Cover Image: Panic

Panic

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Member Reviews

High school junior Madelaine, an aspiring actress and musician, has been in the middle of her parents and their divorce for years. Feeling pulled in both directions and not knowing how to navigate their drama, will the stress and anxiety derail Madelaine from achieving her goals? Will anonymous poetry placed in origami and an online friendship help or hurt?

Panic is weighted down by teenage angst and there is not much that is uplifting or hopeful. Madelaine's life is pretty chaotic and the stress of her parents does not help. It is hard to believe that someone who has so much anxiety is able to shut it off and perform. Madelaine has a lot of issues, but I could not connect with her in a meaningful way. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend Panic to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Panic by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to review this novel was entirely my own.

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DNF at 25% unfortunately.
I could not connect with the characters, I'm sure it's a fine book, but after trying to get into it several times, I just couldn't get into the e story.

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I...did not like this. I didn't like any of the characters, I hated the decisions they made and their complete inability to communicate like human beings, and the plot twist made me more angry than anything. I kept setting this book down to just sigh and contemplate whether to DNF it over and over. I liked that it had panic disorder representation, but that's my only real pro.

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I'm not sure what we're supposed to take away from this book. The plot is unfocused. There are too many elements at play and the theme seems to change from chapter to chapter. The characters are interesting and reasonably complex but not enough to carry the confusing plot.

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I really loved this book. Any book that explores mental health is a winner in my book. This book did a great job at showing what teenagers struggle with and the tumultuous journey from childhood to adulthood.

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Panic is a book that almost anyone can to relate to!
The story is about a teen struggling to overcome hear fears. Relatable right?!

The storyline was unique, and easy to follow.
So many teens/kids/adults struggle with mental illness.. it truly shouldn't be a "taboo" subject anymore.

The book itself was just okay for me though. I feel lik eit didn't touch on the topic as well as it could have.

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I just couldn't get into this book. I don't know if it's just not my style or if I'm in a book funk.

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Eh another book I just couldn’t get into I’m not sure why with this one because it sounded right up my alley

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Thank you Netgalley for sending me this arc. I will be reviewing this book in the near future with an honest rating and review.

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Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC. I was interested in picking this one up as I am currently struggling with my own mental health. I find it super encouraging to read about other people who struggle with mental health and succeed or just keep it real and struggle in general. Thought this was what I was looking for at the moment and will be reading more from this author in the future!

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Panic By Sasha Dawn
Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
2019

When aspiring performer Madelaine finds a poem that helps her finish a song she is writing, she decides to try to find the author in hopes of starting a collaboration.

There was so much going on with this book, its hard to know where to begin.
First of all, I loved the aspiring performer aspect of the book. As someone who grew up performing, going to auditions, and singing my heart out on stage, I truly connected to this part of the story. In addition, I am also someone who suffers from an anxiety condition that went undiagnosed until I was an adult. So that was the second element of the book I really connected with. If he book was simply about these two storylines, I think I would have given it a five star rating.

However, when you throw in the elements of meeting new friends, a budding online romance with a stranger, a custody and child support battle between fighting parents, a single mother struggling financially and then getting diagnosed with cancer, a mystery poet, a very wealthy father with a secret second family, and a stalker the story becomes convoluted and too much is happening all at once to really be able to connect with any of the story elements.

Its hard to say that I didn’t enjoy this book, because I did. I just with the author would have picked a few elements to focus on instead of putting every idea she had into just one novel. Honestly there are enough ideas here for several novels and not a single one of them was flushed out well.

On the positive side, I truly believe that YA readers will really appreciate this book and what it has to say on panic disorder and anxiety (although I wish that was expanded more on). This book reminded me very much of Layla Sales writing style and I think it will end up doing well in the YA market. Im looking forward to reading more from Sasha Dawn.

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I’ll start this review off with this: this book is a very easy read. This book is about mental health and I liked that it showed how the character was starting her healing process at the end. It’s fairly choppy when it comes to timeline. I feel like the author, Sasha Dawn, could have gone deeper into the story and made the transitions a little easier to handle.

I liked that the main character of this book was a theatre kid, being a former one myself. It was refreshing to read a book with familiar references, like shows, playwrights, and bands members that I actually enjoy the work of. I thought the other characters were quite annoying, especially Madeleine's parents. I thought they were very immature and never treated their teenage daughter like the almost-adult she was. It got better towards the end, when the plot was unfolding. We learn what her parents are actually going through and why they treated her that way, but I still found it very annoying.

I would suggest this book to anyone who needs a good, light read. However, coming from a Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy background, I wouldn’t suggest it for someone like me.

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So the first thing I need to say is how much I appreciate getting to read a book before it releases... thank you for the opportunity. This story was well told and incredibly readable. Whether she’s writing as Sasha Dawn or Brandi Reeds, the common thread is that she pulls you into the story immediately & keeps you fully engaged until the last page. It’s not often that I sit down and read a book all the way through because it’s impossible to put down, but this was one of those times. If you haven’t read anything by Sasha/Brandi you need to or you’ll be depriving yourself of a great read by a great writer.

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***Thanks to NetGalley For providing me a complimentary copy of PANIC by Sasha Dawn in exchange for my honest review.***

Teen theater actress Madelaine’s hands are full with her constantly warring divorced parents, auditions, social awkwardness and a secret admirer sending her origami lyrics. Between her mother’s bad choices with men and her manager father’s manipulation of money, it’s no wonder she sometimes panics. But things are looking up with new friends, real theater friends who don’t let competition interfere with cheering each other on, though secrets and lies could ruin every relationship she has.

The Madelaine at rye beginning of PANIC is self-centered and doesn’t recognize her privilege. I loved the relationship she had with her half-sister Hayley, both supportive and grounding. Half in name only the two were as close as any sisters. The Madelaine at the end of the book is a (figurative) rock star.

Sasha Dawn doesn’t know how to write a book that isn’t unputdownable. Although I predicted many of the twists, PANIC isn’t predictable and guessing some surprises only enhanced my enjoyment.

I wouldn’t have titled the story PANIC because anxiety was a small part of Madelaine’s coming of age story and of who she was as a character. PANIC isn’t a mental health story, but one of family and friendship and how we grow when those we love let us down. The theater subplot added to Madelaine’s character and relationships. I’d love to read a sequel to PANIC, except from fremenies Sonia 1 and 2 and one bad dude, I want to know how the next year unfolded because I cared about the characters.

Five star studded stars for PANIC.

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