Wolfwood by Marianna Baer

"artistic colonization" don't you mean "artistic Colin-ization"
I wish the magic had like...been explained more, but that's not necessary for the story.
Hey look. Trauma.
Also art and magic. and art.
Just a heads up. this dark.
384 Pages

Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron

Hey guys. Look it's in Missouri.
The Brooklyn 99 Reference. Boom boom.
When you casually make a joke about moving to Idaho because your brother is in Wyoming and your sister is in Utah, and then they bring up Idaho.
I'm not crying... I have no idea what you're talking about.
The fluff.

325 Pages

TS Song: Forever Winter, This Is Me Trying, Invisible String

Shipwrecked by Olivia Dade

When it literally starts in the first chapter....
The slow burn. The pining. The long-term pining.
Can y'all just communicate everything directly. Like....you hinting and you should be listening.....but like....y'all just gotta say how your trauma affects you and your fears and your insecurities....

Alex in the background being the shenanigan Cupid that he is. 
Hey look. It's sexism and fatphobia in the tv/movie industry.
I keep mixing up Peter and Ian in the chat, even though I know Peter is the main character and he's not Ian....like....why brain...
*laughs uncomfortably at Peter's character arc about being secure vs being happy.
I really need to know how Maria manages to pull a jar of fish out of nowhere......
The dolphin. Iconic.
Did I keep thinking about Outlander because rainy island....yes....
Ok but like....you can't drop that ship and not make a book about it...but also...saw it coming....
416 Pages

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

.....No one is 6'7"....
Me watching all this high school drama: 

So Rose is immature--but she's a teenager, so like....I have to cut her some slack.
*remembers how toxic I was in high school and college and cringes
Dimitri and Rose:

Me cringing at the 2007 book in 2022 cause eesh some of this did not age well.... mostly in terms of like....sensitivity to mental illness and stuff.....
So Lissa is Rapunzel but different.
Me knowing all of the tropes
352 Pages

The Hilarious World of Depression by John Moe

I'm not crying....pffttt. what are you talking about..me feeling seen...whaat. 
Also like...the humor..cause it just....matches mine
Also let's go off about talking about mental illness and depression and like...destigmatizing it... I am here for it. My favorite subject. 
304 Pages

Tears of Frost by Bree Barton

plz no love triangle plz no love triangle
I knew it i knew it i knew it.... I knew what Kristoffen (spelling) was talking about. I'm a genius.
also if they ruin my ship I'm throwing hands. 
hold my earrings
this is why we don't mess with free will, y'all. 
Can we just let the kids be alright for like...two minutes..
496 Pages

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I. am. so. uncomfortable. I am having so much second-hand anxiety...like... But also can we just...hug Eleanor (after asking her if she's ok with a hug)
fdklsajj;l;j Raymond....I guess you could say everybody loves Raymond...haha. I'm funny.

Soft. Look at all the soft. Like....People caring and like....valuing Eleanor... I'm fine...
My feelings. Like....

Meow. kitty. I love her.
352 Pages

TS Song: Tolerate It, It's Nice to Have a Friend, this is me trying, Clean, Cold As You, 

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

*sees that the love interest is a carpenter...sign me up. 

It's the baby goat in pajamas and the roo-rooing dog for me....
The snark. Is just. My favorite.
Also the commentary on how communities that are rural and less-populated tend to have less access to affordable medical care and just suck it up and muddle through.
The statistics on domestic abuse and how the most dangerous time for a victim is when they leave.
ER doctors are just fantastic--cause like...they have to think on their feet and stuff and deal with people on their worst days. 
All the small town vibes, and the small business vibes and the handcrafted.
It's just fluff and rainbows and I love it. It's a Hallmark movie in a book, I knew what I was getting into. 
400 Pages

Taylor Swift song: Daylight (also King of My Heart)

Icebreakers by R. L. Graziadei

Insert the get-along shirt
They both love FMA Brotherhood
ALSO: the surviving on Iced Coffee
"Tom Holland and Zendaya: A bisexual's dream" I mean.
Ok but the dissociating when the depression is bad just hits. 
and the parents taking care of the kids but not knowing the kids....oof. 
ok but the fanfic.....smirk face. 
320 Pages

Taylor Swift Song: this is me trying (and Sparks Fly)

The Friend-Zone by Abby Jimenez

Just a heads-up, there is a character death, and head-trauma, and comas, and an accident involving a drunk driver
I'm gong to put all my feelings right here and then one day I'll die
Am I still confused why they send firemen to accidents, yes. Am I going to complain. Absolutely not. *looks up why...aha.
It's the little dog with the doggie stairs for me...because my dog is 16 pounds of zoom and leaping lizards
384 Pages

Beach Read by Emily Henry

"January is a unique name...It's not like I'm a Christy or a Christine" ....rude. 
Maybe depressed writers can only write depressing books...laughs uncomfortably
"promise not to fall in love with me"
Alexa play basically every song from Folklore cause it could be relevant.
hey look that's trauma that's been normalized when it shouldn't have been.
It's the people watching and the bouncing ideas of each other and being neighbors at the lake for me. 
I will protect Gus with literally everything in me--and also I relate to him because he has EMOTIONS that he wants to understand.
384 Pages

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

fdskallfjlsakflja;;gsldfhjfjkdsafjklsfdjklfds
Insert that scene of Rita Skeeter talking to Harry: "boy of 12" "...14"
I just. Love all of this. The fanart/fanfic aspect, the art and the writing, the angst and the mental health issues, and like jfkldsajklsfs.
I love Wallace and I love Eliza and I just wanna protect them. 
Also baby brothers. fjkdls
432 Pages

To Sir Phillip With Love by Julia Quinn

--Just a warning--this is a rant...and also maybe a soap box. There might be spoilers, but also like meh. 

Hey it's like The Sound of Music (the trickster children, and the single father who hecka absent but well-meaning, and the girl who comes in) except I don't get to stare at Christopher Plummer for three hours, and instead of Nazis, there's stigmas against mental illness and people who struggle with suicidal thoughts. Oh and women. 
Yes. The mentally ill do recognize that they're typically seen as burdens. That's typically what hits them on the head in their brains. But all humans are burdens because that is the inherent nature of being human. Humans take up space.
I just love it when someone says "Your problems don't matter or count or compare to mine because I've suffered more,"
I really wanted to like Phillip... Because there were parts of him that were so good--he cared a lot about his children and he was nerdy--and then he would ruin it by saying something stupid. Maybe I'm just sensitive to depression and suicide for personal reasons, because other people enjoyed the book and thought it was romantic because he's a suffering hero or whatever. I think his first wife suffered more than him.
I recognize that Julia Quinn was trying to "explore mental illness in the time period." I don't think she did it well. She may have "represented" the time period and what mental illness was like, but like...no. It's fiction, so that means that you can treat your characters better than the time period would have.
416 Pages

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

It's fluffy and it has all the fanfic vibes.
Also. We love great representation of mental illness. Especially the physical symptoms of depression and anxiety/panic attacks, and how it just generally make life difficult. The talking about the stigma around mental illness, in the workplace and in social settings.  
People caring about other people's mental health and just being supportive of it is my favorite. I'm just gonna go cry and think about my friends. 
Also the ace and demi rep is just. My favorite. 
I wish we would have had more of Charlie's backstory, because I love angst, but also like. I love him because he's awkward and adorable and trying his best. 
368 Pages

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

"There is no point spending an entire life trying to win the love you didn't feel when you needed it" ....ummmm...ow. I knew I was going to be called out, but not like this. 

"You cannot try to be; you can only let yourself be"
272 Pages

The Autoimmune Brain: A Five-Step Plan for Treating Chronic Pain, Depression, Anxiety, Fatigue and Attention Disorders

  The Autoimmune Brain: A Five-Step Plan for Treating Chronic Pain, Depression, Anxiety, Fatigue and Attention Disorders 

by David S. Younger

Pages: 288

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

This is not a book that most people will every word or even every page. Younger goes into great detail describing how the brain should work and how people with autoimmune disorder's brains do not work that way. He not only addresses how changes in the immune system affects and changes the brain, but particularly looks at bacterial, viral ,and parasitic infections and just in time for 2020 and its lingering affects -- traumatic stress both physical and emotional. He also tackles how this all works together with genetics as well. As a reader I definitely no longer felt alone with my long list of symptoms, but with my fuzzy brain, I wasn't able to delve into this book the way I would have liked. I plan to return to it and give it another try.  

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

sfjkldssfjklda. LIBRARIES. MAGIC LIBRARIES
Ok but finally someone talking about how "want" is actually meaning "to lack" like jkfldsasfjkld

When a guy is mentioned twice, and you start shipping it... Also where is my guy? Is it because I'm not social?

I'm not crying. You're crying. 
I'm not saying I need fanfiction with a more closed ending because I'm that kind of person, but like....please. IT'S WISH FUFILLMENT OK. LIKE I NEED TO KNOW THAT WHAT I PLAN FOR MY LIFE HAPPENS BUT I KNOW THAT'S NOT A THING. NO I'M NOT HAVING A QUARTER LIFE CRISIS.
yeah I'm fine. Commentary of suicide and depression and living and I can't. 

304 Pages

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

(I'VE MET MY READING GOAL FOR THE YEAR).
I honestly checked this book out because V.E. Schwab plus long line. for a digital copy (yes I jump on bandwagons)...And now I'm an emotional wreck. My history nerd is geeking out, and my English major with my love of the arts is geeking out. 
This writing style is really pretty. I really liked how the timelines were weaved together. 
Also I'm sad now. How dare they make me feel things. 
The bi-cons.
I feel personally attacked by this book. How dare there be characters that I relate to on a spiritual level. 
MY BIRTHDAY GOT A DATE. AND I WAS ALIVE THEN. ahhhh I was 18.
And my sister's birthday! Oh my gosh... (June 13)
....why are there always cute boys...
Ok but Henry... I love him...like....I relate to him so much...All of his struggles and feelings, and I can't. He is me, but older (and you know, a guy). Send help.. Can I keep him? 
Like.... struggling with the idea of being known and loved and seen, and being remembered, and being free. 
And the idea of stories and words and I can't.
I do not have words to describe all of my feelings about this book. I am wrecked and I don't know how I will recover from this... Guys...I need someone to scream about this with.....Guys?
V.E. Schwab has murdered me.
448 Pages

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich, with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul

Soooooo Evan's anxiety..... I feel seen.
Also all the self-loathing and feeling like a burden.....
I loved the musical (I haven't actually seen it, but I love the music!) so getting to be in Evan's head and see Connor's perspective....
I love that the audiobook was read by the actors that play Evan and Connor (and we get to hear Zoey singing).
368 Pages

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an understated but interesting read, and I enjoyed learning more about Persian culture and being Persian in America. The story is definitely more character driven than plot oriented. I mean, there is a general plot, but you read this one for the coming of age journey, more than anything else.

Darius is a bit of a misfit, with his misunderstood depressing, being overweight and emotional, and frequently being bullied. He struggles in his relationship with his father, which is a constant concern and core theme of the book, and he does not really have a true friend. In the end, it’s about relationships and how those impact the quality and course of your life, from grandparents, to parents, to siblings, to friends.

Bonus points for making me desperately crave a good cup of tea. I also enjoyed all of the Tolkien references, the solid representation for depression, the diversity, the very subtle questioning of sexuality, and the setting (Iran).

This isn’t one of those loud stories that grabs your heart in a fist and squeezes until you can’t breathe. It’s much softer and the quieter than that. I enjoyed it overall.

Pages: 316