Under Rose-Tainted Skies

In Under Rose-Tainted Skies, Louise Gornall allows her readers to see the world through the lens of mental illness. As if adolescence isn't a difficult enough time for girls, Norah Dean has the added struggle of OCD and agoraphobia. When a cute boy moves in next door and starts talking to her, her world is thrown into further turmoil. A realistic and ultimately hopeful story that will leave readers with a better understanding of mental illness and the bravery required for so many people just to get through each day. If everyone read more books like this one, the world would be a more compassionate place.

Under Rose-Tainted Skies

DNF

☆☆☆

This was a fluffy book. Like, Everything, Everything, I liked that part but there are a lot of things that I did not like. This is so much like EE, it's uncanny.

First, this book is cliche. Like EE, it has the whole Girl stuck in house by an illness, Girl has good relationship with protective mother (Although Norah's relationship was way better than Maddy's.), Girl wears plain clothes, Girl meets neighbor, Girl falls for him, he falls for her and somehow their relationship works out perfectly with only one bump in the road.

I also thought they book was a bit slowed- paced. Plus, shouldn't she be taking something? I mean, of course it wouldn't cure her, but something to take the edge off and gain some control over it?

This book suffers from the “love cures mental illness” trope. Norah falls for Luke, and once their relationship gets going, all of the sudden, she has this newfound confidence and her anxiety is now controllable. At least in this book, Luke didn't cure all her illnesses and she actually has agoraphobia.

I am used to hearing and seeing vulgar language but in this book, it just seem so unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story.

And the analogies don't work and they're all over the place. IMO, some do, most don't. Some of them are weird, and others are well.....this:

“Doubt sneaks up behind me like some h***y dude at a disco, its arm snaking around my waist, wrapping me in its cruel embrace.”

Overall, I thought it was an okay and fluffy book. I REALLY didn't like the whole “love cures mental illness” trope, hence the DNF, and the analogies are just...no.

I rate Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall three out of five stars.