loved the character growth and how it dealt with mental illness, queerness and religion and the intersection of those,
The main character is Mormon, has anxiety and realizes she might be queer, sitelinkYou can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight,
Let's Call it a Doomsday tackled a few pretty tough topics, and overall handled it quite well, Ellis has an anxiety disorder, which she is in therapy for, She's of the Mormon faith, trying to figure out what her actual beliefs are, She has a rocky relationship with her parents, especially her mom, though they definitely love her tons, She is also a doomsday prepper, complete with supplies stocked away, emergency kits, the whole shebang,
Enter Hannah. Hannah claims to know when the world will end, and she knows this because she's dreamt it, Including Ellis's role in it, And that, in a nutshell, is how Ellis meets Hannah and her friends, What unfolds next is the fun part, the part I won't deprive you of, but it helps to have some context for when I talk about the stuff I liked!
Complicated family dynamics.
Oh, Ellis's mom. She's kind of the bane of my existence, because frankly, my own family has acted like her a time or twenty, To be fair, not at her level, and not always, but it's still very relatable, Ellis's Mom wants to know what she talked about in therapy, If Ellis talked about her, And to be quite frank, Mom sees Ellis's anxiety as a big ol' inconvenience, Like you know what Ellis's Mom It's a true burden for Ellis, Not you. You're the mom, the caretaker, Get over yourself. Ellis's Dad tries, but not hard enough if you ask me, There is growth throughout the book though, and I can live with it, The bottom line is, it opens the door for a lot of discussion about families of people dealing with mental illness and I am here for it.
Complicated friendship dynamics, At times, I really didn't know if Hannah and Ellis's relationship was healthy And I think we're supposed to feel that way! Hannah's other friends even bring it up.
But Ellis really is good hearted, and I think Hannah needed someone like her, And through Hannah, Ellis finds a whole group of people who are in her corner, which I loved, Also, they're super fun people,
Awesomely diverse and swoony, and realistic relationships, Oh, I don't even want to tell you about this because I wasn'tsure who the love interest would be for awhile! So I won't.
But there are a lot of characters with differing identities, and it was awesome, And also when the romance did happen, I was a very big fan,
Religious discussion, Mormonism seems to be a tough road for a lot of young people, In most of the stories I have read about being Mormon both fiction and nonfiction, there's a fairly strict code of conduct, And often, a person's beliefs aren't going to fit all the categories of this or any other, really religion, And I think so often, this aspect of young adulthood is overlooked in books, when there are probably a lot of people questioning their beliefs and values at this time of life.
So kudos to the author for taking on some of these challenging questions!
A few semiridiculous things that end up being really heartwarming.
Okay some of the story is a wee bit bananas, but in such a fun and loving way that it didn't bother me one bit.
But that's all I'll say on that,
And a few sobering truths about mental health, Some of what happens in regard to this happen closer to the end, so I'll keep it vague, I will say that I knew from early on where this particular thread was going, but also that I appreciated that the author went there.
She shows a wide spectrum of mental illness, and that is rare,
The only complaint I really have is that I would have liked to have felt a little more connected to Ellis, Like, I understood her to an extent, but I never felt totally connected to her,
Bottom Line: Katie Henry is absolutely an autoread author for me going foward, This is the second of her novels that deals with the tough stuff while still being heartwarming and entertaining, Talk about a win. I absolutely loved this! Exactly what I was hoping for from the brains that brought me one of my truest loves, Heretics Anonymous.
I probably could have written twice as much, but didn't want my review to be too long,
There is something about Katie Henry's writing that is so funny, but yet she covers serious topics and I always learn something from her.
Ellis lives with her parents and sister in Berkeley, California, They are a Mormon family and their faith is very important to them, Ellis adores her younger sister and has a great relationship with her father, But her mother is super critical to the point of being mean, Ellis has anxiety. Her biggest fear is doomsday, the end of the world, She's a prepper and takes things way further than the average person would, No one really understands it, but her mom makes her feel worse all the time, Her mom doesn't think anxiety is a mental illness,
I wonder what her friends would think, if they saw her like this, My mom is such a smiler at church, at dinner parties, at parentteacher conferences, She's almost aggressive in her cheerfulness, I'm the only one she gets this angry at, I'm the only person she can get this angry at,
Ellis is going to therapy and meets a girl, Hannah, in the waiting room, Hannah tells Ellis that "it's you", Like she met her before, It turns out that Hannah goes to school with Ellis, Once they finally talk, Hannah tells Ellis that she's seen her in her dreams, That she dreams about things that are going to happen, Ellis tells her about how she is terrified that the world could end tomorrow, Hannah says her dream is about the end of the world and it's coming soon, In December. There will be snow, San Francisco will disappear, and the sky will be red, Ellis decides that the key to figuring everything out is Hannah's dreams, But Hannah wants to find Prophet Dan to help,
Hannah also introduces Ellis to a group of three boys, Tal stands out and she remembers him from church when they were younger, But Tal is bisexual. His mom and her new family or the church don't agree with that, so Tal lives with his dad, Ellis and Tal spend a lot of time together, slowly starting to fall for each other, Tal warns Ellis that Hannah isn't all she says she is, but Ellis is full in, Having someone who believes her pushes her for prepping even more, If possible, she becomes more obsessed with it,
I loved how Katie dealt with anxiety, sexual identity, and religious topics, My only small issue is that I felt things wrapped up too easily at the end, Even though I did like the ending, It just felt a bit too easy,
I gave this bookstars, Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for my copy for review, Quote taken from an arc and may change before final publication,
Warnings for anxiety and mental issues, questions on faith, drugs, minors drinking, homeless problems, an a mentally abusive parent,
katie henry has done it again, folks
this author knows exactly how to write teenage coming of age stories and this one is no different.
its the perfect blend of hard hitting topics like growing up with anxiety, struggling to make your parents proud, and accepting your sexuality as a person with faith while still having the endless comedic relief of dumbass kids
this is an amazing sophomore novel and I can tell it was a difficult one to write.
she pulled it off well and I truly think this could help a lot of readers in many different ways,
if you suffer from anxiety, enjoy discussions of religion amp etymology, and/or coming of age stories this is absolutely the read for you Reread, finished copy, Augustvia audiobook:
I liked this even more the second time around! The representation alone deserves ALL of the! This was a great audiobook as well! It might be something of a.
star read!
Original ARC review, April:
I was very lucky to receive a physical ARC from Katie Henry herself,
This book features GAD generalized anxiety disorder, mormon/LDS rep, and exploring your sexuality, I love that about Katie Henry's books, . . how diverse they are while still being respectful to religion, which I don't care about respecting religion, but she does it wonderfully!
This book featured an interesting family dynamic, The main character's mother is struggling to understand her daughter's anxiety and doesn't always say the right things, but as a parent, I could really tell that her struggles came from a place of desperation and not wanting her daughter to suffer in any way.
She loves her so much and just wants to help but doesn't know how, I really liked how real that felt and how much I connected with that just wanting to protect your baby,
I didn't particularly care for the character of Hannah and how quickly Ellis follows her, She was super shady and manipulative, and I couldn't understand Ellis's fascination with her,
I didn't connect with this quite as much as I hoped going in, and it lacked some of the humor that Katie Henry's debut novel delivered so wonderfully, but allinall, I love Katie's real characters, her wit, her extensive knowledge of religion and how she integrates that into her novels, and her amazing representation and exploration of sexuality.
An autobuy author for me, and I can't wait to buy the finished copy upon its release! A biquestioning religious girl with anxiety that includes intrusive thoughts Hot damn did I connect with this book hard.
I really love the way Henry writes about religion in YA and honestly after this one it's probably gonna keep me coming back to her forever.
I thought this was really great, I toyed with the idea of not writing a review for this book, Which might give you some initial insight as to why its unrated, Hopefully the review itself will explain why but also might explain why you might still want to read it yourself,
First of all, our main character has pretty severe anxiety, It manifests in constant doubt, internal criticism, and almostconstant fatalism and we get to read that internal narrative as she hears it, Her anxiety also manifests itself in a worry about the world ending, Not necessarily fire and brimstone, though its not ruled out, but, . nuclear war. Natural disaster. The list goes on. Shes a prepper, though she doesnt love the word, and shes actually rather open about it even if shes constantly bracing for judgment or disbelief from those she tells.
"Survivalists have skill sets, Hunting and fishing and living off the land and I cant do any of that, Im a prepper. I have supplies, not skills, "
All this to say that this book is basically an anxious persons worst nightmare, Add in a somewhat fraught family dynamic, with Ellis parents and sister struggling to deal with her anxieties, constantly having to accommodate her, and not always able to be calm or kind about it.
. yeah, this was hard to read for me,
Em was always the Golden Girl, from the moment she was born, What choice did I have but to be the Perpetual Disappointment Every family needs one, So Ive fallen on my sword, Its actually very noble of me,
Theres also a whole unexpected plot, or rather emphasis, on the LDS church and community, Ellis is LDS, as is her family, and theres a lot of narrative surrounding the lifestyle, belief, values, etc, I thought it an interesting choice for someone who believes the world is going to end but there were moments when some indialogue discussions were fascinating.
However the main plot is Ellis new friendship with Hannah, a girl she meets outside her therapists office, and hoo boy, If the anxiety didnt get me going, this friendship did, Hannahs whole existence is this book is stringing Ellis along with vagueries, Shes seen the end of the world, she says, and Ellis is there with her, But she needs Ellis help to decode the visions, So they have to find this man, this homeless person, who calls himself Prophet Dan, Except hes not who Hannah makes him out to be, But overwhelmingly I just hated Hannahs role in this story, I hated the vagueness, I hated the frustrations she inspired, the agonies she would encourage in Ellis and then step back from, . I feel for Hannah, I do, I can be sympathetic mostly in hindsight, but it was present in certain moments, too but oh god I hate this kind of character.
I found it really difficult to see how strong they were in the end, too, this friendship enduring everything it did, I wouldve preferred it to fracture or, . maybe just quietly be let go, considering everything that came to pass, Ido not condone the connection,
Trying to Be Cute, Accidentally Implying Cannibalism : The Ellis Kimball Story,
I did, though, enjoy Tal, He was a sorta expected but also not love interest and he was everything Hannah wasnt, He had a connection, an understanding, with Ellis and also offered her something new, I liked that quite a lot, Plus, his group of friends, and their Quiz Bowl GuessABookInFiveWords was hilarious, Easily the highlight for me,
"I really want to make a sex joke right now, But youre ruined it. Youve ruined it with the apocalypse, "
There was a lot of therapy positive, heavy but groundbreaking, discussion in fact all interactions with Ellis therapist were another highlight for me and I found the writing to be pretty smart.
I loved the word games, the guessing games, and some bits of dialogue were outrageously funny, But this was not the book for me, If this wasnt an ARC, I probably wouldve DNFd, And thus here we are with this unrated review, This book was a lot of things and I think
many people will enjoy the journey and feel for the main character, I just felt too much of the wrong though accurate to Ellis anxieties things,
I received an ARC from the publisher thank you! in exchange for an honest review,
This review can also be found at sitelinkA Take From Two Cities, .