This poetry collection was a raw and unfiltered look into life coping with mental health, bipolar and the effects in life and all the ups and downs it brings.

Some stand out poems to me of this collection, focussed on pregnancy loss especially from an unexpected pregnancy and the pain of the sudden experience. There was also a lot of poems about the effects of bipolar and how being misunderstood by others can leave you feeling so sad and worse as your condition can be viewed so negatively by others unwilling to take time to educate themselves.

In all the best ways, this book gives me the same vibes as Crank by Ellen Hopkins. Sarah Erin opened up about topics most people want to ignore, and did so in a thought provoking way. Why would a mental health professional demean your feelings instead of validating and helping? When you’re actions are begging for help, why is no one listening? How can the world keep turning after you lose someone you love and it feels like your world has ended? Thank you for sharing your story!

I am not a huge poetry fan normally, but this was a great book. I could relate to a lot of the poems in there. It was raw and beautiful.

Thank you NetGalley and 21 Chieftans Press for the review copy of “Secrets Make You Sick” by Sarah Erin.

This book was difficult to read because it hit so close to home, but it is a work of profound honesty and should be recognized for the strength of character that went into living these poems.

As someone living with mental illness, I am in awe of Sarah Erin’s raw candor. I don’t know if I could put myself on paper as starkly as Erin does in this book. It is not easy living with the emotional turmoil that is mental illness; it is far less easy to talk about it. Erin shares her pain and her losses; she lays her fears out for readers to see. She discusses her eating disorder and the lurking ghoul of body dysmorphia (I hear you, friend). She writes of surviving for her cats, for her book, for her dream of New York, reminding us that whatever it takes to keep going is worth fighting for.

Sarah Erin fearlessly explores subjects many people hesitate to name, writing with a candor and emotional richness that feels both exposed and defiantly authentic. Her poetry poses haunting questions that linger in the reader’s mind: Why are genuine emotions so often dismissed instead of met with patience and compassion? Why do silent pleas for help go unnoticed even when a person’s actions plainly reveal their pain? And how can the outside world continue in ordinary motion after the loss of someone you love, when internally everything feels splintered, hollow, and unrecognizable?

This collection offers a raw, intimate glimpse into life with mental illness — particularly bipolar disorder — and the relentless emotional tides it brings. She illustrates the electric, sleepless highs filled with restless energy and fragile optimism, then contrasts them with the crushing lows marked by heaviness, fatigue, and profound isolation. Sarah Erin also exposes how stigma and misunderstanding from others can magnify these struggles, leaving individuals feeling reduced to labels rather than seen as whole, complex people. Her poems echo with the quiet ache of being misinterpreted and the deep yearning to be heard without judgment. Through vivid imagery and unguarded reflection, readers are drawn into a landscape of grief, confusion, and the persistent “what-ifs” that shadow painful memories.

Secrets Make You Sick unfolds as an atmospheric collection of twenty deeply personal poems that navigate mental illness, PTSD, sexual trauma, identity, and the uneven, often fragile road toward healing. Sarah Erin’s voice is clear, steady, and unflinching, portraying survival in a world that can feel hurried, indifferent, and emotionally distant. Each poem acts as a snapshot of lived experience, yet together they weave a continuous narrative of pain, introspection, endurance, and the slow reemergence of hope.

Her portrayal of panic is especially vivid, rendering the sensation almost tangible — racing thoughts colliding, lungs tightening, and the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped within one’s own mind. These moments reveal the exhausting inner tug-of-war between fear and perseverance, quietly emphasizing the immense strength required simply to continue. The emotional current remains powerful throughout the collection, carrying readers through waves of vulnerability, sorrow, and cautious optimism.

Though the subject matter is undeniably heavy, the collection is also deeply inspiring and necessary. Secrets Make You Sick invites readers to pause, reflect, and reconsider how they view both their own struggles and the hidden battles of others. Its stark realism is softened by threads of compassion and self-acceptance, offering reassurance that healing is rarely straight or simple, but always within reach. Ultimately, the book becomes both mirror and lantern — reflecting the shared complexities of the human experience while gently illuminating a path toward empathy, understanding, and the courage to voice truths too often left unspoken.

Visceral, dark, and hauntingly beautiful.

I knew that I was going to connect to the writing when I read the dedication, but poem after poem I was struck by Sarah's metaphors like an arrow to the chest. She had me crying by page 22.

This collection is not for the faint at heart. It is for anyone who has ever struggled with their worth. The ones who said they were fine when they were really drowning. Those of us who were forced to grow up too quickly, under the watchful eye of trauma, and then be praised for our survival.

These are the poems that stay with you.

I received this book for free in exchange for a review.

Secrets Make You Sick by Sarah Erin is a poetry collection about how mental illness can present itself as a dark, loving kaleidoscope intertwining trauma, lived experience, and existential crises. Some of the poems include humorously morbid imagery that made me chuckle at my own tragedies. Others are rather poignant, acknowledging the brutality the lyrics came from. Despite the hardships she endures, Erin reminds readers that, at the end of the day, she is still here, even if she might not want to be.

When I read this book, I can’t help but think of my clients from a previous agency I worked for as a case manager. One client specifically hated when I, and my other colleagues, called her “resilient.” Even though she was strong, she didn’t want to be. She’s had to be strong all her life, because otherwise, as Ms. Erin had so eloquently put it, there was no other choice. I still remember her, and would still commend her for the strength she showed all those years, from the hardened heart she developed after enduring many of her abusers, to her coming to terms with how that trauma had passed onto her children.

The collection furiously and rebelliously dismisses the idea that mental health is just a clinical afterthought that only exists to perpetuate financial gain. It’s messy. It mixes sugar and spice and everything nice with the gore and horror you’d find in Evil Dead II and Shawn of the Dead. It mourns its author’s innocence and a life support that was, all of a sudden, yanked away because of her age and the expectation that she shouldn’t be dependent on anyone. It challenges the assumption that she had to be perfect in any and all aspects. At times, I found myself asking if Erin had purposely twisted the words so painfully that they suddenly came to life and dealt the hurt back.

I absolutely adored this collection. I would definitely see myself reading this aloud to colleagues, other clients, and even close friends and family who might not understand how devastatingly beautiful mental illness can be. I would give this collection a 5 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to those who enjoy works such as Bloodletting a Butterfly by Alec B Hood.