Mental Health Awareness Month: Wrap up + Giveaway

So MHAM has gone by in one exciting and busy blur and I'm so happy with the way everything's gone. I hope everyone has had as much fun doing this as myself and Ula have! There have been so many books read by everyone and some really fascinating posts regarding mental health from authors and bloggers; I'm just so proud of everyone that's taken part and really opened up about the topic. I hope this has helped or made a difference to people in some way and perhaps worked at trying to lower the stigma associated with it. I've provided a linky at the bottom of this post for us all to share our MHAM wrap ups!

Me, My Anxiety and I

It's always hard to know where to start with a post like this. I don't do many posts that aren't book related in some way so this is a completely new experience for me. If you know me in person, you know I'm not shy to talk about my experiences with anxiety and panic attacks. I'm fairly open about it. I'll talk about it with people in the hope that my experience can help anyone else that has it. This wasn't always the case. I used to be absolutely mortified by it and I felt like I was so weak and useless. I was also prone to a fair amount of self pity - why me? etc. etc. but I think that's only natural. I feel like this is taking on such a formal tone and this wasn't my intention. I think after so many years of essay writing it just comes natural. Anyway, I thought today would be a good day to chat through my experiences of anxiety, how it was for me and the changes I went through. Please bare with me!

My anxiety and panic attacks started towards the end of my first year of university, so June 2010. So that's roughly four years ago. At the time, I had no idea what was going on. I felt sad, shaken up, dizzy, sick, I couldn't breath. I was convinced that there was something seriously wrong with me. This happened on and off for days, weeks, then months. I went to the doctors so many times with complaints and each time they told me I was healthy. I was fine. There was nothing wrong with me. This did nothing to ease my mind. These symptoms didn't stop. I remember sitting in my Introduction to Gender exam and not being able to stop shaking. I sat there, wrote as much as I could for 45 minutes and then pretty much ran out of there and back to my room. I couldn't cope with it and I got such a rubbish mark and didn't complete the exam.

REVIEW: Another Night, Another Day - Sarah Rayner

Another Night, Another Day - Sarah Rayner

From the author of the bestselling One Moment, One Morning comes another beautiful, bittersweet novel set in Brighton…

Three people, each crying out for help

There’s Karen, about to lose her father; Abby, whose son has autism and needs constant care, and Michael, a family man on the verge of bankruptcy. As each sinks under the strain, they’re brought together at Moreland’s Psychiatric Clinic. 

Here, behind closed doors, they reveal their deepest secrets, confront and console one another and share plenty of laughs. But how will they cope when a new crisis strikes?

*Received in exchange for an honest review*

*Thank you, Sarah Rayner*

Mental Health Awareness Month: Intro Post

Hey guys, welcome to the introductory post for Mental Health Awareness Month! I can't believe it's kick off time already - May has completely flown by and I'm so excited to get this going. This post is all about the books we're going to be reading, why we're hosting it and a schedule of the upcoming challenges, giveaways and guest posts we've got for this month! We have one giveaway which will be running all month and that is the Donation Giveaway! This is open to everyone that donates to any Mental Health based charity with chances to win a book of your choice from The Book Depository, an Amazon voucher, a Blog of Erised Blog Design and a Katie McGarry boxset.

Showcase Sunday #75

It's Sunday again so we all know that it's time for Showcase Sunday. It's a lovely weekly meme hosted by Vicky over at Books, Biscuits and Tea, and it allows us to show off all the lovely buys this week. I love this meme as it gives a chance for us to show and browse so many books!

Showcase Sunday #74

It's Sunday again so we all know that it's time for Showcase Sunday. It's a lovely weekly meme hosted by Vicky over at Books, Biscuits and Tea, and it allows us to show off all the lovely buys this week. I love this meme as it gives a chance for us to show and browse so many books!

April Recap: The Month LBF Happened

April has been good to me to be fair. I've got myself plenty of books to be going on with for the next forever, went to London Book Fair where I finally met Ula (Blog of Erised) as well as several other lovely bloggers, met Malorie Blackman and got my old tatty copy of Noughts and Crosses signed as well as learning lots of things about the publishing industry. It was the best time ever and I really can't wait to go to more bookish events!

Not only did LBF happen, but I took part in my very first readathon and it was brilliant! It was so much fun and really can't wait for the next one. The challenges were brilliant and original - gutted I've missed out on past ones! On the blogging front, myself and Ula (Blog of Erised) have sorted out most of the niggely bits for the event we're hosting in June; Mental Health Awareness Month. I'm really excited about it and publishing companies have already been so, so, so helpful, amazing and lovely with offering up lots of books for giveaways and plenty of guest posts/ Q&As. Can't wait! Interested in signing up? The sign up post is here:

Mental Health Awareness Month, June 2014 Sign-Ups

Mental Health Awareness Month: Sign-Ups

Hey guys! Mental Health Awareness Month is something I've been tweeting about quite a lot lately and I'm really excited to share with you guys what I've got planned. MHAM is a month in which myself and Ula @ Blog of Erised  want to spread awareness about mental health issues and how they affect people. We're really excited to be hosting this MH month; it's something which is close to both of us and I hope you guys want to take part! Here's some information about the month on the blog:

What is Mental Health Awareness Month?
It's an idea that me and Ula came up with to draw attention to all things MH. It doesn't get enough attention and there's still far too much stigma attached to it! I thought the best way for us book bloggers to do this was to dedicate June to reading and reviewing/ discussing books that discuss Mental Health. There's going to be a variety of things going on on mine and Ula's blogs, as well as others. There will be guest posts, interviews, giveaways, challenges and all sorts of events going on as well as reading books that explore issues of MH!

When is MHAM happening?
It starts June 1st and runs through until the 30th of June.

What are the rules?
There aren't any rules really! Whether you're a blogger, vlogger, on Goodreads, an author or anything feel free to take part! The more the merrier. The aim is to spread awareness about Mental Health!

What books are there on MH that I can read?
I've been preparing a shelf on my Goodreads profile especially for this month! Here's a little list to get you guys started. Just follow the link for more :)

Playing Tyler - T. L. Costa
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick
Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen 
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
Amy & Matthew (Say What You Will) - Cammie McGovern
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
It's Kind of a Funny Story - Ned Vizzini 
The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer

We're going to be using the hashtag #MHAMJune on Twitter when talking all things MH! 

If you're participating, use the code for the button below!

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