A review by m0rganh
Cameron and the Girls by Edward Averett

3.0

Despite high hopes, this one fell a little flat for me (I have an affinity for YA/kids' books that deal with mental health issues so, admittedly, I can be kind of picky about them). Beef #1: I felt that Averett didn't dig enough into Cam's family issues or spend enough time developing his characters; Cam's family/Nina felt like rushed, cliche stereotypes. Beef #2: I would have liked a bit more background on the origin/particulars of Cam's disease. Beef #3: Even at Cam's darkest and most manic moments, Averett's descriptions felt too clinical. Beef #4: I don't know ANY teen (and hardly any adults) who use "as if" to describe something (i.e. "It feels AS IF my head is splitting in two") and yet "as if" comes out of Cam's mouth about a hundred times. I don't know what teens Averett is talking to but I can't imagine they say "as if" when they could just use "like" a hundred times in one sentence like the rest of us lazy slobs.

Long review longer, I'll stick with "Stop Pretending" by Sonya Sones when I need my YA-mental-breakdown fix.