Good, but dark YA read. It was hard due to attempts of suicide, mental illness, etc, but it was emotional and written well.

What a well-written, emotional read, but it was probably too soon for me to read a book like this. Lots of tears, but it was cathartic and hopeful, too. I'll write down all my feels when my own losses aren't so fresh. But I highly recommend it, and the narration is top notch.

This is one of those quiet books that deals with an issue with such careful realism and precision -- devoid of the drama so often inappropriately used in books dealing with these topics -- that you don't realize how skillful it is until you finish and think of about. The book deals with pretty heavy topics -- alcohol, parent estrangement, suicide, cancer, loss of a loved caregiver, awkward first love -- but it does so in a way that accurately captures the grief and, frankly, slow evolution of these topics in a person's life. The pace fit exactly what these topics deserve, and the narrative felt true.

Beautiful and realistic look at mental illness, grief, and mortality. The subject matter is sad and hard to get through at times. But the author is assured with an empathetic voice and startling atmosphere. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC

Loved this story, so powerful and relatable, don't get me wrong it does have triggers. I struggle with mental health and so this story is moving and inspiring. This is just a tough subject write, few can do it from the heart and make it relatable. Jacobus did it with such conviction that you were cheering for the main character. It has all the struggles of addiction, mental health, loss and finding yourself.

Del is a better place now they she was a year and a half ago. She is sober and getting treatment for her mental health. She is living with her beloved Aunt Fran, who has helped her see a future for herself. But when Aunt Fran's cancer comes back, Del starts to spiral, can you hold it together to save herself and have the strength to care for someone else?

She must confront all her demons and rap her mind around a request from Aunt Fran. With all this her love life looms with possibilities.

This is story of courage in the face of what looks like an impossible decision for someone other than herself.

Read this story this fall/winter, you will not regret it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for a copy of this book for my honest review.

The way the author writes about very sensitive subjects (suicide, cancer, death) is very respectful and the story is really engaging. You find yourself rooting for Del and feeling her pain over Fran’s diagnosis. Great story!

A very emotional, beautifully written story.
Many thanks to Lerner Publishing Group and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

"The Coldest Winter Ever Spent" by Ann Jacobus is a gripping and emotionally charged young adult novel that tells the story of Tatum, a teenage girl who is struggling to come to terms with the tragic loss of her brother. Through Tatum's eyes, we see how grief and guilt can consume a person, and how difficult it can be to find a way to move forward.

The novel is beautifully written, with vivid descriptions that bring the characters and setting to life. Tatum's journey is both heartbreaking and inspiring, as she learns to confront her past and find hope for the future.

Overall, "The Coldest Winter Ever Spent" is a powerful and moving novel that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page. Jacobus has crafted a story that is both deeply personal and universally relatable, and her characters will resonate with readers of all ages. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant read.

This book kept me up reading until 3am because I was so pulled into the emotion and drama. “The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent” is an emotional teen novel that doesn’t hold back. Suffering from depression and anxiety and not far removed from an attempt on her own life, Del is finding herself again and looking forward to college. Things are well until she learns her Aunt Fran has cancer again and has an unthinkable request. Not to mention, her distant crush is in town adding another layer of stress and frustration, The relationship between the Del and everyone around her creates a very strong emotional pull that makes you soak in every word. A five star book about grief, mental health, and family to get you in your feelings

Intense! I have all the same situations in my family and I was moved by Del’s struggle with life and death. Her life has been a constant roller coaster of emotions. Her mother died in a car accident; her father is distant. The loving support of Her Aunt Fran has helped her immensely. But now Fran has stage four cancer and young Del is the only one to help her. A well written story of loss and growth. Attaining personal strength. Coming to terms with death.

For anyone who is interested in reading books that deal with the topics of suicide and anxiety with the reverence and severity they deserve, please message me. Stay away from this book. I have truly never read such a callous and flippant take on such a serious subject matter. Trigger warning: a suicide attempt is mentioned in the review below.

Suicide and depression are not light matters, yet Del, our main character, did not seem to understand this. The first chapter starts out with Del, volunteering at a suicide-prevention call line when she gets a call from a girl who is about to jump off a bridge. It is an intense and scary exchange that will hit close to home with many readers. After successfully getting the girl aid, I was interested to see how this would segue into Del's trauma from her own suicide attempt a year and a half ago. Instead, her response made me sick to my stomach. Her immediate thought afterward is how this will prove to her aunt that she is mentally well and capable of going to college on her own. Her second thought is about how this story will impress her crush. I had to put the book down after that part. This is such a cold view of a horrific circumstance. For a main character who has attempted to take her life before, how is she so callous, and sees this as something to be exploited for personal gain? How is someone with such a recent own attempt on her life allowed to work at a suicide prevention line? How would Del feel if the people that "saved" her, used her attempt as a story to attribute to their own heroics? Admittedly, after that, I had a feeling I would not like the rest of the book, but I continued on. However, after she was more concerned about an incoming text from her crush while in an AA meeting, and how she did not want her crush's service dog third wheeling on her "date," I was done. Maybe Del changes along the way, but I do not care. Suicide, anxiety, and depression are topics that should be handled with the utmost respect. Please, run fast and far away from this book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lerner publishing group for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

(review is shared on Amazon and the Barnes and Noble's website)

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing for the advanced copy of this book. I really enjoyed this read. I think the writing was well done in a way that will make you feel all the feels. The character development was strong, and I liked the setting. I would recommend this book to my friends to read.

Del is eighteen and living in San Francisco with her Aunt Fran - trying to get her life and mental health stable - she works in Fran's art studio and also volunteers with the Bay Area Suicide Prevention Hotline. Del struggles with her sobriety but has been clean and sober for nineteen months and also balances coping with her anxiety and depression. Everything is going great...until Aunt Fran is diagnosed with cancer (after having been in remission for breast cancer), which shatters the delicate balance Del has established.
Told from Del's POV, this was a heart-wrenching novel of the struggles with sobriety, mental health, and being a caretaker for someone with a terminal illness. In the first half of the book, Del is naively optimistic. Then mid-way or so, readers really see her struggle with her sobriety and mental health, which is an excellent contrast to the latter half of the book where Del must deal with her aunt's care. Ann Jacobus has truly grasped the stages of grief Del undergoes while Fran is dying, the challenging relationship Del has with her father, and the slow process of Del learning to trust herself.
Though well-written and truly emotional, there were some aspects of the narrative that felt forced: primarily, the love interested for Del. There was no chemistry and Nick felt more like a tool used to reflect Del's headspace in each act of the book rather than a true connection. Finally, some of the sentence structures were awkward and split one idea into two sentences as a means of pausing the narrative beat, but ended up being a bit confusing. Ok and the tattoo healing sequence really made my skin crawl and had me screaming "NOOOO" in describing Del picking her scabs. Overall, a solid 4 stars: I really liked Del's character development, her growth into adulthood, and extra points for a book set in San Francisco in a realistic way.

This book hold an important message all readers need to hear. Within the first pages, readers are gripped tightly in a situation many can, unfortunately, relate to. From there it’s a rollercoaster of human emotion. Overall, the impact this book had on me will remain with me for a long while.

This book perfectly captures a person who is spiraling because it feels like the world around her is falling apart. It discusses controversial and/or triggering topics such as suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism, addiction, cancer, hospice, and assisted suicide. The pacing of the book helped the plot flow smoothly.

THANK YOU NET GALLEY AND ANN JACOBOUS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ THIS. That being said, rating and feelings are my own:

Twigger warning of self-harms and attempted unaliving.
This book takes place after the fmc fails to unalive herself and takes us on the journey of her getting help and being treated for her depression and anxiety. This story is raw and honest. The writing is beyond amazing and the excecution was just as well. There are a few things I wouldve stayed away from but this is an amazing read and I truly could not reccomend it more than I do.

WOW.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book, but it is safe to say that I am coming out of it in tears. This book has a beautiful sentiment that reminds the reader that death is a normal and beautiful part of life, and that it is an honor to be able to support someone through their final stage. This book hit very close to home for me, especially since I finished this book on the one-year anniversary of the death of someone that I loved and was very close to.

The topics covered in this book are heavy, but the author doesn't sugarcoat or attempt to glorify any of them. As someone with firsthand experience to many of the events that this book goes through, it is very realistic. As a side note, I appreciate the author's note at the end of the book, as that details the author's experience with death and the dying process in her own life.

Delilah and Aunt Fran are beautiful and complicated characters, and it's not always easy to convey such complex personalities and experiences in writing. This book will hold a special place in my heart forever, and I cannot wait to purchase the physical copy once it is published.

A huge thank you to Ann Jacobus, Lerner Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for a copy of this book. As someone who is sober I could relate so well to this read. The author does an incredible job showing how brave this girl is coping with all her own problems and then is side swiped with a whole other life obstacle.

I just finished Ann Jacobus’s second book, The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent, and I’d give it more than five stars if I could.

The topic matter is tough – suicide, alcoholism, cancer, death – but I truly love the way Ann writes and that kept me going until I was well and truly hooked.

Del is 18 and lives with her Aunt Fran in San Francisco. I’m glad I’ve been to San Francisco because I could picture every scene so easily. If you haven’t visited, it won’t matter because you will be able to see it clearly with your mind’s eye as you read.

As a recovering alcoholic who has attempted suicide, Del is trying to get her life on track, volunteering at the suicide prevention hotline, and preparing to enter college. Del’s mom has completed suicide and her dad has been moving around the world with his work. Del lived with him for awhile in London but it’s gloomy weather didn’t help her mental health challenges which is how she came to live with her aunt.

There’s a boy she likes who doesn’t appear to feel the same and then her aunt has a recurrence of cancer. Del tries to hold it together and it’s a struggle. You will love how she keeps trying even though it doesn’t go perfectly. You will be rooting for her. The poems in the book that were written by Aunt Fran add to how talented this author is.

I sat with my own mom in her finally month and I have never really been able to verbalize how incredibly hard but amazing the experience was. You will find that explained well in this book.

This book is really great and I can’t recommend it more. I’m super excited to see what this author writes next.

A phenomenal book on many levels. First of the reader gets to see life through eyes of a survivor of suicide and how she has reinvented herself. Then you see her learn to grow and progress as she is faced with her aunt's decline due to terminal cancer. This was a heartbreaking book, but one that was great to walk alongside the character in. I enjoyed getting to see into her anxiety ridden mind as she learned to take care of another person while still living her life. An amazing read.