When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fletcher

The Quick Cut: A girl living with strict rules and monthly self testing to check for schizophrenia finds herself passionate enough to put it all on the line for a baby elephant.

A Real Review:

Thank you to Harlequin Teen for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As anyone with an anxiety disorder can tell you, fear can be a beast. It turns into panic that has you seeing monsters in places that don't exist and ripping yourself apart more than the disorder can alone. That same panic and fear apply to T. Lily.

Lily's desperate to do whatever it takes not to turn into her mother. Having nearly escaped a murder attempt from her mom in a schizophrenic episode, shes spent every day living by her 12 year plan to avoid doing anything that could cause the condition to appear in her. Having her best friend Sawyer test her monthly, she's always on the lookout for potential issues and declines in mental health status.

Until she reports about a baby elephant at the local zoo and her unpaid internship turns into a far bigger story than anyone expected. Then all bets are off and the plan is out the window but is her mental status too?

This book really hit me hard because it asks the question I ask myself a lot as an Epilie-Aspie with major anxiety issues: am I living or am I waiting in fear? When mental health is an issue for you, it has this way of encompassing your world and taking over like it does in Lily's. The problem is that you ens up missing life when you do that. Life is worth the risk because at least you're giving yourself something to hold onto and that's very powerful stuff.

From page one, the author here showed with here dedication down to her author's note how much this topic matters to her and the level of detail she took in writing this. Even though the conversation aboht Lily is schizophrenia, its so applicable to mental health disorders in general.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It's so powerful and really can change your perspective.

My rating: 5 out of 5