Justice Serai's MENTAL BOOK Review and Rating!

Mental by Justice Serai
Publication date: April 7th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

 

Hope is an illusion meant to convince the broken to keep on living. That’s me. Broken.

My father pays heaps of money for doctors at the Norfolk Psychiatric Center to fix me. I’ve spent six months of my prime teenage years at this residential facility – a place for teenagers who’ve gone mental.

That’s me. Mental.

Just when I begin to feel myself fade away, a boy with a wolfish smile and mischievous eyes reels me in. Julian is broken too, but he believes in me enough for the both of us. Through him, I begin to experience this thing called hope. Doctors can’t fix me, my parents can’t either, but maybe it’s not me who needs fixing.

After all, mental is only a state of mind. It all depends on who’s doing the thinking.

Let me first start this review off with some facts about mental illness. Some disorders can be genetically inherited and others can develop from some sort of trauma experienced in life. Often times mental illness in general is misunderstood in the mainstream population. Many people are quick to disregard their loved ones and completely ignore and or cut them off from their lives. But, in this story the main character was extremely loved by her family and appreciated daily. Love has a way of helping to heal those suffering or at least provide a shoulder and a space for trust and soul baring. The author Justice Serai did an excellent job of bringing a touchy subject to the mainstream population and discussing it with vigor and giving the reader a first hand look at one that is suffering with mental illness and family members and the reaction of real friends. I enjoyed this book and was delighted to see this hard to talk about subjects pop up in her book. The reader will feel completely engaged in the main character's life, and realize the pain of mental illness and the suffering that those who are plagued with the disorders/diseases experience while institutionalized. My heart strings were definitely pulled in this fast paced novel and I definitely felt satisfied in reading this wonderful novel. It is a super charged page turner!


I rate this book a full FIVE Stars and recommend to those that want to understand more about the life of a teen plagued with mental illness. 

* I received the book MENTAL by Justice Serai in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and I was not compensated for them.

 

If my name weren't enough to doom me to nerdville, my love of all things dark and weird would. Inspired by stories of hope and perseverance throughout history, in my own life, and in the lives of people I know, I strive to write authentic YA fiction for the oddball in all of us.

I want to make people think deeply, feel wholly, and laugh and cry, just as I have.

I'm no stranger to tricky topics such as LGBTQ issues, adoption, disabilities, and mental illness, and I hope you come to love my characters as much as I do.

www.JusticeSerai.com