Unfortunately, I was slow in downloading this story and it was archived before I had the chance. I'm sure it is a wonderful read.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I don’t really know what to say on this, I’m really starting to think contemporary ya is not my bag at all.

I can’t remember much surrounding the book except obvious major parts due to not really connecting with any characters.

Mental health is a hard one to deal with - I should know. Mmm did it ring true to bipolar or is it what people think.. I will leave that for others to decide as everyone has extremely different views on how mental health is portrayed.

I can see why people would like this though, a tight friendship group and some parts that do hit you.

I want to thank Eric Lindstrom and god publishing team for my copy of this ARC via net galley.

Mel Hannigan is hiding a few things about herself. Her friends think she is an only child, she isn’t. Her brother is dead. Both Mel and her brother have bipolar disorder.

This book is a powerful look into a world not many people are familiar with. Bipolar disorder. Mel hides her bipolar disorder from a lot of important people in her life, specifically her friends. She is scared people are going to look at her differently.

Mel is the kind of main character you never grow completely fond of. She is one of the most real main characters I have ever read a story about though. I feel as though I needed to help her throughout the entirety of the book. So much has happened to Mel throughout her life and her bipolar disorder isn’t making it any easier. A lot of the novel is spent finding out what has happened throughout her life and it certainly is a rollercoaster of emotions.

The friendships in this story aren’t the best I have ever read about. That doesn’t mean to say that the friendships didn’t feel real. This book shows how friendships can really tear you apart and build you back up again.

I was a fan of the family relationship in this book. Despite the trouble that Mel and her family have to deal with they get through it all. Mel’s family have had to deal with a lot of heartbreak as well as dealing with a lot of the family having a mental illness.

Having never experienced bipolar disorder myself I can’t really say how true-to-life this story feels. It certainly taught me a lot about bipolar disorder though.

Eric Lindstrom has certainly written a heart-breaking, heart-warming and poignant story. I look forward to reading more of his work.

Overall, A Tragic Kind of Wonderful is a poignant read that explores mental health and the effects it has on the person, their family and those around them. I recommend this novel highly.

Thank you to Harper Collins, Netgalley and Eric Lindstorm for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was sent to me free for review in exchange for my honest opinion.

The book follows a 16 year old girl called Mel Hannigan who works in an old peoples retirement home. She suffers from bipolar disorder and deals with a lot of other things going in her life, like the breakdown of a friendship, school, and the sudden appearance of a guy who seems incredibly interested by her.

I found the novel fascinating and beautiful. The fact that it followed the story of a girl struggling with mental health problems made it very eye opening for me, and I have a newfound gratitude for not being in that situation. Nonetheless, the book was incredibly powerful, and although I didn't realise until the end, I liked all the characters. Initially, I didn't think I liked Mel, but then I began to understand her a bit more, and ended up really liking her by the very end.

This book is incredibly well written and the plot is brilliant. It isn't orderly and perfect, but instead reflects what I can only imagine what the thoughts of a bipolar person can be life. Mel's moods and emotions were translated perfectly and I felt very invested in the plot and the characters.

I do wish that the book was a bit longer and that we could see the development of some of the side characters, like her parents and her school friends. Sometimes I didn't feel like I knew enough about them so they felt a little 2D. I think that is my only caveat though.

I liked that the romance didn't always feel like romance, but more like the companionship that Mel needed. I feel like every book has a bit of romance in it nowadays, but this didn't feel angsty or insta-love-y or anything.

I would definitely recommend this book for people interested in Mental Health literature as well as YA. The book is a powerful read, so you might want some tissues.

I.. actually don’t remember much about the main plot of this for some reason aside from some major plot points. But I do remember really enjoying the portrayal of friendship groups in this, it was quite intense but there were some really sweet moments.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Not entirely sure what to say on this one. This is a contemporary YA novel about a girl with bipolar disorder. I know almost nothing about how bipolar disorder works, so I feel like I can’t judge how good the representation was. I liked the author’s debut novel. I liked this one too, but not quite so much.

It tells the story of Mel Hannigan, who is struggling to cope with bipolar disorder. She works at an old people’s care home, has a few friends, reluctantly sees a therapist, takes her meds, though seems more comfortable talking to one of the doctors at the care home where she works than confide in her regular therapist. She keeps a track of meds and how she’s feeling in a somewhat complex routine noting how she’s coping and feeling. Each chapter starts with a list of Mel’s tracking routine. (Which seemed complex to me, it was explained in the novel though I can’t say I understood it).

Mel had a brother who met a tragic end, who also had bipolar disorder, she lives with her mom and dad and her aunt who also has the disorder. They each deal with it differently. The aunt is very outgoing and loud, where Mel is quite quiet and while she connects to a few friends she can’t bring herself to tell the truth about her disorder.

Her family moved at some point, and Mel found a great group of friends, but a fight and falling out with one, lead to the others getting some false information and cutting her off. Though at the start of the novel the girl she had a fight with drops a bombshell on her leading her to have to try and speak to the others again. While this is going on Mel is getting to know David, the grandson of one of the residents at the care home. They have a somewhat rough meeting which leads to a cute romance.

The novel dealt with Mel’s ups and downs, struggles reconnecting with her old friends, and the truth about what really happened and why they all fell out, dealing with her disorder, falling for David, realising that the therapist isn’t so bad and is there to help.

Of course nothing is quite so smooth and everything goes wrong at some point. It seemed to me at least to be handled quite realistically, Mel was a likeable character, she had good moments and bad moments, times when she did stupid teenage things which caused problems in other respects. Like partying and drinking which had a big effect on her meds. Fights with her aunt. Surprising things came out when Mel reconnected with her old friends. One thing I did like was the parental input from Mel’s parents. Not overbearing, but understanding and helpful, which was nice to see.

A decent contemporary read. I did buy a finished copy (The UK paperback has a really nice bright pink eye catching cover, I couldn’t resist).

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, Children's for approving my request to view the title.

I really enjoyed Eric Lindstrom’s first book, Not If I See You First, so I was eager to see what his second book was like, and I’m pleased to say I enjoyed it just as much, if not more. A Tragic Kind of Wonderful is full of interesting characters, a cute romance and what seemed like a good depiction of bipolar disorder (with the disclaimer that it is something I know very little about and certainly have no personal experience of).

Mel isn’t an easy character to like – she’s purposely closed herself off as much as she can after the death of her brother, to the extent that some of her friends don’t even know she had a brother. Her closest companions are probably the residents of the care home she works in (and incidentally, I loved Dr. Jordan, but I’d have liked to see more of Mrs Li), and her aunt, Hurricane Jean, who lives with Mel and her mum. She has friends, she just doesn’t really see them as friends. I found myself warming towards Mel as the story went on though. Her charts that she tracks her moods with were an interesting piece of character building, and actually, it’s entirely understandable that she behaves in the way she does, considering the things that have happened. There are sections of the story set in the past, so we see how Mel got to this point, and how much she adored her brother, and I think this really helps us to get to know her.

There were a few things I really liked about A Tragic Kind of Wonderful. The first was that it was very clear that not everyone with bipolar disorder will experience life in the same way, that Mel’s disorder needs to be treated differently to her aunt’s. The second is that love does not miraculously cure Mel, as it might do in other books. There is a point where it looks like David, the boy Mel likes rather a lot, might be about to solve all Mel’s problems, and it actually turns out that he’s made the most sensible decision possible in the situation (trying to explain this without spoilers is *really* difficult!). Mel’s family is fantastic – her mum and her aunt are always looking out for her, although I don’t feel we got to know her dad very well. I also liked how the writing made it obvious if Mel was late with her medication, because her thought process speeded up. The gradual reveal of the central mysteries worked well too, although I did feel like Zumi needed to get a grip of herself.

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful is a really enjoyable book. It’s not perfect, and it did feel like it was dragging a little at some points, but overall I would recommend it.

I struggled with this novel a bit as I didn't much take to any of the characters - maybe a few too many threads to unravel made it a bit frustrating. But I thought it gave an interesting representation of mental illness, and I enjoyed the diversity of the characters.

The main character Mel has Bipolar Disorder and is in her second year of knowing she has it. This book does spend a lot of time going over what Bipolar disorder is and shows several characters with it that vary from Mel. I think a decent effect was made with this.


They were breaks from realities such as Mel going about being a freak for having very normal look aspects. Honestly, it was weird that she thought it was odd to have Blue eyes and pale skin, therefore freckles. Like who told her green eyes had anything to freckles (If reading this, Eric Lindstrom where did you get this)? Then someone else then mentions her appearance in this same detail. I think writers do fall in this trap sometimes.


So this is technically a romance book, but that's not really what I would sell it as and for me that's a good thing. I feel like it there because it has to be (old people set them up) and could have just been friends(I like friends). It fine though and definitely doesn't fall into the trap that 'love' cures all. There's a lot of friendships, there's a sprinkle of nice relationships throughout of the book, but I don't feel like the relationships were as developed they much as should have been. Many they were too many things going on for the length of this book. There were lot of interesting dynamics, I think they could be in the one book and work, there's just wasn't enough dedication to them. I get why we did have so many characters with strong connections to Mel, I would have just liked more.


The novel is in the point of view of Mel, but I felt distanced to her and the other characters. They wrote well enough. I don't know if that due to the wall Mel has build surround her and the events we flashing back to a lot to, Or it could be I read it in one day because the world was on the bad side.

The title of this book is eye catching but it a bit generic and I don't think it suits the book that well. I have no alternative title suggestions so I'm the worst type of criticism bringer: says something is wrong and then runs away.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for beach beer.This book deals with mental illness well and has okay Bi, LBGT stuff floating about. This is a quick book to read, so I would recommend it if you like your light reads to have complex stuff going on.

Mel Hannigan is harbouring a secret. More than one, in fact. The first is that she's not an only child. The second is that her brother is dead. The third is that they both have bi-polar disorder.

Mel works hard to separate the life lived inside the confines of her mind from the life of school friends and typical teen angst. But the lines are blurring, and separating these two parts of herself may just prove to be the tipping point in the list of things she can deal with. What will happen when her life comes crashing down around her? And, when it does, who will still be there to help her to pick up the pieces?

During the initial portions of this book I found this an enjoyable if predictable read. I felt like I had read many books centring around the topic of mental health and many of them began in a similar fashion. It became evident however, that this would prove to be far more than simply an entertaining read.

This quickly proved itself to be such a heartbreaking yet important representation of mental illness. Mel's mental stability spiralled over the course of the novel and the author cleverly used the structure of Mel's inner-thoughts and speech to convey this to the reader. It truly felt like I was given an in-depth insight into the character's every feeling and garnered a better understanding of what life is like for those who live with this disorder, in real-life.

I can't truly say if this is a true-to-life representation as I don't suffer from it myself, or know anyone who does. It did however, feel like an authentic representation and is an important voice for marginalised perspectives, because of that.

I also appreciated how Mel was depicted as far more than her mental illness. The story dealt with what she was feeling and suffering, but also conveyed her as being a typical teenage girl with typical teenage worries, aside from that. She has friend drama and boy troubles just like many other from her demographic.

This was such an important read, and truly impacted me into recognising the struggles faced by those suffering from mental illness. Just due to that fact alone this book should be a necessary book for everybody to read. In its own right, it is also a highly entertaining book; full of diverse characters, witty dialogue, a sweet yet subtle romance, a dynamic family, and a thrilling plot with a gripping conclusion.

A beautifully written book. Mel is bipolar and is struggling to come to terms with it. This book is worth reading. It tries to describe bipolar disorder and life with it. It draws the reader in. Mel's feelings are described really well and you can empathise with her and try to understand how she feels and how those who are trying to help her cope feel as well.

This book is an interesting take on the YA world of bipolar disorder, friendships and hidden truths. Initially, I read this book for the mental health aspect, having a huge interest in Psychology, I tend to jump on anything regarding mental illness (particularly in YA lit). The portrayal of bipolar disorder within this book was interesting, and the author has clearly done her research on the counselling techniques used for it. As for the storyline, Mel was an interesting character, but I'm not really sure enough happened for me to really enjoy the narrative. If I had seen more of Mel's personality besides the tracking of her bipolar, I think she would have been a much more interesting character. I really enjoyed the friendship storyline with the old people in the home, that was something that struck closely to my own life so I enjoyed reading about that. I think this book would play an important part in educating people about bipolar, but it just wasn't a spectacular read as I'd hoped it would be. It does have a really gorgeous cover though.

A special thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan has bipolar disorder and she is learning to balance life, relationships, and feelings. Thinking that she will be abandoned when her friends find out things she has been pushing down, parts of her past, and also parts of who she is—what makes her Mel—she keeps them at a distance, even going so far as to terminate friendships.

This was a mixed bag for me. I applaud Lindstrom for tackling such an important topic, especially for this genre, but it came up short. There was a lot going on, he took on too much at once, and this distracted from the beautiful raw emotion that should have been capitalized on. There were characters that took away from the main storyline and then there were characters, like Nolan, that were not explored enough.

Without sounding harsh, I found Mel to be bright, confident, and honest, and the way she tracked her feelings was incredibly juvenile. This is where her relationship with the retired doctor could have been fleshed out, this was a flaw in the storyline, there was a beautiful and honest relationship that was never explored. This could have been the vehicle to her memories of Nolan.

All-in-all, a good read, and I would like to read Not If I See You First.

An absolutely fantastic, thought provoking novel, going to show you cannot judge anyone just from what they say. So good that I made it my book of the month!
http://www.mamamummymum.co.uk/2017/05/a-tragic-kind-of-wonderful-review.html

I read 'Not If I See You First' by Eric Lindstrom, and when this popped up on my NetGalley dashboard, I clicked very quickly. Lindstrom writes beautifully and I think he deserves more renown than he has. He's one of those writers where you are actually inside the character and genuinely feel what they are feeling. That doesn't necessarily make it pleasant.

In fact, that's the first point I'd like to make: for younger readers, or for readers suffering from mental illnesses this may be challenging. Even, I found this hard to read at points and I've read a lot of books with mental illness at the heart. This isn't to put anyone off; just pointing out the skill of writing combined with the subject matter means that it may affect you more than you expect.

So, we have 16-year-old Mel who lives with her mum, some of the time with her eccentric aunt HJ (Hurricane Jane) and always with her bipolar. She takes the meds she's prescribed because she wants to present being a reasonable human being and function sufficiently. And she doesn't want to be like Nolan- wait. We don't talk about that. Mel has the superpower of being able to not remember things. It comes in pretty handy.

We gradually realise, in bits and pieces, how hard the last year has been for Mel. Being the new girl, making a stable-ish group of friends, mentally breaking down, and then meeting some new friends after the previous friendships didn't last. Was that Mel's fault? Even Mel isn't sure sometimes.

She works at a residential home, and is a natural carer. That's one thing that strikes you straight away: how good she is with the elderly. Despite whatever is going on in her own head, she manages to put on a happy-enough smile and soldier on through her shifts, brightening lives as she goes. One retired psychiatrist is the only person she really Talks to. In general, she doesn't like her psychiatrists. But he's different. She has a clear system in her of the different parts of her (head, heart, health, wholeness) are represented by animals - hammerhead shark, hamster, hummingbird - and graphs them. It's only when her host state (Host Hanganimal) is mixed that she has problems. And there are meds to solve that. Always meds. And her superpower.

But sometimes that's not enough. And is it really a superpower to be able to forget things at will? How far does that get you? Mel's life becomes more and more turbulent and she sinks deeper into bipolar as events start to collide. Things get real. Scarily real, even if Mel doesn't realise. Will there be someone there to catch her.

As a reader, this was completely compelling, and a great leap on from Lindstrom's debut. I loved the way she described bipolar to people who may not understand it, and the animal symbolism was fantastic. I greatly appreciated that there were some sample graphs at the end showing us what her graphs looked like. For people wanting more insight into mental illnesses, not only bipolar, but depression too, this book would be a good road in.

But, mostly, it was a cracking story. I couldn't put it down. I read it in a few hours and I really, really regret that. It's the sort of book that deserves to be savoured, making the journey with Mel. But I devoured it because I couldn't stop myself. I'd like to reread it, and make time for the nuances, focus more on the characterisation and the writing now that I already know the story.

It was a hard read. Despite the many 'hard' emotional books I've read, this one struck me.

Thank you for writing this Eric Lindstrom. I'm sure there will be thousands of readers who agree with me.

Lindstrom's debut, Not If I See You First, is one of my favourite contemporary YA books so I had high hopes for this second novel. And although there were things I loved - again, he has written a diverse cast of supporting characters, and I loved the focus on Mel's work at a retirement home and her interactions with the elderly people there - it also felt less well-developed that Not If I See You First, with the plots revolving around Mel's friendships feeling overly-complicated and under-explained.

Usually when I write my reviews, I look over the notes I made on my kindle as I was reading - for this book, I have next to none. I whizzed through this book SO fast it was almost like I was living in it for a day or so... but it taught me so much. There are so many things I love about this book, and there are so many things I'd like to thank the author for.

Thank you for teaching me about mental illness in a way that didn't feel forced or rude or like I was in school - it felt like I was learning about myself, learning about my friends through Mel's self awareness, the retired psychologist Dr Jordan at the care home Mel volunteers at, and those around Mel who manage their mental illnesses differently to her.

Thank you for giving me a book I feel I can recommend to one of my best friends that she can see herself in - and all the parts of herself. The happy self, even if that's a lie, the sad self & all the parts in between. I don't know what it's like: but maybe Mel does. Thank you that I can buy this book for her for her birthday and she can watch herself fall in love.

Thank you for teaching me about FRIENDS. I mean, I guess I already knew these lessons - but you ironed them out. There are people in this world that will step on you to get the top, and these same people have such an intellect in twisting tales to make you seem like the bad person. Sometimes you agree with them and sometimes you don't. Also, people can turn against you for YEARS but they will never forget the good times they shared with you - sometimes it's worth accepting that you were both wronged and reliving and recreating the good times once again.

Thank you for teaching me about healing. Mel wants to heal, but she doesn't know how to. Everybody, her aunt, her psychologist, her retired psychologist, think that they know the best way to heal... but does anybody? Perhaps more important than the action of healing is the people you have around you to support you... at the end of the book, Mel is surrounded by shells of people & is a shell herself, but by the end of the book... there is wholeness, through the people.

I know this hasn't been a "real" review, so I'll leave you with this: A Tragic Kind of Wonderful is a romance, relatable & a self help book all in one. I can't wait until it starts blessing other lives too ❤️

// Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing a copy of this in exchange for an honest review! //

I think this one just wasn't for me. I could see what the author was going for but I just didn't find it engaging. I never really warmed to Mel and while I know that bipolar disorder manifests in a myriad of different ways, this depiction just didn't resonate with my experience of it as a carer. I also found it a little slow paced with fairly obvious twists. I can see how this would be right up someone else's street - it isn't a bad book at all - it just didn't fetch me.

Something about this book really stood out for me. Actually, no, everything about this book really stood out for me. The characters, the portrayal of bipolar disorder, the family dynamics, the friendships, the fact that romance was never a major plot point in the story but added a nice degree of cute to it. I've never had a personal experience with bipolar disorder, not even with a family member or close friend, so, obviously, I don't know much about it. However, I felt that A Tragic Kind of Wonderful taught me about the disorder, as well as being a wonderful book. Not to mention, the cover is pure perfection in my opinion, and that was what drew me in when I first noticed it.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to read an educational contemporary, with LGBTQ+ characters, but with only a little bit of cute romance.