Andria is struggling to deal with her twin sister's death by overdose, while also counting down the days she can take her driving test which is an even bigger deal than normal due to Andria's epilepsy and doctor's orders she needs to be 6 months seizure free. As pressure piles up and even worse things come to light in connection to Andria's family and Iris's death, a boy from Iris's past comes back into Andria's life and she can't help having feelings for him.

This is a very typical YA book with a lot of angst and drama from boy troubles, over protective parents and what to do after school finishes decisions. But there are also a lot of serious topics covered in this book, some of which really surprised me from sucide, drug use and overdosing as well as sexual assault and child molestation. Plus we see experiences of living with a chroncic and often debilitating illness from Andria as well.

The writing in this was decent though I think there are part of the storylines that I'm just too old to really resonate with now. I felt some of the story was a bit of a shock at how hard it was considering it was a YA - from Iris's drug use being heroin (I don't know but I find a 16-year-old shooting up heroin a bit too hardcore to be believable - and for it not to be noticeable by the parents either), and then the rather shocking turn of events with the stepfather which I really did not see coming. I would have liked to have seen Andria finally go to proper counselling after everything particularly because the only thing we do hear about it is how Andria's mom is against counselling and airing out your issues which is not very healthy.

The romance was fine, and even sweet at times especially with the poetry - but I always find it a bit weird in books when characters go out with their dead sibling's boyfriends/girlfriends. It will never not have a bit of an ick factor to it.

This book deals with some pretty heavy topics, namely drug use, sexual abuse, and mental health issues. It seems almost every teen book these days deals with these subjects, to the point you grow tired of it. However, Dreaming of Antigone is one of the best I’ve read, that actually does realistic justice to the problems sadly faced by too many teenagers today. I was drawn in first by the cover, then the description. I’m a twin myself, so I thought it would be an interesting read with regards to survivors guilt, and i wasn’t wrong. I can’t even begin to imagine how I’d feel in the same situation. I’ve suffered from mental health issues myself, and I identified strongly with some of Andria’s coping mechanisms. Stargazing especially. All in all, I found this a beautiful, emotional read. Certainly difficult at times and a tragedy, but still recommended reading. And that cover! Beautiful.

Dreaming of Antigone is a great YA read, with complex characters, a little romance and lots of teen drama without being over the top. I enjoyed reading it and will recommend it to students, but with the caveat that some of the content (suicide, drugs, sexual abuse) means it won’t be suitable for all readers.

I have some complicated thoughts about this book, so I’m going to start with what I found most engaging, and then talk about the hard things. I liked the astronomy connection—it’s an awesome hobby for Andria to have, and is really interesting to read about. I liked the exploration of how epilepsy affects Andria’s life: her seizures standing in the way of her driver’s license, and ability to make friends through sports like Iris did. Speaking of friends, Andria’s were awesome. Natalie was super-cute especially (her mom’s baked goods sound so delicious, too!). I loved that Trista and Natalie never made Andria feel like an outsider even though they were more Iris’ friends. Their supportiveness really spoke to me. Andria, in return, became a good friend and always reassured them and made an effort to hang out and socialize, which I liked.

Even though we didn’t meet her, I LOVE Iris! I wish she was in more scenes, but from the way Andria talks about her I really liked her character. The “flashback” moments to their conversations were adorable. She was so complicated, and a great character. As much as Dreaming of Antigone is about friendship, romance, or astronomy, it is more about sisters. I truly felt for Andria when she learned more about Iris’ life and how she found out all of the secrets that Iris had kept.

All of that being said, there were a number of things about the story that truly didn’t sit well with me. Firstly, I was blown away that Andria thought it appropriate to date her dead sister’s boyfriend, especially because of how Alex and Iris got involved with drugs together. I think the romance was out of character for Andria, but also odd in the context of the novel and it didn’t sit well with me.

I didn’t love how the book talked about addiction. I think the mentality of being able to love someone out of their addiction (“his demons could fight mine” and “I could save her”) is truly harmful. Addiction is a real illness that needs to be treated by professionals and can’t be healed by a couple of dates.

Andria’s attitude towards everyone in her life seemed to change in every scene, especially her parents. She could be fighting with Mom then hugging her, calling Craig a good step-dad then calling him a dork/insulting him in the narration. Her opinions seemed to reset often, and overall I disliked the lack of narrative consistency.

There were so many storylines packed into the book. I think it would be easier to form emotional connections with the characters and story if it had just one or two central themes/plot lines: addiction, family/sisters, romance, sexual predators, and Andria’s epilepsy, to name a few. Because Dreaming of Antigone tackled all of these issues, I could see twists coming from a mile away and I wasn’t very shocked when I read some of the big reveals.

Overall, although I liked some aspects of Dreaming of Antigone, I give it 3/5 stars because I couldn’t get past some of the faults I found. That being said, maybe you will find a new favorite in this book! Give it a try!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review which has not altered my opinion.

I went into this book with very little knowledge of what was going to be happening. It follows a girl named Andria whose twin died of a drug overdose. Andria’s twin was the popular girl who seemed to have everything but now Andria is left wondering how she missed this and her family has to deal with the repercussions. Not just that but she’s falling for the boy she blames for Iris’ death. I’m not usually one for this kind of book because it does make me sad, but Robin Bridges was somehow able to make this book funny and sad at the same time.

This book really was well done, and brought in many different aspects of what can cause a person to take their own life. It addresses miscommunication, denial, and the terrible problems secrets can have on entire families and towns. I really enjoyed reading this book and it was a quick read, however there were a few things that just did not really sit well with me. For instance, the romance. As much as I liked Alex and Andria, the fact that he’s her sister’s ex really did not sit well with me. Not that it really matters, it’s their business not mine (I’m ignoring the fictional aspect of this), but it felt a bit uncomfortable. Not to mention all the secrets that they were keeping and the issues that they will end up running into are cause for a pause and reflect button. I also was not the biggest fan of the ending, I feel like Iris, though important to the storyline, was forgotten and Andria herself seemed to almost not care about her sister’s death. It was as though she was just out of the way now.

One thing I really loved (well two things) was the reference to the stars and stargazing. I love that Andria had her own hobbies and was not obsessed with Alex as much as some other stories play out, and the stars are freaking awesome and I’m sure there’s metaphors here you can take from the vastness of the universe being something akin to Andria feeling alone between her seizures and her overprotective mother and her sister’s death. I also loved the representation of seizures in the story, showing supportive friends is something that I feel is lost in many young adult books, but also the overprotectiveness of a parent and the problems (and problem solvers) that come with it.

Overall, this book was a good and short contemporary read that was quick to get through and addressed some serious issues of death and moving on. I would recommend this book for people who love contemporary, but I warn that this isn’t all fluff, there’s some serious stuff as well. 3.5 out of 5.

This book was quite surprising tome.
It seemed like it was going to be a good read. But I honestly hadn't expected what I got myself into.

It was a refreshing new story that I absolutely fell in love with.

The characters were great, and relatable. And I really truly loved the plot.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. I'm not going to lie, I added it to my TBR solely for that cover because would you just look at it! Dreaming of Antigone follows the story of Iris, a girl who has epilepsy and a girl who just lost her twin sister to a heroin overdose 6 months ago. The story goes through Iris's struggles to grieve her sister while uncovering more and more information about what happened that led up to that night her sister died. I really enjoyed how fleshed out the characters were. I liked the use of Antigone's story, poetry, and astronomy in the the plot. It was a wonderfully written book.

Achingly beautiful! up there with John Green and Rainbow Rowell!

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*

while this book wasn't exactly for me, i feel that other people would enjoy it!