Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? {Young Adults Book Review} ⋆ An Ordinary Gal

#BookReviewFriday has not happened in a hot minute I know, but we’re back! Better late than never right? I’ve signed up to Goodreads and I am so excited about smashing my reading goals for the year. If you’re on there, look me up and let’s get reading together..and let me know below what your book goal is for 2019.

Today’s book is in the ‘Young Adults‘ category, so that means Alyssa is heading up this review for us! Side note: I’m very grateful that she takes the time to read these books and send me her reviews. Alyssa is doing matric this year, so I am sure reviews may take a bit of a backseat, but I personally just want to wish her the best year for 2019 and thank her for helping me out in 2018! The book Alyssa is reviewing today is titled, ‘Are we all Lemmings and Snowflakes?‘, by Holly Bourne and this book deals with mental illness. A very important and relevant topic in 2019 for people of all ages!

Quote from ‘Are we all Lemmings and Snowflakes?’

“You don’t have to stop looking after yourself just to help the world. In fact, sometimes it’s better for the world if you put yourself first. That’s not being selfish, in fact looking after yourself is the greatest act of kindness you can give the world. Loving yourself first is the best way to spread love.”
― Holly Bourne, Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?

What is the book about?

Welcome to Camp Reset, a summer camp with a difference. A place offering a shot at normality for Olive, a girl on the edge, and for her new friends, who are all dealing with their own battles. But as Olive settles in, she starts to wonder –maybe it’s this messed up world that needs fixing, and not them. And so she comes up with a plan. Because together, snowflakes can form avalanches… A trailblazing and painfully honest novel about mental health, friendship and making this crazy world a kinder place.

Alyssa’s Review

This is the type of book you want to start reading without knowing too much about it, so I will describe it briefly. This book is about a girls’ struggle to cope with mental illness. She does this by learning to accept herself with the help of her friends.

The author portrays the character’s mental illness accurately and in such a way that makes the reader understand and sympathize with the character. The author only tells you what mental illness she is diagnosed with, halfway through the novel. The character herself does not know what mental illness she has or if she has one at all. This helps you discover and understand the character more and really see how she must deal with it and come to terms with not being ‘normal’. The secondary characters are also well portrayed, and each have their own struggles and stories.

I would recommend this novel as it opens your mind to the world of mental illness and could help educate teen and adults alike. This book has some sensitive/distressing scenes so I would recommend it to older readers 16+.

Final words

It’s me…Simone again…. This book sounds like a must read for anybody battling with any type of mental illness, or even if you’re just wanting to try to understand what somebody close to you is going through. The book retails for around R170 and is available from all leading book retailers. Also it has an average rating of 4.16/5 on Goodreads.