Review: Shades of Blue - Various Authors - Edited - Amy Ferris

 

Review: Shades of Blue - Anthology - Various Authors - September 2015

For those readers who are familiar with my reviews, they will know that I often like to read the "edgy" stuff and one of those topics that I do find fascinating is mental health. Suicide is a topic, that is often still viewed as taboo but unfortunately we all know at least someone whether it be a close friend , relative , sibling or a friend of a friend who has committed suicide.  For me , my best friend Daniel committed suicide when he was 18. When I was about that age to even now sometimes my mind has wandered to whether I should cross that line. I always had this excuse in the back of my mind that the reason I never went through with it was because I couldn't handle pain and I'm not one who can swallow pills - I have to take liquid medicine or dissovable. Then you have the side of us, that wants to live, love and look forward to the future.  Shades of Blue was an anthology filled with short stories from a mixture of new and familiar authors featuring stories about suicide , suicidal thoughts, depression, extreme mental health. Most of the stories will pull at your heartstrings and if you are familiar with this side of life, then you may have your eyes well up as you read and think - this sounds like me. The Shades of Blue Anthology brings the conversation around depression and sadness into the open with real, first-hand accounts of depression and mental health issues, offering empathy to all those who have been affected by these issues.
If you are feeling down, not sure where to turn too and is sick of all the non-fiction self-help books being chucked your way as really, they don't understand what you are going through then Shades of Blue is the book for you as though it is fictional - it is a book that everyone and especially teens will be able to relate too.