Good book that was very enjoyable to read. It went by fast and stuck with you for a bit after you read it.

STOP PUTTING HARRY POTTER REFERENCES IN EVERYTHING. I wanted to read this one after loving this author's debut a few years ago, but I didn't even make it 15% before I was over it. There's a dozen or so HP references just in that part alone, not to mention a micropenis joke and some seriously unchecked bullying.

We are done with Harry Potter. You cannot separate the art from the artist and continuing to include references shows support for JKR and her transphobia. There's literal research on this. Do freaking better. Also, small dick jokes are transphobic and not funny.

Maybe the mental illness rep is good maybe it's not, but I can't even get to that because of the casual transphobic references and remarks.

"The Words We Keep" is by far the best book I've read about mental health. The anxiety Lily has is shown so well. As someone with severe anxiety seeing the thoughts that Lily has makes you feel like you aren't alone. Erin Stewart also did an amazing job with Alice and Micah. Depression, bi-polar, anxiety, and every mental health condition is a beast and this book shows that you aren't allow. Please note this book go into detail about mental health so if you are seeking help, be aware this book could be a trigger.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

Lily is a middle daughter trying to be perfect because her mom is dead, and her older sister-Alice- is bipolar, her younger sister is vulnerable, and her dad is trying to hold the family together. Alice spends time in an in-patient mental facility after an incident of self-harm, but when she gets home Lily feels both invisible and pressured to be perfect at the same time. Until she meets Micah, the quirky new student in her art class. Lily doesn't want to get to know or like Micah, but he shows her that it's okay to let go and laugh at yourself even when you know you're flawed.
A raw, honest look behind the thoughts of a teen spiraling into depression and feeling like she has the weight of the world on he shoulders. Until they collapse under the pressure. When the curtains is pulled back on her secrets, Lily works to find herself and to let what she finds be enough. I loved these characters, and I lived every beautiful and uncomfortable moment of this spiraling journey with them.

I have anxiety, and I just want to go on record as saying that it is nice when you read a book that something you have is represented in. Thank you Erin Stewart. This is a great book.

Lily has been trying to keep things together for her family for a while, and things get even harder when older sister Alice returns from a treatment program she was in for self harm and bipolar disorder. Lily meets Micah, a new students who has struggled with mental illness of his own. This heartbreaking look at mental illness and the effects it has on the ones we love.

This book! Um, it starts out deep and kinda dark. It is uniquely written in that it includes crossed out thoughts, lists, texts, and other things that go along with the story. It is definitely not a light fluffy read and it deals with some serious issues that I think the world doesn't like to talk about. This book definitely dives into those mental health issues and talks about them openly. I applaud the author for doing this and hope that it shows people that they are loved, flaws and all!!

I loved all the characters, all the things around arts (poems, websites, drawing, etc) to show that art can help you express yourselves. I also loved the way the author showed that people can definitely hide their pain, and feel alone even when they are not. 100% real.

Please read this novel if you are able to. 100% worth it, just keep in mind that it might take you some chapters before you truly get in the story. (It also might not.)

This book was immaculate. My 14-year-old daughter loved it. Stewart gives the reader a great look at what it feels like to live with a mental illness. It is beautifully written and the characters were well developed.

Seeing her sister Alice on the bathroom floor is an image that Lily cannot erase from memory. When Alice comes home from the treatment program, can Lily continue to ignore her feelings? Has her own anxieties been holding the young woman back from experiencing her own life? Will a new student at school have the abilities to help Lily where others cannot? As Lily and Micah start an art project for school together, will Lily come to certain realizations about herself?

Honestly, I really want to be able to recommend this book. However, I am a fast reader, yet it has taken me months to finish this novel. Many teens suffer from crippling anxieties and I feel that the target audience will be able to identify with Lily, Alice, or Micah. The problem is that the author travels down Lily's rabbit hole so far that her voice is lost. With so much time spent on Lily's avoidance of her own issues, the author loses the connection between character and reader. Having read other books in the genre that deal with this subject matter, I can say that The Words We Keep does not stand out. For these reasons, I would not recommend The Words We Keep to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.

This was a gut-wrenching journey that vividly depicts the difficulty of dealing with an anxiety disorder while also dealing with people in your life that have attempted suicide. Lily’s world isn’t the same ever since her sister Alice slit her veins – but she’s trying her best to keep up a happy facade at school. But it all quickly crumbles the moment Alice returns home from rehab. In the midst of all this, she meets and falls for the new boy Micah – who also stayed at the same rehab center that Alice did after he tried to take his own life.

The reader can’t help but cheer for these very broken souls and yearn so much to see them heal and find some solace in the darkness.

Told from Alice’s POV and her poetry, this was a very emotional read that I simply couldn’t put down, in fact, I read it in two days. I highly suggest this book if you want to read a very raw yet ultimately uplifting story. However, there are many trigger warnings for those who suffer from depression, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and anxiety.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a raw and emotional and honest look at mental health struggles. Lily is still processing the night she found her sister Alice trying to harm herself in the bathroom. Alice was sent to get help, and in her absence, Lily is trying to keep things together at school and at home. A new kid shows up who knows Alice and has a connection with Lily. Lily could use a friend, but she's also still working through her stuff. This book really shows the complexities of mental health struggle, the impacts others feel, and the ways people navigate and cope. It's so well done and elicited so many feels in me as I read. I'm so glad there are books like this out there that show the realities of mental illness. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this release from April 2022!

The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart; Delacorte Press, 400 pages ($18.99). Ages 12 and up.

...

After her bipolar older sister suffers a breakdown and is hospitalized in a psychiatric facility, anxiety-ridden Lily feels even more pressure to be perfect in this excellent novel exploring the family dynamics of mental illness and the stigma and misunderstandings that prevent people from seeking the treatment and support they need.

The novel unfolds in Lily's unflinchingly honest voice, as she struggles with what feels like the loss of her sister and her own secret compulsion to self-harm – finding relief in picking at sores that start to bleed.

Alice arrives home a different person from the wild, impulsive sister Lily remembers, but Lily makes a connection with newly arrived classmate Micah, an artist who met Alice at psych rehab and encourages Lily to use her love of words to express herself in a guerrilla poetry project at school. When Alice stops taking her meds and is in her manic phase, she encourages Micah and Lily to new heights with the guerrilla poetry project including breaking into the school at night.

Stewart ("Scars Like Wings") offers a realistic portrait of Lily's lonely battle to be perfect even as her world careens out of control and she loses her grip on academics and her track performance and has a falling-out with her best friend. Stewart also offers an emotional portrayal of the relief Lily experiences in finally giving up her secrets and seeking help. (One fascinating realistic detail is Lily's flawed memory of exactly what happened in a near-drowning at the beach years before.) The novel at intervals includes Lily's inventions of words that should exist. For example, "puriderm" is a verb meaning "cleaning oneself from the outside in, knowing that if you can just reach deep enough, you can pluck out all the bad and leave only the good."

TW: Self Harm!! The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart
Lily Larkin loves words. She is an aspiring poet. She’s a track star. She’s a perfect daughter and sister. So when she finds her sister in their bathroom, blades to her wrist and bleeding she knows that she has to be the one to keep it together for her family. Lily also had a secret. While her sister is trying to get better Lily is falling apart. The voices telling her she has to be perfect, she cannot fail, she has to always have it together. While working on an art project with a boy who has his own struggles, Lily has to learn that she doesn’t have to be perfect. She isn’t broken. She can also ask for help. I really enjoyed this read by Erin Stewart. #thewordswekeep #erinstewart #netgalley

One of my favorite books of 2022. The raw emotion resonated really well and I can't wait to get this into the hands of people who need it. The characters were so well created and diverse that you can find a little bit of you in each of them.

The Words We Keep has a slow start and a heavy weight. It takes a deep dive into the world of anxiety and bipolar disorder. It is both relevant and raw. Don't forget your tissues.

WHAT A BOOK THIS IS.

This book tackles multiple mental health disorders beautifully, and I couldn’t stop reading. An amazing and needed read.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Words We Keep is a realistic, touching story of a family dealing with a daughter who has bipolar disease with suicidal ideation. Instead of focusing on the bipolar daughter, this story focuses on the other daughter who feels that she has to keep everything together and be perfect so no one has to worry about her. Here's the thing, no one is perfect and everyone needs help sometime. The empowering movement of guerilla poetry is beautifully done in this book too.

This book will help so many. Stewart’s words remind us that, despite what our inner voice might tell us, and no matter how loud that voice screams, we are enough. There is a place for us. All of us. There is help, and there is hope.