Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?

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While struggling with the world and herself, Olive still had such a sassy personality it made me laugh and say oh yeah i can relate to this and that.

The concept intrigued me immediately. As a mental health warrior myself and having attended group treatment programmes in my youth, I had an understanding and personal attachment to the subject matter. However, I think that may have hindered my enjoyment of it somewhat, as any inaccuracies or problematic things, jumped out at me quite a bit. As a mental health nurse in training, I have to say that I am so impressed with the way Holly has managed to portray Olive’s illness in this book. I managed to recognise her illness only a few chapters in as the book doesn’t actually specify Olive’s illness until quite far into the book as she doesn’t actually want to know what her diagnosis is. I thought this was such a great little addition to the book as there are people living with a mental illness who don’t necessarily want to put a label on their behaviour and it actually really interested me that Holly chose to take this approach. Holly Bourne does is once again. She absolutely delivered with this book and I hope she continues to write YA contemporaries with focus on mental health and feminism. In terms of characters, where do I even start? Olive is such a likeable but also dislikable character and I really guess it depends how you see her. I liked her a lot whereas some people who may not be very familiar with her illness probably think she’s a bit of a bitch due to her actions. I like her a lot because I get thaDavid Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. I was really enjoying the first half of the novel, savoring it, trying to internalize the striking truths particularly the concept of not wanting to be labeled when it comes to mental conditions and I was really excited thinking this is yet another rebellious take on mental health and all because I am a huge fan of Holly Bourne and her writing. I love her revolutionary approach to feminism, mental health, and even to romance and it honestly pains me to be saying this but at the halfway mark, this one kind of fell just a little bit flat, a little preachy, and admittedly a bit corny for my taste. Honestly, it took me a while before I was able to really invest in the story, but once I arrived at that point, I really could not put the book down! In fact, despite having a 10 A.M. class the following day, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning because I was that determined to finish this book.

Holly never fails me to fall in love with her new novels, this is a remarkable and phenomenal book! This book is about Olive, a teenager who has a hard time coping in this world..... "Being normal". Her doctor suggest a solution in terms of Camp Reset, a place where she might have a chance of finding normality.I find that last part really interesting, especially after reading the quote in Challenger Deep, where Caden says, ' There is no such thing as a "correct" diagnosis. There are only symptoms and catchphrases for various collections of symptoms. [...] Something I truly appreciated was the fact that the author decided to include a story about traumatic labour. Olive’s mother wasn’t well after the birth of her baby girl. I think this is a very important issue that sometimes women are scared or uncomfortable to talk about. Labour can be a traumatic experience. Sometimes what should have been a beautiful moment unfortunately isn’t and it’s totally fine to suffer and to seek help and guidance to go through this dark time. In terms of characters, where do I even start? Olive is such a likeable but also dislikable character and I really guess it depends how you see her. I liked her a lot whereas some people who may not be very familiar with her illness probably think she’s a bit of a bitch due to her actions. I like her a lot because I get that a lot of her actions come from her being in a manic state or are defence mechanisms in an attempt to protect herself or other people. She’s also quite vulnerable and struggles to comprehend a lot of her emotions, hating on herself a lot and blaming herself for everything that goes wrong, and this is quite sad to read because you’re there like ‘it’s not your fault!’ and eventually she does realise this. Olive’s journey is one of strong emotion, struggles and self acceptance, and the entire thing is just beautifully written. Book Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Romance, Young Adult, Young Adult Contemporary

Disclosure: I received a physical ARC of Are We All Lemmings & Snowflakes as part of my participation in a blog tour organized by The Nocturnal Fey. This, however, affects neither my opinion nor the content of my review. Many thanks to Erika and Usborne Publishing for the opportunity! That's when the top blows off his volcano. "BECAUSE I'M IN A BAND!" he shouts and Sophie squeals. "I'm not traumatised or poor or abused, okay? I just smoked a shit ton of weed because I'm in a band and that's what people in bands do. I'm just a selfish idiot addict. How are you going to save the world from selfish idiots? Because I'll tell you what..." his voice lowers to almost a growl. "I don't think absolving myself of all responsibility for the bad decisions I've made in my life is going to make the world a better place. In fact I think it's going to make it a worse one. Yeah shit happens, yadda yadda. But I'm the reason I'm here. I'm the reason I'm like this. And I'm the reason the moment I'm out of here I'll probably go straight to my dealer and buy an ounce, smoke it and probably start tripping out again. Letting people off is not the answer."' (p254-255)* The fact that Olive isn’t 100% in the right all the time is very clearly on display throughout this book. Other characters, both her peers and the adults around her, constantly question her in healthy ways. Sometimes it’s difficult to parse, because everything is from Olive’s point of view, but I read her treatment by mental health professionals not so much as overbearing as well-meaning but perhaps not as helpful as they could be. That is to say, I didn’t interpret this as Bourne trying to depict a “bad” experience with psychiatry and therapy so much as showing that psychiatrists and therapists are only human, and they won’t always say or do the right things for every patient. I obviously have not been the person to diagnose you and I know your diagnosis is still uncertain..." And before I can stop him, before I can shout out "NO" before I can wave my arms in the air and scream "DON'T DO THIS" he says, "but in my professional opinion, you may have [redacted] and..." Do you ever wish your life could be different? Calmer? Happier? That maybe the world could be a kinder place? Thought so. Welcome to the Prime Numbers. A group dedicated to making the world a kinder place. Every small act of kindness makes a small difference. So join us and change the world with us. Because, together, snowflakes create avalanches.

Are We All Lemmings And Snowflakes? is a very well deserved 5/5 book, and I'm so honoured to be a book ambassador for this novel, I want to thank @usbourneya with all my heart for providing me with this outrageous book! The thing is, it sounds good. It sounds like it could work. I mean, a month. A whole month. Of intensive treatment. I could improve. I could learn how to not feel like this again. This could be it. This could be the silver bullet. The magic pill. The miracle cure. The thing that actually does it. And just that thought - the thought this could all go away. The thought that I'd finally be able to feel normally, as opposed to EVERYTHING or NOTHING... The thought is more than enough to make me smile.' (p27-28)*