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.