"Loving Lakyn" by Charlotte Reagan Review

Book: Loving Lakyn

Author: Charlotte Reagan

Release Date: November 20, 2017

My Rating: ★★★

Trigger Warnings: THERE ARE A LOT! Self-harm is very abundant. Check out this link for the full list.

Synopsis: Lakyn James is sixteen years old and hating every second of it. He was supposed to be done, he'd tapped out. End of story, unsubscribe here. Suicide "attempt", they said. His intentions had no "attempt" in them. 

Re-entering normal life after ‘trying’ to take his own is weird. Especially when the world keeps going like it never happened. He still has to eat breakfast, go to school, and somehow convince a cute boy that he’s too damaged to date. 

Scott White comes with his own problems, namely a habit of drinking too much and being indecisive about rather he wants in the closet, or out of it. Lakyn can’t stand him; he also can’t help smiling when Scott’s around. 

Unfortunately - or fortunately - for Lakyn, life has decided to give him a second chance. He's not happy about it, but maybe, with a lot of hard work and a good therapist, he can learn to be. And maybe he can hold Scott’s hand at the same time. 

No promises though. 

Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

      Last year I read the companion book for this book, "Just Juliet" and loved it, You can read the full review here. That book had so much diversity, not just in sexuality but race and mental health, and did such a great job of approaching important topics and addressing the diversity in the book. So when I was approached by the publisher about "Loving Lakyn" a prequel for "Just Juliet", I was all in because I really enjoyed the characters Lakyn and Scott in the other book.

      That being said, this book was a complete letdown. It was nothing like the other book. Yes it tackled sexuality and mental health, but not nearly as well as "Just Juliet" did. This book was filled with self-harm, and even though I have never self-harmed(idk if that is the correct word), I felt triggered and had to put the book down many times. This book focuses on Lakyn's self-harm and Scott's sexuality and how they help each other, but honestly their relationship is really unhealthy and should not be used as a model. They used each other in a way that is not a good approach to tackling their own issues.

      I did not feel love for the characters like I did in "Just Juliet", and the same issues I had with the plot in "Just Juliet" I had here. Everything was very much rushed, especially in the end. I spent a lot of this book cringing and with my skin crawling from all the self-harm and the sex.

      Overall I was not pleased with this book. Yes there were some cute moments between Scott and Lakyn, but they were overshadowed by all of the bad between and within them. If you are even remotely triggered by self-harm among many things, I would not recommend this book for you. Honestly, I would say only those who are really great with their mental health should approach this book.