I was really intrigued when I first got the offer to read the early copy of this book. Reading its synopsis, I knew this story is going to be challenging and hard-hitting. Six Goodbyes We Never Said started with a genuine note from the author herself, Candace, explaining why she wrote this story in the first place. Candace also used this note to include a list of potential trigger warnings. I really appreciated this gesture of her and hence, from its very first page, Six Goodbyes We Never Said feels incredibly raw, blatant, and sincere.

There were so many important issues that highlighted throughout this story. The representation of multiple mental illnesses, bi-racial characters, body positivity, feminism, and the truth of adopting and getting adopted (which is something that I rarely read, but perhaps it’s just my lack of reading). A lot of these issues are already heavy on their own, and I must applaud Candace to combine them all into a single story.

As much as I’m aware how important this book is, not just for the readers but also for the author herself, it seems like I couldn’t manage to fully devour into this universe of Naima and Dew due to its formatting and writing style. It started confusing, especially during the first 10% of the book. I had no idea who’s POV that I was reading since there was no title with POV’s name like how a dual POV story usually was written. Instead, there were one of the POV’s names used as a chapter title and mid-way through the chapter, there will be a voicemail transcript, email drafts, and a recorder transcript from other character and that’s how I’d know that the POV is changing. Although I wouldn’t complaint so much since Candace was amazing at making differences between these two characters and how contrast they sounded.

And lastly, something that bothers me ‘til the end of the story is Naima’s attitude. After reading so many thoughts of her and her perspective in life, I was hoping that at the end, I’ll be able to relate to her emotions or grasp her reasons in making certain decisions. But sadly, it didn’t happen even until I finished this book. I have so many unanswered questions about her. I completely understand that she was suffering from anxiety, OCD, and PTSD but I still don’t understand her aggressive behaviors towards others, even to those who don’t mean harm to her. I’m also still questioning about the history of six tappings, six flickings, six balloons, and basically six everything that Naima used to calm herself as I believe there was no explanation on how it originally started in the first place.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said was a complex story coming from a talented #OwnVoice author. It explores many important topics which need to be discussed more in today’s literature and highlights the truth behind each one gracefully.

Thank you Wednesday Books (Sarah!) for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Six Goodbyes We Never Said
Author: Candace Ganger
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Naima Rodriguez is aware she’s not like other people: between her OCD, her GAD, and her PTSD, she’s juggling the entire alphabet of things that make it hard for her to interact with other people. Especially without her dad, a fallen Marine, around to be her buffer and understand all her little quirks, like separating the marshmallows from her Lucky Charms into six—and only six—bags. Her dad understood her, but no one else does, and Naima doesn’t really care.

Dew hasn’t really death with the deaths of his parents and his anxiety—both social and not—makes it hard for him to interact with others, so he uses his trusty voice recorder to filter his observations. But when he finally meets Naima, he understands that helping someone else might end up being the very thing he needs to heal himself.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said wasn’t an easy book to read. Both Naima and Dew have things going on that make their lives harder and sharper than other people’s. They’ve both experienced unthinkable loss, and they feel broken. But sometimes only another broken person can truly understand. The characters are vibrant, although Naima’s jagged edges make her a difficult character to sympathize with at times. She knows she’s hurting other people, but she does it anyway, and that’s not easy to read.

Candace Ganger is an author, a contributing writer to HelloGiggles, and a marathoner. Six Goodbyes We Never Said is her new novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

I would love to read this book. However, after a few pages in, I realized that mentally I’m not ready to read this. I didn’t realize it was going to be so emotionally touching. I lost my dad a few years ago and the wound is still fresh. My husband has lost friends in the military oversees so that is a factor as well.

I’m hoping I can wait a few months to collect my thoughts and try again. At that time I hope to relish in this book and give it a great review!

Thank you for the opportunity! I hope to update my review soon!

Candace Granger is new to me and I since I was invited to read and review this book I couldn't say no. I rarely read YA, so I say that this book is only for certain people. Because at the beginning I had high hopes that I would enjoy this book. But I didn't hate or truly enjoy it. It was just okay.

The upside of that is the parts that I did actually like. There are moments spread out through the book, that a lot of people would love.

The heroine of the story is a girl with extreme anxiety and OCD issues. After her father passes away, she not only struggles with that but her own emotional state. The hero, Dew, yep that's his name is having trouble coping with the loss of both of his parents. That's about the ONLY thing they have in common.

I don't know who I would say I connected with more. Because I am not totally sure I connected well with either of them. I did, however connect with their grief as I have lost both of parents, I know very well how much it can take a toll on not only your emotion capability but mental.

That's something that can sneak up on you and stay inside forever without you ever really noticing, because you're stuck in that one space in time. The guilt you may have, the sorrow showing its ugly head.

The moments between the voicemails and unsent emails between Naima and her father were the books strengths. Dew's parts of the book weren't especially entertaining. Some chapters felt choppy but the soul or meat of the book is the topics covered.

Grief and anxiety.

Recommend for people wanting to explore those subjects.

ARC generously provided by Netgalley and St. Martins Press

Six Goodbyes We Never Said by Candace Ganger is a story about love and loss. This book is a little hard to review because I love it and dislike it all at the same time. I really love that the author tackled some tough subjects that we don't get to see very often in the young adult book community. It was so easy to feel for these characters and the issues that they were dealing with. Ganger did a great job writing these two main characters. These characters really had their own voices which I really enjoyed and the writing was so unique. I loved the emails and the voicemails that we got to see in the book as well.

The rest of the story fell very flat for me. I felt like the book was very boring at times. As much as this book talks about love and loss, there wasn't any romance to the story. I felt a like jipped there. The story was just so slow. I felt like it took forever for anything to truly actually happen. This book just wasn't the book for me. I think it has some fantastic parts and I love the real world issues that the story deals with. I just wish it had a bit more umph to the story.

I adored Six Goodbyes We Never Said! It is full of #ownvoices representation, emotional scenes, and growth. The writing was beautiful, and I enjoyed every page.

#ownvoices books have begun to appear more and more often on bookshelves, and I couldn’t be happier. For those unfamiliar with #ownvoices, it was “created by Corinne Duyvis to highlight books that are written by an author that shares a marginalized identity with the protagonist” (Bookriot). In Six Goodbyes We Never Said, Naima has complex OCD and GAD and Dew has social anxiety, all of which Ganger has. From the beginning, it is clear to see the influence that these disorders have on the characters.

“...so I can properly pinch my toes between them.
Tap my nose. Tap my nose. Tap my nose.
Tap my nose. Tap my nose.
Tap my nose.
Click my tongue. Click my tongue. Click my tongue.
Click my tongue. Click my tongue.
Click my tongue.
Flick my thumbnail. Flick my thumbnail. Flick my thumbnail.
Flick my thumbnail. Flick my thumbnail.
Flick my thumbnail.
Flick.
Flick.
Flick.
FLICK.”

As someone without these disorders, I was able to understand better what someone’s life could be like with complex OCD and GAD. And that’s one of the beauties of #ownvoices: to help others further understand different marginalized identities. Mentions of Naima’s tics also remain constant throughout the book. The mention of the tics are at the beginning, middle, and end; they don’t just disappear after the first couple of chapters.

What I appreciated in Six Goodbyes We Never Said is that the MCs' goal isn’t to be in a relationship. Okay, I take that back. Honestly, Dew had a stalker-like obsession with Naima for a good half of the book. It was quite creepy. But, it does get better, thankfully. Like the book’s description says it “is no love story. If you ask Naima, it’s not even a like story.” While I still love a bit of romance in contemporary books, I value more the characters and their own personal struggles and triumphs.

The book was also an emotional rollercoaster for me. I will admit that I do tend to get super attached to characters, so maybe that’s the reason why I went through so many emotions. But there were moments where I felt myself tear up, mainly when Naima is reflecting on her father and all the things she wishes she did differently. There were some heart-warming scenes and moments where I laughed a bit. It is a story about grief, so the characters, of course, are struggling to make sense of life without their parent(s). I noticed the underlying theme of the MCs’ sorrow throughout the entire book, and how it only somewhat began to decrease as the story continued.

Another aspect that I adored was all of the growth throughout the story. It was hard to notice at first, but by the time I finished the book, it was apparent. There was also a lot of healing and acceptance. In the story, both MCs have lost their parent(s) and are dealing with raw grief. The growth moment that made me say “awwww” the most was near the end when Dew is with his foster sister Faith. There is such a sweet moment between the two, and my heart was so happy! Throughout the book, Faith had trouble fitting in and for her to feel confident in her own skin made me incredibly happy. There’s another scene with Naima and someone else that warmed my heart. It was evident that it made Naima somewhat uncomfortable, but she still did it because she recognized how important the other person was. Naima and Dew had a relationship like that in “Since You’ve Been Gone.” In that book, the MC’s friend leaves her a list of tasks/dares so the MC can get out of her comfort zone. Dew and Naima work together to heal and conquer their smaller fears, which was impressive to watch.

I only had one or two small issues with the story. One is more of an annoyance at a character and the other one is more about the side characters. In the story, Dew suddenly loses his parents. In the parts with Dew’s perspective, he often likes to quote people, especially his parents. I imagine that this is a character choice and one of Dew’s way to handle grief, but it did get really repetitive at points. I don’t think it is an issue, rather more of a slight annoyance. The main problem, which still isn’t too much of a problem, is that the side characters felt underdeveloped. I felt as if I wasn’t able to connect with them even though they were the MCs’ parents and friends and co-workers. I know that they aren’t the point of the story, but I would have maybe enjoyed learning more about Dew’s adoptive parents and why they wanted to adopt him.

To conclude, I couldn’t recommend Six Goodbyes We Never Said more! The writing was smooth and easy to read, and I appreciated the #ownvoices representation. It is so essential to have #ownvoices stories like this so others can better understand what living with some of these disorders is like. One of my favorite parts of the book was watching the characters grow. It was so interesting to watch how they began to heal from the tragities and learn to adapt. There were small annoyances for me at points, but they didn't effect the story too much. I would highly recommend this book!

Naima finds her own solution!

Naima Rodriguez has always had a lot of tics and mental problems trying to deal with everything but when her father was killed in Afghanistan made a bad situation even worse for her. Naima wanted to remember her dad the way he was but she had been so angry with him that she wouldn’t answer his phone calls or texts and never replied and now she didn’t how to deal with it now he was gone. Dew Brickman had been adopted after his parents had died in a car accidents but he was having problems fitting in so his parents gave him a voice recorder to help record his feelings.

At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about Six Goodbyes We Never Said but the farther I got into the story it made me realize how grief is something each person deals with a little differently and Naima is grieving differently than Dew but they both find out to make a new normal for themselves and come out the other side a much stronger people.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hand it to a teen who has just finished Turtles All the Way Down and is looking for more. A mirror and a door into mental illness.

I saw an email regarding this book a month back, I got curious and immediately sent a form to the email sender. I didn't even read the blurb of the book, it becomes a habit already. I prefer to be surprised of what the book could offer. Will I be disappointed? Or I'll like the book a lot? Who knows? For me that's the exciting part.

The moment I started reading the book, I was hooked right away. I remember I was in a lounge one Saturday afternoon and I was just killing time with my kindle, I finished one book already and I immediately chose to read this since I also have to make my review and be posted on this day. It was so hard to stop reading, I keep reading every words and marking the ones that hits a nerve. I left the lounge with almost half of the book done. It just took me a while to finish since weekdays are usually busy so I only read during nights when I get home and that's 1-2hours reading time just to refresh my head. Anyway, reading a book this good makes me giddy. I love the characters especially Dew. He's such a nice young man, despite his life experiences, being an orphan and adopted, he is such a positive thinker. He hides his loneliness well but he is so easy to cope and adapt in his environment. He inspire people. He had down moments but he's so easy to go back up. He knows what he wanted and just try all his best to get it. Naima on the other hand, she's always moody and always in deep thought. She's a complete opposite of Dew. Both of them lost their parents the difference is, they see life differently.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said, gave me a different perspective, I know that I knew this before already but of course there were times that we forget; never ignore your love ones, no matter how mad you are, make time for them and forgive them. Who knows what happens tomorrow, right? Don't live life with regrets. I love this book a lot, it made me laugh and cry at the same time. The POVs of each character is very touching and clear, you won't get lost as a reader that the other person is already talking. Their thoughts are clear and all the conversations in the book are pretty much get me hooked. I was really curious about the letters though, did Naima opened it? I would love to know what was written. Also those short phone recordings, I feel like I can hear Naima's dad talking. It's beautiful and hurtful at the same time. This book was Naima's life, I was wondering if there'll be another book about Dew? I feel like, he's another person with a different story that people must read.

I'll definitely get a physical copy of this one once it is available in the country where I live in, maybe an audio book too, I want to hear Naima's dad recordings. People must read this beautiful masterpiece! I'm so happy to be part of this blog tour and thank you so much to the publisher for giving me a chance to read this.

"It doesn't matter who make you proud, as long as you find peace within yourself. Make yourself proud." - Dew

"Hope never leaves us - we're the ones who abandon it."
- from the voicemail of Naima's Dad

When I first came across Six Goodbye We Never Said I was intrigued, not only by the cover, but the concept as well. Grief is a subject that we rarely discuss because it makes so many people uncomfortable and brings up feelings that so often we are told to keep inside. Not only do we rarely talk about it in public settings, but we rarely see this topic touched on in such a vulnerable way in fictional literature, at least in my experience. All that being said, I knew that this was a book that I wanted to add to my collection and experience for myself. Of course that excitement was amplified when I was asked to take part in this blog tour!

Without giving away too much of the story, we meet Naima at a difficult point in her life. Her father has passed away during his tour of duty as a Marine and has recently been cremated. Her stepmother, Nell, is in the process of taking her and her father's ashes to her grandparents house. While trying to work through her grief, she's also working through her General Anxiety Disorder, her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and her suicide attempt the summer before. How is she supposed to survive without her father around? How could he leave her like this?

At the same time, we meet Dew, who has been waiting for the opportunity to meet Naima since the moment her father talked about her when they met last summer. He truly believes that Naima is his soulmate and the one person who can understand the grief he's going through as well since losing his parents. He loves his foster family without a doubt, but it seems like just when he begins to be happy, he enters a crowd of people and it triggers a panic attack related to his parents as if he's forgetting them and disrespecting their memory. There's something about being able to talk to someone who truly understand what you're going through because they're going through it too.

Naima has no clue what she's in for when she meets Dew, but you can be sure she's in for quite the ride.

What I really enjoyed about this book were the voicemails and emails between Naima and her father. They were very personal and you could feel not only the love that they had for each other, but the hurt and anger that Naima felt as well. Including those in the book added a special touch to what I was reading and I think that it was a great idea. The other thing that I enjoyed was that this really was not a love story. This isn't a romance. I think sometimes we as readers and authors look for romance in a book such as this one to bring up some comfortability and also to have an uplifting moment between characters. You can't always find yourself in romance. More to the point, guys and girls can be friends without it turning into a romantic relationship and I think that Candace portrayed that very well. I struggled to get through Dew's point of view a lot of times and the writing felt a bit disjointed, but I still really enjoyed the read. It brought up a few uncomfortable feelings for me grief wise, but I think that was a good thing.

I think this was a very raw book that showed a lot of honesty. It isn't a light read by any means, but it was a different read for me and took me out of my comfort zone, which was great. It may not have been perfect, but it was still worth the read.

This was a good read and I enjoyed the subject matter. It moved along a little slowly for but I appreciated the story. I think it will make an impact on teens and young adults who read it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publish for an eARC of this book. I really enjoyed reading this Six Goodbye’s We Never Said by Candace Ganger. At first I got confused on how it was written and when it changed the point of views. I thought there were just typo’s happening but apparently it was the change of point of views. I found it funny that Naima named her plant after her step mom. I loved how Namia was for Equality rights. There was a line I loved she said to another character, “Equality isn’t a phase,” I’d challenge. “It’s a basic human right.” - Naima I liked the way she said that. Six Goodbye’s We Never Said had a lot to do with grief for a couple of characters. I get that Naima was dealing with grief but I felt bad for how she treated Dew when he wanted a friend. I didn’t like how is adopted mom made him feel like they were going to be soulmates. I liked that she mentions IT by Stephen King. She mentions the clown but she doesn’t know or say that the clown is Pennywise. When Naima says that she would rather keep to herself than reply on anyone else I related to that line a lot. I feel like that a lot, since I have had a lot of people let me down or just leave a lot. When Naima mentions the sweltering Midwestern June heat the Midwestern heat is very humid and it’s hard to handle it. I found it funny that Naima wasn’t really interested in Dew until someone else was into him. I liked how they helped each other deal with their grief.

I was sent a NetGalley widget via email and got an uncorrected proof of this book so things might be different in the final copy.

I am so torn about my feelings on this book. I understand the importance of the book and how it deals with some hard hitting topics and while I personally can't speak from experience about the representation of the mental illnesses in this book I feel like it is depicted accurately. This is an own voices book and along with the mental illness rep there's also bi-racial rep, fat main character rep as well as so many others.

On the other hand it was very slow going. The majority of the book is Naima being incredibly rude to other characters for no reason and that really started to get on my nerves. When you read the synopsis you think that you are going to read a story about how 2 characters who are grieving the loss of their parents and also dealing with some sort of mental illness and in some cases multiple mental illnesses helps each other get through it but that doesn't happen until the last 20ish percent of the book which then made it seem rushed in the end.

I will say that I felt Naima's emotions so much more than I did with Dew. I got teary eyed a few times reading Naima's POV. Speaking of POV I had the hardest time especially in the beginning keeping up with whose POV I was reading.

That's pretty much all I have to say about this book. While I didn't hate it it definitely could have used some more fine tuning.

This was a difficult book to get through with the many complexities that come from mental illness and grief. Definitely a TRIGGER WARNING for death of a parent, suicide, and mental illness.

The mental illness representation in this book was spot on. I thought this was an incredible look into characters who all struggle with different mental illnesses and then they are bombarded with a massive amount of grief and trauma. There were times I just wanted to shake Naima for how she was acting, but it wasn't her fault. These characters are not always dealing with their grief in the most constructive ways, but readers are given the chance to learn from their mistakes. You could tell the author really new what she was talking about when it came to GAD, OCD, PTSD, and grief, as she deals with some of these issues herself. 

In a lot of books I've read recently, I've noticed that I haven't been enjoying dual perspectives as much as I have in the past. I'm not saying that all multi perspective books are bad or that I'll never read and enjoy that kind of story ever again, but I do think it has to be a really special story and characters for it to work. What I'm wanting is more focus on one main character and to dive in deeper with that person. Despite Naima being an unlikeable character, I think I would have enjoyed it more from just her perspective. Dew’s grief could still be shown as a way to help Naima but I think his sections were a little lacking. I also think there needed more grounding in the narrative—something that might have been helped with more focus. As we shifted back and forth between characters, I had a hard time telling where in time we were and which perspective. 

I really loved the side characters—both families and the co-workers at the coffee shop. Everyone was trying so hard to help our main characters through their grief while also grieving themselves or, like with Dew's family, tackle two new kids who have lost their parents and are now living with strangers. There was so much support coming from these families, you knew as a reader that these teens were going to be okay in the end. 

If you want an honest look at mental illness and grief, I definitely recommend you take a look at this book when it comes out on September 24th.  

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a lot to take in, but worth it in the end. It takes on some pretty heavy topics in a very straightforward and immersive manner, to the point of it almost being stressful which is a testament to the author’s writing skills.

In the beginning I think Naima is pretty unlikable. She is rude to everyone, but in the end I think she starts healing and getting better, especially when it came to her family. I loved Dew and his relationship with his sister. One thing that really stood out to me in their relationship was how careful he was about how he spoke around her, realizing how fragile she and her mental state were. He could be pretty all consuming at times, acting like he thinks he is above everyone because he really wanted to meet and get to know Naima, but I could mostly see where he was coming from. He was just a super sweet kid who tried to see the positive in everyone.

One think this book did well was Dew’s panic attacks. The one in the beginning of the book at the farmers market was so realistic, especially to the ones I’ve experienced. It could be triggering to some people, so please be aware while reading this book. I admire that she wrote the mental health issues so well. They were expressed so clearly, you can tell the author has either experienced these mental health problems, did extensive research, or both and I applaud her for it.

I enjoyed how this book threw two struggling teenagers together but didn’t have them hook up. I rarely see books with teenagers of the opposite sex who end up just as friends. It was refreshing.

What I loved about this novel was the introduction into the life of young adults struggling with depression, anxiety, and OCD. A lot of times we experience “perfect” characters…perfect looks, perfect personality, you get the picture. Having experienced some of the same struggles that our protagonists go through, I felt this was a real and accurate depiction of someone encountering depression, anxiety, and OCD.

The author brings in a very diverse character set. The relationships and struggles are genuine to how “real life” is experienced…the fights, the emotions, the heartbreak. Although, sometimes I felt like the protagonists were a little juvenile and disrespectful to the other characters. Yes, we all have problems and some people might not understand, but we should still treat others respectfully.

Another unique aspect of the novel is the voicemails and recordings. I loved that! It helped break up the more trying scene and was a creative way to depict the personalities of some of the characters.

The only downside I had was that the plot wasn’t clear. This isn’t your typical novel. This book is more about being able to let yourself rely on others to help you through your struggles. It is a story of growth and healing.

Ganger does a great job of providing insight into the life of people struggling with depression, anxiety, and OCD. With a little humor and a lot of personality, Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a story of healing, dealing with love and grief, and growing with the help of family and friends.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a book that tackle the hard topics and topics that really should be discussed more. Through multiple perspectives we get to see the different ways individuals deal with things like anxiety, depression, OCD, and grief. Both of our leading characters have lost parents and are now dealing with their lives and the fall out that has come from these losses. Ultimately they find each other and are able to be the support that the other person needs. Naima and Dew are both written in ways that make them very easy to tell apart. They each have their own distinct voice that makes in easy to follow along with their struggles.

All that being said, this book is hard to read, if you are the type (like myself) who prefers an easy read when you read contemporary novels this book may not be for you. However, I still believe that this book is worth the read simply because of the own voices representation of topics that need to be discussed. 

Overall, this book is one that should be read if you want a real look at anxiety, OCD, and depression. Also kudos to Candace Ganger for including the appropriate trigger warnings in the beginning of the books. 

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for providing the e-arc in exchange for an honest review*

ARC Review: (Trying not to spoil the story). This book was one that kept me picking it up again and again, even when I thought it wasn’t initially my cup of tea. It follows two teens, Naima and Dew, in how they cope after the deaths of each of their parents.

The POVs were both very original, especially for a teen fiction genre that’s soaked with rom-coms. I loved the concept of having emails, voicemails, and brief memories scattered throughout the book. In a way, it was very refreshing even though it deals with such a sensitive topic. It had me on the verge of tears every time either one of the characters recalled painful moments from their pasts. I felt like I was grieving with both characters, Naima when it came to her OCD and depression, and Dew with his anxiety. (**Note: if you’re especially sensitive to things like anxiety, PTSD, or panic attacks, I’d say be careful while reading this. The author also put a helpful trigger warning in the beginning**).

the story is one that we don’t get too many of, so it’s a definite must read. I rated it four stars because it was slightly overbearing at times because of the heavy topics discussed within it. This is so well written that I can’t stress it enough. Please get yourself a copy when it comes out from a library or bookstore!

I had a really hard time getting into this book. It was slow and boring to me. Very depressing as well. 2 teenagers had both lost their parents and their grief is not handled well and they seem to have serious emotional problems.
Naima pushes everyone away and is what I would call a mean girl. Her dad was in the marines and killed while on duty and up until he had died she had ignored him for leaving her.
Dew's parents died suddenly and he needs to come to grips with it. He was put into foster care and adopted by a great family.
These 2 become neighbors and Dew tried to be friends with Naima but she keeps pushing him away.
For 2 kids who seem to be getting help it seems to make them worse.
I received this for an honest review from St. Martin's and NetGalley.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a hard-hitting contemporary told in dual perspective from the point of view of Naima and Dew, both of whom have suffered some serious losses in their lives. The book is ownvoices for social anxiety, depression, OCD and PTSD representation and I think is really important that this kind of stories are being told. That’s why I feel awful for rating it with just two stars, but this was not for me. There’s barely any plot besides both MCs coping with their grief and mental illness, I was not the biggest fan of the writing style, which felt disjointed and at times even confusing and I couldn’t connect with any of the characters (I liked the adults better than any of the MCs). Dew was not so bad but Naima, although has more than enough reason to be angry, was so cruel and rude to almost everyone around her, especially her stepmother, that it made reading from her perspective exhausting and frustrating.

CW: loss of parent, depression, social anxiety, PTSD, OCD, intrusive thoughts, suicide attempt (off page), fat phobia