'In Repair' acts as a sort of companion novel to this authors previous 'Icebreaker' but follows an entirely different, equally complex main character.

To be honest, I'm still a little conflicted on this one - it broke my heart, I cried (sobbed) at multiple times and I saw so many parts of myself between these pages that it hit even more. I dissociate a lot, this character dissociate's a lot and as such it was difficult to not compare my experience entirely to our mc's. The rep I found in this regard was wonderful, it fit in the gap between my feelings - summarised words I struggle to name myself and gave me purpose.

But, this novel also came across, sorry for the lack of a better word but cringey. It was another predictable YA story wrapped in the premise of having a complex main character and trauma used to sharpen him. A lot of things, in my opinion, could've been handled more delicately. As someone who shares a similar trauma - having everything wrap up in a neat little bow at the end of the novel felt like the trauma was only being used for a plot device - as if recovery is a resolution point and not the whole story from before it even began. I wish we could've been given this sharpened character making recovery slowly, realistically. But this is fiction so!

I understand this is an entirely subjective opinion so please don't take it to heart! Making me sob still gets bonus points and I'm excited to read more from this author in the future. Icebreaker is a favourite! They're 2 for 2 on making me cry so far.

This book was hard to read sometimes. The author did an excellent job at really portraying the effects of unaddressed trauma. As someone who has faced similar situations to Nat I really enjoyed the book and was able to learn about myself at the same time.

oh i just adored this book. im always on the hunt for book with adult characters that struggle with depression. accurate representation can be difficult to find but look no further bc this book demonstrates what life can be like as someone who struggles with depression. I love Will and see a lot of myself in him.