Below are the first three reviews of 22 Scars: two are very positive, while the third is less glowing, though I’m posting it anyway because any review is a fair representation of the reader’s opinion. Let me know what you think!

Beth, November 17 (5 Stars, Goodreads)

I love the way it all came together in the end. It makes me want to go back and read it again, now that I understand it. 💜😭💕👍

Autumn, December 6 (5 Stars, Goodreads)

I received this book from VRO for an honest review.

It is a well-written book about the deep and realistic side of mental illness and the society around those who suffer in silence. The writer succeeded in narrating the pain and struggle of a lonely teenage girl. It was so vivid that, it makes the reader feel helpless.

This is dark, painful and the ending is so heart wrenching. I didn’t see it coming. I never realized the whole picture at first and after connecting the dots, I do want to read it again.

When compared to this book, Thirteen Reasons Why is so overrated. I do strongly believe that to make something seem better you don’t have to degrade the other; but after reading both books, I did feel 22 Scars succeeded in portraying the ugly and painful truth better that Thirteen Reasons Why.

Shelly, November 24 (2 Stars, Unpublished)

I’ve read a few books on this subject matter before and really loved them so when I got the opportunity to read this for free I couldn’t wait to see how the author dealt with the characters depression and self harming, it’s always exciting to see what new ways an author writes about the same subject.

I have to say unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. I didn’t like Amy, and her being in the third person made it really hard to connect with especially on a subject as emotional as self harming; I almost felt like we were stalking her and seeing her life from afar rather than living it with her.

I had high hopes for Bethany when it seemed her chapters were written in the first person narrative, but then when I realised she had an alcoholic dad and still happily went out and constantly drank so much she could hardly stand and always had a hangover my opinion of her dropped drastically. You can’t hate someone for something and then go and do it yourself.

I was a bit confused when after Amy and Bethany’s chapters we had a new character introduced, meaning the narrative was through him yet I’ve no idea of his name and then the narrative in the chapter swaps between him and someone else that I’m guessing is Amy but I’m not entirely sure.

I feel like we are missing massive chunks of these people’s lives; in one sentence they’ve just met and then in the next they’ve been together for months and are in love. Then seemingly in the next chapter this still unnamed guy and (I’m still guessing here) Amy have been together two years and are moving in together—although god knows why as he seems like a complete arsehole.

I’ve ended up nicknaming these characters because I don’t actually know who they are. We’ve got AL for the arsehole unnamed lawyer (who for the record has nothing remotely lawyer-like about him that’s just apparently his job) and MA for maybe Amy.

We skip a few months again and while that is fine it just makes this book seem extremely disjointed.

I’m starting to really dislike both AL and MA—they are horrible to each other, their relationship is toxic but it all seems pointless, I’d understand if it was for plot line purposes but I don’t feel that’s the case here.

We then jump back in time (I think) as Amy is nearly 17, whereas I thought she was 18 and then 20 earlier on. Flashbacks are okay in stories and can actually really help a story along, but I think maybe a “two years earlier” or something would just make the jumping about timeline-wise clearer.

I do want to say that I love the Semicolon references through the book. The Semicolon Project is all about helping people with mental health issues—their message “A Semicolon represents a sentence the author could have ended, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.” is a great one.

I want to end on that good note because while I’ve tried for five days to read this book and tried to get so engrossed in the story that I can’t bear to put it down because I’m itching to know the out =come of the characters, that’s just not the case. I’ve made it 39% in (according to my Kindle), or 8 chapters in, and as much as I want to read the rest for the benefit of the author I just can’t. I’m not enjoying it and there’s too many issues with the writing for me to continue. A shame really because I think this is a really brilliant subject to write about and when done well it can have a huge impact on the reader.