Book Review: Anxiety Girl by Lacey London

One in four people will be affected by mental health issues at some point in their lives, but it couldn’t happen to you, could it?

Sadie Valentine is just like you and I, or so she was…
After a series of unfortunate events in her life, Sadie finds herself in a dark hole that seems impossible to crawl out of.
Once a normal-ish woman, mental illness wasn’t something that she really thought about, but when the three evils, anxiety, panic and depression creep into her life, Sadie wonders if she will ever see the light again.
Set in the glitzy and glamorous Cheshire village of Alderley Edge, Anxiety Girl is a story surrounding the struggles of a beautiful young woman who thought she had it all.

Lacey London has spoken publicly about her own struggles with anxiety and hopes that Sadie will help other sufferers realise that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

From the second Lacey announced her new book ‘Anxiety Girl’ based on Sadie Valentine, a girl who is hit with Anxiety, Depression and Panic,  and is about to embark on a roller coaster of a journey to battle the demons inside of her head, I couldn’t contain my excitement and knew I just had to read it!

Sadie Valentine is an artist, she paints and sells her paintings at a café called ‘Precious’, it is her only income. Her relationship with her mother and father, alongside a break up, all begin to tackle her at once, pushing her in to a state of Anxiety and many panic attacks. Her life takes a turn for the worse over the next few months and her head begins to tell her to end the pain once and for all. If it wasn’t for her best friend Aldo, Sadie would have never got the help she needed and fought the demons living inside of her.

Sadie’s story really hit close to home, as I was diagnosed with Anxiety in the Summer of 2016. Like Sadie, everything just became a battle, getting out of bed, eating, being happy, leaving the house, socialising etc. The things I used to love became a challenge and I dreaded each and every one of them.

Lacey doesn’t shy away from the dark moments Anxiety can bring a person, which usually are just swept under the carpet and I think that is incredibly important. You have to make people feel uncomfortable and aware otherwise they just will not take notice because it is a ‘mental’ situation and not ‘physical’. That is another point that Lacey makes sure to put out there, people are not always understanding when it comes to mental health and although Aldo is Sadie’s very understanding hero, Sadie’s three female friends are not as heroic and are your typical snobby me, me women who think life is so perfect and if you’re struggling like Sadie, just get over it and stop being cray-cray. Not enough people understand and it will always be that way, but I think if Lacey can open just one person’s eyes to Mental Health, she should be extremely proud, because getting a person to understand you can be mentally unwell, as well as physically unwell, is pretty much an impossible situation.

The story voices not only Sadie’s anxiety, but others as well, when Sadie joins a counselling group to talk about coping mechanisms and breathing techniques in order to control her Anxieties. Whilst reading this book, I also felt like I was having a therapy session, I felt all the emotions come back up from when I first was diagnosed and as the story went on, I also felt all the strength and confidence I have achieved, reminding myself that I did beat it and although it may come back now and again, I have the power, I am no longer the weak one.

Thank you, Lacey. You have created such a wonderful book that is going to help so many people deal with their mental health and you definitely should be proud about speaking of your own battles with Anxiety because it makes the book so incredibly raw and unique. I can’t get enough of your books and I would recommend Anxiety Girl to everybody who is also going through the same as we are!

Purchase Anxiety Girl HERE.

Shelby xxx