shawna_reads's Reviews (471)

Very compelling read. The topic at hand is raw and evokes such an emotional response. I've never been so angry and frustrated with a book!

The author depicts his experience of depression and a suicide attempt at the age of 14. We then follow his life spent in the hospital, treatments, facing his friends, and how he and his family deal with the trauma. It's a memoir, but written like YA as he recounts his experience as a teenager. 

A relatable story for anyone with depression and seeing how teenagers face mental illness, however, I feel like it is more effective for youth as a target audience since the protagonist is a 14 year old hormonal boy. It did also have its funny moments where you're like "Oh, teenagers!"

As this was a memoir, I'm not going to give it a rating.

Slow going and predictable. The characters continuously made me mad with the decisions they were making. However, there was a lot of gore and it was fun to read!

Thrilling, gory, fast paced, entertaining. I had a lot of fun reading this one! 

A fast paced thriller that had me on the edge of my seat! A murder investigation, a dysfunctional family full of lies and deceit, red herrings everywhere... what more could you ask for? There were so many twists and turns, I kept shouting out "Whaaatttt?!" at every one of them.

The only problem I had was that some parts were dragged out to the point where everything was revealed quickly in the last 50 pages or so. However, that did not take away from the enjoyment as it is a page turner that keeps you guessing until the end!

I did a quick Wiki search on the Donner Party before starting so I had some background info. I enjoyed the supernatural elements that were added to make the story chilling and found myself invested in the second half of the book. It was very atmospheric, however it was difficult remembering each character as there were a lot of them.

Classics are either hit or miss with me, but this one was definitely a hit. It was beautifully written, there was great character development, and it was just wonderful! When I wasn't reading, I often found myself thinking about Jane and what would happen next in her life. I wasn't expecting to love it so much 🖤

A fun, fast paced story. I enjoyed it, however I wanted more. More character development, more insight into what was going on at the Men's Association, and more background information about Stepford's past.