Took a while to get going for me, but I ended up really enjoying this. I hope there is a follow up. Make sure you read [b:Me & Emma|80534|Me & Emma|Elizabeth Flock|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388360733s/80534.jpg|600345] first!

Sonya Sones grew to be one of my (recent) favorite authors after I read What My Mother Doesn’t Know, and soon after, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know. I went out and bought all her books after I read those two. But what I didn’t expect is that Stop Pretending, Sones’ first book, is an even better book than those that came after it.

Sones’ free-verse novel, Stop Pretending, does two amazing things that I haven’t witnessed in other free-verse novels so far. A majority of this book’s poems can be read separately from the others. They stand alone as very powerful works of poetry and don’t need the support of the “larger story.” At the same time, they all mesh together into that “larger story” that is hard to step away from, even with it being an emotional read. It’s the combination of these two effects that makes Sones such a great novelist and poet, all in the same work.

Being that this is strongly influenced by the author’s life growing up, I feel that it helped her create the very real main character. The poems bring the reader deep into the mind of this teenager who doesn’t know how to deal with her sister’s hospitalization. This can only come from someone who’s dealt with similar issues in real life. It also allows a reader, and even society in general, to consider all sides of the situation. It’s not just the patient who needs therapy, or just someone to talk to in general. It’s all members of a family, no matter how much they try to hide it.

Sonya Sones’ first book is by far my favorite of hers so far. It’s no wonder her books have gotten the attention they have.

I was fourteen years old when I found this book hiding on the shelves of my small-town library. My mother had had a psychotic break when I was six weeks old, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized. For as long as I could remember, I had been tiptoeing around the gaping hole in my life. I knew hardly anyone else in the same situation.

This is the book that told me I wasn't alone. In beautiful, wrenching, spare poetry, Sones paints a picture of a child's life, lived in the shadow of a mentally ill loved one. Her anger, confusion, grief, love, and resentment bleed onto the page, as vividly as I remember from my own childhood. This is the book that told me it was okay to feel all those things at once.

I will always love it for that.

This book is idealistic for a young age group who is looking to cope with a sudden change in the family dynamics. Many people tend to forget the ones who are touched by tragedy, and siblings are often overlooked when tragedy or illness strikes the family. The story seemed a bit rushed, but overall, a child who dealing with friendships, relationships and the family environment shines through and releases her pain and joy in these wonderful versus.

I've loved everything I've ever read by Sonya Sones, but I really do think that this, her first book, is her best. It's semi-autobiographic, and it shows in the emotional intensity and honesty of the poems. It's a beautiful work, so much so that I don't really feel like there's anything I can say about it. It's funny, how the best books leave me at a total loss for words.