I received an eARC from Netgalley, that doesn’t affect my opinion of the book, all my thoughts are my own and honest.
"I can’t let go of them – the good, right things—because if I do I’ll turn into a cloud and I’ll float away, and a storm will come and blow me to nothing."
11 years old, Aster does not think she is special at all, or her mother wouldn’t have left her. So she set herself a challenge, to do something every day to make someone else’s day better, if not the world will fall apart.
All I wanted to do throughout this whole book is to give Aster a hug. She was depressed and was going through something and she felt like she couldn’t tell anyone. Over the course of the book, she went from listening to the voices, feeling like she was invisible, ghost-like and not sad about it, to finally letting a few people in, and thinking maybe the good right things could make her happy too.
Xavier was her turning point, she finally had a friend who wouldn’t leave her, took all of her and didn’t want to try and change or fix her, she finally didn’t feel so alone.
I normally read fantasy, so when I hate a character, I am normally ok about it as they are from a fantasy world, but when it’s contemporary it feels more like the real world to me, and I find it harder to be ok about hating a character. But boy did I hate the mother, I mean how could she do that to a child. Through flashbacks, you got to see how Aster became the quiet girl she is today because she wasn’t when she was younger and the reason is her mother.
I think Gordon did a great job writing about a hard-hitting topic like depression and making it very simple especially when it is targeted for a younger audience. She was able to write about depression without ever saying the word. I felt like the representation of depression was very well done from personal experience, but like anxiety, it is different for everyone.
This was a great read, it made me feel many emotions, sad throughout the whole book, hopeful at the end and a definite appreciation for my mother. I definitely recommend if you are wanting a book that makes you feel the feels, and I also think even though it is targeted as middle grade, adults would get something out of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Gordon and the publishers for approving me a copy.
4 ⭐️
This book comes out on the 1st of November
Find Kate Gordon here
Find Aster's Good, Right Things here
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