This is my first book from Sophie Penhaligon, but surely it won't be my last.
Safety in Numbers is a fun and sweet read, there is some heavy themes covered, but it was all worthy. The characters felt very real, and I liked the connection they had. We saw Seraphina struggling to admit to herself that it's alright to be different, that there isn't anything bad about it. Both of the main characters have suffered a lot, so to see them happy, made me happy. The only thing I didn't like was the insta-love, but I was very pleased to see them working on their problems. Especially how Seraphina started to improve even more after some time with Milo. Milo on the other side, was a very funny character. I fell in love with him almost as fast as he did with Seraphina. I liked how she defended him in front of his father, after his childhood. He finally had someone, who was going to fight for him. My favorite side characters- Lara, Molly and Robbie. I would've loved to see more of Billy and Seraphina's friendship.
Overall, I loved it!

I think that the representation of TBI is this book was really solid. Seraphina showed the struggle between reality and perception, both of oneself and others. There was a lot covered, which made it feel heavier than I'd expected: child abuse, parent loss, bullying, etc. That part didn't go all that well with the insta-love from the male MC. It already meant that some of the heavy parts were not explored all that fully and it made them feel disingenuous. There were also some big editing needs that occasionally meant re-reading a page multiple times for understanding.
Overall, I liked some aspects but it felt like it could use some additional refinement and polish.
*ARC provided by Netgalley*