A Good Read 

Trigger warnings- sexual assault references/mentions, abuse, trauma. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur: Milk and honey is a collection of beautifully written poems illustrating love, loss, abuse, and the power of femininity. Kaur is vulnerable in the way she presents these struggles. The book is split into four chapters, and each speaks of a different pain. As you read, it’s as though the words sink past your mind down to your heart. Her words make you understand the pain in ways seen as impossible, almost as if you’re going through the cycle of breaking and healing with every turning page. Kaur shows how complicated loving can be, even how complicated living can be. 

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks: Sparks tells the love story of Landon and Jamie. Neither saw themselves with the other, yet somehow fate brought the two souls together. Being with Jamie showed him the joy and pain of living; she taught him how to live a content life. Sometimes how we differ is more important than what we have in common. A walk to remember is a tragic, heart-wrenching story of young but eternal love. { ps: I cried } 

“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.” 

- Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember 

Trigger warnings- obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety attacks, dissociation, self-harm, and highly intrusive thoughts. 

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green: This story follows Aza Holmes, a young woman navigating her existence while struggling with the spiral of thoughts inside her head. Turtles All the Way Down showcases lifelong friendship, reality, love, and the power of the human conscience. It’s not every book that can make you feel as if the words quite literally come alive. Aza’s pain felt like it was my own. People talk so much about what mental illness is like, but this book shows you what it is and how it feels to be inevitably lost in a spiral of your own thoughts. It is a touching story about learning to cope when the world feels out of control. ( one of my favorites )