Author: Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

An avid reader whose current interest lies in mysteries and thrillers. Line 'em up! Also personally love fantasies and any stories to do with magic, and a sucker for the occasional (good) romance.
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Let’s Talk Bookish – How Reading Affects Mental Health

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

APRIL 23: HOW READING AFFECTS MENTAL HEALTH (SUGGESTED BY KRISTIN @ LUKTEN AV TRYKKSVERTE)

Prompts: In what ways does reading affect your mental health? Does it affect your mental health positively or negatively at certain times, and why? How do you find a balance to keep up with reading while being mindful of your mental health? Do triggers, bookish controversies, and things like that affect your health a lot more than you let on?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Today’s topic is about how reading affects mental health, and it’s certainly a great topic. Can’t wait to hear how reading affects the rest of you out there!

Overall I think books always affect my mental health in a good way. But that might also be because I always pick books that cater to my mood, or it’s always what I want to read. I’m sure if I was forced to read textbooks of topics I was not interested in (ha, school), I’d probably quickly fall into quite a reading slump. But that’s the beauty of books right? There’s so many choices, and you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to.

There are certainly books that make me happy, hopeful, or just sad. But these different emotions are all I think healthy and something I expected to feel reading those books. Either way, I think it helps me feel in a healthy way, and is therefore always improving my mental health in one form or another. The only time reading becomes a chore is when I’m really busy and trying to keep up with the blog or some other goal. In those cases, reading can become a bit of a chore no matter what the book is, with the extra pressures of life weighing in.

Finding a balance can be hard. Reading is something I like and I’ll try to do often. On the other hand, wanting to do it often can throw off priorities—perhaps I shouldn’t be reading at that time. One thing I’ve learned to do more often is just not to push myself too hard. Pushing over the edge makes it really hard to come back, and burnout is seriously no joke. If your body/brain is telling you it’s too much, it’s probably too much. Take a break! Stop for a second, and consider your health. Both physical and mental health are paramount.

Books don’t tend to trigger me. Perhaps some cringeworthy moments from some authors, but not too much beyond that. I mean in the end, it’s just a book, even if there are things I don’t agree with. Everyone has their freedom of expression, and even if you don’t agree or think that kind of material should or shouldn’t be there, it would do no good to take it out on yourself (or even the author). Prioritize your mental health, it is way more important. If it affected me, I would definitely set things aside or avoid certain things, since we all have the choice of what we want to read.

How does reading affect your mental health? Does it at all? Let me know in the comments below!

4.5 star

Review: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren’t really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.

Four months into the new year but I’m still picking random books off the shelf, oops! However, this one was a good one and I’m glad to be sharing it all with you. It was a super tense and suspenseful thriller, despite the overall plot not being too too surprising. I still enjoyed it though, and hope you will too.

A Flicker in the Dark follows a woman, Chloe Davis, who is now a successful psychologist. However, she has a dark background, her father was charged and imprisoned for the abduction of teenaged girls over twenty years ago. The trauma of her childhood constantly haunts her though she tries to help others with their psychological problems. When suddenly another teenager goes missing, Chloe feels as if she’s falling back into her past, the trauma resurfacing where it was barely suppressed before. Do these abductions have anything to do with her? Or is she just being paranoid?

Continue reading “Review: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham” →
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Let’s Talk Bookish – The Book Blogging Community

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

Update: Effective April 2022, Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

APRIL 15: JOYS & PET PEEVES OF THE (BOOK) BLOGGING COMMUNITY (KRISTIN @ LUKTEN AV TRYKKSVERTE)

Prompts: What are some things you love about the blogging community? What are some things you dislike? When do you feel the most/least connected to the community? What are some things you’d like to see changed when it comes to blogging? Have there been any major changes in the community since you started to blog that you love?

Welcome to another week here at LTB at DTRH! It’s about to be Easter for those who celebrate it, and we are now halfway through April. The spring weather is finally starting to come around where I live, for which I am incredibly grateful. Today’s topic is certainly interesting and something that I hadn’t really thought about too much. I’m interested to see how the rest of you feel on this topic!

I’m still relatively new (if I can still say that) to the community so I haven’t really been through all the ups and downs of the journey. I love that everyone in the community that I have come across were really quite friendly. I’d say overall it’s a welcoming community and those who post and leave comments on others’ blogs have all been friendly and kind.

Currently I wouldn’t say I dislike anything. I guess sometimes it can be difficult to find new blogs to follow and I just don’t generally hear as much through the grapevine. It’s only when there’s a particular tag, community posts, or memes like LTB, where I actually get exposed to some of the other bloggers in our community. I guess I dislike that part of the community, where it feels like each is in its own little pocket, and expansion and reaching others can be difficult (at least in my opinion).

I feel pretty well connected to the microcosm community that exists for the subjects we connect on, which is great. Everyone is so supportive, and I think there really is a great bond that is created when there’s something that we all share in common. On the other hand, if there is a slight disconnect, then suddenly the gulf can feel pretty wide. Especially if there’s a trend catching on that you’re not into. That’s alright though, I don’t think the community is something you’re meant to connect to 100% of the time, just having the community and being a part of something is already a huge pro.

I guess I don’t have any huge comments on changes since I’ve joined, but it’s been a pleasure to meet you all and get to see what others love blogging about in return. I love that generally the community is moving much more towards an awareness of mental health, and the support that I’ve seen for people who are burning out (let’s face it, it’s been a long few years), and for those who are putting too much pressure on themselves has truly been heartwarming for me to see.

How do you all feel about the community? Are there more pros or cons? Anything you’d like to see changed? Please let me know in the comments below!