I got to read this in July and I loved it, I can’t stop talking about it. So I’m pleased that I get to be part of a blog tour from St. Martin’s. Six Goodbyes releases next week on September 24th. Keep scrolling for release information and my review!
Jacket Copy:
Two teens meet after tragedy and learn about love, loss, and letting go
Naima Rodriguez doesn’t want your patronizing sympathy as she grieves her father, her hero—a fallen Marine. She’ll hate you forever if you ask her to open up and remember him “as he was,” though that’s all her loving family wants her to do in order to manage her complex OCD and GAD. She’d rather everyone back the-eff off while she separates her Lucky Charms marshmallows into six, always six, Ziploc bags, while she avoids friends and people and living the life her father so desperately wanted for her.
Dew respectfully requests a little more time to process the sudden loss of his parents. It’s causing an avalanche of secret anxieties, so he counts on his trusty voice recorder to convey the things he can’t otherwise say aloud. He could really use a friend to navigate a life swimming with pain and loss and all the lovely moments in between. And then he meets Naima and everything’s changed—just not in the way he, or she, expects.
Candace Ganger’s Six Goodbyes We Never Said is no love story. If you ask Naima, it’s not even a like story. But it is a story about love and fear and how sometimes you need a little help to be brave enough to say goodbye.
About the Author:
Candace Ganger is the author of Six Goodbyes We Never Said and The Inevitable Collision of Birdie & Bash as well as a contributing writer for HelloGiggles and obsessive marathoner. Aside from having past lives as a singer, nanotechnology website editor, and world’s worst vacuum sales rep, she’s also ghostwritten hundreds of projects for companies, best-selling fiction and award-winning nonfiction authors alike. She lives in Ohio with her family.
Twitter: @candylandgang + @WednesdayBooks
Link to retailers: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250116246
My review:
“The only thing consistent is change. We have to accept it or become our own enemies.”
Namia’s father didn’t come back from his latest tour, and she’s having trouble coping with the fact she will never see him again. Because she suffers from OCD, GAD, and PTSD it’s making things harder to deal. She’s so used to pushing everyone away, that when someone good comes along, she doesn’t know how to deal.
Enter Dew. He’s living with foster parents because he lost both of his parents in a car accident. That loss has manifested in avoidance and anxiety. His foster sister throws a lot of fits, so she can be hard to deal with, but you wouldn’t know it from the way Dew smoothly handles her. His foster parents are good people and they want the best for him. He wants to befriend Namia, but she isn’t making it easy. She thinks he’s weird and she wants him to stay out of her business.
I really liked Violet, she’s a great addition to the book and the author could even give her a book that I would most definitely read. When I read e-books, I highlight things that stick out or things that resonate with me, and there was a lot of highlighting done in this book. The book is beautifully written and it touches on so many real-life issues that people are struggling with (which I greatly appreciate).
Sometimes Dew seemed a little too “on”, a little too “perfect”, especially in the way he looked at his foster sister Faith. But the way he watched his family form was touching, I loved his positive view of the world and his acceptance to see what was under the surface.
I know this book wasn’t for everyone, it does get a bit tedious at times with some repetition. Once Naima gave Dew a chance, the book picked up and I would have liked for them to meet sooner. Despite those small issues, I loved this book. It was witty and poignant, and very thoughtful. Naima’s way of playing “Would You Rather” to stay connected to her father was amusing. She’s so much stronger than she realizes and I love how assertive she is. She’s actually really funny when you get past the tough exterior. I’m not sure where her PTSD comes from as it would be too soon to diagnose after the loss of her father, but as a sufferer, I can relate to her struggles. Very nicely done.
This review was posted on my blog in July, head on over and check it out here.
What others are saying:
“Two teens maneuver painful routes through profound grief as well as the complex quagmire of severe mental illness…Ultimately hopeful, and readers will connect with the messy, visceral lives simmering on the page. Profoundly emotional and truthful.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a knowing tour de force filled with crackling wit, pain, and mini, freeze-dried marshmallows. Original and funny, the best parts may be found in the small moments, especially Ganger’s hilarious, spot-on dialogue, as well as tucked within the brilliantly-placed parentheticals. All that and a bowl of Lucky Charms. Or maybe six boxes.” – Gae Polisner, award-winning author of The Memory of Things and In Sight of Stars
“Naima is diagnosed by the author with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, while Dew is diagnosed with social anxiety. These issues are explored with humanizing examples that invite empathy. Sure to be reassuring to those working their way through grief.”
– Publishers Weekly on Six Goodbyes We Never Said
“Candace Ganger weaves a beautiful story of loss, grief and the struggle to move on in Six Goodbyes We Never Said. One of the realest voices of our generation, Ganger infuses this story with relatable, flawed teens who must learn how to cope in this world or be lost forever. I laughed and cried while reading and this book will stick with me for ages.”
– Jessica Burkhart, editor of Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles on Six Goodbyes We Never Said
“Smart, raw, often biting in its reflections of the haves and have-nots, this debut will appeal to fans of John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines…You’ll find yourself not only wanting to (re)study chemistry but learning what you get in life isn’t always what you deserve—sometimes it’s more. [A] must-have for every shelf.”
—Patty Blount, award-winning author of Some Boys
“A stunning and brilliantly crafted debut that peels back layers to the raw and the real. Birdie + Bash = 2 characters impossible not to fall in love with.”
—K.M. Walton, author of Empty and Cracked
“THE INEVITABLE COLLISION OF BIRDIE & BASH is part love story, part page-turner, and part intricate character study. Ganger writes her characters with great care, and the beautifully structured story is filled with giant truths and tiny, perfect details. Falling for this book was quick, thrilling and, yes, inevitable.”
―Corey Ann Haydu, author of OCD Love Story and The Careful Undressing of Love
“Smart, emotionally rich, and beautifully written, THE INEVITABLE COLLISION OF BIRDIE & BASH is an unforgettable, heartfelt novel―realistic YA at its best.”
―Jamie Kain, author of Instructions for the End of the World and The Good Sister
Get this book preordered and into your hands asap:
Rae's Reading Lounge 