RULES OF HALF BY JENNA PATRICK
This is an incredibly complex multilayered debut novel that explores several themes and streamlines them together so that they all emerge together.

-----Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply
for another person.

-----Tennessee Williams

Regan Whitmer is running away from an abusive stepfather from Chicago after her mother shoots herself in the head in front of Regan. Regan hitchhikes to the little town of Half Moon Hollow with a population of around 1500 people. She has come here to find her biological father who doesn't yet know she exists. She is walking the deserted streets of town when she is offered a ride from a postal worker. When she takes the address out of her pocket and tells the postal worker where she needs a ride to the postal worker replies that she is going to the old Fletcher place. She tells him that's right. Then she asks if there is anything wrong to which he replies "Nope, but I can't say the same about Will Fletcher."

The whole town is cruel and does not have anything nice to say about the Fletcher's. Regan's father, who is Will Fletcher suffers from Bi Polar disorder. I do have to say that Will gets into trouble quite a bit, most recently he was sentenced to serve six months of community service, in addition to the six years he has already racked up. The judge said that Will has to serve it in some fashion other than volunteering at the animal shelter. This time he has to use his sentence to help out humans.

Regan shows up on the Fletcher's doorstep and Will's sister Janey welcomes her by allowing her to stay there. Will is very apathetic towards Regan and ignores her and doesn't seem the least bit interested in getting to know her. Janey is Will's legal guardian and she takes care of him, making sure he takes his medication regularly. She has sacrificed living with her girlfriend Gretchen, who is also her agent for comic books Janey creates. Will tells Regan to call him Will and says that she looks just like her mother Michelle. Regan is fifteen and loves the Fletcher's house. Everything about the house, the yard and the barn which Will had wandered out to felt right.

Will is out in the barn where he is going to sleep and he tells Janey when she asks him what he wants to do: "I don't know what I want you to do," "But I know I can't be a father to that girl. And you know it, too." Will thinks he could never make Regan feel safe. That was too big a responsibility to carry. Far too much to ask from a guy who could hardly match his clothes. "I'm sorry. I just can't. I wasn't meant to have a job like that." Regan was better off without him. Regan had been through enough and, he could only offer her more hurt and disappointment. One day she would realize it; the people will loved always did. She was better off without him, Will thought.

There is a new principal at the high school where Janie and Will register Regan. Her name is Lindsey. Linsey is the only one in town that has been nice to the Fletcher's so Janie invites Lindsey over for dinner. They become friend's and Janie wants a romantic relationship with Lindsey. As Regan attends school she gets into arguments with all the kids who are mean to her because of her father. Regan is protective of her father. Regan begins to take her lunch and walk to the nearby cemetery and sits in a split oak tree when she spy's her father sitting next to a grave stone and talking. With some searching around the house she finds out her father is talking to her little sister named Emma.

The more Regan see's her father talking to her dead sister she begins to feel bad because Will goes to the cemetery and pours his heart out to her dead sister, yet he is very hands off with Regan. She confronts Will after snooping around the house and finding out the information she needs and demands him to tell her why he never told her she had a sister. Will accuses Regan of spying on him and it feels like he is upset to know that she has been listening to him. The circumstances about Emma is a big part of why Will refuses to bond with Regan, but they begin to slowly form a relationship. It is heartbreaking to read about how close he is to Emma, his dead child while he couldn't have a relationship with his live daughter who craves it.

Janie is nominated for an award for one of her books and Lindsey encourages Janie to leave Will in Lindsey's care and go to the ceremony. Janie finally agrees to go but as I said she is carrying a torch for Lindsey and kisses her which Janie realizes is something she should not have done. When Janie arrives at the hotel she finds Gretchen, her lover and her agent in her room and breaks it off with Gretchen telling her there is somebody else. Janie is constantly calling Lindsey to check up on Will. Sparks start to fly between Will and Lindsey and then all hell breaks loose.

There is so much that happens in this novel that explores a multitude of situations that happen. You will learn what happened to Emma. Why Will is so afraid of relationships and of hurting everybody that he get's close to. You will learn about Regan's boyfriend Lane and how he is related to Ellie. You will learn about Ellie and Will. There is a bit of sibling rivalry between Will and Janie about Lindsey. The catalyst that sets everything off on a collision course starts the book rolling and everything that I have left out will make sense. I loved the ending. It was an absolute genius idea and it changes everything you thought you knew about this story. Turns everything on its head.

Thank you to Net Galley, Jenna Patrick and SparkPress Publishing for my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Congratulations to Jenna Patrick on an absolutely stunning debut novel! I loved it. This novel portrays with depth and feeling the trials of Will trying to cope with bipolar disorder and the effect on both himself and his family. I raced through the book with both tears and laughter as the various family dramas played out. The story is well delivered and the characters well developed. Keep writing Jenna Patrick - I will look forward to more!

Many thanks to Jenna Patrick and SparkPress through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

You know, I don't know if I am adequately prepared to review this book. It unabashedly dives into the daily struggles of those with mental illness, and rather than create martyrs, it instead delivers redemption.

It was beautiful.

And although there are points of the book I did not like, I find them not worth mentioning due to the fact of how well this story was delivered. It was brave, and I'm not sure that it could have been done any better.

An interesting and refreshing approach to mental illness in fiction, through the character of a thirty-five year old man (Will Fletcher) with bipolar disorder (later reevaluated) and I really enjoyed reading this book.
The characters are rounded, the small-town setting creates a framework for the conflicts to emerge and various meaningful relationships develop.
I really liked the depiction of the hero and his connection with his sister, Janey, and the dilemma they face with this kind of situations (the same happens with our elderly): “are they better off in the care of a mental health facility or in the care of family members who love them” (quote from ARC)? The answer seems obvious, but I guess in real life it’s not that easy.
I also liked the sexual ambiguity of the character of Lindsay, I wasn’t that certain that she would end with whom she did, so there was a little suspense that was nice.
I thought that Regan – and, to an extent, her boyfriend, Lane – was too mature for her 16 years. Additionally, I tended to find any conversations she participated in a bit far-fetched for a person her age. Nonetheless, she’s a lovable girl and a key element in her father’s recovery.

The Rules of Half by Jenna Patrick. After Regan Fletcher's mother commits suicide, she runs away from her stepfather's home to find her biological father. Will Fletcher, once a successful veterinarian, now suffers from bipolar disorder. Confronted with the daughter he never knew about, to say that Will is reluctant to assume fatherhood is an understatement. Fortunately, his sister Janey is more willing to undertake the responsibility, but Regan doesn't find the stable, loving home she dreamed of because Will's illness requires vigilance to be sure he takes his meds and stays out of trouble.

There is a bit of mystery to be uncovered relating to the onset of Will's illness. The characters are well-drawn and complex. The attempts at creating the family Regan wants and needs are full of unpredictable stumbling blocks, but at least the members of this unusual family do their best--most of the time. Situations alternate between hopeful, heartbreaking, and ridiculous.

An excellent debut novel. Read in March. Review scheduled for April May 19
NetGalley/Sparkpress

Coming of Age/Psychological. June 6, 2017. Print length: 300 pages.

“No one in this town wanted his help. No one liked being in the same room with him. They scattered like ants hiding from a thunderstorm when he came around, unless of course he did something crazy; then they brought the popcorn bucket.”

What is a man to do when he is cast as the local loony? If he has serious mental health issues and suffered a tragedy that would bring any loving parent to their knees, well he embraces what is expected of him. In the small town of Half Moon Hollow there is a grave that Will Fletcher talks to, where his infant daughter lies beneath. With one horrific mistake, his life as a successful Veterinarian, loving father and husband vanished, and like a curse the townspeople turned on him. But truth can be convoluted, particularly when the town mayor is your former father- in-law.

Fifteen year old Regan has just suffered a tragic loss of her own, she has come to Half Moon Hollow in search of the father she never knew but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of Will. He isn’t stable, is shunned by the townsfolk and cannot open his life to her. She didn’t expect to wake up in his house, and have them think she is just another cruel teen that broke in to harass the ‘crazy Will Fletcher.’ Her Aunt Jane’s first reaction is one of disbelief and anger, her brother cannot handle some strange girl claiming to be the daughter he never knew about, not when he just had another humiliating episode in town. But sometimes fate has other plans. Shamed by the loss of his baby girl, he has too much guilt and fear to attempt to be a father to Regan. It is a betrayal to the daughter he lost to make room in his heart for her, in his thinking, he is a dangerous man and she is better off without him. Jane, Will’s self-sacrificing sister has spent years since the tragedy caring for her brother. Being ripe for ridicule in Half Moon Hollow is nothing new for her, being the town lesbian whose own father had severe schizophrenia. She has spent her life navigating her family’s mental illness, giving up on her own dreams of art, and love. But how much can a person sacrifice when the brother you love won’t help himself? How much is a life worth? Always the caretaker, she cannot let Will abandon the opportunity to get to know his only living child and maybe just maybe there is hope at healing? Dare she dream that maybe Will could stop punishing himself and maybe find a new future with her niece?

But Regan’s presence may just set off episodes that threaten Will’s freedom, which fits just perfectly into the mayor’s scheming. Regan in the meantime, struggles with her peers not for being the new girl, but for being the daughter of the ‘crazy Will Fletcher.’ Stronger than him, she stands in defiance to anyone who would bully her dad, if only Will could learn to love her. She has been abandoned and betrayed so much in her young life that when she sees kindness in a boy named Lane, she doesn’t believe she can trust it. With her dead mother’s voice as a driving force, she forges ahead in trying to become a part of this strange new family. Her and Will have more in common than they know, both feeling responsible for deaths in their lives.

The family finds friendship in the soft-hearted new Principal (Lindsay) at Regan’s school, one of the few people who doesn’t shun the family. But the closer she gets, the more it strains the bond between the siblings. Lindsay may come to help them in the end, as much as her choices hurt them. Lindsay is one of the best characters used to show how easy it is for people to automatically go along with the crowd before really knowing the truth about a person. It’s easy to believe what you see and hear but many times the truth is far more complicated. As she gets closer to Jane, Will and Regan her heart becomes entangled with the Fletchers. More than she could ever have imagined, and so much that she may be willing to risk everything she has in life, even her career.

The entire novel takes the reader into the hearts and minds of Will and his loved ones and the difficulties of living with mental illness. It also exposes the reality of caring for loved ones affected by psychiatric disorders. But what really hits the gut is how those outside the family react to it. The cruelness exists in the mockery and ugliness when then should be compassion. We like to think we’ve moved past social shaming, but the truth is- many people are scared of differences, which may well exacerbate illnesses. It’s easier to dismiss what you don’t understand, which says something rotten of our inhumanity to each other. At the novel’s final moments, the truth alters everything Will has built his life on, but what does it change in the end? I think the author’s ending was perfect. I always enjoy a novel that makes readers internalize a situation. I certainly admire Jane’s tenacity in caring for her brother, because it is a thankless job most of the time, but it comes from a place of pure love inside of her.

As an aside, it is a sad fact that people shun others that live with mental illness. Sadly, the most people hear about it is when someone has committed a crime, so it feeds the fear. It’s a vicious cycle, because when people are shunned, they retreat further into themselves and even people of ‘sound mind’ , if you can call anyone sound, don’t do well without interacting with others. We have voices for speaking, bodies for touching, and starving anyone of human contact is cruel, changes us on an emotional level but when you are already suffering, is it any wonder why their mental illness worsens? For Will, the towns expectations turn his obstacles into seemingly insurmountable mountains.

The Rules Of Half is a love story, not just between man and woman, but between siblings, children and their parents and friends. More than an anniversary of grief, Regan’s arrival marks what will be an anniversary of a new life for everyone in the novel, including herself. A lovely tender story.

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

SparkPress

Young Regan Whitmer has set off on a journey to find her birth father Will Fletcher now living in the quaint small town of Half Moon Hollow. Here she will encounter a close-knit and suspicious community having to tolerate a somewhat schizophrenic Will who appears to have lost his mind following the death of his first daughter Emma.

This is a book which looks at relationships within a small town and in particular their approach to mental health and how they adopt and change (if at all) to accommodate it. I did enjoy this story but found the telling of it, in particular the conclusion, somewhat akin to an episode of Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons. Those are only my observations, and I can appreciate those 5 star reviews, it was certainly easy to assimilate and read albeit at times a little too homespun and cosy.

Wow! Utterly brilliant and moving story about mental illness and its far reaching impact on family and the surrounding community. Patrick is insightful in her prose, making connections seem realistic and ordinary while challenging stereotypes and expectations.

Thank you Net Galley for the chance to read this book.

I really loved this story! It grabbed my attention right at the start. I only wished I hadn't started it during such a busy week because I wanted to be e to just sit and read it through to the end.

The characters were so realistic. They were complex enough to be intriguing but simple enough to be believable.

4.5 stars

"When everyone else looks at you and sees crazy, I see complex. When they see someone who's not worth a second of their time, I finally see someone who is actually worth every bit of mine. When they see a man who's damned, I see one who's yet to be redeemed."

Every once in a while I come across a book outside the romance genre that piques my interest. When I read the blurb of The Rules of Half, I just knew it would be emotional, heartbreaking but also unique and real. There are many people who have Bipolar Disorder and I can't imagine it being easy for them and their family. This book gave a very well-rounded look into a man struggling with his disorder, but also with the heartbreaking events from his past. Will had so much on his plate and he couldn't let go of his inner demons or forgive himself.

This book is told from four POVs: Will, his sister Janey, his teenage daughter Regan and the the new school principal Lindsay. I thought it was very essential in this book to hear what all four of them were thinking, and they all had their own struggles and problems. There were multiple story lines intertwined into the main one, and the author did a phenomenal job in the way she told everyone's story. There were so many heartbreaking scenes that had me tearing up, especially the scenes with Will and Regan were sad. I loved how everything developed in this story, and I couldn't get enough. I loved that there was some romance, even though it wasn't the most important part. It was about the bond between brother and sister, father and daughter, and people who are attracted/in love with each other. Friendship played an important role as well. The Rules of Half is a very strong, complete, raw and beautiful debut novel of Jenna Patrick. I am very impressed by her writing and I'll definitely keep a close eye on her upcoming books.

Great story! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

Thank You Net Galley for the free ARC.

What attracted me to this novel is that it deals with bipolar disease. However, either I am little aware of the amount of disability this can cause or this is an exceptional character. Will was a veterinarian, so obviously he survived 10 years of college and grad school, now he cleans out cages and is in constant trouble with the police because he starts fights and is in general a nuisance in town. His disease borders on psychosis.

He finds out that he is a father, when Reagan moves in after her mother commits suicide and he want no part of it. Eventually Reagan wins him over.

One of the best books I have read so far this year. For a Debut Author, I must say this book has it all. 15 year old Regan Whitmer has just lost her mother and is now left in the care of her Pastor Step-father. She knows she has a Father in Half Moon Hollow, she just has to find him and hope that he will want her when she confronts him.

What Regan doesn't know is that her 35 year old Father, Will Fletcher has been living a nightmare for the past 5 years. He has lost not only his beautiful young daughter but his wife and marriage too. And living in a town like Half Moon Hollow, where nearly all of the community are bigoted because of Will's mental illness, Regan is going to find that her life hasn't really changed that much from where she came from.

It seems everyone is against the Fletchers until Lindsay Shepherd arrives in town as the new School Principal. She runs into Will at the animal shelter where Will helps out and even though Will is rude to her, she finds him attractive and interesting, and it seems Will finds an attraction in Lindsay too, unfortunately Will isn't the only person attracted to Linsday, it seems Will's lesbian sister Janey is smitten too.

Janey has looked after Will since his divorce and even though it is very tiresome to be constantly watching his every move, she wouldn't have it any other way but sometimes she would love a break and when she wins a coveted literary award she is persuaded to go to New York to accept it and leave Will in the hopefully capable hands of Regan and Lindsay for three days.

Of course Crazy Will has an episode and all hell breaks loose. The community finally has enough evidence to put him away in an institution and herein the fights really begins for all those who love Will to show him that life is worth living with him in it.

This is an emotional read, there are many humorous moments from Will and some sad moments that will bring you to tears. Jenna Patrick has done a brilliant job in writing this beautiful book and it will stay with me for quite a while.

Thanks to Netgalley and SparkPress for the opportunity to read and review this memorable book.