Fuse by Hollay Ghadery absolutely blew me away. Two pages into the foreword and I knew this book was going to be amazing. The elegance and vulnerability of the foreword set the tone for the rest of the book. Fuse is a memoir but it doesn't really read like a traditional memoir. Time is not linear, instead we follow the unravelling of Hollay's thoughts around race, mental illness and motherhood.

Her words are rich in vulnerability and are full of poetic beauty. Hollay Ghadery explores the documented prevalence of mental health issues in bi-racial women. We also see her own experiences with being bi-racial and how it shaped her ever-evolving sense of identity. Hollay's life hasn't been an easy one - she's lived with and through eating and anxiety disorders, self-harm, OCD, misogyny within her family dynamics, and more. Yet there's a sense of triumph to her tales.

Fuse is personal and touching. It provides a much needed focus on the tensions bi-racial women experience around their bodies and their identities. The subject matter is raw and heavy, and at times it's a hard read, but I know that so many women will feel seen upon reading this book.

None of my experiences with body image have been as extreme as Hollay's but I spent years hating my body and trying to change it. The first chapter explores Hollay's thoughts on the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and her experience watching the movie with her young daughter, and it was so easy to step inside Hollay's mind. Fuse brims with emotions, it's relatable even when describing moments, feelings and experiences that differ greatly from my own.

Fuse is the kind of book I want to shout about from the rooftops. It was absolutely stunning. It's beautifully written and thought provoking. Yet I know it will be quite triggering to a lot of people. If you're in a good head space though, it's definitely worth a read.