Words We Keep

Product Information

Erin Stewart is a writer and editor. She graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and has a degree from Brigham Young University. Erin is also a weekly columnist in Salt Lake City. She lives in Utah with her husband and three children and is represented by literary agent Rebecca Sherman of Writers House. The Words We Keep Main Characters Books that include characters struggling with their mental health can sometimes feel like a balancing act. They need to be real enough to be relatable but there needs to be some hope too. The author definitely doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff here but there are some rays of sunshine as well. The characters’ thoughts and emotions have an authenticity that are clearly drawn from the author’s lived experience, discussed in the Author’s Note at the end of the book. “You are enough. Right now. Just the way you are.” Content warnings include attempted suicide, mental health and self harm. Readers with emetophobia may have trouble with some scenes. Relaxation will not help me ace this,” I reply without looking up from my notecards, where I’ve written each line of my poem for today’s presentation. The book also touches on intense stigmas attached to mental illness, and Lily and her classmates refer to Micah as “Manic Micah,” and wonder if he will “lose it” and freak out on classmates. Despite these issues, The Words We Keep is a powerful and important book that encourages readers to realize that whatever they struggle with, they are not alone and are already enough. Books Like The Words We Keep Two months after the Night of the Bathroom Floor, it comes to my attention that I’m losing my shit at an alarming rate.

Lily, the main character was honestly so relatable. Reading what she’s going through almost made me cry because I resonate to her anxiety a lot. I enjoyed the romance aspect of the book as well. I really like Micah’s character, he’s one of the best love interests I’ve read. You know, it’s not the worst thing in the world to have someone know who you are.” Lily hasn’t seen her sister, Alice, since the Night of the Bathroom Floor. She can’t bring herself to visit her at Fairview Treatment Centre. Straight A student Lily thinks she needs to keep her school life separate from her home life if she’s going to stay afloat. She’s desperately trying to hold her family together. As long as I keep moving, whatever got Alice can’t get me, too. Lily hopes to stay as far away from Micah, who met Lily at Fairview, as possible. She’s scared of what will happen if her home life intrudes on her school life. This seems all but inevitable when Lily and Micah are paired up for a class project. “We’re combining our classes to explore what happens when words and art collide” While this book delves into some really dark places, at its heart it’s about acceptance. I enjoyed spending time with Lily and Micah as they got to know each other. The process of Lily learning to stop hiding was painful at times but ultimately rewarding. I adored the guerilla poetry. The Words We Keep is a luminous exploration into the restorative power of love and art. The only thing it contains more of than poetry is raw, unfiltered hope. This book is a healing balm to a wounded heart. “ —Jeff Zentner, Morris Award–winning author of In the Wild Light Note: give me a brooding, male artist with a troubled past any day and I’ll love him to bits, and that’s exactly what I did with Micah. In slow motion, I wipe her with a towel. Try to stop the blood. Find the source. But my shaking hands make it worse. Bright red on my skin. Smeared on the floor.

It is superrr emotional and very real for a YA book so just beware! I mean i always love a good ol’ YA sad book. They just always hit in the perfect way, especially this one. While rereading the words we keep i had forgot pretty much everything and so it felt like reading it for the first time again. Which is always so satisfying! video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://erinstewartbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WordsWeKeep_Trailer.mp4" poster="https://erinstewartbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2022-01-19-at-12.25.05-PM.png"][/video] Micah Mendez. Got expelled from his old school. I heard someone found him perched on Deadman’s Cliff, trying to, you know . . .” Damon makes a throat-slitting motion with his thumb. It’s been three months since The Night on the Bathroom Floor–when Lily found her older sister Alice hurting herself. Ever since then, Lily has been desperately trying to keep things together, for herself and for her family. But now Alice is coming home from her treatment program and it is becoming harder for Lily to ignore all of the feelings she’s been trying to outrun. The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart is a realistic and relatable novel that touches on themes of mental health, anxiety, perfectionism, and depression. The story follows Lily Larkin, a high school junior, who has been desperately trying to keep things together for herself and her family since the Night on the Bathroom Floor when she found her older sister Alice hurting herself.

I finally bought a physical copy and wanted to annotate it veryy heavily and that’s exactly what i did. I do love Micah as well, like how could i not!? He is so incredibly sweet! This book does have some romance in it but don’t read this book for it because it’s not THE best. I still do really love it!Whatever. Bottom line, kid’s a psycho. You should put that in your Word of the Day, Lil,” he says, referring to my social media handle, LogoLily, where I geek out by making up new words. “P-S-Y--” And he doesn’t appear particularly psychotic.” I’m not exactly sure what a true psycho would, in fact, look like. But I do not think this kid is it.

For all anyone knows, my big sister is still off at college, living in her dorm, staying out too late on weekends. I never mention that she came home a few weeks into freshman year, got into bed, and never got up again. That is, until the Night of the Bathroom floor. They embark on an art project for school, which involves finding poetry in unexpected places, and Lily realizes that it is the words she has been swallowing that desperately want to break through. Our Review A relevant portrait of mental health amongst young adults, The Words We Keep is an accurate reminder of the weight our unspoken words carry, and how these very words need to be heard, now more than ever. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what that was about, but I’m not about to spill my guts right here, with Damon just waiting for some juicy morsel of gossip. He’d just love to know where my sister’s been these last few months. The Germans have a word for it--schadenfreude--finding joy in the misery of others. And I’m not going to give all my über-competitive classmates the satisfaction.

Advance Praise

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