3.25 Stars

While I overall enjoyed the themes of identifying mental health throughout this book, I found the storyline to be a unsatisfying. The short story compilation was not as cohesive as I expected. I did enjoy getting immersed in the small town of Crosby, Maine. The writing is beautiful.

Not only is this such a cute, heartwarming love story, it's a very important narrative about a trans teen trying to navigate a world that isn't always kind. This is a story that sucks you in and a book you can't put down. This allowed me to see the perspective of a trans teen navigating high school. The story of Felix Love can teach us all a lot about finding yourself and allowing yourself to find love.

This is a book that I will be thinking about for a long time. While this book is fiction, it sheds so much light on arranged marriages and Arab culture. It changed my perspective and taught me to not be so quick to judge other cultures. Etaf Rum was able to lure the reader in with a great story while also teaching so much about the difficulties of being a woman in her culture.

To me, the story got a bit repetitive towards the end, but it was still so great. I think everyone should read this to open their eyes to a different way of thinking.

This book made me sick to my stomach but I also couldn’t put it down. This is the story of high schooler Enchanted who aspires to be a singer, but her parents want her to focus on a more realistic dream. Enchanted thinks she’s lucked out when famous musician Korey Fields invites her on tour with him and shows a romantic interest in her (despite the 11 year age gap). Enchanted’s journey is full of surprises and twists. The content warnings for this are listed at the beginning of the book and include: mentions of sexual abuse, assault, rape, child abuse, kidnapping, and opioid addiction.

This memoir details Nina’s experiences loving addicts, but also teaches the reader about larger-scope topics such as womanhood, sexism, and codependency. The book explores loving an addict and all of the stigmas and struggles that come along with that. Nina details how AA and Al Anon came to be, sharing her experiences with both. She details how addiction and drugs and alcohol impacted her family and how she persevered.

I can’t explain how hard this book hit. This books is SO beautifully written. I found myself getting lost in the authors’ words, in the best way possible. Not only did I learn about Nina’s story, I learned a lot about myself and love along the way. This is definitely a book I’ll read again & will discover something new about myself every time I pick it up. I highly recommend, even for those who don’t have experience with addiction or addicts.