I may have picked this book based on the cool cover. Believe it or not that works most of the time!
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Insomnia...the story of my life and there’s A LOT I related to on that level in the book. This is the story of a 17-year-old named Ingrid. She’s a junior in high school and a competitive diver with Olympic possibilities. As the book opens she’s had an accident during a dive that has left her with a nasty concussion. She can’t remember the accident and now is unable to sleep. During one of her sleepless nights she sees something at the abandoned house next door. She is confused from the concussion and from not sleeping. A boy in the neighborhood, Van, didn’t see what Ingrid saw but has his own suspicions about what is going on at the abandoned house. Van is also having trouble sleeping after an incident while partying that he can’t quite recall. The two of them start to hang out during the night. They try to piece together what’s going on in the neighborhood, figure out why they can’t sleep, and out how it all fits together.
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The story is tense in some spots but not scary. The middle of the book is mainly them reconnecting after many years of ignoring each other.
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The book is good. I really enjoyed it. I was engaged with the characters and storyline throughout. The middle is a tad slow when they are getting to know each other again but not uninteresting.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The description of this book gave me thriller vibes with a dash of romance, but apparently it was the other way around, a whole lot of romance with a dash of thriller. And the thriller parts weren’t even that thrilling.

I also didn’t click with Ingrid as a character. A lot of her choices seemed questionable and sometimes dramatic. Van was okay, but just okay. The big ta da reveal about what was going in the house next door wasn’t even a big reveal, as the author had set it up from the beginning that this one character was kind of suspicious, it was very predictable.

If you like your romances with just a dash of mystery, try this book.

I don't typically read YA suspense (I think the last one I read was One of Us is Lying), but I'm so glad I won an advance copy of this one!

The author did an incredible job of framing a mystery that gradually built up suspense. The story never felt slow, though, because of the time spent on well-crafted character development. There were no earth-shattering twists, but none were necessary! The character relationships added another layer of reality and enjoyment to the well thought out plot. I also loved that the book didn't end when the mystery was resolved; the author took the time to show the aftermath and the effects on the characters. It was a great read!

CW: anxiety, divorce, alcohol/drug abuse, sexual abuse

I enjoyed THE INSOMNIACS, a story of Ingrid, suffering from a concussion she got at one of her diving meets, and Van, her next door neighbor, who joins her on adventures when they both discover they can't sleep. I loved the sleepy feeling of the dewy mornings and the fun nights they had (basketball, karaoke, etc). I thought the mystery was good and subtle - one I did not guess totally (which always rocks! I love being misled!). I didn't love Ingrid as much as I wanted to, something about her held me at arms length from really falling in love with her character. Despite this I'd recommend this one for fans of slow and steady mysteries (but not thrillers).

Ingrid, a seventeen-year-old aspiring athlete, trained to be a national diver who CANNOT SLEEP and CANNOT REMEMBER due to a head injury from a diving practice. She went for therapy sessions, and strict doctor’s orders restrained her from any intense activities, which meant taking a break from diving routine. Ingrid had a hard time following through the new break routine. She was always triggered by unexpected headaches, which sometimes instigated blurry memories, the accident, and atypical jitters when in-crowd. Life was a mess now.
Van, a neighborly boy, a former best friend, someone she crushes on since junior is the only memory that sustained. It so happened that one night, Ingrid was up in the middle of the night, sleepless, she saw Van, who was living right opposite her house and was looking back at her from his window. They locked eyes. The story of their estranged friendship rekindled when they found out they shared the same problem, insomnia. Van had experiences with insomnia earlier than Ingrid and knew of methods to get by with sleepless nights. They strike some exciting discussions about mental health and sleep issues to help each other put pieces of missing memories together. While pulling off the scenarios of a best friend at night, stranger by the day.

Pieces of vague memories slowly come into a picture as they worked through the sleepless nights and later find themselves pulled into a secret that threatens their neighborhood, families, friendship, and the trust of their loved ones.
FULL REVIEW in this link-->https://pagesandwindows.blogspot.com/

Usually when I have high hopes for a book, they are not all met. That is not the case for The Insomniacs. I knew I wanted to read this after reading the synopsis, and feel so fortunate to have gotten an ARC. This book is a perfect mixture of romance and mystery, and the pages turn themselves. I think the slow burn writing style really complemented both the mystery and the romance, and made the twists at the end so much more thrilling.

Ingrid is our main character, and I admired her a lot. I think it was so nice to see her vulnerability, fears, and stresses, but then also see her strength, perseverance, and resilience. I think she was an amazing lead female. The author obviously did a lot of research on living with a concussion. Her descriptions of symptoms were spot on. The only minor discrepancy is that with Ingrid's mom as a nurse, I doubt she would have been driving, or back to school as quickly as she was.

I really appreciated that Ingrid and her mom had a healthy relationship. I think showing positive relationships between parents and children is really beneficial to younger readers. I also really loved the relationship between Ingrid and Van. I think they complemented each other really well. Van is a really great male lead. He complimented the story by being a bit mysterious and quiet. I liked the side characters for the most part, most of them had something to do with the plot of the story. The only side characters that really didn't have a role were Izzie and her friends. However, their lack of development and purpose didn't affect the quality of the story.

Very realistic, did not want to put down book.
The title says it all. Ingrid and insomnia after a dive went wrong. Over the course of the next month with the help from childhood friend and secret crush, who also has insomnia, Ingrid will discover what happened.
The title of the book caught my eye first. I suffered from insomnia awhile back for a couple of months. I felt the characters insomnia. Even after all the secrets came out, Ingrid wasn’t better. She still needed to get past unresolved feelings about her father.
The only thing I didn’t like was how she pushed herself while still recovering. That was realistic, I just didn’t personally like it.

I've been reading a lot of YA lately, which I do often because I teach. However, I can't get over how much I have loved some of the books I've read. This one was no exception. Ingrid is a very talented diver, that has a terrible accident at a meet, which causes her to split her head open and suffer a concussion. She has to stop diving for a month. In the meantime, she suffers from insomnia and other things. She begins seeing things that leads her to believe she may be imagining it or going crazy. Her childhood best friend that she had lost touch with believes her and is also suffering from insomnia. They spend late nights/ early mornings together trying to solve their mystery.

This book has elements of romance, which I don't always appreciate but it worked in this situation. I enjoyed this book a lot. I was sympathetic with the characters and I loved the twists in the story. The ending was uplifting. Anyone that appreciates teenage crushes and drama will like this story. It's an easy read that definitely kept my attention and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.

Sweet YA novel full of mystery with a dash of romance.

Ingrid tries to figure out what happened in her last dive while she watches her neighborhood. She and one of her former best friends try to help each other with their insomnia while also figuring out what's happening in the empty house next door.

I enjoyed the novel. I love the touches of Ingrid trying to be self sufficient so her mother doesn't worry, figuring out her issues with her father, and her feelings about her friends. It's relatable. It reminded me a lot of what I went through as a child of a single parent. I will be recommending it to a few YA novel readers I know.

Thank you Flatiron Books and Netgalley for the e-galley copy!

After suffering a head injury, Ingrid is plagued by insomnia as she tries to unravel what was behind her diving accident. Her sleepless nights lead her back to her once best friend, also unable to sleep after a night of blackouts and holes in his memory. Together they search for answers, while drawing closer to each other and renewing their friendship.

The promise of mystery drew me to this story, and yes, there was a mystery going on, but I found myself more intrigued by Ingrid. Here was this young woman, who was an accomplished diver with an Olympic dream. She was always able to do it all and do it all well. From the outside, you would never guess the weight of the baggage she carried. There were a bunch of reveals about Ingrid's past and present throughout the story, which told the tale of a girl, who was let down by those she hero worshipped and depended upon. This experience, this hole in her memory forced her to confront some of the truths about her life. It was a bit sad to watch her close the door on certain people in her life, but I was happy to see her make a conscience choice to save some of the other relationships which had suffered over the years.

One of the relationships she chose to save was with her childhood best friend and neighbor, Van. After her father left, Ingrid put up a wall and broke her connections to the past. She dedicated herself to diving, in an effort to impress her absentee father, but she never stop caring about Van. The nights they spend awake together ranged from awkward to tense to delightful. They resuscitated their relationship and let some new feelings burn, while uncovering those missing pieces to their memory puzzles.

This book, for me, was a coming of age tale wrapped in a mystery with a touch of romance. I was all in from the very first page, and I found myself fully invested in the outcome. Ingrid may have set set out to discover what went wrong the day of her ill-fated dive, but she ended up finding herself in the process, and I enjoyed getting to be a part of her journey.

Marit Weisenberg's The Insomniacs presents a unique perspective to the YA genre. Ingrid is a competitive diver who suffers from a concussion after a traumatic injury. Due to her concussion, Ingrid finds that she is unable to sleep, no matter how hard she tries. On one of her sleepless nights, she sees that her former childhood friend, Van, is also still awake. She also sees a light on in the abandoned house next door. In order to figure out whether what she saw was a figment of her imagination, she asks Van if he saw the light, too. Despite the fact that he claims he did not see the light, he starts to visit Ingrid every night in the hopes that they can both get some sleep and figure out what is going on next door. The story is slow to start, initially, but it picks up right along with Van and Ingrid's rekindled friendship. In the end, they do end up figuring out what is going on next door, but nothing is as simple as it seems. Secrets are revealed and lives are destroyed, but, in the end, there is the promise of better things to come.

The Insomniacs
by Marit Weisenberg
Pub Date 01 Sep 2020
Read Courtesy of NetGalley.com

Even though I really enjoyed this book, there were a few quirks about the characters' motivations that left me scratching my head. However, and more importantly, the main male character is consistent. Van doesn't waiver from whom he is; we just get to see him through many other people's eyes. That makes him interesting and engaging; the reader keeps waiting for him to falter, and he doesn't. I'm not a competitive athlete, so I don't know how to evaluate the main female character, Ingrid, as easily. She's a super confident athlete, but a wishy-washy friend. Well, at least she's consistently characterized that way.

The story kept my interest: I eagerly followed Ingrid's journey in wanting to know what caused her bad dive. I was curious about her relationship with Van. It was refreshing to see she had real friends. The adults were flawed people without being made out as stupid people - that's refreshing in a YA novel.

Some of the author's writing was basic YA; how's this for a metaphor? "...reminding me of a spoiled young nobleman in the red-and-faux-gold powder room." And when Ingrid is told by a teammate, "Don't worry...It's just a little injury. I had one in gymnastics before I moved to Texas." If it was just a little injury, why'd she leave gymnastics? OK, minor things that didn't detract from the story; they just made my reading stutter a bit.

Caroline (a diving teammate) kept me guessing. Kevin (Van's stepfather) kept me guessing. Even Ingrid's mom kept me guessing. That's what made this engaging and mysterious. In spite of me questioning some of the motives or actions that move the story forward, I was invested from the warm-up all the way through the dive in. Four ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a great read! Full of twists, secrets, and a little romance!
#TheInsomniacs
#MustReadYA
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the e-arc copy of this novel.