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A review by phyrre
The Boy with the Butterfly Mind by Victoria Williamson
5.0
You can find my full review at my blog, The Writerly Way, here.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Floris Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
I saw that the protagonist of this had ADHD, and I clicked to read this so fast. It's not often you see characters with ADHD, let alone represented well, let alone being presented in an honest, yet positive light. As someone with ADHD myself, I just had to read this, and you know what? I'm glad I did. The rep is so refreshing to see, and I couldn't help just fall in love with Jamie and his whole story.
- This is a really raw coming-of-age, found-family story that is sure to tug at the heartstrings. Both the main characters, Jamie and Elin, aren’t haven’t a great time in life at this point. Elin struggles with a need to be perfect, in the hopes that her father will come back. Jamie struggles with ADHD and the repercussions of not thinking about his actions. He causes trouble for those around him without meaning to. They’re both just precious little cinnamon rolls that deserve all the love and hugs and support.
- As someone with ADHD, I feel SEEN and gosh how refreshing that is. I felt the treatment of ADHD in this book was fabulous, and I was excited to see, especially, Jamie’s father embrace him for who he is, even as Jamie struggles with finding himself.
- This book does a really good job of detailing the struggle to get medicine and treatment for ADHD and the side effects. It’s not as easy as throw a pill at someone and, wham, bam, they’re fine again. If only. It can take years to find the right medicine, and some people never do. There are so many “what if” scenarios, and ADHD can look so different in various people, but I appreciated Jamie’s journey for what it was.
- The character arcs in this are just so freaking poignant and heart-wrenching and so much more than I expected from a middle grade book. This book just broke my heart over and over and over again, from the things Jamie and Elin had to go through, to how broken they felt, to how desperately they just wanted to be themselves. I actually started out completely hating Elin, because gosh, she was just so rude and mean and intolerable. But thankfully, the story is also from her point of view, so there was room for an actually quite beautiful arc that, little by little, had her actions making sense.
- Underneath all the ugliness and struggle between the characters, there’s a beautiful story of found family and learning to accept things as they are. Sometimes people can change, but you can’t force it upon them, and you can’t change how you’re born. That’s the fundamental lesson of the book, and it was so reaffirming and lovely. I went through such a range of emotions here, from empathy to outrage to just wanting to hug everyone and smoosh them back together.
- This is a character-driven book, so there’s little in the way of actual actiony action. Say that one three times fast, I dare you. Whether that’s a problem or not depends on whether you connect to the characters, most likely.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Floris Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
I saw that the protagonist of this had ADHD, and I clicked to read this so fast. It's not often you see characters with ADHD, let alone represented well, let alone being presented in an honest, yet positive light. As someone with ADHD myself, I just had to read this, and you know what? I'm glad I did. The rep is so refreshing to see, and I couldn't help just fall in love with Jamie and his whole story.
- This is a really raw coming-of-age, found-family story that is sure to tug at the heartstrings. Both the main characters, Jamie and Elin, aren’t haven’t a great time in life at this point. Elin struggles with a need to be perfect, in the hopes that her father will come back. Jamie struggles with ADHD and the repercussions of not thinking about his actions. He causes trouble for those around him without meaning to. They’re both just precious little cinnamon rolls that deserve all the love and hugs and support.
- As someone with ADHD, I feel SEEN and gosh how refreshing that is. I felt the treatment of ADHD in this book was fabulous, and I was excited to see, especially, Jamie’s father embrace him for who he is, even as Jamie struggles with finding himself.
- This book does a really good job of detailing the struggle to get medicine and treatment for ADHD and the side effects. It’s not as easy as throw a pill at someone and, wham, bam, they’re fine again. If only. It can take years to find the right medicine, and some people never do. There are so many “what if” scenarios, and ADHD can look so different in various people, but I appreciated Jamie’s journey for what it was.
- The character arcs in this are just so freaking poignant and heart-wrenching and so much more than I expected from a middle grade book. This book just broke my heart over and over and over again, from the things Jamie and Elin had to go through, to how broken they felt, to how desperately they just wanted to be themselves. I actually started out completely hating Elin, because gosh, she was just so rude and mean and intolerable. But thankfully, the story is also from her point of view, so there was room for an actually quite beautiful arc that, little by little, had her actions making sense.
- Underneath all the ugliness and struggle between the characters, there’s a beautiful story of found family and learning to accept things as they are. Sometimes people can change, but you can’t force it upon them, and you can’t change how you’re born. That’s the fundamental lesson of the book, and it was so reaffirming and lovely. I went through such a range of emotions here, from empathy to outrage to just wanting to hug everyone and smoosh them back together.
- This is a character-driven book, so there’s little in the way of actual actiony action. Say that one three times fast, I dare you. Whether that’s a problem or not depends on whether you connect to the characters, most likely.