A review by fairpersephone
Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

3.0

3.5 stars!

Under Rose-Tainted Skies was an unflinchingly honest depiction of agoraphobia, self-injury, and OCD, with a sweet, slow burning romance and a lovely, supportive mother-daughter relationship (which YA sorely lacks!) to boot. On a personal level, while I don't suffer from those illnesses, I have suffered with frequent panic attacks in the past, so the brain spiralling and the 'disaster is imminent because reasons' thought processes shown in the book felt all too real to me, as did Norah's scorn towards people who tell her to 'just stop thinking about it'.

I'm very happy that this isn't a 'love cures all' story, where the protagonist begins to improve as a result of the sheer fact that their love interest loves them. Luke is a catalyst for Norah's recovery, but he doesn't cure her. I liked that he had to educate himself throughout the story, and was willing to try to understand, and apologised for his slip-ups (and that Norah's feelings towards them were treated as valid, both within the narrative and by the characters).

Spoiler

I do wish, though, that the ending had been explained better; I think I would have given it a solid four-star rating if the intruder plot point hadn't felt so rushed, and if we'd seen a clear progression of events that led to the ending. I also felt like, despite the fact that the break-in did make Norah leave the house, it was only because she was quite literally forced to for fear of her own safety, and not because she'd gotten to a point in her recovery where she could feasibly do that.