My blog has a more in-depth essay of how I related to this book.
blogs.booktoot.club/lapis/on-being-seen-in-stories

What I love about this book is that while there is a romance, that really isn't the point of the book. It's a mental health book that made me feel extremely seen.

Now I will warn you: One of the viewpoint characters struggles with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. If you also struggle with those things, reading this becomes a really unpleasant experience, but I highly recommend you tough it out if you are in a mental place where you are able to do so!

This is the best depiction of intrusive thoughts and anxiety I have seen. I don't know if Jennifer Dugan personally has anxiety problems, but if she doesn't, she really did her research. Seriously, as Nebraska's most anxious person, I felt very seen.

I also felt very seen because of its frank discussion of suicide. I know not everyone can handle that, but I could really use more books that discuss it and make me feel like less of a freak for having had these problems. And books that teach you how to talk with suicidal people (spoiler: it's not by demonizing them).