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Buried Beneath

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"Buried Beneath" by Kelly Ann Hopkins is a young adult mystery that ventures into the depths of secrets, trauma, and the resilience required to face one's past. The novel sets out with a promising premise, centering on a protagonist who finds herself entangled in a web of secrets following a series of unsettling discoveries in her small town. Hopkins crafts a narrative aimed at capturing the nuances of teenage life, the complexities of familial relationships, and the journey of self-discovery in the face of adversity.

Hopkins’ writing style is accessible and straightforward, making the book a potentially engaging read for its target audience. The pacing of the story is generally well-managed, with enough twists and turns to keep readers interested in the unfolding mystery. The thematic exploration of trauma and recovery is handled with sensitivity, offering a thoughtful look at the healing process and the importance of support systems.

Character development in "Buried Beneath" is a mix of strengths and areas for growth. The protagonist is given a significant amount of depth, allowing readers to empathize with her struggles and triumphs. However, some secondary characters may not receive the same level of attention, occasionally feeling more like plot devices than fully-realized individuals. This can lead to moments where the emotional impact of the story is somewhat diminished, as the motivations and backgrounds of these characters are not as deeply explored.

The mystery element of "Buried Beneath" is both a driving force and a point of contention. While it provides an intriguing framework for the story, the resolution of the mystery might not satisfy all readers. Some may find the climax and ensuing resolution to be predictable, while others may appreciate the closure it brings to the narrative and the characters involved.

One of the notable aspects of the novel is its attempt to weave in contemporary themes and issues facing young adults today. This includes dealing with the aftermath of trauma, navigating social dynamics, and the quest for identity. However, the effectiveness of these themes can vary, occasionally feeling either underdeveloped or too neatly resolved.

In summary, "Buried Beneath" by Kelly Ann Hopkins presents a young adult mystery that tackles heavy themes with a delicate hand. While the novel offers an engaging narrative and moments of genuine emotional depth, its execution in character development and the resolution of its central mystery may leave some readers wanting. It stands as a commendable effort, likely to appeal to fans of the genre looking for stories that blend personal growth with the intrigue of a mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy to review for my honest opinion.

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Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

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Yes yes and yes! This one did the damn thing! I was super worried that I wouldn’t like it but I ended up really enjoying it! Must read

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4/5 stars.

Hopkins did such an amazing job. The themes? Amazing. Characters? Realistic & likeable. Relationships & conflicts? SPECTACULAR.

Shelley’s character was so realistic that I found myself feeling like friends with her. Her ARC, story, inner conflicts were top tier.

What I love most about this work is its potential impact on younger & older readers. The representation of a child grown up with mentally ill parents is so, so important. People need to know they’re not alone & understand others who live in such conditions.

Hoarding disorder is potentially very harmful to the person and their surroundings, which I think the author captured really, really well.

I am so glad that Shelly did not get rid of her terrible life with RoManTiC lOvE. She builds herself a new life all by herself—even as her father & boyfriend support her, because you need your own strength to go this far.

Joshua—he’s such a sweetheart!

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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I never received this book so I cannot review or comment. It sounded right up my street hence why I wanted to read. I wish I could've.

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Shelly Frank has always lived a carefully crafted perfect life. What no one knows is that behind the doors of the beautiful house she and her mom live in are secrets neither of them wants anyone to know about. You see, Shelly’s mom is a hoarder. The longer that her mother stays in the house, the more she loses touch with reality while Shelly is left to be the parent and the child. Depressed and lonely, Shelly’s life begins to look up when she starts dating Joshua. When Shelly’s deadbeat father sends her a plane ticket to Florida, she discovers the lies her mother has been telling since he left, slowly unraveling the single thread keeping her life together.

I was drawn to this book because one of the characters is a hoarder since I grew up with a parent with the disorder. Kelly Ann Hopkins perfectly captures the stages between not thinking much about it to the realization that not everyone lives this way. In Shelley’s case, she’s quite deeply affected by how she’s been forced to live, especially since trash (old food, magazines, etc) makes up a large portion of what is strewn across their home. Combined with how bad her mother’s disorder has gotten, it is understandable that she’s lonely, frustrated, and counting down the days until she can escape.

Thankfully, her escape comes earlier than expected when she is suddenly contacted by her father. The series of events that follows shows how much Shelly’s mother has lost touch with reality, how much she resents her ex-husband, and extent of denial about how bad her overall situation is. I feel bad for these characters, but I found myself thinking about how if I was in the situation described in the book, I’d be counting down the days until I could get the hell out of dodge too.

I found the characters to be well written and more complex than I was expecting. The only characters I wish were better developed are Joshua and Shelly’s stepmom, but mainly Joshua. He seemed very two dimensional to me and existed under the halo of young love. However, I do think both characters were great as well as very supportive people all around, which is exactly what Shelly needs. That said, I personally didn’t care for Shelly for most of the book. She comes off as very condescending and entitled for the most part. I also think she way she looked down on some others was exactly how she feared others would look at her if they knew about her house. However, I think she’s a great character and I was rooting for her all book long.

I’m also little confused about the eating disorder she has. It seems like she has bulimia, but then she has an ulcer and an eating disorder… but then she doesn’t have an eating disorder while she has one. It’s not exactly clear, at least to me, but I do think that if you have an ED or are in recovery, this might not be a book for you because the disordered eating that occurs will be triggering.

All in all, I think this is a great book, and I’m looking forward to checking out the author’s other publications.

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Sometimes it's better to just free yourself because "You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved." ~ Kelly Ann Hopkins, Buried Beneath

Trigger warning: disordered eating, weight, attempted suicide 

This book broke me...I can't even begin where to start! I finished this book during summer and I couldn't figure out how to best express my feelings. This book gave me a bit of a hangover and I am still not over it.

Buried Beneath by Kelly Ann Hopkins is tears, heartwarming moments, more tears...it's a jumble of feelings and then some. This YA-contemporary novel follows Michelle "Shelley" Marie Frank who knows the pain of losing someone important to what feels like an incurable illness. Her final summer before senior year and then off to college; Shelley needs to find the courage to accept...to let her mom go and for once in her life, to be just a little bit selfish...to finally want something she had always longed for: a family. 

Hopkins delivered such a profound and poignant look at what a seemingly normal, and beautiful house appears to the outside world - when in reality, it houses a broken family and The Nest that continues to accumulate. I honestly had no idea what this book was going to be about. The claustrophobia of the house...her mother...the past...and the emotional toil of searching for herself leads to an encounter with Joshua Evans who helped her in such an unexpected way. I can't help but be jealous that she found someone that she didn't even know she needed. 

Thank you to NetGalley and GenZ Publishing for the chance to read this beautiful eARC that highlights the ups and downs of living with a gruesome secret...of having the courage it takes to save oneself...and learning that forgiveness is healing. I highly recommend this book as it is THE BOOK that makes a social commentary about a prevalent problem that no one addresses.

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This was a difficult one to read, dealing with a bunch of difficult topics such as mental illness and eating disorders.
I enjoyed reading a book tackling those issues and in my opinion, it made a good effort in describing what it could be like to live with a relative affected by this.
While I enjoyed the hopeful tone of the epilogue, I found it a bit jarring compared to the rest of the book and felt like there was something missing to explain how the characters got there.
I also enjoyed the sweet romance story in the book, however felt like it was a bit unrealistic at times - e.g. how does Joshua, a teenager, remain unaffected and “perfect” when faced with this? Why does he keep putting up with this after having properly known the protagonist for 2 weeks?
Altogether I enjoyed reading this but would recommend prospective readers have a look at trigger warnings first,

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CW: Eating disorders, hoarding

In the afterward, Hopkins says she wrote this book after it was brought to her attention that books for the children of hoarders was a gap that needed filling. She says she did her research and you can definitely tell. I think she did a great job with this novel. I am not the child of a hoarder but hoarding has touched my life and it seems to me that Shelly's emotional reactions to her mother's disorder are all understandable and valid.

I did not rate this book five stars because Shelly's relationship with her dad and her new boyfriend's unwavering support both seemed too simple when paired with the very complex relationship between Shelly and her mother. I also wish the book description had included a content warning for Shelly's disordered eating habits. Otherwise I thought it was great. I think it will help teens understand what effects hoarding can have on those who are forced to be surrounded by the hoard and hopefully it can help someone in Shelly's situation feel less alone.

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The base elements of this book are becoming standard: a single mother with a hoarding disorder and the daughter trying to live a "normal" life within the chaos. There are a few elements that make this one stand out from the crowd. For one, the hoarding doesn't have a distinct trigger. It's a part of a complex net of mental disorders that also means it is not easily resolved. Her mother can't seem to track reality. And that begins my trouble with this book. The mother character in particular has no consistent characterization. And the other people in Shelly's life are extremely idealized. Each plot element goes to an extreme. This makes the book increasingly difficult to accept. While I liked some parts of it, especially the conclusion, I found the overall package too much to swallow.

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What a wonderful and insightful book on the subject of hoarding. The author shows the effect of the disorder on the people around the hoarder. She illustrates just how complex this disorder is.. it affects so many people beyond the hoarder.—the immediate and extended family, friends and neighbors. This book shows the effects on the only child in the family. The author gives remarkable insight into the teenage daughter and her coping mechanisms. A wonderful book!

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Shelly is a 17 year old from New Jersey who is being crushed beneath the weight of her mother’s persistent hoarding. Shelly has taken on all of the parental responsibilities, taking on a job at a gas station and making sure the bills get paid. When the weight of her mother becomes too much and she is given the opportunity to leave, will she jump at the chance to start a new life or will her concern for her mother suck her back in? This book asks what do children owe their parents? When mental health blurs the boundaries of parents and children, how does anyone make it out alive?

I agree with another reviewer that said they liked this book but didn’t love it. I wanted to love it but it very much feels like an adult writing about a teenager. Shelly’s moods are so chaotic and the way she talks and thinks feels so awkward and unnatural. It reminds me of the way the teens on The Secret Life of the American Teenager were written. One line really stuck out to me though. “Your parents’ problems are not yours to deal with” I wish I would’ve heard that as a teenager.

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Uh, yeah... Life doesn't work that way.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But healing doesn't happen that fast. Forgiveness doesn't happen that fast. And, most of all, relationships don't happen that fast. At some points this book read like a bad romance novel. I couldn't suspend my belief enough for the relationship between Shelly and Joshua to make any sort of sense. Why was he always there at the right moment? Why did he start bothering her to begin with? And him randomly showing up at her house? Creepy much.

And to top it all off... Shelly should not be responsible for her mother. I repeat: Shelly should NOT be responsible for her mother. And her father was WRONG. He abandoned her! Shelly needs time to get away from her mother and father, no matter how supposedly "healed" they are. To see her at the same place in the end, in the same clutches, was just too much.

#netgalley

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Buried Beneath follows Shelly, a seventeen-year-old girl who is drowning in her mother's illness. Due to her mother's hoarding disorder, her house is unlivable, filled with useless items, old food, and trash. When Shelly gets the chance to leave her mother's mess behind and live with her estranged father, she must decide whether to put herself first or get buried in the hoard.

I could not put this book down. Shelly's compelling and complicated relationships with both of her parents and the ways they have failed her drove this novel and pulled at my heartstrings. The effect that hoarding disorder can have on not only the person themselves but their families is not something I've personally read much about, but after this novel, I want to look more into it. Kelly Ann Hopkins keeps you guessing about how it is going to end but hoping against hope that Shelly will find the happiness and freedom she deserves. Highly recommend this one!

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This book in 3 words: Significant. Painful. Impressive
Buried Beneath is about Shelly, a teenager living in New Jersey, and her quest to keep her hoarding mother a secret... no matter what it takes. Shelly's home has been inhabitable for years, and the determined teenager has tried to do what she can to keep herself safe and sane. Shelly meets Joshua just as her father sends a plane ticket to Florida for her birthday. Shortly after she arrives, the long term impact of her home environment catches up, and she's incredibly sick. 

I read this book in a single sitting. Buried Beneath takes a sensitive disorder, like hoarding, and shows how it impacts families and relationships. It also provided an insight to something I'm not very familiar with in an honest and realistic manner. I was emotional reading about how resilient and determined Shelley was in the wake of a truly terrible situation. My heart also softened with each interaction between her and Joshua. The dynamic between Joshua and Shelly is a stunning contrast among the other broken relationships. 

I can't get over this writing. Kelly Ann Hopkins writes all sorts of characters into this story and I bought into every single one. I was fully invested in Shelly and found myself frustrated and upset through the pages. I'm so impressed with this story, as a whole, and what it has to offer the reader. I highly recommend this to anyone... middle grade to adult.

This book should be featured at every high school and public library. There is much to be learned about hoarding but also how situations like this transpire. It also shows what our interactions can do to people... both good and bad.

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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel has a really intense setting, with the MC being trapped in a hoarder nest. Understandably, given the setting, it also doesn't pull any punches emotionally. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be a bit amateurish. I definitely will keep an eye on the author though, to see how she evolves over time.

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I wanted to enjoy this but ultimately give it a 2 or 3 stars. I felt the writing to not be super developed and I found myself looking at how much I had left of the book because I couldn't connect to the story.

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This review may contain mild spoilers.

Trigger warning: This book also features a lot of discussions surrounding disordered eating and weight.

I liked this book. I did, really. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it as much as I was expecting I would. Buried Beneath follows Shelly as she deals with her mother’s mental illness, pushing others away so she can protect her, until she has to face both of their problems.

I absolutely loved how the book started, talking about kids’ perception of life at home and how they find out that how they live is not the only way to do so. I just feel like so many kids go through that, and it’s not often talked about. I also loved that this was about a topic that is very real, but still a taboo. We have a lot of books focusing on mental illness, but sometimes they seem to center only on the ones that are mostly acknowledged. Shelly was a very relatable and likeable character, and I’m glad she did the right choice on helping her mother – and herself.

On the other hand, I feel like all the disordered eating and weight talk featured in this book could be triggering for some people, so if you are interested in reading this book (which I recommend!), keep that in mind. One thing I didn’t like was the fact that Shelly got away with what she did in the end and that everything seemed to be solved rather quickly. I enjoyed the happy ending, which we don’t get to see that often – I’m looking at you, Hoarders tv show! –, but I would have enjoyed a more detailed version of Shelly’s mother dealing with her mental illness, not just reading about how many months had gone by and how suddenly everything was as it was always supposed to be.

That said, this book tackles very important topics so if you find yourself interested in reading it, you should definitely give it a go.

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WOW, this was a deep book and it made me cry TONS of times, the life Shelly lived, and the things she had to go through-
LIKE WOW
I don't know how she managed that, the book is so inspirational!!
My rating 5 out of 5 stars.

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Buried Beneath follows Shelly, a seemingly typical New Jersey teen that harbors a difficult secret: her mom has a hoarding disorder. Shelly's home is filled to the brim with all of the things that her mother cannot part with, and the filth is making Shelly physically sick. When her father sends her a ticket to stay with him in Florida, Shelly jumps at the chance, but is also terrified of the possible outcomes of leaving her mother.

Buried Beneath is an incredibly powerful book and one that I could not put down. I liked that the story is not only a depiction of hoarding, a condition that is not often talked about outside of the context of the television show, but also focuses on the impacts the disorder has on the family members. Shelly is great main character with a lot of depth; the reader will quite literally feel all of her struggles. She loves/hates/blames both of her parents so much, and experiences many internal conflicts with her situation. I feel like I cannot give enough praise to the author for how well-written this book is, and for shining a light on this topic. The description of the book does a good job laying out potential trigger warnings, but the reader should be prepared for some scenes that are quite difficult to stomach. I highly recommend Buried Beneath to both YA readers and general fiction fans.

Thanks to Netgalley and GenZ Publishing for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

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