Mental Health Book Bingo Reviews #1: 10 Things I Can See From Here & Countless

As is always the way when it comes to my blog (and my life in general shh) I started my #MHBookBingo month with a plan and I was going to write reviews as I went and read a lot. But of course, the three exams and the ongoing stress and mental health problems decided different and the month is shockingly almost over and I've not written a review! Anyway, I've decided to remedy this by just posting my thoughts on the first two books that I've read for the bingo and then I'll do a second post when the month is over. But for now, I hope you enjoy these reviews!

10 Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac

Rating: 

Bingo category: LGBT+ MC with MI

First things first, this book is SO CUTE, I am constantly cross with myself for not reading enough books with f/f romance and this was just so wholesome and helped me get my bookish 2018 of to a good start! It has some really good like, discussion of relationships and sex and stuff that's very rarely looked at in books, let alone books with LGBT+ characters so I very much approve!

10 Things I Can See From Here follows the life of Maeve, who has severe anxiety, as she moves to live with her dad and step family while her mum goes away for six months. While she's away she meets the beautiful folky girl called Salix who she starts to date, kind of, but of course when you have mental health issues it's not quite that simple. I'll be honest with you, that girl goes through a heck of a lot of stuff and she is so much stronger than she gives herself credit for!

This book is the perfect mix of happy, fluffy, romance and "woah heck me" drama; the f/f romance is beautiful and the anxiety rep is pretty good. My personal experience of anxiety is very different to what Maeve experiences but I think it's still done really well it's just that mental health issues are really diverse, just like people!

Overall I really enjoyed 10 Things I Can See From Here and I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a nice f/f contemporary romance with a lot of depth.

You can find more info about it here on Goodreads.

Countless by Karen Gregory

Rating:

Bingo category: MC with eating disorder

Countless was a really interesting book which follows Hedda a 17 year old with anorexia who gets pregnant. ED isn't something I have personal experience of and for that reason I don't want to try and comment on whether or not it was good rep or not. However, it's ownvoices and I found Hedda's experience of mental health services and therapists quite relatable both to my own experience and to the experience of friends, which is always a good sign! 

I loved Countless because it was different, it's a long way away from the (unhelpful) "person falls in love and MH gets better" trope and it's not really a romance. It shows Hedda going through a lot of difficult things and she shows enormous growth throughout the book, it wasn't what I was expecting when I started off, but definitely in a good way, it was so much more! It's a very difficult read, at times Hedda is really struggling and I'd definitely say make sure you're in a good place when you pick it up if you think it may be something you find triggering, but it's really well written and talking/reading about difficult stuff is important (just as long as you're looking after your own wellbeing when you do so!).

I found Countless to be a really interesting, and insightful read even if at times it was pretty darn emotional! It's different from other MH books, but definitely worth you picking up.

Find more out about it on Goodreads here.

So that concludes my current MH bingo reading, let me know what you've read so far this month in a comment because I'm nosey! Thank you for reading :)