This book deals with an important topic but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I found the narrator kind of annoying so it was a hard read for me. I do however think that it dealt with the topic of addiction pretty well. I think others might enjoy this book it just wasn't my type of book.

This one was disappointing. It sounded good but failed to live up to my expectations. I felt that it was a very predictable, formulaic tale of teen drama and turmoil.

This was such a painful read about substance abuse and addiction! Matt's life spirals out of control after he takes a pill to relax after a long first quarter at school, and it is so hard to read about. You just want to give him a hug and help him through everything he is going through. This could definitely be triggering to people affected by substance abuse either directly or indirectly but if this is not a topic that triggers you, it is such a gripping and heartbreaking read.

This story was so well written i felt as if i knew that characters personally. It was a dark topic to cover but it was handled so well. It had great representation of an addict as well as mental health. Would highly recommend.

Drowning in Light is a story about Matt, a star athlete and all around great guy.
But Matt has a secret.......he has dark thoughts that he can not control. Matt starts taking pills from his parents medicine cabinet and thinks he can stop taking the pills whenever he wants. But as things in life happen as they always do Matt gets deeper and deeper into the drug and starts becoming someone his friends and family aren't sure about.

Can Matt stop the drugs and get help? Can he get back to his normal self and stop the dark thoughts?
Read this awesome story to find out.

3.5 stars

I think this book had a great representation of addiction and mental illness.

We follow a boy named Matt on his downward spiral with a drug addiction and his multiple recovery attempts. What really stood out to me with this novel was the mental health aspect at play. The author does great job of replicating Matt's inner voice while he is dealing with his addiction and recovery. Even before he gets into drugs there are some serious issues that we don't see come up until he is going through his recovery.

I think the book is a great representation of an addict (though I've never been there myself) there are so many things that I can truly still connect with because of that mental health side of things.

One character I really appreciated in Matt's journey was Chris, even though he was a pretty minor character I feel he had a huge role in the recovery process and giving the perspective "I'll do it tomorrow".

This took me awhile to get through and I really don't know why because I enjoyed it, but I read multiple books at once and I think the others just caught more of my attention before I picked this one back up.

Book Review
Title: Drowning In Light
Author: Anna Benoit
Genre: Mental Illness/Substance Abuse/Romance
Rating: ****
Review: In this novel we are following Matt Davidson, a star athlete from a good family. Matt is having a really tough time as he hasn’t been sleeping affecting both his academic and football performance leading to his father shouting at him and even hitting him a few times. Matt’s life seems to be on the downward spiral until he meets Amy and there is something about her that draws him in, however, this doesn’t change his home life. To humiliate him further his father signs him up for ballet and Matt is totally against it but doesn’t have a choice but it seems it may work out for the best because the mysterious Amy is also there. All we know about Amy so far is that she is an artist and is dating an older man named Mike. It is plain to see that Matt’s father is emotionally, psychologically and physically abusive towards his wife and son, but Matt finds temporary release when he gets high for the first time.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Matt is depressed that is clear, and when he starts taking prescription pills for his parent’s bathroom, he feels like he has found a sort of outlet for his frustration. However, when he tells a teacher that he can’t supply the drugs he has supposedly been taking they almost call his parents, but the depression card saves his behind. As Matt starts to get high, he knows he has to space out his highs as it is easy to addicted but he doesn’t seem to realise the addict’s mindset has already begun. In the meantime, he does try to reconcile with his long-time friend Ben and even looks at getting job even though he knows his dad won’t approve. It isn’t long before Matt needs the pills even though he is in denial and people are starting to notice the change in his behaviour although they don’t know it’s drugs. Matt is also struggling with his attraction to Amy especially since she is with Mike and he can’t control his mouth or his emotions around her.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Matt seem to be making some progress with Amy, but he is hooked on pills now even taking cold medication when he can’t get to his mom’s. However, I get the feeling that the guy he works with, Kyle, is a drug dealer and that Matt might be buying from him soon despite warnings to stay away from him. As Matt’s addiction is beginning to grow more and more people are starting to note the changes in his attitude. His dad’s attitude is just as bad when the school suggest that Matt gets some help for his depression, but we do get some insight into his dad’s past. Matt’s habit is beginning to take over his life although he maintains that he is in control, but he is starting to outsource his highs from people he knows and even lies about the amount he is taking so that he doesn’t seem like an addict.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Matt ends up getting his fix for Kyle and they form a friendship based on dependence, but it turns out that he knows Amy as well. Kyle seems to be the type of guy that deals for the money rather than necessity and Matt just happens to be the type of sucker he can take advantage of especially since his dependence is so strong that he can’t even go a day without getting high now. As Matt has been taking the pill for nearly a year now, he knows he is dependent despite trying to quit a few times. He has also gotten very close to Kyle which isn’t a good thing as he feeds Matt’s habit and even makes him very uncomfortable offers that Matt finds himself considering. However, I did like Matt and Kyle’s bonding over their parent issues giving some insight into how they feel into the lifestyle they have.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Matt’s addiction is eventually found out and, in the aftermath, Matt falls apart. In the process of putting himself back together he closes himself off from the world, but Amy manages to get him to talk to her but not even she is seeming to make any difference to Matt’s dark and dire thoughts. Matt doesn’t take his anti-depressants and doesn’t seem to be coping at all and once or twice he even finds himself back at Kyle’s although luckily Kyle isn’t home at the time. Matt and Amy’s friendship also seems to have the potential to develop into a relationship, but neither can really make the leap but when Matt finds out about the nature of Kyle and Amy’s relationship, he is angry and hurt but there seems to be more to the story here.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Matt is struggling with his need for the pills, his desire to be normal and his relationship with his father. For a while, his dad gets better, and it seems like things are really looking up for Matt until one-night Matt gets drunk and his father throws him out. Matt ends up crashing with Kyle because it is the only place where he won’t be asked questions and ends up getting high again and he is already falling back into his old routine. Matt does start taking drugs again but once he starts dating Amy, he makes a real effort to stay clean, but it isn’t as easy, and he makes it sound.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, Matt is completely out of control to the point where even Kyle is worried for him and despite Amy trying to get him help, Matt doesn’t want it. In light of everything that has gone on in this novel it really highlights the addict’s mentality and what they actually think about. In the end though Matt isn’t better, he hasn’t been cured but he just might be at the beginning of recovery if he can find the will to be clean within himself. Overall, Drowning in Light was a really eye-opening experience and I feel if you like the book or movie of Requiem for a Dream then you are going to love Drowning in Light and I’d highly recommend picking it up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Anna Benoit for an ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

My rating is actually 3.5/5 stars, but since there aren't half stars I always round up.

Drowning in Light tells the story of Matt, a guy in high school. On the outside he seems to have to all. But if you look closer, his dad’s abusive and has alcohol problems of his own. His mom means well, but doesn’t realize the extent of her son’s problems. She’s content to let things go and believe it will all work out in the end. Matt struggles with drug abuse that has him in a downward spiral. He’s miserable, not coping well, and really doesn’t have a handle on anything anymore.

The book is not your typical manic pixie dream girl type story. It’s real, raw and complex. His friend/girlfriend doesn’t magically make things better. She tries to help, but has her own baggage to deal with so it’s not a perfect recovery story by any means. I like that it’s a fairly realistic story of drug abuse. I don’t have personal experience with drug abuse, so maybe I’m way off base here.

However, it was very frustrating at times to read about all of his mistakes and refusal for help. I felt very annoyed towards Matt at times. Also his lifestyle wasn’t that enjoyable to read about. Duh, it’s drug abuse, doing whatever you need to score more pills, and lying to everyone. But I guess I was hoping for more positivity at some point. I was also so frustrated with the adults in his life. Nobody was taking responsibility for making sure Matt got the help he so desperately needed.

All in all, a realistic portrayal of drug abuse that made for a frustrating read. A good book that doesn’t gloss of the difficult parts of mental illness and drug abuse.

This was an ok book. It was a slow starter and it is a full on book. At times a little too much.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Anna Benoit for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

This book brought out all kinds of feelings in me.

Basically, this kid is miserable, inside and out. He is rude to his parents, although with a father like that, I would be rude too. An ineffectual mother who sounds as though she is shell shocked and cannot seem to defend her son, even if his life depends on it and a friend who seems clueless to the fact that Matt is dying inside.

Having said that, Matt is a huge ass. He is miserable and instead of asking himself "um, why am i miserable?" he just stews and stews.

This book is obviously looking at depression and how it can attack someone and destroy them, but this character does not have ONE redeeming quality, not even towards the girl who interests him. He is a jerk who finally ends up on drugs.

I did admire the author's writing when it came to the drugs and the addiction. She did an amazing job of showing us how addiction is a progressive disease and how humans rationalize things to ourselves in order to keep the addiction active. This is the strongest part of the book for me.

Unfortunately, Matt has not surrounded himself with people who can truly be there for him and this speaks to the life of an addict. It is complicated and messy and this book is amazing at showing this.

I did love this story, but wow did I pretty much hate every character.

This was a very slow read for me. There was so much to digest. It was so well written. It was hard for me to read, the pain that Matt was going thru. I felt that I was sitting there in Matt's head watching him struggle with this addiction. This showed how easy it is to fall into an addiction. I also feel that it showed what a monster addiction can be.

The ending of the book gave me hope. Matt has a short conversation with Amy's brother, about how he got clean. Matt at first did not believe, at least that was the impression I got while reading. It wasn't until the last page that you could see Matt was starting to understand that he is an addict and always will be. There is hope that he will stay clean.

Difficult subject in this well-written novel about Matt, a high school student, who slowly becomes addicted to drugs in an attempt to deal with his abusive father and absent mother. I thought this was a very powerful and also eventually hopeful story about one young man's path to addiction--his real struggle, hiding it and that someday getting clean would be a possibility for him. Great writing, interesting characters. definitely worth reading!

Having previously enjoyed a novel by this author I was pleased that this book lived up to my expectations. The storyline is a gritty and realistic look at how easy it is for young people to end up misusing substances, particularly those who have endured trauma. The cycle of addiction is difficult to represent in both a realistic and sympathetic way but Benoit manages this well. A recommended read.

I really enjoyed this book. It was painful to read though. So heartbreaking. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Very well written, this is a painful read. Matt begins with one single pill and his life spirals out of control. His father and mother are basically absent in his life. His father is abusive to both Matt and his mom when he drinks. Matt keeps the pain hidden. This is very powerful. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

This was pretty good! I really like how the main character struggling with mental health issues is a man-- so often people write about girls with mh issues but it's important to bring awareness to men too!

Was a very good book. I loved the characters and storyline. It was a unique hard read. I felt for Matt and found myself getting sadder the worst choices he made. With a father like his we can kind of see why he spiraled downhill but that is not an excuse.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this novel to review by Netgalley.com

Matt is your typical high school football player until he is not. He starts spiraling slowly during his Junior year. He is abused by his father both physically and mentally. It takes its toll on him mentally. He starts a battle inside his head. One day an acquaintance offer him a joint and he takes it. It starts him down a path of drugs with no return. Amy is a bright young girl who only wants what is best for Matt. She is the only one he feels that gets him. Can their young love survive?

This was a very slow read for me. There was so much to digest. It was so well written. It was hard for me to read, the pain that Matt was going thru. I felt that I was sitting there in Matt's head watching him struggle with this addiction. This showed how easy it is to fall into an addiction. I also feel that it showed what a monster addiction can be.

Amy was so sweet in this book. Her character gave me so many feels while reading about her. I almost could relate to her. She is a caregiver. She wanted to help each of her boyfriends thru the book, from Kyle to Matt. I feel that her connection to Matt was very strong. They worked so well together.

The ending of the book gave me hope. Matt has a short conversation with Amy's brother, about how he got clean. Matt at first did not believe, at least that was the impression I got while reading. It wasn't until the last page that you could see Matt was starting to understand that he is an addict and always will be. There is hope that he will stay clean.