M. Billiter

This novel intrigued me with its subject matter of mental illness. I teach high school science and have many students who face various challenges in their lives. I also have friends who struggle with related disorders. I have read other books related to mental illness that were either poorly constructed or seem to fall short of grasping the nuances of the abnormal thinking patterns.

"A Divided Mind" vividly portrayed the struggles that the main character faces with his hallucinations and also accurately depicted the conflicted feelings the parents felt.

I really enjoyed this novel and hope to read future books by this author.… (meer)

Wow, this book is definitely worth the read. Branson tells his mom, Tara, that he is hearing voices. The story evolves through raw feelings for his mom as she tries to deal with this. for a fiction story, the author did a lot of research into schizophrenia and depression. I have a child with this awful disease and I recognize these meds. The plot will get you just as you think every thing is fine (remember, this is book 1) . Not all is as it seems. What you perceive may not be. I highly recommend this one. Run over and read book 2 when you finish this one.… (meer)

Thank You to NetGalley and Tangled Tree Publishing for this book!!

Identical twins Aaron and Branson Kovak are in their final year of college—Aaron’s in Ohio, while Branson remains in their home state of Wyoming. There’s also the third twin, David, who only exists in one of their minds.When their mom is diagnosed with cancer, the ties that bind the twins incite David to tear them apart at the seams.

It was an okay read !! There was a lot of switching between characters which slightly confusing. It deals with schizophrenia, which I felt could have been dealt with a little better. However the ending was good!… (meer)

"If the road to hell was paved with good intentions, then purgatory was tiled with if-onlys."

I did not read the first novel in this collection and was pleased that this one could work as a standalone. Aaron and Branson are twins who suffer from schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. This is a trip into the psyche of an individual who thinks they have control of their mental illness and it takes a turn for the worse. I honestly struggled with the rating of this book. On the one had this holds pieces of a family who have firsthand knowledge of this mental illness in real life. I could sense a lot of the family’s emotions coming through the pages and envision what their possible struggle may have been like.

On the other hand I wasn’t invested in the plot until the end and it dragged through the progression of the plot. The back and forth between characters was slightly confusing until I could flesh them out and identify their differences. There is a lot of filler used to describe the disorders, flashbacks and internal feelings of the characters. This is a short read under 250 pages and the ending is climatic and unexpected. I will say that the author paints a more realistic individual suffering from this mental illness and doesn’t go overboard with outlandish scenes and situations. However there wasn't enough to keep me engaged with the story or the characters.

This is a serious subject and though this may not have been a novel for me it does give the reader a different perspective into the awareness of someone dealing with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder.

Triggers: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, abortion, animal abuse, suicide and ductal carcinoma - cancer.

Thank you to Tangled Tree Publishing and LibraryThing for the opportunity to read and review this novel for an honest and unbiased opinion.… (meer)