Dead Serious: Breaking the Cycle of Teen Sucide by Jane Mersky Leder

January 13, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Are you under a lot of stress? Feeling too much pressure to get good grades? Trying to avoid social media because you’re being bullied? Grappling with your sexual/gender identity? Feeling depressed—even suicidal?

What are the reasons why teens decide to take their own lives? What can be done to stop them? Through stories, studies and strategies, Dead Serious helps teens, parents and educators navigate the choppy waters of adolescence and provides tools that can help break the cycle of teen suicide.

Teen suicide is preventable.

Book Overview:

Author: Jane Mersky Leder | Series: None | Format: eBook – ARC | Length: Unknown | Publish Date: January 23, 2018 | Genre: Nonfiction Psychology | Rated: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Yes

“Truth is there is never one reason why someone takes his/her own life. And never just one person to blame.”

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an extremely hard book for me to read because it hit home for me. I have known people that have committed suicide, not as teens but as young adults, and I myself have almost gone down this dark path in the past. Reading this book was almost an eye opener for me, bringing this hard topic to light.

There were so many statistics in this book that I had no knowledge of until I read this. There are so many teens out there that either know someone who has committed suicide, have attempted suicide, or still have thoughts of suicide. So many stories in this book show that suicide affects everyone, not just the person who commits it. There is never a clear reason as to why these teens killed themselves, and no matter how much their friends or family try to find answers, there just aren’t any. They now have to figure out how to heal during this dark time, and it doesn’t completely go away.

“If only he had done something then, maybe Brad would be alive now.”

The thought that maybe if these people who were brave enough to tell their story had done something earlier, they could have prevented it. They are so full of guilt, not understanding why their loved one could do such a thing, and beating themselves up for not seeing the signs before. Would they even know what those signs were if they had to go back? Would they be able to stop it? Would their loved one be alive today? All of those thoughts are going through their minds, and their pain and hurt of reliving these moments can’t help but make you feel for them. It hurts, and all we can do hope that their loved ones are in a better place now.

As the cover of this book states, this book is for teens, adults and educators. I would say that this book is for anyone that has ever had to deal with thoughts of suicide, or someone in their life that has committed suicide. Even if they haven’t done it yet, this book helps you to determine what the signs are, and how to get them the proper help before it’s too late. Suicide should not be a taboo topic, and more people need to discuss it to make sure that we can help those suffering by themselves, begging for help before they do something that they can’t take back.

I really do recommend this book. Keep it as a resource, and hopefully you will be able to help someone in your life get the help they need.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Twitter: Reflectzen

Goodreads Member Since: June 2014

No biography for this author at this time.

Sweethearts by Gemma Gilmore

January 13, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

When seventeen-year-old Ingrid Harper realizes she may not have the talent to pursue a scholarship for the most prestigious art school in Australia, she turns to pink hair dye as a distraction.

Her new hair captures the attention of a fellow art student, Kat, who introduces Ingrid to the LGBT clubbing scene, and although Ingrid enjoys partying with her new friend, she becomes caught up in confusion about her sexuality. Her fear is overwhelming—she can’t think about anything else.

Until her best friend, Summer, reveals that she is pregnant.

As her best friend faces the realities of being pregnant at seventeen, Ingrid is shown the true definition of courage. It motivates her to come out about her sexuality—she likes girls. Only girls. Now she just has to work out what that means for the other areas of her life.

Book Overview:

Author: Gemma Gilmore | Series: None | Format: eBook – ARC | Length: Unknown | Publish Date: January 29, 2018 | Genre: YA Contemporary/LGBTQ+ | Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Yes

“We question each other’s reality; we make each other look into things just that little bit deeper.”

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This definitely did not go the way I expected it to, but I’m actually okay with it. Almost coming to terms with this.

Long story short, this book is about a girl named Ingrid, a high school senior who refuses to acknowledge that she may actually be a lesbian. It’s something that’s hard for anyone to admit, especially if they have always been hiding their true selves from the rest of the world, so I understand that. It’s the way she lashes out that confused me though. The object of her obsession – yes, an actual obsession if we read it correctly – is a girl at her school named Amber, who just so happens to be a really amazing singer. It’s at the point where Ingrid knows Amber’s YouTube upload schedule and will be the first person to watch her video and leave a rude ass comment for Amber to see. That part didn’t make sense to me, but Ingrid ends up explaining it later on. Why is she so rude to Amber when she can’t get enough of her? Ingrid’s two best friends, Summer and Jackson, even try to call her out on it, and try to get her to accept that she may very well be into girls.

But she constantly punishes herself for having such thoughts. She refuses to identify as a lesbian, even when she finds herself at a gay club full of beautiful women that she is so clearly attracted to. The thing that makes her finally admit it is seeing her best friend Summer be brave in finding out that she’s pregnant, and her actions to make sure that she keeps her unborn baby healthy and safe. Seeing her friend show strength made her want to do the same, and Ingrid’s life starts to change.

I think the main character flaw that Ingrid possessed was her using alcohol to deal with her problems. It was like she was an addict, and maybe she really was. Anytime that she would start to battle against herself, she would resort to getting wasted, going to Cloud Nine to drink her problems away and dance to lose herself in the music. The dancing I get. I sometimes do the same, but the constant drinking wasn’t healthy, and her friends told her that as well.

“I feel like you’re relying on the alcohol.”

It wasn’t good for her, and she needed to come up with some other method of dealing with her problems, her rejections, anything else that she ended up overthinking about that caused her to freak out.

There were also times where I would think that the book would have a happy ending or at least a happy outcome that everyone was waiting to hear about, and then it would be completely different. It was like life. Nothing ever went the way we think it will be, but we have to keep going.

This wasn’t the typical book that I would read, but I appreciated it. I liked that the people in Ingrid’s life didn’t shun her for finally accepting her sexuality, or push her to make a decision when she was struggling with it. They were happy for her no matter what, and they just wanted her to be true to herself. It was good, it was the way I would expect anyone to be if they had a loved one struggling to come to terms with their sexuality. I appreciated it so much, that I feel like it influenced my rating to be what it is. I liked this book, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: November 30

Goodreads Member Since: January 2018

No biography for this author at this time.

Thunderlight by Adrienne Woods

January 13, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Vibrant, scale swathed wings… Abilities that can be harnessed by a chosen few… Dragons…

All this may seem like old news, but for seventeen year-old Elena Watkins the world of Paegeia is not finished revealing all its secrets. During a summer break intended for relaxation, she discovers that her harrowing adventure to retrieve the King of Lion sword wasn’t the destiny foretold by the cryptic Viden, a dragon with the ability to see a person’s true fate. The words inked onto the page of the mysterious Book of Shadows remains black and Elena must return to Dragonia Academy to discover their true meaning.

Upon her return to the magnificent castle she has to face a challenge of a different kind, keeping her boyfriend Lucian McKenzie, the Prince of Tith and love of her life, away from the dangerous new student, Paul Sutton. As a Wyvern, Paul has made it his mission to claim Elena as his rider but he is proving to be more perilous than at first glance.

Everyone knew that Wyverns were bad news, and just as evil as the darkness that lurked inside Blake Leaf, the Rubicon forced to fight against his inner nature every day. But Elena can see a small light lurking in the darkness, a destiny still unfulfilled; to prove that Wyverns can be claimed.

Will Lucian’s dark secret about Wyverns and Elena’s need to prove their true nature cause their love to be torn apart? And which of Elena’s friends will be sacrificed this time if she is wrong?

Book Overview:

Author: Adrienne Woods | Series: The Dragonian Series | Format: Audiobook | Narrated by: A. T. Chandler and Erin Moon | Length: 14 hours, 49 minutes | Publish Date: November 20, 2014 | Genre: YA Fantasy | Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend; Yes

“Evil isn’t capable of telling the truth.”

Well, I’m glad to say that at least this book was better than the first.

It still wasn’t my absolute favorite, and this still isn’t my favorite series, but it definitely got better over time. Elena still isn’t super savvy on what’s going on in the world of Dragonia, but she’s getting a little better. She still has her whiny moments though, and I’m trying to figure out where it’s coming from when she’s constantly surrounded by people that know that things are going to be tough when things are going down. It’s not like Dragonia is in a state of peace or anything. So what’s with the whining, Elena?

I laughed so hard when Master Long Fei told her to stop her whining. Just straight to her face. I was at work too, so I could imagine the office wondering what the heck was so funny to me.

There’s so much more drama in this one. Attacks on students, people dying, just chaos in general. Not to mention we get a glimpse of what’s happening in Eton, and that is always interesting. The villain is great, from what we can see. We don’t get to see much of what he is doing out there, but having another voice involved in the book made it more interesting.

This is a super short review, and I apologize for it. The things I really want to comment on would be spoilers, and we all know I try my hardest not to spoil books. But I will say that this book was better, and if you’re able to get through the first book, you’ll appreciate this book more.

Here goes the next book in the series!