I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

aunthentic and thoughtful portrayal of mental health in teens. for fans of John Green and Jennifer Niven

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eek. I was excited to read about teens in a psych ward, but the whole book just seemed far-fetched. I'll set aside the medical things that were incorrect or inconsistent. I understand it's fiction. But I just can't see a lot of this happening.

The story was hard to read. I hated Addie's voice. The things she said felt like she was trying to be cool, but were just really off-putting. There was also a lot of very long, very random conversations that I ended up just skimming over.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to recommend this one.

*I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I really like that this was an own-voices novel, seeing as the author himself spent 3 years in a hospital for his severe OCD. I didn't hugely connect with the characters and due to the nature of the content this was a difficult read. But it was well-written and an insight into life with a variety of mental illnesses.

Interesting to be able to dive into the minds of teenagers who are in a facility for mental health. They bond together as much as is expected for each of their conditions and have some adventure. It was eye-opening how much people with these conditions deal with.

I enjoyed this book very much and the story was very unique. I found Addie to be a very intersting main character and it was interesting to see everyhting from her point of view.

I would love to give a positive feedback about the book but unfortunately I can't connect with the message the author tried to tell, the story a lot of times seems to be superficial - the characters to be specifc - and something that starts with drama in the middle of the book turns into an adventure...

I really struggled with this book and the writing. I felt like the story fell flat, and I was forcing myself through it. None of the characters felt truly developed, and the whole thing jumped around a lot. I appreciated the opportunity to read it, but I really didn't care for it.

This book took me awhile to get into. I almost gave up, but I'm glad I didn't. This is at its core a book about what it means to be human, which is to have hope.

3.5 stars but I'm happier rounding it up.

I received an ARC from the publisher via netgalley.

I liked this book enough to want to know what happened and to finish it, but that's about it. The characters weren't at all believable, and in fact felt more like caricatures. Addie's tics from her OCD felt very convenient, like they turned off and on when needed. It was very much insta-love-ey, and I didn't "buy" the chemistry between Addie and Fitz. The writing style bothered me, too. It felt very obvious that it was a man writing from the POV of a teenage girl. Overall, not the best, but I can see why others would enjoy it.

I don't want to waste any more of my time on this book going over specific details about what made it horrific, so I'll give it to you short and sweet. The writing itself is atrocious; it jumps all over the place, there are no transitions, it's full of awkward sentences like, "We stepped into the car and wiped off the water from our sweaters or jackets or whatever." People's mouths "sweat", and somehow they can rest their heads on their knees from a standing position. The entire story had three modes: puns and word play that was, I guess, supposed to be hip but was elementary school corny, sentences with wordy similes and metaphors (trying to be deep quotable quotes) that strung together into pages of gibberish, and Tom and Jerry cartoon action scenes. All of this combined with the over the top characterizations of the patients' conditions for drama's sake, made it feel like the subject matter was a gimmick to sell books.

The psychiatric ward in the hospital was pulled from a 1960's prison for the criminally insane, complete with jail cell rooms, and either no windows, or windows with bars on them. All that security, yet, the teenage patients were left unsupervised a lot of the time and they also took their meds on their own terms. Plus, the MC was in the hospital of her own accord, in a deal with her supportive mother, so the whole breakout escape element was pointless. The story basically made no sense at all.

Again, another book with a schizophrenic character who has every single symptom ever recorded, and to the most severe degree, written by someone who has no experience or solid knowledge of the condition; and you guessed it... that character is violent, and violent towards other people. Less than one half of one percent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia are violent, and of those it is rare that they are violent towards others; they usually hurt themselves. All this book accomplished was to stigmatize the illness even more.

I tried reading this but I couldn't get into the writing or story, I'm so sorry and I feel bad about this but its a dnf on my side.

I found the story to be interesting and the characters all to have unique qualities and personalities that meshed well together. I liked Addie and Fitz, flaws and all. The book was rather slow and took some effort to finish. I appreciated the authors ability to write in such depth about various mental illnesses and the harsh realities of battling those demons.
My heart ached for Fitz and all he’d been through.

I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. I felt the pace flowed better and the story gained traction. The anticipation of the escape and the fallout after certainly held my attention. The ending was sweet and very endearing.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book was beautiful. I loved the representation, the humor and honesty of the characters. The plot was a little lacking, but I really think this story was important for the characters and how mental health is pictured. And the cover is amazing!

Sadly, this book went into my DNF pile. I loved the premise but I just couldn't get into the story. It built up a bit too slowly for me. :-(

I requested this book because I have severe OCD myself. However, after reading about 30%, it became too triggering for me to continue. I found the main character likable and enjoyed reading her encounters with Fitz. I'm curious to see where the story goes but I would have to advise people with mental illness to be careful when reading.

This book just wasn’t for me. I found so many things that I just didn’t like I had to DNF it at 46%

I just don’t think the doctors or the orderlies were acting as a doctor or an orderly would act.

At one point the doctor is described by Addie, as having a gaming console under his desk with a headset and mountain dew/Cheetos, no doctors on a psychiatric ward would ever have a gaming console set up for gaming whilst on the ward.

Also, Addie’s medication was making her gain weight. when she questioned her mom about this her mom’s reply made me angry

“Well I knew you’d be growing up here,” said mom, leaning back from the table and looking down at my stomach “I just didn’t expect that you’d be growing out”

As much as she did mention that she looked great and she was getting better. That quote just made me so angry. I have a family member going through some mental health issues at the moment and has just come out of the hospital and I could never imagine saying anything like this to them.

another thing that bothered me was Martha who is an orderly on the ward. Didi (compulsive liar and diagnosed with Torrettes) is telling a life story none of which is true. Example, he describes that Doyle owes him for holmes. Martha an ORDERLY at the hospital is laughing at him and asking if she can record him saying all of the stories again later. Like what NO!

I can’t really comment on the representation of OCD or schizophrenia, as I have no experience personally with any of these illnesses, and as the author has experience John Hopkin’s hospital for severe OCD I am hoping the representation is well done.

I just couldn’t carry on with this book which I am gutted about as I wanted to like this one.

Opening Waiting For Fitz I had no idea what to expect. Would I get the usual stereotypical 'look at her, she washes her hands heaps, must be OCD!' and want to throw the novel at the wall? Thankfully, I didn't because otherwise I would be writing a rather nasty 'don't write what you don't know' review.

It is blatantly obvious from the first page that Spencer Hyde has been in the throes of OCD before. His in-depth descriptions of the tics and habits of someone with this disorder bring it to the fore immediately. In this novel Addie counts touches, obsessively washes and has rituals surrounding how she showers - all common and real impulses that take over a person. She is so ridiculously believable that every word that I read about her made me relive my life prior to medical intervention. A strong female character but so very flawed, I could not help but relate to her every action.

Fitz, the male lead is a teenage schizophrenic whose voices are named after country music legends so as to lessen their impact. While I have no personal insight into this disorder, everything with Fitz felt genuine. Whether it be his random detachment from reality to outwardly conversing with his voices so as to decrease their effect on his mood. By the time the novel finally reached its heartbreaking crescendo I was so emotionally invested in this distant but charismatic teenager that I found myself more interested in his plight than that of our main character (sorry).<

The narrative, had a good flow, taking me just over 3 hours to finish its 250ish pages. It was slightly slower than my usual pace but I definitely had some internal reflection moments that ate away at the time. The character arc of Addie has a logical progression for the most part. She is affected by the teens around her and realises some important things about herself as a result of these interactions. Now I am not going to tout this as an absolute masterpiece that ripped out my heart then repeatedly stomped on it because to be honest, while it had some really heavy themes, viewing it as a whole it was a teen romance with a twist. But it did some really high points

I will say however that the last 10-15% felt a little unnecessary. I understood why they were included but they felt a little superficial in the grand scheme of the novel.. Also, the fact that 1) Fitz had been institutionalised for 2 years was excessive - had he been that unstable, he would have been in a state facility not a hospital ward and 2) Addie had been in for months and shown no real change but then was holidaying was kind of a ridiculous prospect. Perfect for fans of John Green

I received this ARC from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me in tears, laughing and crying some more. It was heartfelt and full of love. The mental illness was describes and written great and it is always great to see mental illness get more written in YA.

It started off super super slow, so slow that it was hard to get through. Then it picked up and I enjoyed it. But the first part was hard to get through.

I loved Fritz, my absolute favorite character.

Would read again and again. Would definitely recommend!

I'm glad to see teen mental illness getting more coverage in YA and MG fiction. A big draw for me is that the author is writing from a place of experience, having gone through the in-patient process himself throughout high school.