My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

“Depression is like a heaviness that you can’t ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a part of you; it’s in your bones and your blood.


I have been on a reading rampage so I have two books to review. I've been wanting to review this ever since I finished it. -cough- in a day. So. Here we go. Also, a quick note. I am restructuring how I do my reviews! 

Stats:

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Feelings: Well. This book is about suicide so... 

Happiness: Some surprising moments of humor.

Cuteness: I was back and forth on the ship? But yes. Also brief sibling love.

Fast pacing: No but I couldn't stop thinking about it whenever I walked away, hence why I rudely ignored my 4h club to finish it.

Series: No

Read if you like: Sad stories with a good dose of hope plopped in your face at the end

Content: Some kissing, some light swearing, some darker things (again...suicide,) but nothing graphic or unnecessary. 

In one sentence... Two teenagers who would have never met, team up as "suicide partners".... but as the planned date comes closer...doubts start to arise as they two start to fill in the holes in each other's lives.

Thoughts: A old playground. Sacrifice. Rain. A campsite.
Messages: Your past does not define you, what you decide to do with yourself and your future does.

Overall:

Rating: 4.5/5

This review has LIGHT SPOILERS in the negative section. You can skip that.

The Lovely Bits:

Ahhh! This book! I was reading another book was having the hardest time picking it back up. I opened to the first page of this one and couldn't stop. It sucked me in right away, making it nearly impossible to stop reading. 

It was a very easy read, but still held a lot of weight. It made you think. It made you wonder. The story wrapped you up in a hug and didn't let go once. I found it very easy to relate to Aysel and Roman, even with the differences of our situations.

-Characters-

The characters were amazing.They felt real and realistic, and tore away at my heart little by little. Aysel. (pronounced Ah-zelle) Aysel was really great. She was a tad over-reactive, but really I could connect to her. She was really sassy and snarky, and I enjoyed that. 

I mean...ah. The character development. The way this story was structured. This was so well done. 

-Writing and Structure-

The writing was simplistic, but very beautiful. It was fun and snarky, with some amazing descriptions and analogies. 

It was almost refreshing to read, but that's because any time a book has a unique format it feels refreshing.

-Messages and other-

It perfectly captured depression, and portrayed it in a way that I think was less triggering than other books, like 13 Reasons Why. I feel like any book about suicide should be read in one sitting simply because or else you might be thinking about death more than you should be. But this one was lighter on that aspect than 13 Reasons Why. 

Really...this just made sense. It wasn't overly un-realistic, cheesy, or forced or overly romance. It wasn't too dark, it didn't leave you drained and upset. It didn't end all "Be POSITIVE DON'T BE SAD." Even with the sad ending.

The Less Lovely Bits (Spoilerssssss)

While this was well done for a debut...I could still tell it was a debut. Because of the ending. I'm not sure what I was expecting? The book was reasonably light, but it could have had a tragic ending. And it wasn't too pat, but I feel like a lot of debut authors are more cautious. And I could tell with this.

Aysel was a little annoying in the beginning. Everything was, but it got progressively better. 


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Okay seriously that's all. Overall, I loved it. A lot. It was really an enjoyable and beautiful book and I want people to read it. 

At the back of this book there's a list of numbers for suicide hot lines and stuff. And I'm going to sound like everyone ever....but if you ever have thoughts about death or anything please don't keep them to yourself. Please. You can get past this stuff. Talk to a trusted friend, or give one of those numbers a call. Don't throw your life away. A lot of days feel like crap but those crap days are what you fight for to get some really amazing days.