Sebastian who is now 17 has been selected to go to a retreat for a project called Happyhead. Sebastian is unhappy and sensitive and his parents are not sure of the cause. This is a two week inhouse retreat which is supposed to make you centre your potential and feelings. Professor Manning who is in charge of the project purports to have the answers and can make changes in a very short time hence why his parents are encouraged that this will help. He arrives at the retreat after a long journey and feeling stressed. This gets worse when he is met at the gate of the retreat and walked to his new home in the middle of nowhere for a couple of weeks. Once he arrives he meets the other teenager. They all have to go through certain assessments which are set to find out what they are suffering with i.e depression, low self esteem etc and the story progresses from here in a weird way and reminds me of Squid Game which I have recently watched on the TV. This book is like this in a lot of ways and is something you really enjoyed or thought, no surely this is not happening. The tension goes from nothing to full on very quickly and the characters were so different from one another and I enjoyed reading about every one of them. Eventually some of the teenagers begin to ask questions about how the retreat is working and some begin to challenge the treatment and he gravitates to Finn who is the rebel in the pack. I could carry on with this review but feel I should stop before giving too much away. READ THIS IS ALL I CAN SAY

I loved this book so much and cannot wait for the sequel! Both an adventure and incredibly thought provoking.

As someone who works in mental health, reading a book by Josh Silver a mental health nurse really brought HappyHead, as a place, to life. I can tell you that parts of it were so realistic, I felt it in my bones. The characters were brought in so fluidly, nicknames for people as you would have in real life... so well thought through. The realistic portrayal of mental health meant that I found myself laughing at Seb's inner monologue, the flow of the conversation never missing a beat. The description of the outer world really enticed my senses - I could almost feel things whooshing past me and at some point, I could smell the antiseptic. For a YA novel, especially with LGBTQI+-friendly themes, I loved the honesty of it. The description and development of young love and understanding oneself at that age is difficult, multi-layered, and delicate. However, Silver beautifully puts it into words and I found myself getting so invested in the relationships between the characters. The book's success in handling delicate subjects resonated with me. The characters are well-developed, and the writing style is compelling and relatable. Easy to read, I read in some other reviews that people finished it in one sitting - Although I did not read it in one night, I can see how that is possible. Some of the tasks were thought-provoking and stressful, with Silver really showing off his brilliant and innovative storytelling skills. I hated that it ended. It left me wanting more more more immediately, but I understand why an author would end a book in this way. The pacing, the character development and the consistency of the plot made this a 10/10 read for me. I enjoyed it, I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this up, but somehow it exceeded my expectations. Although this book was not written for my demographic, once I read it, I knew exactly who to recommend this to and have already gifted it to two young adults in my life. "Like Hunger Games but better" rings true to me, because it felt more real. It felt compelling and also left me hoping and wishing to the very last page. I cannot believe this is a debut novel for Silver, as it has clearly been written by someone that wanted to make reading it enjoyable. And in this case, succeeded wholeheartedly.

Thank you to the publishers for the review copy. This has been short listed for the YA Book Prize this year (2024) and I am seeing it everywhere so I was very keen to read it for myself and see what it was all about. It is a dystopian thriller... teenagers are sent to 'camp' to tackle unhappiness... It is an excellent page turner and I can understand why people are comparing it to the hunger games books. Challenges, danger, friendships, relationships... A really addictive read which I would be very happy to recommend. Very much looking forward to reading the follow up Dead Happy.

TW: indoctrination, homophobia, violence, torture, emotional abuse, physical abuse, blood, injury detail HappyHead was a force of nature. Silver has smashed it out of the park with a tense, ominous and addictive thriller. This book really hit home for me. In an environment where LGBTQ+ rights are increasingly under attack and the transphobic rhetoric in the media intensifies, this book is a gut punch. It solidifies our worst nightmares in a technicolour dystopia that slowly reveals its rotting corruption. This is a book that excels in its creeping dread. From the start, something feels off, but the true darkness is only revealed near the climax. Some of the scenes are shudder inducing. The tension just builds and builds to an unbearable point. These assessments get ever more sinister and you can feel the suspense start to thicken. This gives the book such fast pacing and personally made me speed through the pages. You can also tell how much heart and soul Silver has poured into this book. His passion permeates every page. This intensifies the emotion and tension of each scene tenfold. For me, his Q & A at the end is a must read. It brought everything back to reality and how close to home this is. This is dystopia for now because it is so believable and scarily accurate to where we could be heading. This passion also extends into creating such nuanced and three-dimensional characters that I fell head over heels in love with. I cared about them deeply and felt every shocking twist rip through them, disrupting their relationships and revealing ulterior motives behind calculated actions. All I know for certain is that I need the next book in my life immediately. HappyHead was an absolutely incredible read that sadly rings more true with every passing day. It reminds us to fight at all costs.