Elizabeth Flock (1)

I was prepared to not like this book. I was afraid it would be simplified or cliched, or both; however, I was pleased to discover this novel was neither. Isabel, the heroine, says "People look at me and they see this happy face, but inside I'm screaming. It's just that no one hears me." Who hasn't felt like that from time to time? Most of us are just lucky enough to not spiral down into the mental health crisis that Isabel faced. While I write this review, I am having to restrain from show more referring to this novel as based on truth - it isn't, but it is memorable enough to feel like it could have been.

When Isabel is taken to Three Breezes (the "nut hut"), she isn't sure what she's about to endure. She only knew that, after completely freezing up on live television, her stress and depression had become too powerful a problem for her to handle or solve alone. During her stay, she makes friends and eventually comes to realize she is normal and healthy compared to some of her fellow patients, many of whom are simply too far gone to ever fully recover from their mental illness.

There were actually many touching and noteworthy scenes that stick with me, but I think my favorite was Isabel's meeting with Peter, a boy who is patient in the children's wing. She tells Peter to love himself, to worry about caring for himself before he absorbs the pain of everyone and every thing else. And for the first time since Isabel met Peter, he looks up, acknowledges her, nods his head and smiles. show less

"Me & Emma" is my favorite book of all time, so I had high expectations for this book. Sadly, Elizabeth Flock did not deliver this time. This book is so sad and depressing...if not for the introduction of Celeste, I would rate this zero stars. She is the only redeeming quality in this tragedy. I feel so bad for the main character, Henry, that I wanted to cry through the whole book. Then I got to the last page, and I was like, "what? this is it?"... I am currently 3/4 of the way through show more "Sleepwalking in Daylight" (also by Elizabeth Flock), and I'm enjoying it so far, so if this is the only book you have read by this author, and you are very disappointed, I strongly encourage you to check out her other works. show less

One of those books where the twist comes so far out of left field you are left somewhat shellshocked. I enjoyed the story, difficult as it was to read, but I had wished there were more hints -- something! -- along the way so that the twist made more sense. Definitely a tough read, considering the subject matter of domestic violence among a poverty-stricken family, but the narrator's voice perfectly captures the innocence of childhood despite her despicable conditions.

I didn't realize until reading a little blurb in the front of the book that this was a continuation of sorts of Flock's previous novel, "Emma and Me" , which I hadn't yet read, but I did have on my bookshelf. So I pulled that one from the shelf, read it, then delved into this one. While this book could be a stand-alone novel, I would highly recommend reading "Emma and Me" first. It will give you a lot of background & definitely add more to the story.

So having read both back-to-back, I'd have show more to say I enjoyed this second novel more than the first. I won't go into plot details because many other reviewers have done so. But in this book, Carrie begins to put together some pieces of her past while her mother, in the meantime, further continues to alienate & abuse her. However, this time they find themselves in a larger-populated area and Carrie makes a new friend, Cricket.

I liked the flow of this book and how things gradually came together, up until the end. At that point, things started happening quickly, and it all felt entirely too rushed. I think the last 2-3 chapters could've been expanded into 4 or 5 chapters to allow the reader to really appreciate how things were being resolved. Instead, I was left with a feeling of needing a 3rd book to really justify what I'd read. show less