Talk about a plot twist. A Danger to Herself and Others was a whirlwind roller coaster with one of the most unreliable narrators I've ever come across, in a good way!

The ending was a little rough, but true to reality. I suspect it will be a point of identification for many.

"A Danger to Herself and Others" is a beautiful exploration of mental illness. Though the speaker isn't always likable, her story is compelling, and I binge-read this in one sitting. Saying anything else would spoil the ending. That said, I thought it was very well-written, and perfect for fans of "A Beautiful Mind," "Turtles All the Way Down," "The Yellow Wallpaper," and "Jane Eyre." For teachers, I think this text could pair well in lit circles with books covering both feminism and mental illness.

The writing style was really difficult to get use to. The author writes about a difficult subject, but somehow made it feel as though the whole story was about someone else. I felt as though the story was being told as a third party narrator that I found incredibly difficult to embrace.

I guess this writing style is just not my thing.

Talented author! It definitely takes one to write an evolving story in basically just one room/setting while successfully keeping the reader interested! I really enjoyed this book! Sadly, this is the type of book I can't review well without subsequently giving away pertinent information. Hannah is smart, talented, rich, mature, and popular...but that doesn't mean she is perfect! Don't let her fool you. The whole time you will be wondering what really happened to Anges!! I love that this book sheds light on Mental Illness awareness! If you know anyone struggling with the various mental illnesses, don't hesitate to call and get them help!!

A DANGER TO HERSELF AND OTHERS is a masterpiece that had me captivated from the cover to the acknowledgements. (A quick note about the cover: it's completely beautiful--fits the novel and Hannah Gold perfectly.) I loved the book from the first sentence, but the line that really got me hooked was, "I was lying before." As soon as I realized Hannah may not be a reliable narrator, I HAD to know what happened. There were so many unexpected plot turns that I never felt bored, and even the small details felt important later on. I have been unbelievably busy over the last few months, and I haven't been able to read a full book in such a long time. I read this book in less than a day. I simply couldn't stop reading. I rolled my eyes with Hannah, laughed at her silly moments with Lucy, and then cried for a solid ten minutes (still reading because I couldn't stop). I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to read this early on, and I can't wait to suggest this title for our library network. It's an important read, not just a captivating one.

I really enjoyed this book. Yes it was a lil slower than I expected but I think that actually improved the story. This book has so many plot twists that keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I absoluetly loved how the story and Hannahs past unraveld as the book went on and it really reminded me of We Were Liars but I gotta say that I enjoyed this one more. I do have to put trigger warnings for Anorexia, Bulimia and Mental illness. overall this book was so unique and I highly enjoyed it. I totally recommend picking it up. MAX

"I wait until Doctor Lightfoot stands and turns her back to me to fold the plastic chair before I roll my eyes. Didn't they teach her not to turn her back on her patients in Medical school?"

"A Danger to Herself and Others" is about a 17 year old girl who was court-ordered to stay in a mental institution and was labeled as 'a danger to herself and others'.

When we start the book, we have no idea what Hannah did to her friend Agnes, just that they were playing a couple games and Agnes had had an accident and was comatose, letting her parents think that Hannah had tried to kill her in someway.

This book was a very slow page turner for me - I just couldn't get into it the way I got into "Impulse" or "Mara Dyer" (Two other YA books that also play on the 'psychosis/mental illness' take). The repetition of the title, although aptly used and I understood the symbolism of it in the story, was overused and misplaced in really weird ways in the narration.

I felt like one or two times would have been fine, to remind the reader about Hannah's diagnosis/dilemma, but it was repeated so many times over the course of the book that it got to be some empty word instead of something that defined what Hannah was there for. It popped up in the wrong places when it should have just been used once in the beginning and then sparsely when needed to remind the reader of what Hannah was going through.

During the course of Hannah's stay at the mental institution she is at, she ends up getting a roommate that is there for bulimia named Lucy. Through the coarse of the book, we end up finding out more about Hannah's friend, Agnes, and her life back home - her sort of boyfriend that Agnes liked, her friends, and her family. These little slices of her life before the incident took place was refreshing to me - The institution, although a great setting for this story in particular, is not very intriguing to me as much as the mystery surrounding the 'why' she is in there in the first place - and kept me more engaged in the storyline than the situations going on in the institution itself.

Lucy, Hannah's roommate, was by far my favorite character. I loved her 'no-holds-barred' attitude and her friendship with Hannah was realistic in a way that they both didn't want to 'fix' the other; they just wanted to understand the other person and have a connection.

At first, I had a slight suspicion about Lucy, but I wasn't too sure and after the story went on, my suspicion began to fade. Her character, and Hannah's, were so well-written for the development involved. I really enjoyed how their relationship grew and would have loved just a little bit more development before the "big reveal".

Overall, four stars for an outstanding story that kept me on my toes and kept me guessing. The beginning is a bit slow, I'll admit, and the repetition of the title is annoying at best but I'm so glad I didn't abandon this book because the rest of the storyline was phenomenal.

- I received a free E-book in exchange for my honest review -

Hannah Gold was born mature. This is what her parents have always said. As a baby and a toddler, instead of being settled with babysitters, she was attending the theater, fancy restaurants and even travelling abroad with her parents. And she was always given her own hotel room, even at four years old, left to her own devices while her parents went places that little girls are not allowed, the casino, bars, etc. She's also incredibly smart and witty, and has no problems making friends, she's had numerous best friends over her lifetime, it's always so easy for her. She's going to get into Harvard, or Yale, or some other Ivy league school once she finishes high school. Money's never a problem, and she lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, she likes to go shopping with her mother, and reading books that are college level. Everything's going perfect, until Hannah finds herself being admitted to a psychiatric facility in California, having been torn away from her summer program. Not a summer program for struggling student, a summer program for students to start earning credit towards College, a summer program for the smart kids. Her best friend and room mate Agnes has been involved in an accident, an incident, and the judge has court ordered Hannah Gold to undergo psychiatric observation, however, it's all just a big misunderstanding, and everything will be fine once it all gets straightened out, won't it?

I don't know what I was expecting when I requested this book, but I don't think it was what I got. This is not a bad thing, this book blew me away. I almost read it in one sitting, I started reading it last night before bed and only stopped because my eyelids were protesting for sleep, otherwise I surely would've finished it in one sitting, no doubt about it.

When the story opens, we are introduced to Hannah Gold as she is sitting in the administration part of this building, with an orderly writing her information down on a clip board. She is soon taken to her room, stripped of her civilian clothes, and the door is shut. We don't know much about Hannah except that she is confined to her room, in solitary, that her best friend Agnes has had an accident, and she's been court ordered to the facility as she is deemed a danger to herself and others.

We follow Hannah on her journey as she finds out more about the accident that has left Agnes in a coma, why she is in the facility in the first place, and as she gains and loses privileges while trying to work out why they've given her a roommate called Lucy, especially if she may be a danger to herself and others.

Hannah is a perfectly imperfect character and I loved how she was written, everything in her life is perfect, her parents and their friends have always said so, it also gives way for the reader to think about, is her life really perfect? Who's life is perfect? And also raises questions about one's perception of themselves compared to what other people perceive them to be.

This book deals with mental health issues such as eating disorders, suicide, depression, psychosis and a myriad of other things. I think this book piqued my interest because of the mental health tag, I myself suffer with mental health issues, not on the scope that I believe this book deals with them, but mental health issues nonetheless. This is the third book ever that has brought me to tears, and it wasn't because of attachment to a character who dies, or anything like that, it really hit close to home with how some of the characters deal with mental health issues. One of the characters is struggling with adjustment, and other characters are afraid of them. This broke my heart. I know myself, that a massive part of being able to live and function with mental illness is to not be ostracised because your brain functions differently to "normal" people, that mental illness is not contagious, and that majority of the time a person with mental illness is more likely to hurt themselves than someone else. Having people around who are open enough to try and adapt with you is imperative to adjusting to living with a brain that is misfiring or a brain that is not producing enough of some chemical, especially when one decides to take the leap and accept medical help, whether that is in the form of medication or therapy, or both. It's not easy accepting yourself as having a brain that functions differently, and having people around you that can help with this is important. So yes, this book hit me hard, not because I've gone through what this character did, but purely because I am so lucky that I've never had to go through dealing with family being scared of me, worried that I'd pass on my crazy to them. I've always been supported, especially when I need it most. So it was upsetting to realise that, not everyone has this in their life when they need it, even when they don't. People go through something so life shattering by themselves, with no one around who understands.

And I've gotten WAY off topic haha. So the pacing of the book was fantastic, and the story flowed brilliantly. The way the author has written the narration really gives a feel for a frantic brain, and you can sympathise with Hannah and what the characters are going through. The author does state that this is not meant to be an accurate representation of mental illness, as medication and diagnosis effect people differently, nonetheless, it was brilliantly written. Definitely goes into the category of a sure fire unputdownable book.

This book is an amazing exploration of mental illness and human psychology. The MC is crafted in such a way that every plight of her journey is personally felt by the reader. The story is believable and impactful and is a great read for opening up a very important dialogue about the stigma of mental illness.

I really enjoyed this novel. The unreliable narrator kept me guessing what was going on and I like how the author kept things interesting even though most of the novel we are stuck in a very small space. I wish there was maybe one more twist at the end I felt like once one thing was revealed another was ki da obvious. All in all it was a very good read maybe falling a little flat towards the end

Hannah Smith has always been exceptional. A straight A student destined for success, Hannah finds herself in a summer program for advanced students where she plans to earn nine college credits before she ever begins her senior year of high school. Until her roommate falls out of a second story window and winds up in a coma. Until she finds herself locked up in an institution after the roommate's parent's blame her for the fall. But she isn't crazy. She knows that soon everyone will realize that it's all a misunderstanding and she will be back home like nothing ever happened. Right?

I really enjoyed this book. When I first started reading, I really thought I knew what was going to happen and I was totally prepared to say I knew the ending halfway through the book (I was wrong). Sheinmel did a great job portraying Hannah. She was a very strong main character. I felt like I really got to know her and I was on her side even when it felt like I shouldn't be. I really liked the way the author dealt with mental illness and the associated stigmas. Readers get to see the journey all the way through from diagnosis to life after. I was definitely left wanting more.

The beginning was a little slow. I knew based on the description that I would end up loving it, but it was hard to get into at first. There were a few instances when I was left wishing for more detail. For example, Hannah goes through best friends like kids go through candy on Halloween, but I never found out why that happened, what split them up, or if they were associated with her mental illness.

Awesome book, awesome author! I definitely want to read more from Alyssa Sheinmel. I think this is a really important topic, especially in today's times when people are finally starting to make an effort to understand mental illness and she did a fantastic job writing about it.

4/5 Stars

"Let this thing play out. Just until everything passes".

Hannah is remanded into custody at an institution for psychiatric evaluation after an accident occurs at the summer programme she's attending. She's sure it's all a formality and will all blow over, because she can't be to blame for what happened, can she?

I loved this book. There's nothing I find more entertaining than an unreliable narrator. Contradicting herself from one line to the next, can we really trust her judgement on any of this story?

"Luckily, I know how to become someone's best friend. It's a skill I've honed since kindergarten".

Hannah is so confident in her abilities and intelligence, she thinks she is a step above other people. As an only child, her parents have raised her to be mature from birth, and it's interesting to see what effect this has on her psyche.

I would recommend this book to fans of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and obviously Girl Interrupted. There are parallels to be drawn, but this stands apart as an excellent piece of fiction that explores the world of teenagers striving to meet expectations and living with mental illness.

I found Danger to Herself and Others a very very interesting read. it was great to see and feel as Hannah did
when she met Lucy, the confusion and hope that perhaps they were letting her broaden and ‘heal’. It is no
wonder that Alyssa Sheinman is a NYT Bestseller with amazing novels like these.
I did find that this novel was a really good book to read when just trying to wind down. It was easy, fun but not
boring. The characters were all extremely well developed and they progressed with ease and grace, but in
some areas I felt that the emotion Hannah was feeling wasn’t expressed as well as it could have been. One
minute she had curled her fingers because she was upset and the next she was being sedated. This does
concern me as I wonder what treatment to patients are like in horrible circumstances. If the emotion had been
further explored or perhaps the plot twists were sprung up on the reader and not built up to, so we didn’t
expect it.
Read full review / more at
https://afewchapterstillove.wixsite.com/afcl

A great story about a girl who ends up in a mental hospital after her friend has an "accident", and doesn't believe that she belongs there. It shows how mental disease could affect anyone.
So deep and hard to get used to, but once you do you will not put it down.
Thank you NetGalley for the free advance copy!

Disclaimer: I received this ARC courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley. I am grateful for the opportunity to review an ARC for my readers, but this will not influence my final rating. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and based solely on the book. 

This review will contain both a spoiler-free and a with-spoiler section. I do not recommend looking at the latter if you plan on reading A Danger to Herself and Others because a major crisis in the book benefits from you having a blank slate.

<><> SPOILER-FREE REVIEW <><>
The beginning of A Danger to Herself and Others didn't draw me in right away. The narrator and our main character, Hannah, describes her arrival at the psychiatric hospital from processing to placement in her room. The action happening in front of her (which would help physically situate the reader, things like a man asking her name, or her walking down a hall) was drowned out by her very scattered, seemingly random thoughts. I quickly realized this is how Hannah likes to be, that she processes what is in front of her and thinks deeply about everything before reacting. Getting used to her character took a moment, but once I knew that she was a studious and serious girl, I began to dig deeper into the book. 

Hannah accepts her term at the psychiatric hospital with grace: she's not supposed to be there, so of course her time will be short since soon it will be discovered that she was placed by accident. Hannah knows why she was accidentally placed: it's left to the reader to uncover this information and if the decision was truly an accident over the course of the novel. Even though Hannah is calm about being placed, she still shows her dislike of being confined, of being told when to shower, of having someone else choose when and where she eats. Her bursts of panic washed over me when she walked into her room — eight feet by seven as she had measured by pacing back and forth — to see the small space she inhabited and could not leave.

Hannah's days follow a close routine: meals and talk-therapy with "Dr. Lightfoot." (Hannah nicknamed the doctor based on ballet shoes the woman would wear.) Dr. Lightfoot's positive portrayal in the book is what truly made this reading both thought-provoking and unforgettable. (Not that Hannah's journey is anything to dismiss.) The doctor does not come to each session ready to crack open Hannah's secrets. She is not a wealth of happiness and joy, promising Hannah everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows. Dr. Lightfoot works steadily to see why Hannah is at the psychiatric hospital, becoming neither a friend nor an enemy. Just a doctor. Which was exactly what Hannah needed. 

I don't know what I can say about Lucy other than her friendship with Hannah truly ruined me. 

<><> SPOILER-(ish) REVIEW <><>
If you are reading this, I really hope you have either already read A Danger to Herself and Others because going into this book already spoiled will ruin a lot of the climax. 

I want to touch on one great and grand thing that I find Sheinmel did very well with this book. A hands down reason that I believe this book needs to be shared with friends, with libraries, with teens suffering from mental illness. 

Alyssa B. Sheinmel depicted a mental health institution positively. Out of context this does not make sense, so allow me to explain. I have never visited a MHI nor have I researched them. I have no knowledge on how they are run. The most information I do have comes from, surprisingly, YA fiction. And none of those depictions are positive whatsoever. I have read a book where an underage teenager is committed against her will without any medical reasons and immediately force-fed unnamed medication by the staff until she breaks out days later. I read a book where a character recalls a past trip "in the loony bin" where she lived strapped to a table. These representations tie together to create a fear of mental health institutions, places where you will be mistreated, misdiagnosed, and abused. 

I do not want to deny these things can happen. But when YA books are written for teenagers who suffer so very often from mental health issues, and then mental health institutions are depicted so terribly when for many, it's actually a life support, well, it's maybe more than disconcerting? 

In A Danger to Herself and Others, Sheinmel showed Dr. Lightman and the mental health institution as a place Hannah needed to be. At the beginning of the book, Hannah is confused but certain she should not be at the facility — in response, Dr. Lightman gives her space. Hannah begins to talk more, and Dr. Lightman listens. Hannah is given medication when the doctor knows what medication is required. Hannah is informed what the medication is for (though she does not have a choice in taking it, because she is underage). 

I am not going to say Sheinmel's representation of a MHI is positive as in "happy", because that is not the case. Hannah suffers. She is uncomfortable with her lack of privacy and she loses rights she had "on the outside." But Sheinmel shows how a MHI can help someone with a mental illness. 

This book made me shocked. This book made me sad. This book made me think more on things that I already think about, and didn't think I could think more on. 

I do want to throw in Sheinmel's disclaimer that she did not write this book to educate anyone on mental health/illness. As I said before, I myself do not know how accurate her depiction is to the current state of psychiatric hospitals today. All I do know is I think teenagers need more healthy representations of mental health and this book does that. 

I could go on about this book for sooo much longer. I could talk about Hannah's recovery process, and how the way she longs for Jonah and Lucy (particularly in the bathroom scene) really got to me. The way her parents dismissed Hannah's way of viewing the world as "just imaginary friends." 

My only true gripe with this book is how rare Hannah's form of mental illness is. Not only is she in the twenty percent for having it, she's in the one percent of the form she has. (*Forgive me if my percentages are off, I forgot to bookmark the page.) But this, of course, just goes to Sheinmel's disclaimer that she is not writing to educate and not once in reading this did I feel like she used mental illness as a plot device or hook. 

RATING
I rate this book at 4.5 with a hiiiiigh recommendation rating. On any websites that don't allow .5 expect to see this as a 5. I knocked off a point because I do find that with some of the topics covered in this book, personal experience or intensive research is required. (And maybe there is/was, it just wasn't mentioned.) But this is a personal opinion!

Review to be posted on blog on February 4 (https://bookprincessreviews.wordpress.com/)
Review to be posted on goodreads on February 4 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2525991649)

A Danger to Herself and Others: by Alyssa Sheinmel represents mental illness and shows how it can affect anyone. The focus of this novel is Hannah as she is placed in a mental facility after her friend has an “accident”. Hannah is the main suspect. Hanna seems to be a very damaged character but she appears to be more intelligent than everyone around her. This made her so very interesting to read about. I enjoyed this authors writing style. Hannahs thoughts are scattered, which made it hard for me to figure out what's going at first. I really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it. I will be reading more of this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This book. Wow. 😩

This book is dark, eerie, atmospheric and outright freaky. I haven't read a mystery/thriller that got under my skin so much in the last 10 years. 🙃

A Danger To Herself And Others focuses around Hannah and her trying to survive in a mental health facility she's been sent to after being framed for putting her best friend in a coma and crippling her.

Hannah is fiercely intelligent and has been her whole life and we see her brain in work as she desperately tries to prove her innocence and discover what's really been happening behind the scenes. 🤓

I will warn anyone who has or knows people with mental health issues this book can be incredibly confronting. It's raw, emotional and at times freakishly accurate portrayals of the darker sides of mental health struggles may rattle you. Like I said, this book got under my skin. To me, this makes it a phenomenal book. I was feeling. I was self reflecting. It was a hell of a journey but I'm so glad I read this book. It's not gratuitous about anything, it's honest and real and very much worth the read ❤

PS. It's very different to All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven but if you enjoyed that book and wanted a dark, mystery version of that style story READ THIS.

The Quick Cut: A girl is institutionalized by court mandate after an incident at her summer program. She's convinced it's all a mistake until a roommate appears and chaos breaks out.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mental disorders can be some of the most difficult ailments a person will struggle with. Whenever your sanity and sense of self suddenly is put into question, everything about your past and future come a big blank. Hope becomes lost and worlds you knew well are now undefined again. It is in that internal battle that this story focuses on with Hannah.

With perfect grades, great decisions, and a litany of traveling to make anyone jealous, Hannah has it all from a glance. That is until an incident leaves her summer program roommate irreversibly changed and with her in a court mandated mental institution. It was just an accident, there's no reason for her to be here right? However, as the days drag on and her doctor continues to insist on Hannah focusing on the present work instead of her desire to go back to school - is something else going on?

This story starts out making you feel like everything is fine and Hannah's being wrongly held, but the farther in you get... The more you realize pieces are missing. It is interesting to watch the mental conversation occur within Hannah at first and then to see what happens once that branches out to others. Her breakdown happens about halfway to two-thirds of the way through, which I really appreciated because it gave plenty of time to really watch the aftermath of that.

Hannah is relatable in her struggle to understand what's happening to her. From her perspective, she didn't do anything wrong and this was all an accident. She doesn't see the inconsistencies in her narrative or how traumatic her past is. Truth be told, her parents are neglectful and ignored her from a young age while traipsing around the globe. How does that not change you?

What happens to Hannah isn't her fault, but you get to see the grieving process she goes through happen before your eyes. The topics covered in this book are heavy too including self harm (which made me sick I'll admit), eating disorders, depression, and psychosis (including intensely realistic hallucinations). Not all of these are Hannah, but it can be hard for some to read about so be aware of that going in.

I did have some issues with this book though. As much as I got wrapped up in what happened to Hannah, I couldn't help but feel a bit of skepticism for how the doctor treated her at times. While I understand she was in a sensitive state, a professional would have done differently. Also, it bugs me that they never say what condition Hannah has. I have my theory (I won't spoil it), but they won't put a name to it and this bothers me. The avoidance strikes me as unnecessary.

With a bold story about mental illness, the tale of Hannah is one that will stay with you long after the pages have ended.

I have read a lot of books that are set in mental hospitals and so many of them feel the same that I almost didn’t want to read this one. But something really drew me to this title, probably the title itself. Rather than reading about someone who is merely mentally ill, the title tells me that the main character is also dangerous, which I found to be different than most other novels written about mental hospitals. Sure, most of the characters that I read about were dangerous themselves, but others? No. This book seem to offer something more than I was used to.

Hannah was an interesting character to read about. She was manipulative and a bit cocky, believing that she was smarter than everyone around her. She was a very imperfect character, which made her so much fun to read about. A Danger to Herself and Others is written in first-person, which is crucial for understanding Hannah’s character arc because you see the story and events from her point of view.

The writing feels deeply personal. The amount of details given make the story come to life and feel tangible. The setting is typically one that may become boring, but it didn’t because of the way that it was written. Any novel set in a mental institution has the possibility of becoming monotonous, as the same thing happens every day. There is so much more to the story than that though. There is an interesting plot and a very important character arc.

A Danger to Herself and Others represents mental illness and shows that they can affect anyone. Hannah is a brilliant wealthy girl from the Upper East Side. She isn’t poor or dumb. She isn’t living under a bridge. It is also showed what it is like to come to terms with a diagnosis from the patient’s point of view. It showed the fear that the diagnosis might change how people looked at her and treated her. This representation is important because mental illness isn’t always understood.

This novel manages to stand out among the many other books with similar settings. The writing feels so personal and Hannah is a character that is fleshed out so well that the novel grabs you. After reading I feel as if I know Hannah and have walked this journey with her. The writing really takes this novel to a whole other level. With this book being my first read by Alyssa Sheinmel, I want to check out her other books. I believe that her writing could bring any story to life.

Something is definitely up with Hannah (our narrator). Right from the beginning I felt uneasy and creeped out while reading this. I wanted to believe there was a misunderstanding that has Hannah locked up. It’s easy to think that must be the case because she is so smart and clever, pretty, well educated, wealthy. I know those things don’t mean anything when it comes down to mental heath but I was hoping she was just a bit of a spoiled brat...

There are clues to what is happening and some of it I was able to figure out, some not. In looking at reviews after the fact many people couldn’t stomach her parents. They were definitely narcissistic, entitled people but I’m sure the reactions and emotions about the diagnosis would be similar to most people, at least initially. It’s scary stuff.

I am sad there was no actual diagnosis label - I’m guessing schizophrenia but what do I know (not much outside of after school specials). I think it’s helpful for people to read about things that ail them and see some type of silver lining which I think this somewhat provided. I wish we had even a glimpse of the transition after her plane touched home, an epilogue.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for a copy in exchange for a review.