Firstly, I just want to state that I really love the front cover and title of this book. Okay, done. Now onto the review.

I have mixed opinions on this book - I found it really easy to read and flew through it pretty quickly, but at the same time I wasn't gripped, I wasn't eager to actually read more. It was just another book for me to cross off my list and add to my Goodreads Reading Challenge. 

For the most part, I really liked Petula's character. After her little sister died at a terribly young age she hasn't been the same, her whole life hasn't been the same. This book deals with mental health, more specifically anxiety and in the case of other characters, depression, as well as alcoholism and grief. Very important and very sensitive subjects, which, in general I feel Nielsen writes about really well. However, I do have a slight issue with how Petula's problems seem to almost vanish thanks to this one boy? Then again, development is shown through Petula's friendship with Rachel too which helps relieve that issue.

I found it frustrating how, well, sensitive and immature Petula was when she found out the truth and how unforgiving she was. And as a result, it left me dissatisfied with the ending because I feel like these characters are better off on their own than together due to Petula's judgement. However, at the very least it makes me happy that the rest of the characters were more understanding and sympathetic to the situation and forgave him; hopefully with a bit more time Petula will too.

While I wouldn't say I felt particularly emotional towards a single character within the book, I did still really enjoy them and how versatile the selection was. Each character was very different with their own hobbies and backgrounds making them interesting to read about and learn more about and I loved all of the character development that takes place within Petula's friendship group (not that they really refer to themselves as a friendship group). It also made me happy how they all grew to like and appreciate Betty in the end.

Overall, this book was on okay read. I wouldn't really rave about it, but it is a nice time-filler if you need one.

This story was adorable, light and fluffy. Just what I needed to draw me put of this slump. I connected with Petula well, in that I am way to cautious with life. I loved the relationships the characters all formed with one another and how they were able to overcome their "guilt". However, I would have liked to read more. More about the ending, more about the others. But overall, it was amazing and I'd definitely recommend you check it out!

The story follows a girl called petula who suffers really badly with anxiety issues ever since her little sister died due to choking on a button.  The story follows her making friends with a new boy called Jacob and a counselling group at her school.  The only issue I have with this book is that Petula is extremely anxious over every single thing and I feel is a bit too far into the extreme for her to suddenly do everything she does in the story.  I think that if she was real she would never leave her house.  Aside from this I thought the book flowed well and I really enjoyed following the groups adventures throughout and couldn't wait to see what happened next.

When I saw this title, I just knew I needed to read this, and I don't even know why. I am an optimist, so dying first wouldn't have been the best thing, but I'm glad I did pick it up!

Optimists Die First is about Petula (I keep forgetting that name), who is a hard-core pessimist, in every situation she sees danger. She suffers from anxiety since her little sister died tragically. Petula blames herself for her death and now makes it her absolute priority to stay alive, because she is the only child her parents have left. But in her trying to stay alive, she forgets to actually live. Her live consists of school and YART sessions, which are group therapy meetings in which they do arts and crafts. Petula has been a crafter since she was young but now hates the meetings.

One day a new boy comes in school and he has to be his project partner and also is in the YART sessions. His coming shakes up the entire group, which normally never talked outside meetings. Jacob (I can't seem to remember any names from this book..) has been in a car accident and lost part of his arm and two of his friends. Now he has a bionic arm and a broken mind.

I loved the characters and how real they felt, they weren't perfect, they had flaws and that made it only more realistic. My favourite character was Petula, her negativity ruled her behaviour and her fear was felt grounded. There was a lot of character development which I loved! Jacob was also a very grey character (neither good nor bad), which is always very interesting to read about. The characters felt so realistic and relatable, which is a huge plus!

"Optimists believe things will always work out for the best. Optimists live in a rainbow-coloured, sugar-coated land of denial.
Optimists miss warning signs."

There were some other smaller things that I loved about the book. I loved the filmmaking aspect of this book, I don't know why, I just really liked it. I also loved the cats! Even reading the dedication: "To all the other crazy cat people. You know who you are." really made my inner cat lover laugh.

I did not see the plot twist coming, which is not usually the case. Most of the time you can already see where the story is heading before it is actually heading there. I can't say what happens but I really liked the way it was resolved and how everything came together in the end.

I give this book 4 stars because of the characters, the heavy but interesting topics and of course the cats :) I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Nicola Yoon's books and contemporary books with a heavier undertone. 

General rating: ★★★★
Diversity rating: ★★★ (contains: POC, LGBT+, disability; please correct me if I am wrong because it could be that I forgot/misremembered)

"Studies show that in general, optimists die ten years earlier than pessimists"

This novel was a brilliantly honest portrayal of the paranoia that one can face at the hands of anxiety. I can understand how certain readers my find it to be excessive, almost to the extent of being comic, but, having had similar, although much more muted, fears to Petula, I can empathise with her experience, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a pretty accurate representation. I don't think the author has portrayed this as a personality quirk, but quite the opposite, and perhaps, at times, it verges on being too much, but take it from someone who knows, people do suffer like this! Hmmm... Perhaps the transition away from this moved a bit to quick, but essentially, Petula began to expose herself more, due to her emotions overriding her anxiety. In fact, I quite liked seeing this conflict and the effect it had.

Petula is a teenager who, in the wake of a family tragedy, is left a pessimist, fearful of any possible cause to an accident. Which means being wary of pretty much everything. As a result, she lives a half life, that is, until the mysterious, tall (even by her 5'11" standards), brooding Jacob arrives in her life. Soon she begins to develop feelings for this boy, who is also in her art therapy class, led by the seemingly clueless Betty, with edgy Koula, kind-hearted Alonzo, and unusual Ivan. With Jacob, she begins to discover a little pinch of optimism, but as the title so forebodingly states 'Optimists Die First', and by letting her guard down, does Petula put herself at risk?

First, let's begin by addressing the pleasing abundance of cats. If you did a word cloud of this novel, 'cat' would be by far the biggest word, and this is no bad thing! Here's a hint for any of my future Valentines: a quick route to my heart is through cats and dogs. This novel was no exception. Yes, Petula's mum occasionally had 'crazy cat lady' vibes about her, but the cat stories, and best of all, the descriptions of cat videos, always made me smile, something that was needed, as this novel occasionally had me verging on tears. 

Emotionally, this novel was a rollercoaster, punctuated by cats. Essentially, this novel was about responses to grief, particularly focussed on guilt, and I feel it did this exceptionally well. Because at the end of a day, so many of us blame ourselves for deaths we had no hand in. In fact, even in the cases of direct involvement, unless it is murder, can we ever blame one person for another's death? We are too quick to blame someone, especially ourselves, and this novel focusses upon this, and the resultant guilt. Petula responds to this by looking for control in her life, through her pessimism. I pitied and empathised with her, and I felt a deep connection with her as a narrator. She felt three dimensional, with genuine fears, and genuine emotions, but most importantly, a genuine conflict between them.

Petula wasn't the only three dimensional character in the novel. In fact, all the characters were fully fledged. Each of the characters in Petula's art therapy class had their own emotions, both deep and superficial, and weren't just defined by their reasons for being in that group. As Petula grew to empathise with them more, so did I. Each of them had their own stories, and each of them cared for one another. Friendship was a key theme in the novel, and we watch Petula's friendships change and develop, along with her character. The fluidity of friendships is explored exceptionally well, as it the reactions people have to another's struggles, subconsciously and consciously.

Jacob was another character I enjoyed, as he wasn't just presented as a love interest, but as a character tormented by his own guilt, which grew to parallel that of Petula. Instead of attempting to control life though, he internalises his guilt, and the novel largely focusses upon the differences between these two responses, and whether there is a right or wrong way of dealing with guilt and grief. Truly, I loved it for that, and the greater moral questions asked, as well as the blindingly honest depiction of mental health.

So, I truly recommend you pick up this novel about grief, mental health and comradery, especially if, like me, you have a weak spot for cats.

All quotations are taken from a proof copy and are subject to change.
Thanks to the publisher, who provided me with a proof copy of this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Being the average pessimistic person, I felt like reading this book could be eye-opening, and really refreshing. I haven't read that many stories with pessimistic characters, up to the point where Petula, the main character of this story, is. See, she collects stories about how people tragically die, she can't walk past construction sites because there might be a chance something would fall on her, or take an elevator because she had read too many stories about that just as well. Petula wasn't born that way, her baby sister's death, whom she feels guilty for, made her look over her shoulder constantly, and only half-living because of the constant worrying and pessimism. 

From what you can guess already by reading this and the synopsis of this book, this is a young adult contemporary, very character-driven story. There is not heart-stopping action at all, it's more of a life-story events, but the character growth is stunning – if you enjoy books like that, I'd definitely advice you to pick up that one. Every character in the story was interesting and well-thought-of, with their own life stories, quirks and flaws – this was definitely one of the strong suits of this book: how flawed and realistic the characters were.
This book explored anxiety as well, and it was interesting to read about it, even if, in my opinion, it could have been better handled and more realistic. Why, you ask? Let's tackle on the characters to see what I am talking about. 

As you guessed it now, Petula is a very anxious and pessimist teenager. If, at times, her anxiety was relatable – speaking out, trying to reach out to new people, simply being anxious about working in pairs -, at other moments I felt like it wasn't too realistic.  There's a boy in this story – name's Jacob, new guy at school, had a weird metal hand and doesn't speak much about what happened to him before he arrived. Upon his arrival and as the two of them are forced to get closer thanks to an assignment, Petula changes, and their relationship evolves in a very obvious, yet interesting way. There is no insta-love here at all, which was refreshing to read about: their relationship slowly builds up and grows, from strangers to friends to more than that. Slowly, we realize that this relationship the author is painting is one where they bring out the best in each other, which is on the one hand, super cute, but on the other hand, a bit unrealistic because...well, Petula manages to slowly get rid of her anxiety and it's all because of this boy. It seemed a bit to me like a “love cures everything” kind of trope, which I moderately enjoyed. However, I can't say I didn't enjoy their interactions, and toward the ending, the evolution of their relationship felt very realistic as well, tackling interesting and deeper issues you can't always find in teenage romances, such as losing and gaining someone's trust again. 

If you love contemporaries and books giving a great deal of time and space to its characters, then I'd definitely recommend Optimists Die First. If a couple of things in the story felt unrealistic, the characters and their relationships were very real, and got me smiling more than once.

Optimists die first tells the story of Petula, a 16 year old girl with severe anxiety and OCD behaviour since the death of her sister.

This is a very intense and quite dark book. Petula worries about absolutely everything and always thinks about the worst case scenarios. I do the same all the time which is why I could relate to the character so much.

I absolutely adored the character, not only because I could relate to her but also because of… Cats. There are cats everywhere in this book and this is one of the reasons I couldn’t get enough of it. (There are also cat videos!! A book that discuss cat videos can’t be anything else than great)

I can guarantee you that the plot is mind blowing and you’ll need a couple days to get over this book..

This book is perfect for you if you loved We are all made of molecules (Which is actually from the same author!) and Kids of appetite

Two things that annoyed me about this book was that the main character had anxiety and the love interest said he liked her ‘quirks’ let’s stop describing people with mental illness as if it’s cute and the second is that her anxiety can be dealt with by falling in love. Also the characters actions make them seem really young so when there’s sex scenes it’s really awkward because it seems like they’re 13 and not 16/17. But it was a cute story and I liked the entire outcast group and all the film references.

Never regret one bit for requesting and reading this book!

This book is phenomenal, it deals with friendship, relationship and family issues, surprisingly well combined with a fun and fluffy writing style, and Nielsen also created likable, and so relatable characters with flaws and problems, facing guilt and fears everyday but still cared for their friends and tried to help out. I flew through the book without hestitating, full of ups and downs like a roller coaster ride, filled with emotions and played with readers' feelings. Unexpected twists and turns, definitely made the book more interesting and worth picking up. A must read for those who wants an emotional ride, filled with laughter and tears.

A 5/5 stars recommendation!!

I really enjoyed reading this one! It was funny, cute, and such a delight to read. The characters were very realistic, and the friendship, relationships, and family aspects were on point. Petula is a quirky and awkward girl that you can't help but love. Petula and Jacob are both incredibly flawed and their connection was just ahhhh. I also loved how diverse the characters were.

A MORE COHERENT AND FULL REVIEW TO COME.

I’m an optimist, that’s why I was curious when I read the title of this book. I do like to think that ‘everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.’. That’s why at first I found it difficult to connect to the protagonist, Petula always sees the worst in everything. Now that I’ve finished the book I have to say that in the end this is such an optimistic book.
Petula character development was the thing I enjoyed the most. I loved how her personal growth, her leaving all her fears behind helped her open up to her friends, her parents and Jacob.
This book it’s about forgiveness. It’s about Petula trying to forgive herself for her sister’s death,.
It’s about Petula’s ex best friend, Rachel, trying to forgive the protagonist after she disapperead on her. I liked how Rachel didn’t forgive Petula straight away but she was cautious about it, it felt real. 
Jacop helps Petula recovery, their romance challenges her to live again.
I do recommend this if you too think that Optimists die first, if you are struggling with anxiety and self loathing. 
Sadly, I wasn’t really able to connect with the book as much as I’d have liked. I think it’s my fault since I’m in a huge reading slump. I wish I read this book in another moment.

I loved this so much - it was smart, funny and yet still dealt with very difficult topics in a way that felt true and serious. This is a book about grief, guilt, friendship, betrayal, crafting - and a short film version of Wuthering Heights - performed by cats in period costume. Brilliant!

I could relate to the main character Petula in this book so much, she thinks the worst about everything and is always planning ahead to avoid anything she deems unsafe. It all started after her her younger sister died which Petula blames herself for.
She attends an art therapy class where she ends up meeting a boy called Jacob who has his own secret. This isn't a story of boy curing girl which, as an anxiety sufferer would have annoyed me immensely, it is more a story of hope which I really enjoyed.
Plus it involves lots of cats which is always a good thing

Behind the cat poop, crochet vests, bionic arms and quirky array of characters this book had so much heart and I honestly feel like this could help a lot of people. Guilt can ruin people's lives and unless you've experienced that it's hard to understand.

There wasn't any teen drama or mean bitches, which makes a nice change in this genre. Every single one of the seemingly outlandish characters grew through the story and were made relatable thanks to the humorous writing. Even if you don't look as deep into this as much I did, it's still a funny age appropriate story.

I loved everything about it (but especially Petula).

I loved this - it was an excellent read! Plot, pacing, themes, characters... everything fit together wonderfully.

'Optimists Die First' is a novel which you read at one go. I was so gripped by the plot that I couldn't stop reading it. The book tell the stories of troubled teenagers that at first glance have nothing in common, but at the end become great friends and help each other grieve and find peace of mind. I laughed and I cried all those emotions often on the same page. I find this book enriching and definitely worth recommending.

I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange with an honest review.

Want to start by saying how much the cat references made me laugh hysterically while reading this book. The author even dedicated this book to all of the people who are like me.

" To all the other crazy cat people. You know who you are."

Reading the title of this book, and this part of the blurb " ideas like remaking Wuthering Heights with cats." made me so excited to read this book.

The start and end were absolute perfection; I just felt a little bit bored in the middle of the book. I also wished that somethings were a bit more descriptive, than they actually were.

​We meet Petula, who is more that just a pessimistic person. She is also struggling with anxiety. This was portrayed perfectly, that even those who believe that people with anxiety are over-reacters, would get to see the illness itself. Everything Petula does and believes may seem extreme at first, but all of that is 105% justified.

I really do need to take a moment and applaud Susin because of what she has accomplished with this book.  She was able to send a loud, clear message to shatter the ignorance of the disbelievers, without them even realizing that.

​I really want to read more books by Susin Nielsen. I absolutely loved Optimists Die first.

I give it 4/5 stars.

I really enjoyed Optimists Die First. Nielsen expertly combines intense family tragedy with warm humour, creating characters you can really care about. I enjoyed Petula's sardonic approach to her own anxiety, and the parts featuring the misfits of her art therapy group were a highlight for me. Nielsen's writing is perfect for the subject matter, balancing pathos and wit elegantly throughout.
Review to be posted on my blog on March 2nd.