Not My Problem

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In high school, I had a great friend who was experiencing significant mental illness. She was committing self-harm and attempting suicide monthly. As a teenager, she relied on me to be there for her. I stopped sleeping, eating, and taking care of myself so that I could support her at any moment. I was pulled into a very stressful cycle that I didn’t know how to get out of.

Characters: The characters are a major success and the more reasons for you to love this book. Aideen is entertaining, compassionate and overall just loveable. Her character is raw and I teared up for the emotional authenticity that runs throughout the novel. I don't think I am similar to Aideen (I'm more assertive) but I find her personality to be very relatable. Are you trying to say “that’s not my problem” in a polite way? Well, that can be quite difficult. After all, the phrase isn’t necessarily polite in the first place.It’s a scenario where “not my problem” can be helpful when served with a side of compassion and caring. You can still be a compassionate listener without taking on a problem as your own. Instead of brushing off the request of others as “not your problem” you can accept responsibility. This is one of the hardest things to do. Society teaches children to embrace responsibility for their actions but forget that the message needs to be reinforced to adults Aideen is no model student, she’s cheeky to her teachers (which is super funny), skips school and has slipping grades, but she’s not a bad person. When she solves a problem for a classmate in a rather unconventional manner, more people come to her for “help” and before she knows it, she has a small operation running. The shenanigans solving all these problems are entertaining and they get her into trouble, but helping other people is one thing she can do since she can’t seem to improve her own life. Here are a few new ways to delegate responsibility while maintaining a strong relationship and building trust between people.

It follows Aideen, a witty and vibrant teen with tons of problems of her own but decides to solve others' problems instead of solving hers. I came into this book with very high expectations because I loved Smyth's debut novel so so much. Somehow, this exceeded my expectations. Everything was just perfect. Your first novel was The Falling in Love Montage – what similarities can readers expect to find between your first novel and your second, and what’s entirely new?Romance: This book does not put romance as its focus but I find myself still enjoying them. Aideen and Meabh's dynamic is adorable and are complimentary to one another. Things started odd between them, but I'm never invested with adversaries to lovers as I did with this one. Oh, and it's about friendships too – the old and new ones. Aideen's childhood friend Holly is horrible, but I like that they included her. It was a great example of how messy friendships can be, and how you can love someone and still hate them at the same time. Boundaries are a healthy thing. You cannot take the whole world onto your shoulders and expect to do everything well. This was such a great YA contemporary. Funny and snarky, with wonderful characters. Also the audiobook was just so well done, and I love the Irish accents. But when Aideen stumbles on her nemesis, overachiever Meabh Kowalski, in the midst of a full-blown meltdown, she sees a problem that—unlike her own disaster of a life—seems refreshingly easy to solve. Meabh is desperate to escape her crushing pile of extracurriculars. Aideen volunteers to help. By pushing Meabh down the stairs.