Book Review: "The Year I Stopped Trying" by Katie Heaney

The Year I Stopped Trying was a sweet, thought-provoking, and engaging story of a young woman at odds with her life.

Mary has always done what she’s supposed to. She gets good grades, does extra credit, turns in assignments on time, and participates in class. She wouldn’t even know what else to do—she just does what’s expected.

One day amidst all of the multiple competing priorities of her life she discovers she didn’t complete a homework assignment. What is she going to do? But when she doesn’t turn in the assignment, nothing happens. The teacher doesn’t even notice!

Emboldened by this discovery, she starts testing the boundaries of her life. If she doesn’t feel like doing something, she just doesn’t. She even starts to do the opposite of what’s expected, and in the course of upending her life a bit, she grows to understand some things about herself she never had acknowledged before.

I really enjoyed this book. Growing up, I wish I had had the courage to do what I wanted rather than what was expected of me.

Thanks to Storygram Tours, Knopf, and Underlined for inviting me on the tour and sending me a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!