All the Little Things

by Heidi Dischler

"Told with warmth and compassion... All the Little Things truthfully depicts the havoc that anxiety, fear, and panic can create." -Readers' Favorite

Breathe. Caroline always tells herself when the panic sets in as her chest tightens, her throat closes, and her hands and feet begin to tingle. Fix it. You’re alone. You’re going to die.

Ever since her mother died alone after taking medicine that caused her to have an allergic reaction, Caroline can’t even be away from people she knows without her emotions spiraling out of control. Her only solace is in writing lists. Lists about why dying alone sucks. Lists about how great community college will be. Lists about why her dream college isn’t the right one for her. Lists won’t save her as her anxiety gets worse due to the looming date of her college decision, though. Her grandparents don’t want her to stay at the local community college, but she can’t risk leaving without falling apart.

Caroline continually hides her pain from everyone: she never lets her therapist in and refuses to take her meds in fear of dying like her mother. When Bennett Williams comes back to town, though, Caroline grows closer to him and the maturity and healing that he has seemingly found after his brother’s suicide. He can see through her pain. He understands why she can’t leave. But Bennett doesn’t let her hide behind her darkness. He pushes her to get better—to grow through her pain. As Caroline becomes caught between being comfortable and being happy, she must choose whether or not she is willing to face her darkness and chase her dreams, or if she’ll push her darkness back, staying only in places that don’t make her think: Breathe. Fix it. You’re alone. You’re going to die.

Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, Mental Health, Fiction

196 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2022

Reviews

[Arisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book, at all. The characters were terrible. The plot was terrible. The ending was anti-climactic.


I am truly honored however, to be the first person to give this book a 1 star rating!
Sorry Heidi, I am a hater at heart.

[Pynkbyrd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads give away. While the tag says "Contemporary" fiction, it should also be tagged as YA. This is not a bad thing. I, as a middle-aged reader, found the book enjoyable if just a little simple in the language.

This is a fantastic book for someone who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. It's also great for a young person who is going away to college or experiencing a life-changing event. Even for someone who needs a regimen of medication and therapy for their mental health but does not trust the process.

All the characters are likeable and I found that I cared for them throughout the story. While I want to know everything ends happily ever after, I think it's a fine standalone novel and I was happy with the ending. At least one tissue was harmed during the course of my time spent reading this book.

For parents: a clean book about teenagers and the state of their mental health. No sex, no recreational drugs. A good book to read with your teens.

Thank you, Goodreads for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions are mine and expressed freely.

[Judith E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline is a Senior class at her high school, she lives in Arizona with her grandparents. She is having trouble to focus on what she really wants in her life, all this started after her mother's passing, six months ago.

Izzy is her best friend, an easygoing kind of girl. As her best friend, she knows Caroline have dreamed about going to college, FSU. The same college where Caroline's parents met. But Izzy doesn't know anything about Caroline's panick attacks.

Bennett Williams is a good friend from high school, he is already in a Massachusetts' College and he came back to town for the summer. They connect in so many ways.

Caroline has been suffering from anxiety attacks after her mother died over an allergic reaction to a medicine. She died alone at her house. Caroline is afraid to died alone as her mother. This is why she has to read all the warning labels on prescriptions, she doesn't want to be alone. Caroline doesn't take her medicines prescribed by Dr. B. Something she does are lists, is her way to deal with anxiety, you may feel this is tedious but it help her every time she starts feeling wrong. Caroline also has to remember she has to breathe.

Her friend Bennett has been a great help for Caroline. He understands all the things she is going through because his brother commit suicide.

This book is great. It showed me a part of the world of a person dealing with anxiety, how important is to have a professional by their side, family, and a good friend. It is a Young Adult, clean book. I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway.

[Rosibel · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the little things by Keidi Dischler was given to me by goodreads giveaways, thank you.

How to hide the darkness
Be nice to people.
Smile.
Stop thinking.
Never let yourself be alone.
Don't mention college.
-All the little things by Heidi Dischler

She had done it to herself - let the darkness in, let it consume her - and now the darkness wouldn't
let her leave.
-All the little things by Heidi Dischler

"We forgot to tell you that it's okay to feel broken. It's okay to hurt and to feel pain and to grieve. Everything that you have felt is okay to feel, and I am sorry, Caroline, that we never made that clearer to you. This whole time we should have been letting you feel everything because you cannot understand and process those feelings unless you are actually allowed to feel them"
-All the little things by Heidi Dischler

"She never realized that her light had always been greater than her darkness, but it was in her
darkness that she found her light."
-All the little things by Heidi Dischler

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I was getting a little upset at Caroline because I thought she was acting like a spoiled brat but I had no idea what she was going through. I did not know what she went through with her mom and why she was always reading the ingredients on every prescription she filled at the pharmacy she worked part time. Once I found her backstory, I totally understood what she have felt with the anxiety and panic attacks.

I was glad that Bennett walked away and gave her time to figure things out and to heal. I really enjoyed watching Caroline finally stop hiding things and her pain and really start beginning to heal.


Thank you to the author, Heidi Dischler, for the free ebook copy won in the Goodreads giveaway.

[Annalise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really clunkily written at times; a lot of descriptions took me out of the story. The depictions of anxiety were fairly accurate and the romance wasn't toxic and laid some very healthy boundaries down and I appreciate that about it.

[Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I found the main character to be a bit annoying, but I did appreciate how the book showed what it is like to be a person suffering from panic attacks. I liked the overall theme of the book too.

[~°Rebecca°~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! this book came to me at a good time -- although I wasn't struggling with panic disorder, my anxiety has definitely taken a hold of things I love. Reading this book, even with it's simplistic writing style, I felt quite moved.
thank you Heidi for such a fun (and relatable) story!

[Mallory Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. I thought this was a beautifully written book on mental health and the many ways people can get help. Relying on a friend, medication, therapists, etc. I also liked the perspective of the main character and what her thoughts were during her anxiety attacks.

[Michaela Cluster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book Especially as someone who has depression and panic attacks I think they did a really good job with them Ensure feel the right people around you they Don't affect you as badly

[Jessy Wayles · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was a rough read. It was very repetitive and would have worked better as a short story. The writing was clunky and I couldn’t wait for it to end. I’m surprised it wasn’t listed as a YA novel!

[Katlyn Bolingbroke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tear jerker

I honestly have no words to describe how this book made me feel. In the end love triumphs over all.

[Lindsay Leavitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a nice, quick read. It's definitely more of a YA read. It was also a nice reminder to process your feelings and remember the little joys in life.

[Cierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of this via Goodreads giveaways.

It was fine. The plot was good, but the writing felt sterile and the characters were a bit flat for me.

[Jackie Shriver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It address mental health, depression, anxiety, etc. I love that it made the characters dealing with it seem normal, even though they were dealing with things. Everyone has something going on that is affecting them. It does not make you different, or wrong, it makes you human. This book really portrayed that. The characters were likeable. A lot of time when trying to write about things like this the characters can become annoying, but the author had a wonderful way of bringing the characters to life and making you understand they had an issue, and they knew it, but just did not know what to do. It also showed that no matter how alone we THINK we are, there are people that care about us that can help.

[Evangelia]

This was a great book and I would have given it a higher rating, if it had been longer. I feel like the author just skimmed on most parts of it when she could have gone a lot deeper and given the story more attention. There were so many parts that she could have made the story a lot better if she had given more dialogue or at least more of a backstory.