I didn't finish this book because I just couldn't get over Naima's behavior. Even though she is grieving, that isn't a valid excuse to treat Nell horribly. I'm sure there's an audience for this book. I'm just not it.

This is definitely an important book because it deals with heavy topics, such as OCD, PTSD, and losing a parent, and I thought they were handled in an insightful and realistic way. While the writing style was a bit disjointed at times, I still loved this book.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Naima Rodriguez struggles enough with life with her OCD and GAD. Now, her dad has died while on his sixth tour in the Middle East. She is traveling with her stepmom to her grandparents' place in Indiana to have a memorial service for him on the 4th of July. There, she meets Dew (Diaz) Brickman, who is also grieving the loss of his parents and dealing with anxieties of his own. Dew copes by speaking into a voice recorder to get out the thoughts he can't say. Dew hopes that he and Naima can become friends and find a way together to get through their grief. The last thing Naima wants, however, is to let someone in.

First of all, I need to say that I HATE the fact that the characters in this book were doing balloon releases. Even if you use the “biodegradable” balloons mentioned in the book, they take months or years to decompose, and the attached strings can strangle animals.

This book started really strong for me and then got a little cliché at the end. At times, the writing was a bit disjointed. I liked the formatting that was used at times when Naima was repeating words or thinking of something she wanted to say to her dad. As someone who suffers from anxiety and whose dad died without getting a chance to say goodbye, I could really related to the things Naima and Dew were feeling. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is flying across a sky of emotionally impactful themes like mental health, finding individuality as a bi-racial, adoption as truth be told, and feministic viewpoints. The presence of a genuine author's note and list of trigger warnings at the start of the story immensely enhance the reading experience. Interweaving love, friendship, and family into a cloth of raw honesty and riveting storyline, this own-voices contemporary certainly leaves the reader with too many emotions.

Even though Six Goodbyes we Never Said wasn’t what I thought it was, I thought it was going to be about Naima dealing with losing her dad. Instead it focused on her dealing with her OCD which was fine. It was still a good read. Teens who have the same issues will find this book to relate too. Though I wish the book touch on losing her military dad a little more, because I think we need more YA books featuring Military families and the things they go through.

This is a great book for anyone who feels like I do that mental health needs to have advocates in our society, instead of trying to brush it under the rug.

Two teens with very different world views are trying to cope with grief and the way it is handled in this book is admirable. Good read.

This story was emotional, and covered many different stages of grief, anxiety, and depression. Naima and Dew are in a terrible situation that unfortunately many people face everyday and it was a good thing for me to read and see their experiences.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

That’s why, when I read books like this, I get so excited for our youth. ⁣
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Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a YA that addresses loss, friendship, self worth, & a multitude of heavier issues teens face today. ⁣
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The dual storylines that intersect at the end drew together a story that I truly enjoyed. I would recommend checking this one out!

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

I liked this book but felt confused with the formatting. I wasn’t always sure when Naima stopped and Dew began. I also was a little disappointed that Naima is not actively in therapy after her father’s death. I think her character really needed to be seeing a therapist and talking through her feelings. I liked that it didn’t end up as a love story but more a story about supporting one another as humans.

I was drawn to Six Goodbyes We Never Said due to the subject of mental illness as I struggle with a few myself.

There was so many touching and unique moments thorughout the book, I also really loved how Candance put a peronsal note in the beginning of the book which pulled me in deeper to the book, it was touching for Candance to give us a glimpse not only into her life but what drew her into writing this novel.

I definitely think that one of Candace's strengths is writing about mental illnesses and showing her readers what effect it has but how it can be okay.

Candace does an amazing portayal of her character Naima and Dew who are struggling with their own challenges of anxiety, loss and grief. I felt like our main charcters built a strong foundation with each other which is built on strenthening one another up from the struggles they have both endured.

Overall, I really enjoyed Six Goodbyes We Never Said and would definitely recommend it to a lot of people.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is A story about two grieving teens and how they each process a loss in their lives. It’s a bit complex and emotional but you become attached to these two characters and their relationship. One of my favorite reads this years.

A very realistic representation of mental health issues. As someone who suffers from anxiety, I appreciated this. This was a heavy book but it hit on so many important concepts.

Such a thoughtful representation of mental health, love, loss and everything in between. I hope more people read it to learn empathy.

This was a beautiful story about grieving.

There was some great representation of mental health in this book. Dew has anxiety and panic attacks. Naima has anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. I really liked the way her OCD was represented in the repetition of words and sentences. It showed the way she repeated actions and words right on the page.

Though both Dew and Naima were orphans, they had very different experiences. Dew had been adopted by his foster parents, and had a new family. Naima had just lost her father and couldn’t reconcile her final goodbye to him, when she ignored him. They had some things in common, but they dealt with their problems differently.

I loved this book!

Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I almost did not finish “Six Goodbyes We Never Said.” Having lost my father due to a car accident when I was 15, reading about Naima and Dew brought back the loss and the anger that teenage me felt. So, I had to stop reading and pick it again after a few days.

Candace Ganger brought out raw emotions; her writing was straight forward and just cut through my heart. This book is not for the faint of heart, whether you have experienced tragedy or not. It feels like “grief unplugged.”

I wish a could write more and give “Six Goodbyes We Never Said” an encompassing review. But I can’t because if I do, I will be laying on these pages all the heartache I felt so long ago.

So, let me just say, read this book with an open mind but be aware that there are triggers here mental health issues.

“Six Goodbyes We Never Said” is Rated M for Mature due to subject matter.

Naima is a young woman coping with the tragic loss of her father, a fallen Marine. Interspersed throughout the book we get glimpses of their relationship through visual voicemails left from her dad, who obviously cared about her a lot. She was angry with him before he died, for leaving her again, and now that he's gone, she is expressing anger, guilt, and pain through actions that don't help her move on from it, but ways that help her cope in the her own way.
Dew Brickman is recovering from the sudden death of both his parents due to a car accident, and learning to let go. He is a little awkward and needs some help with social skills, but he means well and often has incredible insights into other people's emotions.
Dew knew about Naima from Naima's father before he died, and has taken becoming Naima's friend on as a personal crusade. Unfortunately, Naima doesn't feel like it's Dew's place to know personal details from her father, or to try so hard to be her friend when she has no idea who he is. She thinks it's a little bit creepy, and she wants to grieve in isolation. Their story is one of friendship and learning to let go.
Full disclosure, I have not yet finished this novel. This is not due to the worth of the book, but rather to the fact that I didn't realize how spot on the ways in which each character acted and reacted due to their trauma would be. I work at a school for kids who have experienced trauma, so many interactions I have with them can feel like some of the moments described in the book, which felt a little heavy to be reading in my free time. That being said, I feel the author did an excellent job of portraying three specific cases of teens (and a ten year old) living and expressing themselves post trauma.
Perhaps because of my experiences with work, this book felt very intellectually heavy, and therefore was a bit of a slow read. The pacing was pretty steady throughout the story, but it definitely wasn't a fast paced book. Based heavily in emotional expression and awkward social interactions, there were constant moments when I was cringing because the characters were not getting their intended outcomes in social interactions, and instead having many negative moments, probably a lot like real life. While Ganger definitely invited empathy throughout each of these scenes, sometimes it felt rather boring and I wasn't as motivated to read it as other books.
I received a copy of this book via the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When reading Six Goodbyes, there were definitely many elements of it that I absolutely adored, but also many elements that genuinely broke my heart. This novel explores grief, having PTSD and OCD tendencies, establishing routines and breaking them, understanding anxiety and how to cope with it, and overall, learning life in a way that reconstructs your entire life.

Definite trigger warnings for potential suicidal thoughts, GAD, OCD, and PTSD.

Meeting Naima and Dew was a whole experience - these two are such complicated characters, and understandably so. They both find a way to come together despite their differences and they learn to understand each other in a new way. I do, however, feel that they were the real reason there was any continuing force towards 'plot' progression.

I think seeing the bits of audio between the voicemails from Naima's dad, and the audio clips that Dew uses are two very exciting inclusions that would be so cool for the audiobook! I definitely am interested in reading via audiobook so I can hear what the Candace and her crew decide to do with that, but I'm not too sure if I'll end up giving this a re-read because I don't think this ended up being the book for me.

I found myself dragging along the story, and although my heart did ache for Naima and Dew, I couldn't help but feel connected to them. I don't want to constantly feel sorry for a character, but I want to have a deeper connection. I think the writing style also wasn't my cup of tea too, so it just became really difficult to finish, along with the fact that that it wasn't a very engaging story through and through.

Despite this, I do think the purpose in writing this story in the way that it is was done very efficiently. In the blurb, it says it's not a love story, and that's definitely true. Struggling with grief and one's personal battles is something that continues to be something that anyone can really relate to - so if you're looking for something that does explain what life is like in that matter, this could be something that interests you.

DNF at 35%. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get through it. Before I start my review, I wanted to discuss a couple of positives about this book:
1. There is some pretty amazing diversity in this book. One MC is Latino, plus-sized, and suffers from anxiety, depression, and OCD. The other MC is also Latino and is adopted. There is a side character that seems to be pansexual (but to my knowledge she doesn't actually giver herself that label, at least to the point that I stopped at).
2. This book is own voices. The author, like our MC, suffers from anxiety and OCD.
I always hate when I have to give such an amazingly diverse book a negative rating, but I'm also not going to give a book a good rating when I didn't enjoy it. Now, let's move on to my issues:
1. I wish the formatting of the book would've been done better. This book is dual perspective, however only one character has their own chapters, which means the perspective changes within the other characters chapter, and it does so in a confusing, unnoticeable way. The perspective change happens during a section of mixed media that includes a voicemail and an unsent email draft, but the perspective change happens right below the unsent email, and is the buttons of a voice recorder with "Dew GD Brickman" beneath it in faded gray. The reason this is so confusing is because there's no space between the email and the recorder buttons, so the first few chapters, I didn't even notice that we were changing perspective, which obviously made me super confused the entire time. These buttons are also how you're supposed to follow the timeline of Dew's perspective, which I honestly didn't realize until right now. As you can imagine, I was confused the entire time I was reading this book.
2. I wasn't a big fan of the writing style. It seemed a little all over the place and kind of clunky at times.
3. I have no idea how this book is supposed to end, but I will say, the way this relationship/friendship/companionship/whatever it ends up being begins made me super uncomfortable. The very first meeting between Dew and Naima happens when Naima is in her grandparents back yard and Dew is watching her through a hole in the fence next door. Then, he basically becomes obsessed with her. He can't stop thinking about her, all he talks about in his therapy sessions is Naima, all after a 10 second meeting. This is something I have personally been through, and I just couldn't get behind that.
4. I just wasn't enjoying this book and I wasn't feeling anything towards the characters, which is when I knew it was time to stop.
I wish this could've turned out differently, and this is absolutely not a bad book, it's just not a "me" book. I know other people will read this book and adore it and see themselves in it, and for that reason, I am happy that it exists in the world.

Heartfelt and touching story that deals with mental health issues! I really love how it deals with the subject lightly and not too rushed. Although it doesn't give away a very cohesive plotline, the writing makes up for it. The characters have something to say and it is clearly portrayed in the book.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher (Thank you St. Martin's Publishing Group) via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review

The Good Stuff:

1. I liked how the characters were introduced so I actually enjoyed the beginning of the story.
2. The writing was great with witty dialogues.
3. The story highlighted many important topics that need to be talked about more to help others understand the struggles of those with mental health issues.
4. This book is great for people who are going through a difficult time, coping with the loss of a loved one, and/or battling mental illness. I think they'll be able to resonate with the characters and hopefully find some comfort by reading the story.

The Issues:

1. Although I liked the beginning, most of the book was difficult to get through. I was unable to connect with the characters at the level I would have liked.
2. It was difficult to understand some of the things that were going on with them and everything began to make sense only towards the end.
3. It would have been better if the book was a bit shorter. There are certain scenes that didn't seem like they added anything to the overall story.
4. I wish there had been more of Nell. Maybe a chapter or two with her POV? She did lose someone too and she did struggle with trying to find ways to connect with Naima and help her work through her issues.

Random Thoughts:

1. I felt really bad for Nell throughout the whole book. I don't think I've seen anyone try so hard to connect with someone.
2. Dew is a sweet, sweet boy. Definitely too good for this world.
3. I'm glad this was not a love story. It was nice to see a beautiful friendship blossom between two people instead.
4. I loved Violet. I thought she was pretty cool. I would have liked to have known more about her.

Overall Impression: 3 stars
It was a not a bad read and I would definitely recommend it to someone who would find solace by reading this.