3.5 stars
I had mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I really enjoyed how it explored topics that tend to be under dealt with in the sphere of YA ( OCD, PTSD and losing a parent). I truly felt for the characters and I believe the author provided a genuine insight into who they were and did a good job building the two main characters.
But I feel like because of this the rest of the story fell away, and there wasn’t really a cohesive plot and other side characters were neglected. So at times, the book was a bit boring because the only thing that is keeping it together are these two characters, but I felt like at times it could have been more engaging.
I also feel like the writing style was a bit underdeveloped and disjointed at times, and the formatting also made it hard to figure out whose point of view the book was coming from.
All in all, I think this book had potential to be really great with the development of the author’s ability, but I enjoyed it; it was a hard hitting novel that left me with much to think after reading it.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is one heck of a book. I didn't even know what I was getting my self into when I read this book, but I honestly wasn't expecting to fall head over heels for it. I learned a lot from this read it made me feel things. Was great!

This is a hard one to review because I really enjoyed it, but struggled to get into it in the beginning and generally felt like I had to concentrate really hard on each individual sentence to keep up with what was going on. The story is great, the characters are even better, especially Dew and Violet.

The book deals with some under-represented issues, like OCD, PTSD and the loss of a parent. The treatment of each issue is very well done, so I think this is an important book for that reason.

However, I don't know why I found the sentences so difficult to read. Perhaps they're too long? I also found it difficult to follow who was saying what, and what each character was doing in each scene. This gave the overall feeling that there are too many characters. The story and characters kept me engaged enough to persevere through the difficulty reading, so it really is just down to sentence structure I think.

For the record, I really like the draft emails, voicemails and camera narrative. It wasn't a problem for me that the book slips into third person every now and then. I thought this broke things up nicely and I found all of these bits easiest to read.

Warning up front: This book is very triggering for anyone with OCD and/or General Anxiety Disorder. That said, I really liked how the author portrayed Naima's OCD--showing other obsessive compulsions besides the stereotypical cleanliness. OCD is so much more than that, and then to add her grief as an enhanced trigger point brought so much more to the story. Dew's character was more problematic for me. He took on an almost stalkerish persona, oblivious to the many NOs he received, with the excuse that "This is how my mental illness manifests itself." and "I just want to be your friend." It made me feel very uneasy. Besides that, the characters were diverse--POC, pansexual, gender nonbinary. Dew had severe allergies and was a foster kid. This is a book that allows many people to find themselves in the pages, and for that, along with the sad but sweet story, it's one you should put on your shelf this summer.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a YA novel of its own special sub. Definitely not a love story—the book focuses on two teens, Namia & Dew. Both teens have suffered major losses in their lives and are trying to navigate their new paths, while also struggling with mental health issues.

I found some of the characters backgrounds of the novel to be heavy hitting in some aspects (Namia’s), but not fleshed out enough in the end. We’re given more information about Dew’s background, but I feel like his story is weaker at points, but the character is far more likable and relatable. However, I believe that’s the point in the end. Namia was dealt a hard life right from the start and had so much trauma to deal with from the beginning. Dew, on the other hand, had only one traumatic episode. I just wish that we learned more about Namia earlier on in the book—she’s so very broken and unlikeable until far too late.

The novel is prefaced with trigger warnings and both characters suffer from several mental health issues. I appreciate that the author, who also suffers from some of these same issues, put this in the book and explores these with her characters. Mental health is not often explored enough in YA books and I think that the author did a fantastic job of weaving it into the story.

I wanted to like this book. Loved the premise, love the title, love the cover. Hate the actual result.
The writing is disjointed which makes it a difficult story to get into. Additionally, one of the main characters, Naima, was wholly unlikable. I really had a tough time finishing this one.

I really liked the topics this book was diving into and how they dealt with mental illness. It was a really sad book in some ways. But the writing is beautiful & I think teens will relate if they have found themselves dealing with these things too.

This was a little different than expected. Right away, the writing caught me off guard and it did not hold my attention well. I don’t know if it was the character development or writing style but I had a hard time finishing this book. I love the idea though!

A lovely story that will break your heart with the most loving characters and plot line. This story covers many areas of mental health and I believe normalizing these ailments is helpful to all.

The concept for this was great, but the execution was lacking. I found it difficult to follow the POV switches, especially since everything was in first person. I feel like there needed to be a more clear distinction between POV switches in order to keep up with everything that was going on.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

To be honest...I am a young adult librarian and I just couldn't get into this book even though the topic of anxiety is relatable to me. I didn't actually finish the book, so perhaps it got better, but I found the book confusing and tremendously believable. I wanted to like the book...I just didn't.

Thai is the safest book I’ve read all year. That being said I loved it. It’s full of grief and that is so real. I adore this so much.

Trigger Warnings:
-Suicide, Depression, Parent Loss, Anxiety & PTSD

This book follows Naima and Dew who have both lost their parents. They both have trouble dealing with social issues and making connections. It is told in alternating first person viewpoints.

To me, the book was a bit hard to read. I thought the story had a lot of potential and I was initially very excited to read it. I did have some feelings through the book, but it wasn't as engrossing as I had hoped it would be. I thought that the character's mental health wasn't represented that well, and it just felt like it was textbook character traits.as opposed to something real.

I felt like overall the book just missed the mark when it had great potential.

I received a copy of Six Goodbyes We Never Said from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

As the storyline says, this is no love story. This book is about two teens trying to piece it all together after the loss of a parent. It portrays mental illness well for the most part. Some parts I definitely didn't agree with in terms of the portrayal. This coming from someone that also suffers from mental illness.

Naima wasn't easy to like, but I believe that was on purpose. Dew was incredibly sweet and easy to adore.

This was such a great book! So heartwarming!
This book is about two teenagers trying to navigate through their grief and loss of their parents when they happen to cross paths.
The two end up finding in each other a comfort and hope in what felt like a hole of never ending despair and anger.
So many youth in this day and age suffer from mental illness in one form or another and I thought this book brought light to that!
Great book great characters!!
Thank you

I won’t rate it just because I could not finish it.
Once I started reading it, it didn’t take long before I felt like I just couldn’t follow for some reason. I was confused at some points as to who was who and why it would change from one person to another and there were other things that were put in that just didn’t make sense to me. I tried to finish. I got to about 41% in and just decided that I couldn’t.

I really hope that others do not get confused or thrown off the way I did. Im sure there will be many who love the story and I hope they find it so they can fall in love with the book. :)

Stars: 2.5
Loved the cover, loved the title, even loved a couple of the characters *cough Dew and Violet cough cough*, but did not love this book. The writing felt very disjointed to me, I did not care for one of the main characters (Naima), and the ending just didn’t carry the weight that I thought it should given the subject matter. There was a lot about this book that confused me, and I am not sure that I liked the way that mental illness is portrayed. I got the impression that Naima is supposed to be this prickly and guarded, yet lovable individual, but for the most part, I thought she was cruel and hurtful and incredibly selfish. I tried to like her, I really did, it just didn’t happen. Maybe this book will really resonate with someone, but that someone wasn’t me.

I was lucky enough to sit and have a conversation with the author after reading this novel and was able to personally thank her for writing this amazing novel. This book showcases some of the best OCD, GAD, and PTSD representation that I've every read, and you can tell that this is an own voices book. Both main characters were relatable and memorable, which makes the book even greater. I highly recommend that everyone picks up this book on release date or better yet preorder it. While reading it you may want to have a box of Lucky Charms nearby.

Six Goodbyes We Never Said is the story of teens trying to navigate life after loss while figuring out what family and home mean in their new realities. This is no YA love story, it is a story of broken people trying to help each other hold it together and heal.

The author does a great job showing how a song can come to represent everything, how magical thinking can feel like the only “Safe” way to think and the rocky road we travel in our relationships.
The characters are embraced for their unique, individual quirkiness (auras and horoscopes and Rick Flair- oh my).

This was a slow starter and characters appeared with no back story or very small fragments of back story that made it difficult to connect with them at times.

The chapter openings and closings were very interesting and sad: purposefully missed calls from a father far away, emails never sent, an internal monologue made external by way of “reporting”.

I wanted to like Naima but, as she wished, she was prickly and hard to like. The shining star of this story is Dew, sweet and broken and trying to make everyone else well and complete while avoiding his own trauma.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5 rounded to 4

Six Goodbyes We Never Said follows two teens dealing with the loss of their parents, while also dealing with mental health issues. The book uses alternating first person dialogue where the reader endures the nuances of OCD, anxiety and depression.