Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

183 reviews

cinderulz's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Dysphoria

kaywhiteley's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was a good palate cleanser after only reading the most depressing ass books. But it isn't unbearable, unrealistically happy. Love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia and Emotional abuse

martapsalvado's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Sometimes I ponderate if I'm losing interest in the young adult genre but I'm clearly not because books like this still exist.
This story is so important, I learned a lot and it kept me involved and eager to read. I really like the characters, found them very well-written and loved that it focuses on family and friendship almost or just as much as romantic love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Homophobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcohol

Misgendering

robyn_fenix's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Dysphoria

Minor: Gaslighting, Outing, and Bullying

elerireads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Sweet and enjoyable - I read it really quickly - but the plot was a bit nothing-ey. I'm sure this will be important to a lot of people because of the representation, and I'm very glad it exists. But honestly I'm wracking my brain for anything specific to say about it in a review and coming up empty which isn't a brilliant sign. I liked that the people with good intentions slipped up on pronouns and stuff occasionally - it felt realistic whereas I have seen sometimes in media where the "good" characters immediately get the hang of it and it just seems more than a little bit unrealistic. Anyway it was a relatively light (apart from that beginning), easy read which was what I needed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Islamophobia, Mental illness, and Child abuse

sky_lar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

fcksnotfound's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming and Misogyny

quinniantheduck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders

asipofcozy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

At the end of I Wish You All the Best I was left wanting more. More of Ben, more of Nathan, more of the dynamic between everyone because I absolutely adored this book. That beginning left me feeling so many things - anger, connection, frustration, hurt, jarred. And throughout the book I felt like I was being swept away with so many emotions and following along with Ben and their feelings.

What I think this book does really well at is showing the other side of reality and coming out. We are starting to really see an uptick in LGBTQIAP+ literature (which I am very grateful for). However, many of the books out there portray a lot positive coming-outs, which we need to feel hopeful, but at the same time we also need the ones where there isn't a positive coming out, like in the case of Benji coming out to their parents and being kicked-out.

I am not saying we shouldn't have all the positive examples of coming-out but for some of us coming-out was not a positive experience and we are left wondering, hoping will it get better? How can we move on from this? Can we still be accepted? Benji feels all of this and more, struggling through anxiety  and depression and fear of coming out ever again. I connected with them on such a large scale. 

My only critique would be that I wanted more, I wanted more of the characters, of the ending plot, of Nathan and Benji. More of Benji growing and gaining confidence. However, it seems like there is a Novella that is available to us so definitely picking it up :).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Homophobia, Abandonment, Mental illness, and Outing

Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Also contains some body dysmorphia

demawenda's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Świetnie się bawiłam przy tej książce, połowę przeczytałam jednym tchem i siedziałam po nocy by ją skończyć. Oczywiście książka typowa dla YA, szukanie siebie, szkolne życie,  pierwsze miłostki, ale szczerze bardzo mi się podobała. Dobrze napisana, bogate słownictwo, humor trafiający w mój gust. Były też momenty na reflekje, smutek i łzy w oczach. Idealna mieszanka emocji, niczego za dużo, niczego za mało. Postacie nie nazbyt rozbudowane ale nie odczylam tego az tak bo nawet w realnym życiu nie wiemy o innych wszystkiego. Książka po prostu prawdziwa, jkazujaca dobre i złe strony życia, że nie wszystko jest cukierkowe i piękne. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Body shaming, Transphobia, Self harm, Deadnaming, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, and Eating disorder