Books with Mental Health Rep 🌷 2024 Edition

Hello fellow bookworms 🌷 Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to do another recommendation post! In the past years, I focused on highlighting books with mental health representation that I wanted to read, but this time I’m switching to talking about some of my favorite books that deal with mental health in some way, be it the focus or just another aspect of the story. The topic is important to me, so let’s get started with the recommendations ❤️

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Adult Romance

Business or Pleasure (Rachel Lynn Solomon) ➽ OCD, Anxiety ➽  This is probably my favorite Adult Romance by Rachel Lynn Solomon! The story follows Chandler Cohen, a ghostwriter who’s not entirely happy with her career and Finn Walsh, the actor in a cult werewolf show who never got his big break. I liked that he was a celebrity who wasn’t super famous and loved interacting with his fans. He also wants to use his memoir to talk about mental health, as Finn deals with OCD and wants to raise awareness about that!

Weather Girl (Rachel Lynn Solomon) ➽ Depression ➽ This Romance follows Ari – the weather girl – and Russel – a sports reporter – trying to set their divorced bosses up for a second chance. I liked that the book touched upon Ari’s depression and how she struggled with accepting help and medication. Her mother also has depression, yet never supported Ari and instilled some toxic beliefs about therapy instead.

Never Been Kissed (Timothy Janovsky) ➽ Anxiety ➽ This book is all about Roland who hasn’t been kissed and decides to send e-mails to all the guys he had a crush on before coming out. He’s quick to regret his impulsive decision in the morning, especially as his new coworker Derick is one of his former crushes. Roland also deals with anxiety and I liked how subtly that was included in the story!

YA Contemporary

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (Talia Hibbert) ➽ OCD ➽ Celine and Bradley used to be best friends until a big fight tore them apart. When circumstances push them together again there is a lot of unresolved hurt and anger between them. I loved the focus on mental health, the future & family expectations! Bradley has OCD and manages it well with therapy and medication, but still has difficult moments. Celine has trouble being vulnerable since her father left her to live with his second family.

How to Disappear (Sharon Huss Roat) ➽ Social Anxiety ➽ Vicky’s story was so close to my heart! She struggles with social anxiety and when her only friend at school moves away, things take a turn for the worse. I really felt Vicky’s hurt, loneliness, and issues with social interactions. The representation was simply ON POINT and really spoke to me! Vicky hasn’t ever had therapy and is too intimidated to go to the counselor’s office. I appreciated that the book showed her journey to get help and maybe an official diagnosis.

Between You, Me and the Honeybees (Amelia Diane Coombs) ➽ Anxiety ➽ I loved the anxiety rep and that the book focused on unconventional future plans. Josie loves Hazeldine Honey and wants to take over her mother’s business. I understood why Josie’s mother wanted her to go to college – she never got to go and was afraid that her daughter would miss out. However, I also liked that Josie was determined to take over the family business. It’s nice to have the focus on a character not wanting to go to college and showing that there are different plans for the future!

A Quiet Kind of Thunder (Sara Barnard) ➽ Selective Mutism ➽ This follows Steffi, an anxious, selectively mute teen who gets assigned to mentor Rhys, the new deaf boy in their school. Both of them know what it’s like not to be understood and so they strike up a friendship. The representation was good as far as I can tell. The book explores Steffi’s issues with her mother’s dismissive attitude and how she’s fighting to go to college, even though almost everyone thinks she cannot do it due to her mutism. Yet Steffi fights and wants to fulfill her dreams, even if it scares her.

I Wish You All the Best (Mason Deaver) ➽ Anxiety, Panic Attacks ➽ This is an emotional story about Ben, a nonbinary teen whose coming out goes horribly wrong. They are thrown out of their parent’s house and have no choice but to go live with their estranged sister. I really felt for Ben, as they were in a bad situation and struggled to adjust to their new life. Ben’s also attending therapy for their anxiety and panic attacks, which was worsened by their parent’s bigoted behavior. I appreciated the mental health representation and how Ben finds Nathan, a charismatic student at their new school who’s super supportive.

The Last Time We Say Goodbye (Cynthia Hand) ➽ Grief, Depression/Suicide ➽ The Last Time We Say Goodbye is about Lex whose brother died by suicide and left her with a heart full of grief. Obviously, this was a very emotional read as it focuses on Lex’s grief and the impact her brother’s suicide has had on her family. Lex has trouble dealing with her grief and the complicated feelings towards her brother, so she cuts herself off completely. This book wasn’t perfect, but it felt raw and honest!

You’d Be Home Now (Kathleen Glasgow) ➽ Addiction ➽ Kathleen Glasgow once again excels at writing emotional stories. You’d Be Home Now is about two siblings whose whole life falls apart after a deadly car accident disrupts things in their small town. At its core, the story is about mental health and recovery. You could tell that the author was drawing from her own experiences to write about Joey’s addiction, as she approached the topic with a lot of care. Recovery isn’t linear and for addiction, it’s a life-long struggle, something that was very well illustrated here.

10 Things I Can See From Here (Carrie Mac) ➽ GAD ➽ This is a fantastic book about a girl with severe anxiety! It features Maeve, who always struggled with a generalized anxiety disorder and is forced to go live with her father, while her mother is abroad. She cannot really stay at home alone because of her mental health, so Maeve has to brave a new environment. Her anxiety is well written and very present in the text. It unflinchingly depicts her anxiety spirals and panic attacks, so that’s something to be aware of before starting the book.

Nonfiction

[Don’t] Call Me Crazy (edited by Kelly Jensen) ➽ Anthology about Mental Health ➽ This is a fantastic anthology filled with stories about mental health! It’s so important to have a YA nonfiction about this topic and I liked the variety of the stories. Each contributor has a different experience with mental health and their specific diagnosis, so we get to see different perspectives. I liked how intersectionality was discussed as well, especially in connection with disability, the LGBTQ community and people of color.

Crying in H Mart (Michelle Zauner) ➽ Grief ➽ This is an emotional memoir about Michelle Zauner’s experience with her mother’s illness and the grief of losing her. This was such a moving story as the author digs deep into her past, the complicated relationship she has with her mother and her Korean-American identity! The story doesn’t stray away from showing the ‘ugly’ sides of grief and taking care of a terminally ill relative.

I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki (Baek Se-hee) ➽ Anxiety, Depression ➽ Baek Se-hee has been dealing with anxiety and depression all her life. The story is told in a unique format, as it consists of conversations between the author and her therapist. The writing is quite simple and easy to understand, but I didn’t mind that. In my opinion, it suited the story and made it accessible.

Other Genres

Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything (Justine Pucella Winans) ➽ Anxiety ➽ Bianca is a nonbinary, introverted teen birder who prefers to watch people out of her bedroom window. One evening they witness their neighbor “Mr. Conspiracy” get murdered … and it seems like he was asking for help. Bianca has so many fears, but cannot help but try to solve the murder and get justice for Mr. Conspiracy. I loved Bianca as a protagonist so much! I really related to their list of fears and their anxiety around most situations.

In the Lives of Puppets (T.J. Klune) ➽ Anxiety ➽ According to the author, this is meant as a “queer retelling of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio” and I was intrigued by that comparison from the start. The book follows Victor Lawson, a human who is surrounded by robots and lives with his father Giovanni at the edge of the woods. The found family makes this book so special. Giovanni basically adopted Victor and they share a close bond despite not being the same species. The same goes for the other robots that live with them. My favorite was definitely Rambo, a roomba with anxiety issues! As a fellow anxious person, the idea of an anxious robot really spoke to me 😄

Have you read any books on my list? What are your favorite books with mental health representation? 🌷