I received this book at no cost from the publisher
Underwater by Marisa ReichardtISBN: 0374368864
on January 12th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Psychology, Realistic Fiction, Mental Illness
Rate: 4 stars
Rate: 4 stars
Synopsis:
Morgan didn’t mean to do anything wrong that day. Actually, she meant to do something right. But her kind act inadvertently played a role in a deadly tragedy. In order to move on, Morgan must learn to forgive—first someone who did something that might be unforgivable, and then, herself.
But Morgan can’t move on. She can’t even move beyond the front door of the apartment she shares with her mother and little brother. Morgan feels like she’s underwater, unable to surface. Unable to see her friends. Unable to go to school.
When it seems Morgan can’t hold her breath any longer, a new boy moves in next door. Evan reminds her of the salty ocean air and the rush she used to get from swimming. He might be just what she needs to help her reconnect with the world outside.
Underwater is a powerful, hopeful debut novel about redemption, recovery, and finding the strength it takes to face your past and move on.
After an incident at school, Morgan is having panic attacks that leave her with agoraphobia. As the story unwinds about what exactly happened to her at school, you find yourself heartbroken at how she blames herself for surviving and worries that she may have PTSD like her father. Her father is not present in the book, but you get the feeling that he is always in the back of Morgan’s mind about what actually happened to him after five tours of duty in Afghanistan.
Her mother tries to help her and she does make progress with the help of a doctor but she seems to slide back into her depression and panic whenever the incident is mentioned. Morgan makes a bit of headway when she meets a neighbor, Evan, who is dealing with the incident as well. It is a bit of a mystery exactly what happen to them but it becomes apparent that this life changing event was horrible.
I really enjoyed the wonderful writing that captured the exact way Morgan was feeling and how you felt that you were right with her during the horrible thing that happened. I seemed to have picked books with characters suffering from some sort of mental illness and this one is an emotional read. Parents: this could be an important book to read with your teens.
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I’m a SoCal native and high school writing instructor. I currently live in Los Angeles and can usually be found huddled over my laptop in coffeehouses or swimming in the ocean.My debut YA contemporary novel, UNDERWATER, will be out 1/12/16 from Macmillan/FSG and 4/7/16 Macmillan Children’s UK.
I love all books and all genres. While I do keep track of all the books I’ve read here, I generally don’t do ratings or reviews.
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