A review by ashcash04
The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody

4.0

I don't have personal experience with mental illness or a loss of someone that I was this close to, but it seemed to me that it was very well done with this book. I enjoyed reading Ryn's story and how she struggled with every day life and honestly it was the perfect scenario: being stranded somewhere with absolutely no where to run and hide from her problems and meeting a stranger who carries baggage of his own.

I appreciated that she was bogged down most of the time by her demons and that she wasn't just automatically "fixed" but the cute boy she just met. There were so many more layers to her recovery and multiple people that had a hand in helping her come out of her shell and forcing her into uncomfortable situations to deal with the present. Now is that always the best way to handle things? No. There were numerous time where I just expected her to go into a full on panic attack. She did have her panic attack moments, I just expected her to have more triggers. Maybe I just wasn't giving her character enough credit, or I didn't realize the rational part of her brain would take over more, almost more like a survival mode.

I loved the setting, the different characters, and how the story played out. Great book!