This is basically three novellas, connected only by one tragic event the three main characters experienced together: they were huddled together under a staircase during a school shooting. The shooting is never really discussed, not in any detail, but rather the aftermath and how the mental health of our survivors is affected by the event. Claire is the hardest to connect to, as she’s not open or conversational as a character. She’s receded into herself and hides from the reader. Eleanor, by contrast, is outgoing and angry and rebellious. She isn’t sad about the shooting—she’s pissed off. And Brezzen is the one I related to the most as a nerd, a gamer, and a former teacher. He retreats into a bargain brand D&D, relying on dice roles and characters to navigate a world he doesn’t fit into anymore. I love that his psychiatrist takes on the role of GM to help him through, using loot to encourage his growth IRL. But mostly, I loved his teacher who reminds him a D20 isn’t always initiative, preparing for battle. Sometimes it’s a saving roll. Sometimes it’s an ability check. And Brezzen realizes his abilities are far better than he remembered, even if sometimes he rolls low.

Mental health is not often discussed, especially in terms of the ongoing and lengthy struggles with PTSD. This author handled it beautifully and created case studies of the various ways PTSD can manifest. Kids would do well to read this as a lesson in empathy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

An interesting construction here. We see three characters who went through the same traumatic event but that is the only way their stories intersect. Each is responding to that trauma in a different way, none of them especially health. The actual shooting is barely addressed. We aren't meant to dwell in their trauma, only to explore it's ongoing affect on the victims. Interesting and worth discussing with teens.

I was looking forward to reading Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss and it just ended up as a disappointment. I did not like any of the characters and it felt as if there was no action or movement. It took me most of the book to realize the connection between the three students. There needed to be a half page set up to start the story. My biggest problem is how he gave a specfic town, Hickory, NC. It was the death lasts of this novel. By keeping the location general the hand would've been more impactful. The worst thing is he used the stereotype that all rural Southern states are full of narrow minded idiots that can't have a dialogue. I found it ruined the book for me.
1 out of 5. Wish I could give less.
ARC provided by NetGalley

Having been in high school myself when Columbine happened, and observing firsthand how that incident forever changed how schools are run and students interact with each other, I've always had an interest in books involving school shootings. Bryan Bliss's Thoughts & Prayers is one of the newest titles in the genre to explore the aftermath of a school shooting and its effect on three students.

Claire has moved away from her hometown where the shooting occurred, but finds she is having difficulty adjusting to her new school due to the past trauma. Eleanor brazenly spoke out about the gun violence at her school, but is now paying the consequence of sharing her views. And Brezzen has been hiding away at home since the shooting, lost in a world of Wizards & Warriors, a role-playing game. All three students witnessed the shooting firsthand, and hid under a staircase together, but are now dealing with the reverberations in their own way, which is told in three separate parts in Thoughts & Prayers.

While Thoughts & Prayers had some insightful bits, I found the book overall to fall flat and be void of emotion. As a reader, I felt distanced from all of these characters, and never really got a firm grasp on how the shooting affected them, nor what the experience was like for them - all we are shown is how they are now. Sure Bliss touches on these topics, but not in a meaningful way, making this book less impactful than it could have been for such a charged topic.

Additionally, I found Thoughts & Prayers to be biased and left-leaning. Guns are bad and at fault, Christians are strange and out of touch, and Republicans are rednecks and extremists. I didn't care for Bliss's obvious prejudice toward a collective people who hold a certain set of beliefs, and was disappointed that all three parts of his novel presented such people in the same way. His story would have held more depth and provided a wider lens had he wrote one of his characters to have come from a conservative family. As it stands, I found his novel to lack perspective.

1 year after a shooting at their school, 3 students are trying to get their lives back to normal. Claire has left the state in search of safety, something she struggles to feel after the incident. Eleanor is dealing with the consequences of her protest against guns, of which the negative image of has gone on much longer than she expected. And Brezzen is trying to return to school and accept it as safe after a year of avoiding it.

I really liked how Bliss explained the different ways trauma affects different people. I appreciated that each teen had loving support from their parents/guardian. I haven't read many "school shooting" books, but this is a great story about moving past trauma and towards healing.

This was unflinching and honest and timely. It's an important book that delves into the trauma our youth is facing in a gun-centered, school shooting society

Thoughts and Prayers by Bryan Bliss tells the aftermath of a school shooting from three different students' perspectives. After horrible events like these, we focus on those who were lost or injured, but we spend less attention on the survivors. We often forget the PTSD and trauma that the survivors experience for years to come. Thoughts and Prayers reminds us, and tells the story of three students who are experiencing trauma after a school shooting.
The characters are all very different from one another, but they all have the same thing in common, and that is witnessing one of their classmates murder a teacher and students at their school. It tells how they are handling their trauma a year later. One student moved away from the town/school where it happened, another stayed behind but faces the backlash of protesting guns, and a third quit attending school but is returning after being away for a year.
The three stories slightly intersect, but not in a way that many books do. I really liked that the stories were so different, because students and their experiences are also very different. I would definitely recommend this book to my students, and I appreciated the themes of survival and continuing on after a horrific event occurs. It's also an important reminder to remember the survivors and the trauma they are most likely facing.

This was not a great read, it held my interest for awhile but that is about all. Did not like the characters, nor the plot.....................

This. Book.
I loved this book. I missed the told in three parts part but I caught on really quickly.
Each story presented a different aspect of a school shooting and how students can be affected. I think the third was probably my favorite.
My students will devour this book.
And it has the perfect title!

This is a tough topic to even begin to tackle. The 3 separate points of view, not only tackle the different stages of grief, but sheds a light on the impact of trauma on mental health overall. While it was a tough book to read at times, it is definitely worth your time to think of what happens to these kids after the spotlight is no longer on them.

Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss is a three-part novel that comes out at the end of September. This story follows three characters, Eleanor, Brendan and Claire a year after they survived a shooting at their high school and hid under a stairwell together.

I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. The topic was handled very well, as it is an emotional and delicate topic, but it felt like I was reading three different short stories, with no connection, and with nothing really happening. Each part seemed to deal with a different type of diagnosis in how they handled their grief. For example, we see PTSD in Claire, anger and resentment in Eleanor, and OCD in Brendan.

The last third of the book followed Brendan. His story was very odd to me, and confusing. It was however, the most connected to the other two characters as he mentions both Claire and Eleanor several times.

I think I wanted more with this story and was expecting it to be different. It was interesting to see how the survivors were managing since the shooting but it felt like the three stories were so disconnected with one another that it felt more as if I was reading three short stories that did not relate. I felt like things were dragged out a little too and there was not much going on in any of the chapters, aside from Eleanor's. Overall the story felt very meh to me, which was disappointing because it is an important topic that should be discussed and explored.

The title of this book is what grabbed my attention. “Thoughts and Prayers.” How sick are we of hearing that phrase every time there’s a school shooting? “Thoughts and prayers to the family. We’re not going to try to do a literal thing about gun control, but I’m so sorry this happened to you!” “Thoughts and prayers to the family. We cannot BELIEVE this keeps happening, especially since we’ve done absolutely NOTHING to try to stop it! Such a shame so many children have to die, but this is America and we have the right to bear arms! We love our guns and we deserve them! I love my gun so much I want to shove it up my ass!!!!”

I digress.

(Sorry, can you tell I hate guns?)

Anyway. This book is split into three different perspectives. Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen. By the end, we realize their stories are all connected. They all hid under the same stairwell during a shooting at their school. Each character’s trauma plays out in different ways.

Claire, clearly suffering from PTSD, moved away with her brother and tried to put it all behind her. Her trauma was very apparent and I had a hard time connecting with her because of it. Well, not because she was traumatized. Of course she was? Due to the third person narration, I couldn’t gleam much about her personality, so she kind of fell flat for me. I was intrigued by her new friends, but we didn’t get to know them as much as I’d hoped.

Eleanor was the most interesting character to follow and I vibed with her the most. After the shooting, she started making shirts that read “FUCK GUNS!” and wearing them to school every day. The school board and teachers weren’t really doing anything to address gun control,the emotional trauma that countless students were facing, and the severe harassment that was happening to Eleanor because she dared to speak out (GASP. No way?) They wanted her to stop protesting and “making a scene.” Eleanor’s perspective really fit into the title “Thoughts and Prayers.” I would’ve loved to read more about her journey. I would have also loved to throw most of the adults in her life into an active volcano due to their lack of empathy. :)

Brezzen took a year off from school after the shooting and threw himself headfirst emotionally into Dungeons and Dragons. This was how he learned to cope. Every person in his real life became a character. He carried around his die (Dice? Die? There’s an actual D&D term for it but it’s slipping my mind, oops) and had to roll for initiative every time he was faced with a decision. He eventually goes back to school and reunites with some old D&D pals. Brezzen is easy to root for and I enjoyed his character.

I think this is an important book. I think I would’ve liked it more if it was just one perspective because I feel like I didn’t have enough time to fall into the character’s brains, but it was still good. They all took different paths to heal (some healthy, some unhealthy) which made it very realistic. School shootings need to be taken seriously. Changes in gun control NEED to be made. Books such as this one can spark the conversations we need to get the ball rolling. Thoughts and prayers just aren’t going to cut it.

Thanks to Greenwillow Books and Netgalley for sending this ARC to me in exchange for an honest review.

Essentially this is three short stories, linked by the fact that all three were students in a high school when there was a shooting incident. How all three deal with the aftermath and how they heal (or not) doesn't follow the same template, which feels very real. But because these are such separate stories the quality is different and (IMVHO) the editing could have snipped here and there, as well as perhaps linked them better.

eARC provided by publisher.

Timely and all too relevant. A recommended first purchase for public YA and HS collections, particularly where contemporary titles are popular.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss.

This is a story of three highschoolers with one main link. They all witnessed a school shooting, and now must continue on in education and life, adjusting to their new crippling trauma. One turns to her friends in a skate park, while feeling suspicious of everyone around her, being diligent to protect the world from another potential shooter. Another copes by wearing a controversial tee-shirt, playing basketball and giving the middle finger to anyone that would try to silence her. Another has his D&D style gaming with friends and family who are everlastingly patient and understanding.

I really appreciated shining a light on the residual effects of being a witness to this kind of violence. As a fully grown adult, I can't imagine having to experience a shooting, let along a young person, LET ALONE watching your friends being victims. We talk about the horrors of the violence committed against young people, but forget about the continuing violence that their own minds commit against them for a long time to come. Bliss does a fabulous job bringing that to life in a diverse way, and reminding the audience that there are no right/wrong ways to heal.

Not your typical school shooting text. This book follows 3 survivors who were huddled together under the stairs of their high school when the shooting occurred and how they are coping with such a traumatic event a year after. Really shines light on how important extended mental health care is in situations such as this. Because when the news crews leave, when the cameras are gone, when the hashtag stops trending, there are kids and adults remaining who lives through it and have deep scars.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

I hate giving this a “meh” score because I understood what the author set out to do and the intent behind the book. But the writing was not for me. I thought it was a little boring, and nothing much seemed to happen. I have read several other books on the same topic that I preferred. That being said, the characters were great and fully fleshed out, and again, I appreciated the intent of the book. 3 stars.

This was such an interesting look at the fallout of gun violence. It was especially eerie because the act of violence itself was set in North Carolina. It was very well written and I felt like I really knew these characters.

I was a bit hesitant to read this book simply because, as an educator, school shootings are a possibility in my line of work. I went in blind, expecting the worst (possibly not being able to finish it) but I was pleasantly surprised!

This book was gut-wrenching, hopeful, sad and full of redemption. I think Bryan did an excellent job at really encapsulating the fear and paralyzing effects of living through an unspeakable trauma! We got to see the change Claire, Brezzen and Eleanor went through emotionally, mentally and physically after such a tragedy and what was so heartbreaking was that I felt their pain!

As far as introducing this book into my classroom or recommending it to students, I don't know if I would put too much focus on what caused the trauma but the power in feeling all the feelings, seeking the help and not letting something hold you back. People move on and life goes on but it's okay to take the time to invest in yourself to heal and to grow from those terrible experiences.

The beauty that unfolded in this story was the path each of the characters took to heal. In their own time, they each starting healing through therapy, role playing and being a voice for the voiceless!