Olive was kinda an unreliable main character because of her illness she has pretty erratic behavior through out the story. But i managed to related to her struggle so many times; her self hate and bad thoughts....

A very good and nice message was definitely the one sent out in the end: you must be kind to yourself first. I strongly believe it is true, sometimes you really have to be a bit selfish and think about yourself if you want to be better and then be able to help others. I’m not going to go through every character but two who stood out, and I think were meant to stand out, are Jamie and Lewis. Jamie is the typical guy you’re supposed to like, all charming and boyish, whereas Lewis is the typical awkward, never-been-kissed type of guy and I have to admit, I didn’t like him to begin with. He did eventually grow on me, and Olive’s and his friendship was sweet, but personally I will always prefer Jamie. Floored, novel by Eleanor Wood, Holly Bourne, Lisa Williamson, Melinda Salisbury, Non Pratt, Sara Barnard, and Tanya Byrne (2018) 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.” I HAD A HARD TIME WITH… Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood.One of the most important themes of this book is of course mental health. It was so nice to read about these characters who are really trying their best to get better but sometimes get lost along the way. The friendships among the characters were very refreshing and real. True, real friends try to be there for you in times of need and try to understand what you’re going through, that’s what the Prime Numbers did. I really loved the message of the book overall about kindness and, most importantly, being kinder to yourself. It’s a message that really hit home for me and my own mental health issues and I really appreciated that the author highlighted that. It’s such an important message. My heart feels like it’s been sliced down the middle and every painful thing that’s ever happened is oozing from it.’ Olive is standing on the edge of a cliff, screaming up at the sky. Screaming because she feels scared and worthless and wants that feeling to end. The outstretched hand of a policeman coaxes her away from oblivion, and Olive finds herself agreeing to a month’s trial treatment at a teenage mental health facility. We join her at Camp Reset, as she struggles with therapy, relationships, and the biggest dilemma of all, how to make this crazy world a kinder place. Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne is the latest from one of our most popular YA authors. The writing is hilarious and witty and Bourne, totally aces the incredibly touchy topic of mental health. The content is incredibly honest and never even for a moment gets pretentious or preachy. She seem to totally GET IT! As Holly Bourne books go, that i have read, this was as always fun, realistic and sassy to read. This book is mainly about mental illness and it shines a bright shiny light on that topic and doesn't shy away from discussing all the bads.

Holly Bourne writes with insight, compassion, and not a hint of condescension to her young readership. As the story progresses, we see the group begin to work together and, what I enjoyed most, to shed their defensive cynicism. Their ultimate plan will intrigue you, involving papercraft, the Notting Hill Carnival, and an unexpected adaptation of the term ‘going viral.’ Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? reminds me a lot of Am I Normal Yet?. Bourne is a master at talking about mental health for sure. I love how compassionate, how tender this book is in so many ways. I do wish that we had learned more about Olive’s life before coming to this camp—we only barely meet her best friend, Ally, and only hear superficially about stresses she experienced in the past school year. I understand the focus is on her experience at camp, yet I don’t really feel like I got to know Olive as well as I could. I love how this book doesn't end on a happily ever after note but it so much more realistic and humanistic. Because yeah life doesn't get easier or gets solved in a swoop of a wand to be honest.Oh God, I can feel this thought blooming. Like on those nature programmes when they shove a camera onto a flower seed and show footage of it growing really really fast. I feel the roots go into the earth and I feel the stem start to grow and I feel the leaves unfurling and the petals turning pink one by one.' (p240-241)* Small note: I’m on a blog hiatus from today-tomorrow to July, 7th and will only answer to comments and see your wonderful blogs again then. See you soon xx

This book did not touch me at all. I think it's mainly because I couldn't stand the main character. I feel really conflicted about that, because her being a bitch is part of her mental illness, and the entire point of the book is that she can't help that she was born this way. But Olive (the main character) is just annoying me so much. Not really in being mean, because I think that's very understandable and relatable. What annoyed me is that she went to a camp to learn how to deal with her mental illness, and then she concludes that the professionals don't know how to help her so she decides to do her own thing. Hun, if you were able to help yourself, you wouldn't be in the situation you're in. Olive, the main character, was so complex and sometimes hard to follow, sometimes frustrating, really flawed, too, yet she had such a unique voice, too. If I wasn’t entirely loving her course of action in the story, I rooted for her as a character and really wanted her to feel better and most of it all, not to feel like a bad person. The pacing of the story felt a little, off at times and, with Olive’s trail of thoughts and narrative, sometimes compelled me to read on, sometimes slowed me down.Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne is a gripping contemporary YA novel dealing with the issue of mental health. It revolves around Olive and more people of her age who suffers from mental illness and their shot at ‘normality’ at Camp Reset.

I was really enjoying the first half of the novel, savoring it, trying to internalize the striking truths particularly the concept of not wanting to be labeled when it comes to mental conditions and I was really excited thinking this is yet another rebellious take on mental health and all because I am a huge fan of Holly Bourne and her writing. I love her revolutionary approach to feminism, mental health, and even to romance and it honestly pains me to be saying this but at the halfway mark, this one kind of fell just a little bit flat, a little preachy, and admittedly a bit corny for my taste. Yep, and call us crazy when we don't. And give us therapy and meds and freaking alpacas until we can be moulded into something at can at least pretend it divides nicely into the world."' (p223-224)* The book opens up with Olive having a really hard time. Again. For the third time. She is in her room, with pillows and duvets, cocooning herself away under her desk, trying to escape all noise, which makes her anxious, to the point of panic. But, as her mum points out, it's her dad's birthday, and they're having a barbecue, and people are coming round. Can't Olive just try? Can't she just pull herself together this once and try? But a barbecue, with all the people and all the noise, is Olive's worst nightmare. And she has to escape. Not just the noise, but herself, because she's realised she's not ok. Olive is a bit all over the place and so is this writing but honestly I can say that this was, for me at least, such an accurate read on how we get to see Olive’s thought process battling her demons. Her highs and lows were described so accurately that I just understood her actions so well even if the characters in the books sometimes didn’t. The thing that intrigued me the most about the way Olive goes into the camp is that she genuinely WANTS to get better. Gabriella, unbothered by his anger, steps closer to him. "But WHY did you start abusing substances, Jamie?"But there comes a point when things really don't go very well. Her psychologist, Dr. Jones is worried about her and thinks there needs to be a change in her meds, she has Dr. Bowers, a psychiatrist, to sit in on their one-on-one therapy session, to discuss alternative medication, and he completely puts his foot in it. While struggling with the world and herself, Olive still had such a sassy personality it made me laugh and say oh yeah i can relate to this and that.