Catherine Doyle

Sophie's life has been turned upside-down, and she's determined to set things right. But Nic, the Falcone brother who represents everything she's trying to forget, won't give up on their love - and it's Luca's knife she clutches for comfort. Soon another mafia clan spoils the fragile peace - and with her heart drawn in one direction and her blood in another, Sophie's in deeper than ever ... Romeo and Juliet meets The Godfather in the second instalment in Catherine Doyle's Blood for Blood series.

Inferno

Catherine Cho

Inferno is the riveting memoir of a young mother who is separated from her newborn son and husband when she's involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward in New Jersey after a harrowing bout of postpartum psychosis. When Catherine Cho and her husband set off from London to introduce their newborn son to family scattered across the United States, she could not have imagined what lay in store. Before the trip’s end, she develops psychosis, a complete break from reality, which causes her to lose all sense of time and place, including what is real and not real. In desperation, her husband admits her to a nearby psychiatric hospital, where she begins the hard work of rebuilding her identity. In this unwaveringly honest, insightful, and often shocking memoir Catherine reconstructs her sense of self, starting with her childhood as the daughter of Korean immigrants, moving through a traumatic past relationship, and on to the early years of her courtship with and marriage to her husband, James. She masterfully interweaves these parts of her past with a vivid, immediate recounting of the days she spent in the ward. The result is a powerful exploration of psychosis and motherhood, at once intensely personal, yet holding within it a universal experience – of how we love, live and understand ourselves in relation to each other.

A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness

lindy strauss

really, really phenomenal look at what it’s like to have a psychotic break and spend time in a mental hospital- i can say with so much certainty that if you ever wanted to know what it is like to be inpatient, you should pick up this book. 

would also highly recommend to anyone who plans to work in the mental health field. patients at hospitals can often feel dehumanized, this memoir gives a really insightful look at what it’s like to actually be that patient

cannot say enough about having this first hand account experience of psychosis- this is just so good.

Fraser Simons

This is absolutely a book worth reading, even if structurally and stylistically it didn’t always gel with me. I can see why it’s arranged as it is, but it also made it feel very detached and artificial, maybe because of the audio narration too, which always tends to feel slightly removed; I’m not sure. 

Her accounting of her early life feels very relevant as to contributing to her psychosis. I thought that was great. But the start sets up that she’s in the ward at the moment, writing this, ostensibly, and of course that isn’t the case at all. So I felt like there was some weird attempt at setting up circumstances that weren’t true, for no real reason whatsoever. She did not write pretty much at all while under care, she recounts from people in her life that visited her. So I don’t understand why the structure and conceit is even set up the way it is. 

But I also feel like it’s a book that would make a lot of people feel seen. Even if the ending feels quite rushed and the arc feels incomplete because of the more granular aspects being spent on her past. There’s not much context for after it, which I think would have contributed to the larger conversation. 

So, overall, mixed. But worth reading.

Nedu

much better than the first book, some things are still ridiculous & at times I felt that this was fight between playground children & not the mafia but I loved this.

Camille

5/5 stars - a raw and emotional look at postpartum psychosis and the pressures of motherhood told through catherine cho's incredibly honest, clear, and concise writing. one that me ugly cry and will definitely stay with me for a while

Moon of Pages

Kate

I'm not sure I have the words to describe how much I enjoyed this book but these few definitely come to mind. Brilliant, heart wrenching, romantic, thrilling, dark, gripping, gorgeous and utterly fantastic (just to name a few). I think that what makes this series so special are the characters. The character development was incredible, it was brilliant to watch them all unfold as individuals but also their relationships with each other. I warmed to so many of these characters and felt so inclined to love them. I especially adored Luca, Millie and Sophie. I loved getting to know Luca's character more in this book (I think I may be slightly in love with him). I knew I liked him after reading Vendetta but I found myself warming to him even more from the first moment we met him in Inferno. He was gorgeous, witty, funny, loyal and yet it was heartbreaking to witness him not being able to fully show those parts of himself. He had a depth to him which was so great and the different battles he found himself fighting were portrayed brilliantly. I think Millie is possibly one of my favourite "minor/best friend" characters I've read about. She was incredibly loyal to Sophie but also smart about what was and wasn't realistic. She made me laugh on numerous occasions and is honestly the kind of person I would want as a best friend. There were so many times she reminded me slightly of myself so I felt I could relate to her (*cue the puffling quote*). 
Sophie was an awesome protagonist. She wasn't totally naive and didn't let her emotions utterly cloud her vision when it came to reality. Yet, at the same time, she was simply human and therefore couldn't disregard her emotions entirely. She was down to earth and once again I found myself relating to her personality hugely (she makes almost as many Disney references as I do, which automatically makes me love her). I loved her relationship with both her mother and Millie. Each character in this book had so much to them which made each and everyone of them so intriguing to read about.
The romance in this book was gorgeous. I especially enjoyed the fact that the whole story didn't entirely revolve around it. The rest of the world wasn't forgotten which I really appreciated as it didn't take away from the pure thrill of the story unfolding around them. Yet, my heart melted at every hint of romance through out the book. It was done so well (The bouquet of violets?!? My heart hurt in the best possible way.) The story line for this book was everything I had hoped for and more. It was gripping, thrilling, exhilarating, romantic, heartbreaking and I didn't never wanted it to stop. There were a few plot twists in which I really didn't expect (which very rarely happens to me so I appreciated them hugely!!) Overall, I adored Inferno. I didn't want it to end and yet I found it impossible to put down. The fact that I have to wait another year to see what happens next is almost painful. I just want everyone to read this book!! I highly recommend.

Inferno

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