Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
All my reviews can be found at:http://jessicasreadingroom.com
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads/Amazon
I received a copy as a part of the blog tour.
I did not realize this was book four in The Maddie Chronicles when I started it. The first three in the series are:
My Sister’s Wedding
My Summer Vacation
Fear of Falling
When I found out it was the fourth then things made sense: I felt I was ‘missing’ pieces of information during the first part of the novel. I would advise you to read the others in the series before reading Till it Stops Beating.
OK, now that that is over…..
Till it Stops Beating is a coming of age novel for Maddie. She is transitioning from childhood to adulthood and along the way faces some difficult issues, among them anxiety and cancer. Hannah also deals with heartbreak in relationships, family issues and of course: jelly doughnuts. The first few chapters had me craving doughnuts!
Goodman did a good job capturing a teen dealing with anxiety and an unknown future that makes up one’s senior year of high school, which really is a year of change and big decisions. Then in addition to all of that, she has to deal with a relative’s cancer diagnosis and that unknown can be heartbreaking
I enjoyed the second part immensely; I felt I really got to know Maddie through the road trip she took with friends.
You will laugh and might tear up reading this one. The ending is a pleasant one with hope for the future. And the title just gives you all the feelings once you have finished the novel!
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads/Amazon
I received a copy as a part of the blog tour.
I did not realize this was book four in The Maddie Chronicles when I started it. The first three in the series are:
My Sister’s Wedding
My Summer Vacation
Fear of Falling
When I found out it was the fourth then things made sense: I felt I was ‘missing’ pieces of information during the first part of the novel. I would advise you to read the others in the series before reading Till it Stops Beating.
OK, now that that is over…..
Till it Stops Beating is a coming of age novel for Maddie. She is transitioning from childhood to adulthood and along the way faces some difficult issues, among them anxiety and cancer. Hannah also deals with heartbreak in relationships, family issues and of course: jelly doughnuts. The first few chapters had me craving doughnuts!
Goodman did a good job capturing a teen dealing with anxiety and an unknown future that makes up one’s senior year of high school, which really is a year of change and big decisions. Then in addition to all of that, she has to deal with a relative’s cancer diagnosis and that unknown can be heartbreaking
I enjoyed the second part immensely; I felt I really got to know Maddie through the road trip she took with friends.
You will laugh and might tear up reading this one. The ending is a pleasant one with hope for the future. And the title just gives you all the feelings once you have finished the novel!
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
Review: I clearly didn't look into this book enough before agreeing to review it, because I didn't realize it was part of a series. But despite clearly missing out on some major life events for Maddie, I was able to jump right in to this. It actually worked out well, I like how the author made the reader aware of previous storylines, not by just repeating them, but by having Maddie catch up with an old friend and share her story.
But what really stuck with me is how realistic this book is when tackling the issue of anxiety. I don't think I can praise this author enough for how well she portrayed Maddie's anxiety, and how she coped with the major life events happening around her. While reading this, I found myself comparing it to the later books of the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot - because both authors did a fantastic job writing about panic attacks, anxiety, and how utterly exhausting it can be. And since the Princess Diaries is one of my all time favorite series... comparing this book to that is high praise indeed.
A few grammatical errors and typos can pull the reader from the story, but there's enough good here to suck you right back in. Overall, a recommended read! And I would be interested in reading more of the series sometime. Adding it to my ever-growing list!
See my full review, and more, on my blog, Novel Addiction.
Review: I clearly didn't look into this book enough before agreeing to review it, because I didn't realize it was part of a series. But despite clearly missing out on some major life events for Maddie, I was able to jump right in to this. It actually worked out well, I like how the author made the reader aware of previous storylines, not by just repeating them, but by having Maddie catch up with an old friend and share her story.
But what really stuck with me is how realistic this book is when tackling the issue of anxiety. I don't think I can praise this author enough for how well she portrayed Maddie's anxiety, and how she coped with the major life events happening around her. While reading this, I found myself comparing it to the later books of the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot - because both authors did a fantastic job writing about panic attacks, anxiety, and how utterly exhausting it can be. And since the Princess Diaries is one of my all time favorite series... comparing this book to that is high praise indeed.
A few grammatical errors and typos can pull the reader from the story, but there's enough good here to suck you right back in. Overall, a recommended read! And I would be interested in reading more of the series sometime. Adding it to my ever-growing list!
See my full review, and more, on my blog, Novel Addiction.
Thank you Rachel’s Random Resources for providing a copy of this book for the blog tour.
It is my first book of The Maddie Chronicles series, So I don’t have any idea if there is a background of all the characters in previous books, I didn’t feel at any point that it is a part of series.
Maddie is suffering from anxiety and missing Justin, he isn’t officially his bf but the only guy in her life. Her life is already complicated her sister just got divorced and now her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer. When Sean entered in her life.
Description highlights only cancer and anxiety but a major portion of the story also highlights drugs and alcohol and ALOT.
In the start it is only focused on anxiety then cancer than the broken heart and love scenario then again anxiety and cancer, which makes the story look divided into parts, which obviously affects the reading tempo.
The thing I really liked is family bonding unlike many of other YA there was the role of the family.
There were many characters who feel like fillers, Maybe I haven’t read previous books that’s why but the Noah guy, I didn’t get what was his role in the story.
I read it in one sitting if you are looking for an easy and quick read it is the one.
It is my first book of The Maddie Chronicles series, So I don’t have any idea if there is a background of all the characters in previous books, I didn’t feel at any point that it is a part of series.
Maddie is suffering from anxiety and missing Justin, he isn’t officially his bf but the only guy in her life. Her life is already complicated her sister just got divorced and now her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer. When Sean entered in her life.
Description highlights only cancer and anxiety but a major portion of the story also highlights drugs and alcohol and ALOT.
In the start it is only focused on anxiety then cancer than the broken heart and love scenario then again anxiety and cancer, which makes the story look divided into parts, which obviously affects the reading tempo.
The thing I really liked is family bonding unlike many of other YA there was the role of the family.
There were many characters who feel like fillers, Maybe I haven’t read previous books that’s why but the Noah guy, I didn’t get what was his role in the story.
I read it in one sitting if you are looking for an easy and quick read it is the one.
♡ wordpress ♡ tumblr ♡ instagram ♡ twitter ♡
_____________________________
""Never worry about your heart till it stops beating."
And then she added,
"As long as you are alive and beating, sweetie things will hurt." I stop and look at the faces of my mother, father, sister, Justin, and Tony and I add,
"And I hurt," I laugh while the tears fall,
"So I guess I don't have to worry.""
So unfortunately I'm going to go against the grain here and give it it's first 3/5. I had a sneak peak at the other reviews (the rating, rather than the writing) and so far people have given it no less than 5/5. I'm glad that it seems to be a novel that will be widely enjoyed but for me, I wasn't a huge fan, I found myself being only mildly entertained rather than the wide-eyed-no-blinking-hands-clenched-mouth-slightly-gaping reading that I would award a 5/5 to.
Maddie Hickman is an anxious seventeen year old who has always coped using self-help books. But then her grandmother gets diagnosed with cancer. And the person she really wants to be with has been sent off to military school. Suddenly the self-help books don't do it for her anymore and she spirals downwards into a pit of teenage angst and anxiety.
This is my first Maddie Hickman novel, which may be why I'm not as emotionally invested as previous reviewers. But it seemed a little messy to me. Yes, yes I know it's an ARC. But, here's one example, it started off written as diary/journal form, and then progressed to ordinary first person narrative, losing the journal entries completely. It was a little off-putting if I'm honest as I found the journal entries really personable, emotive and immersive, the switch to first person seemed to put Maddie's feelings more into a perspective that I didn't find as compelling.
Also, the themes in this novel didn't quite reveal themselves fully to me. It started off with romance, then switched to anxiety, then cancer, then back to romance again. Usually, I feel that every story has a purpose; the themes were placed but not running concurrently to each other, instead they were stopping and starting. They seemed to be mentioned, have a few dedicated chapters to the chosen theme, then move on completely to something else, leaving me a little empty and confused as to where the story was going, and absolutely no idea on what I was supposed to be focusing on and taking away from this story. Although the narrative was a little engaging, the purpose of this story wasn't clear to me.
My favourite thing about [b:Till It Stops Beating|40078706|Till It Stops Beating|Hannah R. Goodman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1526410416s/40078706.jpg|62114162] by [a:Hannah R. Goodman|969127|Hannah R. Goodman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1529159940p2/969127.jpg] is the way the author's writing style is completely open and honest. She is comfortable talking about diverse and traditionally uncomfortable subjects in a light that is both refreshing and pleasant at the same time. She is unafraid to delve into the topics of anxiety, cancer, menopause, lgbt, and plenty others. Her writing is relevant for its time.
Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review as part of a blog tour for the book.
This is my second time reading Hannah R. Goodman. I had previously read the YA anthology book she edited and contributed to, Sucker Literary Magazine Vol. 1. I remember really enjoying it so I was excited to read this book.
Going into this book I did not know that it was part of a series so in the beginning I was a tad bit confused because there were a lot of reference to things that happened in the past. However, I was still able to piece together what happened in the previous books, so you can read this book as a standalone.
This was a very touching and realistic story full of emotion and heart. It tackled a lot of heavy topics like cancer and anxiety in a respectful and caring way. There was a good balance between the happy moments and the more somber ones.
As to what I didn’t like, the ending felt a but rushed to me. It ended pretty quickly. I would have liked for it to have been fleshed out a little more.
There was also one line in the book that didn’t sit well with me. In describing the main character’s trip to NYC the book states, “We are right in front of one of those grocery stores that reek of Asian food and rotten produce” (83). I don’t quite know what this line was trying to get at, but to me it seemed like a slight jab at Asian grocery stores since they can sometimes be smelly.
Overall, this was a wonderful and moving book. It had a few flaws, but was still an enjoyable read.
This is my second time reading Hannah R. Goodman. I had previously read the YA anthology book she edited and contributed to, Sucker Literary Magazine Vol. 1. I remember really enjoying it so I was excited to read this book.
Going into this book I did not know that it was part of a series so in the beginning I was a tad bit confused because there were a lot of reference to things that happened in the past. However, I was still able to piece together what happened in the previous books, so you can read this book as a standalone.
This was a very touching and realistic story full of emotion and heart. It tackled a lot of heavy topics like cancer and anxiety in a respectful and caring way. There was a good balance between the happy moments and the more somber ones.
As to what I didn’t like, the ending felt a but rushed to me. It ended pretty quickly. I would have liked for it to have been fleshed out a little more.
There was also one line in the book that didn’t sit well with me. In describing the main character’s trip to NYC the book states, “We are right in front of one of those grocery stores that reek of Asian food and rotten produce” (83). I don’t quite know what this line was trying to get at, but to me it seemed like a slight jab at Asian grocery stores since they can sometimes be smelly.
Overall, this was a wonderful and moving book. It had a few flaws, but was still an enjoyable read.
I’ve been meaning to read this book FOR AGES.
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know about one of my first jobs in publishing was as a reader for Sucker Literary. Sucker was a YA Anthology run by author Hannah R. Goodman. In my time working for Sucker, and also submitting my work to Sucker, Hannah and I got to know each other. And when her book Till It Stops Beating was released in July 2018, I quickly snatched up a copy, and it has lived amidst my TBR list ever since.
More recently, after a conversation with Hannah, I realized I hadn’t yet read that book, because life got in the way, and my TBR list is years old and contains more books than I’ll ever probably read. I pushed everything else aside and finally picked it up.
Book Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Maddie Hickman’s senior year begins with the good (the reemergence of The One That Got Away), the bad (a cancer diagnosis, not hers, but it might as well be) and the WTF (an anxiety attack that renders her writhing on the floor like an upside down crab).
Adding to her spiraling anxiety is Senior Project, in the form of I’ve Decided To Write A Book about The Other One That Got Away (And Crushed My Heart). Compounding it all is applying to college and keeping up with her friends. The ever-mounting stress eventually rips her tight grip on all that she holds dear.
Her break down leads to an unexpected road trip where she is forced to listen to her wildly beating heart. It is only in the back of a convertible with pop music blasting, that she discovers she must risk everything in order to really live.
What I Enjoyed:
I’ve been suffering from anxiety since I was a teenager. My son has suffered from sometimes crippling anxiety for most of his life. He’s only ten. And so, Till It Stops Beating’s main character, Maddie Hickman immediately earned herself a very solid place in my heart. This was genuine mental health rep, with a relatable protagonist, whose anxiety manifests itself in realistic ways.
Maddie has been through a lot. She’s been through the death of a friend. The addictions of her sister and the boy she once loved, but still can’t shake. She’s struggled through some nightmare scenarios, and when she discovers her Bubbie (Grandma, for those of you who weren’t raised at least somewhat Jewish), it takes her a minute, but Maddie finally shuts down. She implodes, unable to add this to her litany of troubles and her mounting fear of the future. You see, Maddie is a senior in high school, and she has no idea where she is headed, or who she wants to be.
So, once she pulls herself together from the big emotional drop, Maddie does what anybody would do when pushing themselves to recover—she experiments. She tries to figure out who she wants to be through sheer force of will. She throws herself into life and discovers that what she always needed wasn’t at all what she ever expected.
Though the first half was incredibly touching, it is in this latter half, as she struggles to find her place after striking out as an adult, that the book truly finds its footing as a story of fighting through anxiety, and finding what matters most–not to live safely, but to live well.
What I’d Avoid:
While I loved the prose in this book, and the characters were relatable and fun, I did find that part 1 and part 2 of this book felt like two completely different books. High School just kind of ends abruptly there in the middle, and suddenly we are on this road trip we haven’t even really seen Maddie come up with. I almost wish this would have been a long percolating idea in her head from the beginning of the book, so it didn’t feel like such a plot shift. This happens a few times. There is also a book that Maddie is writing in the first half for her senior project, and it’s done before we really have time to feel her triumph. I get that there was a lot happening in this book, and we couldn’t linger that long on too many parts, given the span of time being addressed, but this made me feel like the book was running away from us. The pacing was just a little off for me.
Would I Recommend It:
Yes, absolutely. Maddie is a great character, and her collection of friends and family are heartwarming and endearing. I was carried along with her journey and enjoyed exploring her emotions. She’s a complicated person, which makes her feel very real, and the mental health representation makes this important reading for the young adult market.
What Can I Learn From It:
The writer and editor in me finds a lesson in each book, and here’s the one that can be found here. Always write from the heart. Write your truth and don’t go easy on it. Some thoughts we have aren’t the most likeable. Some things we do make us look like jerks. But that’s the reality of who we are. Not everything gets resolved in the end in life, and that should be true for fiction, too. We don’t always get to say our sorrys. We don’t always get to say our goodbyes.
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know about one of my first jobs in publishing was as a reader for Sucker Literary. Sucker was a YA Anthology run by author Hannah R. Goodman. In my time working for Sucker, and also submitting my work to Sucker, Hannah and I got to know each other. And when her book Till It Stops Beating was released in July 2018, I quickly snatched up a copy, and it has lived amidst my TBR list ever since.
More recently, after a conversation with Hannah, I realized I hadn’t yet read that book, because life got in the way, and my TBR list is years old and contains more books than I’ll ever probably read. I pushed everything else aside and finally picked it up.
Book Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Maddie Hickman’s senior year begins with the good (the reemergence of The One That Got Away), the bad (a cancer diagnosis, not hers, but it might as well be) and the WTF (an anxiety attack that renders her writhing on the floor like an upside down crab).
Adding to her spiraling anxiety is Senior Project, in the form of I’ve Decided To Write A Book about The Other One That Got Away (And Crushed My Heart). Compounding it all is applying to college and keeping up with her friends. The ever-mounting stress eventually rips her tight grip on all that she holds dear.
Her break down leads to an unexpected road trip where she is forced to listen to her wildly beating heart. It is only in the back of a convertible with pop music blasting, that she discovers she must risk everything in order to really live.
What I Enjoyed:
I’ve been suffering from anxiety since I was a teenager. My son has suffered from sometimes crippling anxiety for most of his life. He’s only ten. And so, Till It Stops Beating’s main character, Maddie Hickman immediately earned herself a very solid place in my heart. This was genuine mental health rep, with a relatable protagonist, whose anxiety manifests itself in realistic ways.
Maddie has been through a lot. She’s been through the death of a friend. The addictions of her sister and the boy she once loved, but still can’t shake. She’s struggled through some nightmare scenarios, and when she discovers her Bubbie (Grandma, for those of you who weren’t raised at least somewhat Jewish), it takes her a minute, but Maddie finally shuts down. She implodes, unable to add this to her litany of troubles and her mounting fear of the future. You see, Maddie is a senior in high school, and she has no idea where she is headed, or who she wants to be.
So, once she pulls herself together from the big emotional drop, Maddie does what anybody would do when pushing themselves to recover—she experiments. She tries to figure out who she wants to be through sheer force of will. She throws herself into life and discovers that what she always needed wasn’t at all what she ever expected.
Though the first half was incredibly touching, it is in this latter half, as she struggles to find her place after striking out as an adult, that the book truly finds its footing as a story of fighting through anxiety, and finding what matters most–not to live safely, but to live well.
What I’d Avoid:
While I loved the prose in this book, and the characters were relatable and fun, I did find that part 1 and part 2 of this book felt like two completely different books. High School just kind of ends abruptly there in the middle, and suddenly we are on this road trip we haven’t even really seen Maddie come up with. I almost wish this would have been a long percolating idea in her head from the beginning of the book, so it didn’t feel like such a plot shift. This happens a few times. There is also a book that Maddie is writing in the first half for her senior project, and it’s done before we really have time to feel her triumph. I get that there was a lot happening in this book, and we couldn’t linger that long on too many parts, given the span of time being addressed, but this made me feel like the book was running away from us. The pacing was just a little off for me.
Would I Recommend It:
Yes, absolutely. Maddie is a great character, and her collection of friends and family are heartwarming and endearing. I was carried along with her journey and enjoyed exploring her emotions. She’s a complicated person, which makes her feel very real, and the mental health representation makes this important reading for the young adult market.
What Can I Learn From It:
The writer and editor in me finds a lesson in each book, and here’s the one that can be found here. Always write from the heart. Write your truth and don’t go easy on it. Some thoughts we have aren’t the most likeable. Some things we do make us look like jerks. But that’s the reality of who we are. Not everything gets resolved in the end in life, and that should be true for fiction, too. We don’t always get to say our sorrys. We don’t always get to say our goodbyes.
Irequested this title on Netgalley because the synopsis sounded fun. I like requesting titles I wouldn't normally pick up as soon so I can get a bit out of my comfort zone, sometimes this ends well and I end up finding a book I love. Sometimes... I hate the book. That is what happened here.
It's been a while since I read this book and I can't fully remember all the details, which is telling in it's own way. I made notes and let's just say none of them are positive so let's just get into them.
This book has a lot of problems. First of all, the main character decided she doesn't like a show and she says it's because the boys in it cry. First of all, that's a pretty strange reason not to like a show and second of all it's harmful. It is harmful for boys to think they can't cry and for girls to read that it is normal for boys not to cry. Everyone needs to let their feelings out, no matter their gender. Writing this into a book just reinforces the harmful stereotype.
There were some other iffy things about this book. For example, how it talks about LGBTQ. One of the best friends of the main character is gay and the conversations around this in the book are... not good. For example there's a conversation where this characters says: There's a part of me that thinks I'm bi. To which the mc replies: bi-curious or bi-confused. Like those are the only two options? You can't be bi, you always have to make a choice in the end. It made me so mad and it was just so unnecessary. There is also a scene in which another gay character wants a 'gay test' and asks to kiss Maddie, the mc. And the whole idea of a gay test is just so painful and wrong. It's like saying: well, you haven't tried girls so how can you be so certain? Which implies that people who identify as gay don't know their own feelings and I hate when that's said and implied. It's hard enough to come out, a lot of people doubt their identities for so long especially because of comments like this. I feel like I'm rambling a bit but in short: even though there is a gay couple in this book, LGBTQ issues are not handled well.
Maddie is also not consistent. She is a very confusing character. The one moment she cares so much about her friends and the next she just says Bye! And hangs up the phone after her best friend ran off after he broke up with his boyfriend. She also sends off her ex-boyfriend to military school after she blabbed about his drug abuse to his family but then she is pissed when he doesn't contact her... She has another ex-boyfriend that died in a car crash when they were together. He was hardly mentioned and she seemed completely fine over it? It did happen two years ago but you'd think it would leave some kind of impression. Especially now her grandma might die so there will be someone else close to her looking dead in the eyes.
Maddie suffers from anxiety. She has some episode early on in the book that makes her aware of this. Her parents find her in this episode, carry her to bed and leave her there. There are no doctors or anyone medical to check her out even though the episode is described to be very intense. I can't comment on the anxiety rep in this one since I don't suffer from anxiety myself.
I still have some notes left but I feel like I have said the most important things. The story in itself is cute but the characters are majorly flawed. This book had a lot of potential but the inconsistent characters made me confused and somewhat mad sometimes. They annoyed me to no end and the ending of this book was so predictable it didn't even phase me. I did see it was part of a series so maybe it's not as bad if you've read the whole series? Still, I don't recommend this book at all.
It's been a while since I read this book and I can't fully remember all the details, which is telling in it's own way. I made notes and let's just say none of them are positive so let's just get into them.
This book has a lot of problems. First of all, the main character decided she doesn't like a show and she says it's because the boys in it cry. First of all, that's a pretty strange reason not to like a show and second of all it's harmful. It is harmful for boys to think they can't cry and for girls to read that it is normal for boys not to cry. Everyone needs to let their feelings out, no matter their gender. Writing this into a book just reinforces the harmful stereotype.
There were some other iffy things about this book. For example, how it talks about LGBTQ. One of the best friends of the main character is gay and the conversations around this in the book are... not good. For example there's a conversation where this characters says: There's a part of me that thinks I'm bi. To which the mc replies: bi-curious or bi-confused. Like those are the only two options? You can't be bi, you always have to make a choice in the end. It made me so mad and it was just so unnecessary. There is also a scene in which another gay character wants a 'gay test' and asks to kiss Maddie, the mc. And the whole idea of a gay test is just so painful and wrong. It's like saying: well, you haven't tried girls so how can you be so certain? Which implies that people who identify as gay don't know their own feelings and I hate when that's said and implied. It's hard enough to come out, a lot of people doubt their identities for so long especially because of comments like this. I feel like I'm rambling a bit but in short: even though there is a gay couple in this book, LGBTQ issues are not handled well.
Maddie is also not consistent. She is a very confusing character. The one moment she cares so much about her friends and the next she just says Bye! And hangs up the phone after her best friend ran off after he broke up with his boyfriend. She also sends off her ex-boyfriend to military school after she blabbed about his drug abuse to his family but then she is pissed when he doesn't contact her... She has another ex-boyfriend that died in a car crash when they were together. He was hardly mentioned and she seemed completely fine over it? It did happen two years ago but you'd think it would leave some kind of impression. Especially now her grandma might die so there will be someone else close to her looking dead in the eyes.
Maddie suffers from anxiety. She has some episode early on in the book that makes her aware of this. Her parents find her in this episode, carry her to bed and leave her there. There are no doctors or anyone medical to check her out even though the episode is described to be very intense. I can't comment on the anxiety rep in this one since I don't suffer from anxiety myself.
I still have some notes left but I feel like I have said the most important things. The story in itself is cute but the characters are majorly flawed. This book had a lot of potential but the inconsistent characters made me confused and somewhat mad sometimes. They annoyed me to no end and the ending of this book was so predictable it didn't even phase me. I did see it was part of a series so maybe it's not as bad if you've read the whole series? Still, I don't recommend this book at all.
It was a cute story. I didn't have any background on it going in because I haven't read the other books in the series, but Hannah Goodman has a nice writing style that made me feel like I was still apart of the story even though I was missing so much of it. The plot is cute and I think all around it's just a fluffier YA contemp take on some serious issues (like anxiety).