A Beginner’s Guide to Losing Your Mind by Emily Reynolds

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Thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS (non-fiction) for the opportunity to read and review A Beginner’s Guide to Losing Your Mind by Emily Reynolds! This helpful and down to earth book involves diagnosis, self-care, dating, education, self-harm and suicide, family and friends, the Internet and recovery and relapse as the chapters listed in the table of contents. The introduction describes the author’s personal experiences of depression and what she went through before diagnosis. This down to earth book offers realistic advice, help and ideas of how to overcome and maintain mental illness. The author shares everything to help others that are struggling and to encourage those that feel like there’s no hope. The book also includes a list of resources and hotlines for help and getting questions answered; breathing and relaxation exercises as well as ideas for a mood diary. I feel that teenagers could benefit from this helpful book and I plan on purchasing it for the library. 5 stars.

Year of No Clutter by Eve Schaub

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I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of Year of No Clutter by Eve Schaub. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review this book! Year of No Clutter is a woman’s memoir of her lifetime struggle with clutter and how she overcame it and dealt with the objects in her home. I’m immediately drawn in by the author’s sense of humor and I can also relate to the clutter problem. As we all know, clutter can just build and build! I worry that I’m a book hoarder, of course I am, and I’m determined to fix that title to home library owner and consolidate my book collection into a functional room. The quotes opening each chapter are charmingly appropriate and dead on with the content of each chapter. Many profound statements can be found throughout this book, but this one really stuck with me, “…I guess what we hoard says an awful lot about us and what we’re afraid of.” I love the idea of photographing children’s artwork and creating a book with the photos for each child. Great space saver with easy access to the artwork. I appreciate the helpful resources listed at the end of the book because sometimes the biggest hurdle in de-junking is what to do with the items you’re getting rid of. 5 stars for an inspiring, interesting and helpful book!

The Girl From RawBlood by Catriona Ward

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to Edelweiss, NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review The Girl from RawBlood by Catriona Ward. Iris lives with her Papa in the house called RawBlood. This house has been in their family for generations and the family members supposedly have a disease called Horror autotoxicus. They are supposed to live by a strict set of rules, one of which states, “no friends “. The story splits between past and present and dives into the sordid history of RawBlood. The prose is reminiscent of classical writing and brings the reader into that atmosphere with a Gothic feel. Vivisection, drugs, hallucinations and dysfunctional relationships help the story move forward into the horror genre. Even though the story line is somewhat confusing, the disjointed feeling also helps with the oddities and creepiness of the story. 4 stars.