

And of course Swifty, the baby elephant. Who couldn't love swifty? The whole book was about her. She was the best part, of course.

There wasn't too much world building that needed to be done, I don't think. But from what was done, she did a good job.

Everything was so perfect in the end. I loved it. It was all wrapped up nicely in an elephant sized bow.

So much more than I thought it would be. This book gave me a major book hangover and I can't tell you the last time I had one of those.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book! I thought this was such a touching and fantastic book about fighting for what you believe in and mental health.

"T. Lily Decker is a high school senior with a twelve-year plan: avoid stress, drugs, alcohol and boyfriends, and take regular psych quizzes administered by her best friend, Sawyer, to make sure she's not developing schizophrenia.Genetics are not on Lily's side."

Beautiful and heartbreaking story. Very unusual story, but it is written so well! The book hits the mark on mental illness and does not why away from all that it brings. In a nutshell this book was absolutely amazing. Read it!

What a completely enthralling story. Mental illness, LBGTQ issues, friendships, familial relationships, animal captivity and fighting for the right thing especially when it scares you are covered, and what a ride! The characters are detailed, their thoughts and actions provoking, while the plot twists carry them along. This is a story with so much heart it hurts and so much hope it all just has to work out. The life lessons are numerous and subtle but their strength will catch you; read this book.

This book tackled some big issues: mental health, animal treatment, and family relationships.
It was a book that kept me engaged and I didn't want to put it down. I thought the author did a good job dealing with some sensitive material.
I think this is an important story to tell and to read.

*RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY
**INTERVIEW ON THE NERD DAILY TBA

THIS BOOK BROKE ME.
You can seriously tell the author did not only a lot of research for schizophrenia but also elephants in zoos/circuses/sanctuaries. The author poured her soul out into this book and I was shaken by how much the character went so far into this book. The book talks about a girl whose mother tried to kill her by throwing her out a window and the event has effected her life dramatically. The main character later becomes an intern at her town's newspaper and follows a zoo who recently had a baby elephant. The mother elephant tries to kill her baby and the intern goes into save it. But when an article that SHE DID NOT WRITE got leaked, the zoo lost custody of the baby and is now being given to the circus that owns the elephants.

The character arc for Lily was so dramatic and fulfilling because the author actually took her tIME. The romance did feel sudden and there was a time where I was like "why was this needed?" and I did appreciate Otis and his passion for the animals vs his brother who is a dick. I feel like Lily's dad was a flat character and I wish we got more out of him versus what we got in the book..

Overall, I highly recommend this book and it is probably one of the best stand-alone novels that talk about mental illness.

Lily has a plan to keep herself from falling into her mother's fate of schizophrenia. However, she also takes a risk with an internship with a local newspaper. She is sent to cover a happy story only to find herself caught in an animal rights fight to save a grieving baby elephant. The story takes Lily far beyond her comfort zone and into a dangerous animal rights fight with a small circus.

I would give this book to someone who likes a psychological thriller and mystery.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read this book in ARC form. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer to simply advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer is a great read. While there were points of the book I had issues with, I found the unusual storyline made up for the areas that I felt were implausible. The story is of a girl who has a long family history of schizophrenia. Although in some ways inaccurate, it does bring the topic into discussions. It also puts a spotlight on the condition of animals in the circus. The writing is clever and made me laugh at times and cry at others. I highly recommend When Elephants Fly!

I love a coming of age story that involves a brave teenager on a mission! This story reminds me of a quote that I love... 
"Stand up for what you know is right, even if you stand alone". 
This is exactly what Lily Decker has done. Loving her own nightmare as she hopes everyday that she doesn't take after her mother. Lily lives in constant fear that she'll wake up one day with the diagnosis of schizophrenia. 
Richardson does a fantastic job weaving this story of complex issues together in a way that YA can learn from and enjoy! I loved learning about Swifty, a baby elephant who is sick and needing saving while telling a parallel story that deals with a teenager trying to also save herself.
This story was a fabulous story of survival, friendship and bravery! I loved it!

This book was nothing like what I expected. The way they tackled mental health was incredibly well done and this is a very powerful book. I think this book is important and the issues it explored are not something widely seen, especially in YA. While it may be more of a 4 star for me, bumping it up to 5 for that.

This is a powerful story that shares a fresh take on mental health. I don’t know of many YA books that explore schizophrenia specifically but this story is a great read.

Such a GOOD book.....I laughed and I cried. Unusual story and so well written! Loved, loved, loved this book. Definitely recommend it! I started this book and could not put it down.