3.75/5

Everyone gets quarter stars this week!

I was hesitant going into [b: The Colors Between Us|39789735|The Colors Between Us|Kate Hawthorne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1523292377s/39789735.jpg|61076060] given that it had less than amazing reviews when compared with some of the others from [a: Kate Hawthorne|17636987|Kate Hawthorne|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1516692445p2/17636987.jpg]’s Lonely Hearts series. However, I should have feared not as the good stuff is delivered. While not my favorite of the books I’ve read so far from Hawthorne, I did enjoy this one a great deal.

The complaints of others that I am acknowledging and indicating that meh, I don’t care include: lots of sex (yup. That’s a thing in these books.), more sex (see previous point), lots of drinking (yup. That’s a thing here and I’ll get to my thoughts on this more later), and people acting nutty (this is now my unofficial clinical term *wink*). These points are being disregarded because they seem to be predictable to a large extent based on this author’s writing style and what the book blurb states. Moving along people...

What I found more worth complaining critiquing is that Roland’s healing is only really discussed in terms of his depression and not at all really in terms of his substance abuse. For those who are not familiar with mental health, illness, etc. this is what a co-occurring (previously termed “dual”) diagnosis looks like. The diseases feed each other. They become more complicated to treat. If Roland came to see me, I’d be thinking to myself “self, this man needs some detox”. It is a lot easier for someone to start their medication and stick with it if they are not also battling the negative thoughts that come from substance abuse. I digress. Mainly, I just wish sweet Roland sought help for both in a more clear way.

I read one review that remarked about how negative and, even, self-pitying Roland can be. I found this to be a fairly accurate portrayal of the experience of Major Depressive Disorder. Imagine having those thoughts constantly and (we tell ourselves) uncontrollably. It is clear to see how someone truly is suffering from depression. But! If mood disorder stuff is not your jam, then you might want to make like a banana and split from this one. We all have preferences. I happen to enjoy well-done books that touch on mental and or physical health issues and found this to be a strong description of that experience (remembering said caveat noted above for the record).

What I am giving a million stars for are the amazing Easter eggs. I wish I had known! I did not know until this book really and truly how much all these Lonely Hearts novels were going to overlap. I loved it. I loved glimpsing characters from other books, though that not taking away from this story, but rather gave those who had read those books a fun moment of wink, wink, nudge, nudge from the author. Those moments are my favorites. I am delighted to read more from Hawthorne for just that experience alone.

I really liked Donny and am rooting for him and Roland to continue to make beautiful music, I mean art together!

Xoxo

Available on KU

Happy Reading!