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A review by theespressoedition
One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
4.0
This book was SUCH a wonderful surprise.
I went into this with very low expectations since it was YA and I really just assumed it would be a cheesy Christmas love story. However, that is not what I got out of it. In fact, it impacted me so deeply that I'm still thinking about it several days after finishing it.
This book had such an incredible representation of anxiety and how it manifests in different ways for everyone. Our main character doesn't even want to admit she has anxiety, let alone any kind of mental health challenges, and instead, she gives her monologue a name and makes excuses on a regular basis for the way she processes every single decision she attempts to make.
I felt her pain and her struggle throughout, as my anxiety can be very similar. What gave ME anxiety about this book? The love interest(s). I spent 90% of the book thinking that Paige deserved better than Fitz, to be honest. However, as teenage love goes, he was pretty phenomenal - loving her through all of her panic attacks and uncomfortable moments. Reading the way Harrison reacted to her panic attack made me want to SCREAM, so I was much more satisfied with the outcome of the book.
If you want a good anxiety/mental health rep and a sweet magical realism story, this is the one you'll want to read!
[CW: panic attacks, anxiety]
I went into this with very low expectations since it was YA and I really just assumed it would be a cheesy Christmas love story. However, that is not what I got out of it. In fact, it impacted me so deeply that I'm still thinking about it several days after finishing it.
This book had such an incredible representation of anxiety and how it manifests in different ways for everyone. Our main character doesn't even want to admit she has anxiety, let alone any kind of mental health challenges, and instead, she gives her monologue a name and makes excuses on a regular basis for the way she processes every single decision she attempts to make.
I felt her pain and her struggle throughout, as my anxiety can be very similar. What gave ME anxiety about this book? The love interest(s). I spent 90% of the book thinking that Paige deserved better than Fitz, to be honest. However, as teenage love goes, he was pretty phenomenal - loving her through all of her panic attacks and uncomfortable moments. Reading the way Harrison reacted to her panic attack made me want to SCREAM, so I was much more satisfied with the outcome of the book.
If you want a good anxiety/mental health rep and a sweet magical realism story, this is the one you'll want to read!
[CW: panic attacks, anxiety]