Our main character, Norah has spent a large part of her life confined to her house by her anxiety disorder, agoraphobia – a fear of open or public places.

To find out more and enter the weekly draw to win, visit. Give this book a shot but look after yourselves.To celebrate the Year of Reading, The National has teamed up with Scholastic, the specialist educational publisher, to give away more than 40,000 books to schoolchildren. There isn’t a cure or a happy ever after, Norah is still ill and still recovering at the end of the story. This book shows the dark side to mental health that isn’t romanticised or at all stereotypical despite its MC falling in love. We go deep into the inner mechanics of Norah’s mind, the questions she is constantly asking herself, her worries about germs and disasters but she also has the ability to laugh at herself, to have your typical teenage-girl issues and that is why she is a character you can immediately jump into your shoes of, even if you don’t particularly want to. It’s a hard story to read, especially when Norah relapses and the event that takes place near the end of the book made me anxious and uncomfortable but that was because of good writing and a relatable main character. Overall, this is a very quick read (if I didn’t have a migraine for three days) and if you’re searching for a book to either help you learn about mental illness or to see yourself in Norah, then I would definitely recommend this. A lot of advice that was given by her, I definitely took on board myself which is something I’m incredibly grateful to the author for. Reeves and I wish I had a therapist as lovely as her. Norah also has regular visits with her therapist, Dr. They truly were heartwarming, you can see how much her mum supports her and yet never pushes her too much. Another highlight was definitely Norah’s relationship with her mum and her mum is the coolest (I mean, she wore her hair in space buns?) They have such a strong relationship that reminds me of my mother and I so I loved their moments together. I saw a review saying that it was unrealistic to find a boy who would accept your mental illness *insert eye roll* but they actually do exist, guys? I am so done with people saying people who live with mental health issues cannot find happiness. I love how they chose to communicate sometimes by writing on windows or on their hands when Norah wasn’t feeling up to talking. The relationship between Norah and Luke was lovely, healthy and realistic.

Under rose tainted skies summary