Kathleen Glasgow is so insanely talented, she makes you feel so much when you're reading her books. This one is no different. Its absolutely heart wrenching. My heart absolutely hurt for Tiger.  This book keeps it so real, and really shines light on mental health and the struggles a person faces.

Going into How to Make Friends with the Dark I knew I was dealing with heart hitting, emotional prose that will leave me feel low, but nothing prepared me for the amount of emotions I feltl.
This book was heart wrenching in all it means!

I picked this book during a readathon, which was a HUGE mistake. You see, because so many bad things happened to our main character Tiger, it was really hard for me to speed through the story.
So I failed the readathon, but I got so much from this novel, that I’m not even sorry.
Some book just take time, and this is one of those books.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, because even though it was emotionally hard for me to process everything, by taking my time I think I got the most out of it.

The story follows Tiger who’s mother died suddenly. There were only two of them, so without the other parent, Tiger became the property of state, and not only does she grive her mother, but her life also completely changed.

The story talks about grief, friendships, family relationships, foster care and all kinds of domestic violence.
It is really an eye opening book and it makes reader question the system and justice.

The writing style is beautiful. There are many quotes I saved in my notes, that I’ll reread from time to time.
It is written in first person, following Tiger’s POV.

There is no romance in this young adult contemporary, so be aware of that (some readers will be happy about it I guess)!

In the end, I want to recommend How to Make Friends with the Dark to ya contemporary lovers who are looking for an emotional story without romance in it.

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE DARK is a title that EVERYONE must read.

It's rare to find a novel that describes grief in a realistic way. Even more-so when that novel is in the genre of young adult fiction, where mourning and emotions are often either minimized so to keep the book "innocent" and not "controversial" or thrown under the rug within a page or two after trauma to keep the plot moving. I've found that characters tend to ignore grief, thinking grief makes them "weak" and "strength" is not allowing the trauma to affect you.

The issue is, this isn't realistic. In the "real world," grief affects everyone. Everyone mourns, and sometimes it's hard to move on.

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE DARK made that exceptionally clear.

In this novel, the main character, Tiger, grieves throughout the majority of the pages. And even when she receives closure, she never forgets about her loss and her pain, never shoves it deep down inside and conveniently forgets about it. Her pain remains a part of her. It's not something to be forgotten. Peace, yes, and acceptance that in the end, all will be okay, but not absolute ignorance of the sadness. 

I loved that Tiger was so realistic. I loved that she was so strong despite her grief, and even in moments of so-called "weakness," the "weakness" wasn't shamed. It was played off as normal - because it IS. Because everyone goes through moments of sorrow, of perceived weakness, and this doesn't make them bad... it makes them HUMAN.

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE DARK is one of the most raw, realistic books I've ever had the pleasure to read. Please, please pick it up. Yes, you'll cry. A LOT. It's extremely emotional. But for all the reasons mentioned above, it's unlike anything else in the YA genre. Truly powerful.

"How to Make Friends with the Dark" was a dark and agonizing novel about the story of Tiger Tolliver. After Tiger's mother dies, she is faced with many hardships, including not knowing how to survive without her mother. As someone who has not had to deal with the death of a parent or endure the foster care system, this novel was an eye-opening look into the world of a child thrust into the system unexpectedly. The death of Tiger's mother is sudden and it seemed everything was going ok in Tiger's life. To suddenly be thrown into a world of the unknown with no family to count on it heart wrenching.  Just like "Girl in Pieces", Glasgow's writing and knowledge of the things she writes about are impeccable and this story kept me engaged and wanting more with every page.

I can't entirely pinpoint what my issue was with this book. I just know it didn't elicit the reaction from me it was trying really hard to. I think part of it is that I didn't really fall in love with any of the characters. Or the characters I did really like weren't given enough on-page time, like Thaddeus. Kai, I really didn't understand. That subplot never really got resolved. 

This book tries to tackle some really heavy topics, like death, grief, abuse, neglect, abandonment, alcoholism, domestic violence, etc. Maybe it was the case of a book trying to do too many things at once? Maybe none of the subjects got the depth they deserved? Some YA novels really go there, but it seems like this book is too afraid to. Which it should've, considering its tone and the weight of all the issues it tries to tackle.

Mostly, I think what really didn't work for me was the writing. I got so tired of all the repetition. The girl-bug thing drove me crazy. 

The premise was intriguing, but the execution fell flat for me.

Thank you to Netgalley & Delacorte Press for providing me with an e-ARC of How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings: Mentions of Suicide & Abortion, Drugs, Alcohol-Dependency, Domestic Violence

So, I’m playing ARC catch-up (which, btws, totally gonna take me forever) & lemme tell you, I’m pissed at myself, because of how long it took me to get to How to Make Friends with the Dark. This book is absolutely, without a doubt, magnificent. 

First & foremost, How to Make Friends with the Dark is a book about grief. It is going to rip your heart out of your chest & toss it in a heart-shredder. & it’s not even gonna give you a second glance. You might, possibly, cry. Especially, if you have dealt with grief, yourself.

One of the hardest things in life is realizing that you & your loved ones aren’t granted immortality. Sorry. Death can just happen. Tiger, our How to Make Friends with the Dark MC, can tell you that. One second, Tiger is arguing with her mother on the phone & the next, her mother is just dead.

How to Make Friends with the Dark is so beautifully crafted. It’s so easy to fall into Kathleen’s Glasgow’s writing & moments later, realize you haven’t moved out of bed for hours. One of my favorite portions of How to Make Friends with the Dark is when the writing falls into second person & it directly places you in Tiger’s head; as if everything’s happening to you. It definitely adds more umph to the emotional level of this read.

Tiger goes through a lot in this read; such as landing in a couple of different foster homes & finding out about family members that she never knew existed. Her journey is definitely something & a majority of it isn’t happy. If you like angst-filled reads, this is definitely a book for you.

The LGBT component is very small, but it’s definitely there. We have a lesbian character & a bi-sexual character & I really enjoy the fact that it was so casually sewn into How to Make Friends with the Dark.

How to Make Friends with the Dark also dabbles with the found-family trope. Which, y’all, I'm a sucker for. I’m pretty sure How to Make Friends with the Dark has just about everything I love in a contemporary read.

I’m gonna be one-hundred with ya, it’s hard to put into words how wonderful How to Make Friends with the Dark truly is. It is extremely depressing & touches on subjects that we don’t typically wanna discuss. But it’s a story about learning how to go on & finding your way in the dark. I do strongly recommend this read, but please don’t expect to be happy through 98% of it. It’s heartbreaking & beautifully written. I would definitely read more of Glasgow’s work.

This book didn't hit me in the feelings as much as I anticipated it would. I couldn't really connect/get  into it; I don't know if it was the writing or how one-dimensional the characters were. However, I *did* feel for our main character if only on a base level.

Beautifully written. Couldn’t put the book down. Really conveyed the grief the character was going through. Gives an interesting perspective on the foster system which was interesting to read about.

This book dealt with a tough subject.  A young girl's mom dies, and as far as she knew, this was her only living relative.   She has to deal with the new reality of foster care and learning to care for herself and make her own decisions.  Her mom had been very protective so she hadn't really even been able to pick out her own clothes before.  It takes you into her world and how she now views her relationships with classmates, school, and the rest of her life. 

For me, I lost my dad when I was 17 (but still had a mom and siblings).  I am much older now, but it made me really look back on that time in my life and realize that I probably should have talked to a counselor or a therapist.  I made some not so great decisions in the five years following his death that have affected my entire life.  When you are going through the loss of a parent, it is hard to see how it is really affecting your mental state - it isn't until after that you realize how things changed.   I could have really benefitted from this book just to help me realize that the feelings I had were normal and learn how to navigate those waters that overtake you when you lose a parent.

Disclaimer: This book will rip you to shreds, tear your heart to pieces, and put it all back together again. Maybe. I'll say it now - How to Make Friends with the Dark is one of the best portrayals of grief and regret I've ever encountered. Fantastically written, utterly heartbreaking, it will leave you sobbing, but you'll enjoy it.

I have no words for how phenomenally this book was written. With every word, every action, every quiet moment in this book, you feel Tiger's pain, grief, and heartbreak. Glasgow's strong imagery and fantastic narration pulls you into the book and keeps you there, drifting in a world of grief that's not your own, but you can't help but be caught up in the moments of brokenness and emptiness Tiger has inside her. I honestly don't know how to sell you on this book. Just that everyone should read it to understand grief - to prepare for it, to heal from it, to understand it. This book helped me feel like I wasn't alone in my grief - it by no means healed it (this is not a book you should read if you want to be happy), but it was a stepping stone in my road to recovery from grief. Glasgow's depiction of grief is just so realistic it's dug its claws in me and I can't seem to get them out. I don't know if I want to. This book wins for my favourite so far of 2019. Of maybe all the books I've read in the past 10 years. It was that good.

Not only does Glasgow address grief, but she also looks at the foster care system. She gives a peek into a world that isn't made for the fainthearted. A world of abuse, negligence, self-harm, addiction, and broken homes. I'm glad she doesn't delve too deeply into this world, as the book is heartbreaking enough, but she does enough to make readers wonder if we could doing more for the kids who are trapped in the system, whether by choice or by circumstance.

Honestly, I don't know what else to say. This is a fantastically written book about a really hard subject. How to Make Friends with the Dark is a book that will stay with you loooong after you've put it down.

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
World Building: 5/5
Pacing: 4.5/5
Overall: 5/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.26/5

eARC received via Indigo Books & Music via NetGalley.

This was one of those books that felt like it was missing something.  That parts of it was really good but others weren't.  The writing was a little off and at times characters just seemed to far fetched.  I think this is just going to be one of those titles that you either like it or you don't.  I have heard people compare this one to Girl in Pieces and that this one is way darker than that one.  So if that is your thing I would check it out.

This book is about a girl who lost her mother suddenly and has to deal with her death. She has to grieve in her own way like each of us who has lost someone we loved. This book was important and the end of the book (and the author's note) made me tear up a little bit. The topics of this book are important so that's why I gave it 4 stars. My enjoyment of it, however, was around 3 stars. 

I never really managed to get into this book as an ebook so once it was released, I listened to the audiobook. I'm not a big fan of contemporary books in general but if you are looking for a contemporary story about grief following a teenager, then you might really like this one. 

(Thank you to the publisher for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Would you like a super difficult, emotionally gut-wrenching, and painful read? Would you like to cry? Like a lot? Then get this book. It was hard to get through, not because it was bad, but because it was so good and so accurate for everything a person feels when not just a parent but hope dies. I needed this when I was 10, when I was 15, I needed this now. I just didn't know it. 

It was so good. And so hard. But so worth it.

A very powerful page-turner that I couldn't put down. I fell for the characters and could relate to them. I highly recommend this to everyone and this book definitely deserves some hype.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of How to Make Friends with the Dark. It's a poignant young adult novel that rings true in the grief and loss of control our main character feels after the sudden death of her mother. As an adult reading Tiger's ordeal, I was infuriated at her experience with the foster system. Kudos to Kathleen Glasgow for getting readers to talk about the system and how to fix it for our children.

Beautifully written with so much heart. I could have read this book for much longer than it was. Really great!

I enjoyed this book plot wise, but the writing just didn't do anything for me. Tiger and her mother's dynamic really confused me too. I really wanted to love this book so badly, and I was sorely disappointed. This was my first Kathleen Glasgow novel, and I will give her other works a try, but this one just wasn't for me. I can see how other would enjoy it though.

This book was so good. It was so very heartbreaking but a wonderful story about falling apart and then learning to pick up the pieces one by one.

Happy Friday,

I literally just finished reading How to Make Friends With the Dark today and I loved it so much. I can literally not even describe how much I love it and how much certain parts meant everything to me. Recently, I have had some major things happen in my life and some major changes and I feel like in a way this book has helped me so much to have a place to go during these changes that is sympathetic and gets some of what I am experiencing.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This is a book about grieving and everyone grieves in different ways. In this book Tiger, a girl in high school suddenly loses her mother and when the last thing she said to her mother is something awful Tiger is absolutely lost. Growing up it has always just been Tiger and her mother so she is suddenly thrust into foster care and the taken from everything she knows. During her time in the system, she goes to two drastically different homes before learning she has some blood relatives that can take care of her. Which brings about all new fears for Tiger because Tiger has never even known her father’s name or any other family so the idea of meeting family and then having to live with them is a bit overwhelming. Tiger not only learns about these blood relatives but she learns that this mystery person is a half-sister who is coming from Hawaii to take care of her. She also learns who her father is and where he is. With all these changes Tiger is still grieving and still lost. She is wearing the dress her and her mother fought about the last time they spoke constantly and struggling to deal with this new life. However, everything comes to a breaking point for Tiger when she starts to make some life choices that her mother would not be okay with.

I absolutely loved this book. Like I said earlier I felt like it was the perfect safe and sympathetic place I needed right now with all the things I am experiencing. I fully intend to read this book again and I gave it five stars on Goodreads.

It has always been Tiger and her mother against the world. They have always been the constant in each other’s lives.Tiger has never met her Father and is ok with that.  Tigers mom passes away suddenly and without warning. From there Tiger is thrown into a world that she never wanted or expected. 

This book gutted me. The emotions and actions of Tiger remind me of the emotions and issues I had after my Dad died. I think I cried through the majority of the book.  Even as this book emotionally drained me I couldn’t put it down. I would love to know what happens to the characters after the end of the book. Phenomenal!