WOW!!!
I don’t even know how to describe the book to do it justice!
It takes you on a journey thu a families journey thru mental illness.
The writing grabs you and is in so much detail you can actually imagine being there looking at the same things and actually feeling how the characters are feeling. Even the raw emotion. I couldn’t even stop the tears when Sunny lost her grandparents.
I will definitely recommend this to anyone who really wants a gripping story.
Maybe the story hit me a bit more since I have seen how one thing can trigger a schizophrenic episode and my grandparents were in the war. But I could not put this book down. I just wanted to get lost in it.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This is exactly what I needed. I tend to stick to romantasy books but decided to give this book a try.

The way mental illness is explained and how the author allowed the reader to experience this mental illness was fantastic. Not only do you get to hear about Sunny’s journey, but you get the point of view from her husband and father.

I felt that mental illness was portrayed well throughout the story and the way it caused other lives to spiral helped the reader get a full picture of what was actually going on.

I highly recommend this book. I couldn’t put it down. If you’re looking for a more adult version of Kathleen Glasgow books then this is definitely for you.

I received this ebook for free from NetGalley. I originally read 20% and DNF. The author’s husband, who noted he publishes her books, reached out and asked me to reconsider so I gave the book another chance. While I have raised my review from 1 star to 2 stars after finishing the book, I cannot honestly rate it any higher.

The description of this sounded promising, but it was so bogged down with unnecessary details and things that could’ve been cut out. The writing was confusing with several chapters written as Sunny, then when switching to another character, the story would go back to the time that was covered already. It made for stilted reading instead of forward progress. I’m not sure why this book is set in 2001-2002. Other than a quick mention about 9/11, the time period being over 20 years ago does nothing for the story. It also doesn’t make sense why it would be weird that Sunny’s dad doesn’t have a cell phone. That would not have been weird in 2002.

Sunny was unbelievable when lucid and her ability to think rationally one minute after hallucinating was not realistic. She was not a likable character which made it impossible to feel for her.

I find it very hard to believe that her father would not have recognized signs of mental illness way before anything happened because he was aware of her mother’s and grandmother’s illnesses. Joshua was irritating and rude about other patients in the hospital. The way everybody, including Sunny!, spoke about mental illness and people with it was atrocious. Honestly, the only character I had any sympathy for was Linda.

This was an absorbing, compelling read that kept pulling me farther and farther along. Even though it is a novel, it expresses truths about mental illness that a textbook simply can't. It is told from the viewpoints of the Sunny, the person who has a severe mental illness, her husband Josh and her father Peter.

Sunny gives us a vivid accounting of what the world looks and feels like from the point of view of someone experiencing a psychotic break, To put it simply, it is terrifying, a dark world of no hope. Going beyond that, Lonczak gives us insight into why some people discontinue their medication, the very thing that is helping them.

Josh and Peter"s accounts are equally compelling. Those who care for the severely mentally ill have to live in a world where there is sometimes little hope, treading water with their loved ones and never seeming to make a permanent gain. Even though the accounts of all three characters are harrowing, the book is, at bottom, a hopeful one. Illnesses can be managed. People who have these illnesses can live good lives.

NB. Those readers who might be negatively affected by depictions of suicide or attempted suicide should be forewarned that there are brief passages concerning these things in this book.

This was almost a DNF for me. I found the story to be WAY too long and the characters all rubbed me the wrong way. Ultimately, I'm very glad I finished it but I'm not going to say that this, to me, was well written. The story reads like a faux memoir and the characters, particularly Sunny and Joshua, feel very detached from their stories. They tell their stories in separate chapters and they feel somewhat omniscient in the way they relate to what they say. And Sunny and Joshua do not feel like real people. More like, perhaps, archetypes of 'the mentally unstable woman' and 'the madly in love, always forgiving man'. I'm not sure how else to describe them. Joshua in particular is really too good to be true - Mr. Wonderful, 120% devoted to Sunny, throws himself at the altar of love. Again, I enjoyed the story but I'm having a hard time recommending it wholeheartedly.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley! As a clinical mental health counselor and book lover, this was a wonderful read.

I love this book. It did not grasp me at first but I loved the concept of the story so i kept going and it did not disappoint. I suffer with mental illness myself and the author did an amazing job giving the perspective of everyone involved in the life of someone with mental illness. I truly felt I was pulled into her life and felt like someone else knew what i go through on a daily basis. I will definitely recommend this book to others.

I had to keep reminding myself that this was a novel. It was written so well and absolutely could have been the true story of a young woman and her battle with schizoaffective disorder. Mental disease is horrible for those with it as well as the friends and family of these victims. In this novel, Sunny is a young woman affected by this disease. The author chose to tell the story from Sunny’s perspective as well as those of her father, Peter, and her boyfriend/husband Joshua. It was interesting to hear all of these points of view to better understand the terror of someone who has the disease and believes people are after her (in Sunny’s case, Nazis), and how people who are close to her feel and how they are dealing with it. We follow along on their journey from before Sunny was diagnosed, to her diagnosis and hospitalizations, and through her fight to get through it all. It’s such a sad and horrifying story and I could not read it in one sitting, as I felt too disturbed and had to put it aside every once in a while. That’s how well written it is.
Thank you to Netgalley, Ivy Lane Press, and Heather Lonczak for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

It took me longer than normal to get through this book due to the length and heavy nature of it. Trigger warnings include discussion surrounding the Holocaust, genocide, abuse of humans, severe mental illness, and suicide.

We begin the book with Sunny, a 22 year old who is extremely smart with a desire to edit books professionally and whom is engaged to the love of her life, Josh. The book is told in alternating viewpoints from Sunny, Josh, and Peter (Sunny’s father). Soon after the book starts, Sunny experiences her first psychotic break, brought on by the death of her grandparent’s, who helped raise her and with whom she is especially close. Her grandparents are both Holocaust survivors and Sunny has spent years researching and learning all she can about the genocide of her people. As Sunny’s mental health deteriorates, she believes she is being hunted by the Nazi’s. Through Sunny, Josh and Peter’s different viewpoints, the reader learns about the pervasive and debilitating impact severe mental illness has on patients, family and friends alike. As a licensed clinical social worker, I found Sunny’s experiences realistic to what I have seen in a clinical setting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you for the Advanced Reading Copy from Ivy Lane Press

4 stars-This was a really tough read, emotionally. The amount of detail that the author goes into makes you fully understand what thoughts occupy the mind of someone who is schizophrenic (later diagnosed as schizophrenia-affective because of the mania and depression.) The toll it takes on the loved ones is also explored. I did find that I had to skip a few pages here and there because there was so much detail, which makes the book about an eight hour read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Fragility of Light is the story of one woman's descent into mental illness. Such illnesses, while often genetic in nature, are strongly impacted by life events, and an understanding of the life events of the patient is necessary to developing an understanding of how the illness progresses. To do this, the author spends considerable time providing background information about Sunny, the main character, who has what appears to be a perfect life, right up until the symptoms begin - which, from a psychological perspective, is necessary to understanding her experiences, but from a story-telling perspective, means that nothing actually happens for the first quarter or more of the book, which reads more like a diary than a novel. Once events trigger Sunny's illness, however, things begin to move more quickly.

This is a work of fiction; nonetheless, the events surrounding and following the onset of Sunny's illness are filled with reality; there are no polite synonyms, no bleeping out of profanity. The novel is told in the first person, primarily from Sunny's perspective, but with occasional chapters told by her husband and father, who fill in their own perspectives on events. Once the novel passes the introductory information, it moves fairly quickly, but until then, it drags. The writing is occasionally flat and struggles to convey the emotions that accompany events; nonetheless, it was compelling, and readers will want to reach the end and find the outcome, which reaches a conclusion that implies an ending, but leaves it open, as Sunny realizes that her mental illness is an ongoing issue, not something that can be treated and then ignored.

This is a difficult novel to read because of the frank discussion of mental illness, homelessness and how mental illness is a part of that issue, the ultimate outcome of some mental illnesses, and the conditions inside facilities for the mentally ill; therefore, it is recommended for readers 16 to adult.

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

The Fragility of Light by Heather S Lonczak is a deep read. A tough read. But one that is done so intricately and so well it absorbs you.

At the heart is Sunny, a Jewish woman in her mid-20’s. She is very curious about everything her grandparents went thru during the Holocaust, and that becomes the background of her story. Sunny begins hearing voices and thinking everyone around her is SS and going to harm her.

Joshua is Sunny’s husband, and Peter is her father. You’ll also read from their POV about what they go thru when Sunny is triggered.

This book has 3 different POV’s, but the transitions are seamless, and you’ll have no difficulty keeping up. I honestly thought this was a true story it was written so well.

Wow. I don’t know if my words will do justice to the beauty of this book, but I’m going to try. From the second I opened this book I knew it was going to grab on tight and not let go.

This book explores what it is like to live with mental illness as well as what it is to love someone with mental illness. The pain and the stigma, but also the strength and resilience that it takes to overcome it all.

As a mother to a teen who suffers with mental illness this book tore me apart and then stitched me back together. I am so thankful to NetGalley, Ivy Lane Press, and Heather Lonczak for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future.

Oh this was such a beautiful story about a young woman dealing with mental illness. The storytelling was amazing and made me tear up so many times. Autoread author from now on. I’d love a physical copy of this book❤️❤️

Wow this story almost reads like non fiction. It is strikingly realistic. As someone who personally has had a family member with this illness, I must say the author displayed an amazing amount of knowledge about it. I felt like I was looking back into the past and what my mother went through.
Anyone struggling with mental illness or who has had or currently has a family member with mental illness will undoubtably see the parallels in this book.

Lonczak has been through a lot in her life and she shares so much of it in her book. I enjoyed the glimpses into her personal story. The writing is excellent and drew me in. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.