"Made You Up," by Francesca Zappia

Genre: Contemporary/Slice-of-Life/Fiction

Page Count: 425+

Published: 2015 (Greenwillow Books)

Potential Triggers: Cursing, bullying, mention of drugs, mental hospital, abuse discussion, sex, derogative mental health discussion, hospitals, manipulation/blackmail,

Mental Health Topics: Schizophrenia,

I know, I know. "But Anna, the last fiction book was by Francesca Zappia, too." Mayyyybe I'm a bit biased, but I could not help myself when it came to this book. Zappia is without a doubt one of my favorite authors, if not my very favorite. I'm totally biased when I say that I'd consider this book to be one of the best ones I've read and I will stand by that for a good long time. I absolutely adore Zappia's work and will unashamedly say so. So without further ado, allow me to ramble about this glorious creation.

Made You Up is the story of a schizophrenic girl named Alexandra "Alex" Ridgemont. The lines between fact and fiction are often blurred and she's starting to run out of places where she can try to be "normal." Or at the very least, not have anyone call her insane.

As with Zappia's other books, her pacing is amazing in this. The prologue gives a suspenseful and interesting insight on Alex's past and her voice as a character and by the time chapter one comes in and shows us the present, there's already a vision of who she is forming. This one is a bit more fast paced in terms of starting the beginning of the story, but the true excitement takes a few more chapters to really "ramp up."

One of the things about this book that I find charming is the Magic 8 ball entries. Scattered here and there throughout the book are entries of the main character—Alexandra Ridgemont—asking the 8 ball questions and we see the answers. It adds a nice bit of character to the story and I absolutely love it.

Another thing that I absolutely adore is Alex and her voice as a character. When she's speaking, she's got attitude. She's full of sass and determination but she's got her moments where she is desperate, she's miserable, she's on the verge of shattering inside, and you can tell. The dynamic feelings that Zappia pulls off in her writing . . . I can't get over it. There's a reason why I come back to her books time and time again.

Alex's struggle with trust and relationships and feeling like there's nowhere else for her to go just comes alive and I can see it. The internal back and forth and the way others genuinely surprise her—in both positive and negative ways—is so beautiful.

The delusions in the book seem so real and I feel just as thrown off as Alex is when they turn out to be hallucinations instead of concrete things in her life. It's a constant emotional roller coaster of a story and Alex is such a strong character. The whole book comes together beautifully.

Made You Up was Francesca Zappia's debut novel. I don't think she could've had a better start of her writing career.

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Made You Up on Amazon

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Special thanks to my sister (AquaBlaze) for helping me create & take this picture.