Every Last Psycho is a collection of two novellas by Zarina Macha, a British author based in London. As an American reader, it was extremely interesting to read the characters’ inflections and diction as well as get a glimpse into the university and schooling systems.

In both novellas, the narrator is in school preparing and working through A-levels. Tess, in ‘Every Last Thought,’ is struggling with schizophrenia and addiction (to both substances and her best male friend) while Evelyn, in ‘Psycho Girl,’ feels confident that she will be accepted into Cambridge. The focus is not, however, directly on school but rather the narrators’ lives and desire. The first-person present tense perspective allows the reader to truly see what is happening from the characters’ minds and each narrator is unique.

Macha captures both personalities expertly. Tess’s voice is immature and deeply broken. She is dealing with paranoid schizophrenia with auditory and visual hallucinations. She had a twin that was killed in a car crash and has replaced his influenced in her life with her friend Ed. Dealing with more than her internal mental difficulties, Tess soon spirals further out of control and must decide if she wants to recover at all.

Evelyn, however, is poised and haughty. She shows all the signs of a psychopath and does not understand why others have any sort of emotions. She is never embarrassed, that she makes explicitly clear, and she will definitely be accepted into Cambridge. No question. She is the ideal choice. Her father is the only one she truly clashes with as, it is hinted, he also carries psychopathic traits.

I enjoyed both novellas. I am not usually a fan of present tense narration, however Macha uses it well and I quickly adapted to present tense. I enjoyed the psychology in both characters. Both stories are fairly dark and include somewhat mature themes, however Macha handles it in such a way that I believe her stories can still be enjoyed by a wide audience. College students or seniors in high school (or equivalent) in any country will enjoy these novellas as, even if they cannot relate directly to the characters’ mental disorders, they can relate to the stress of revising for finals and applying to colleges. (Revising means to study, correct?)

Zarina Macha did provide a free copy with no obligation to review and these are my honest opinions. I did purchase this and her poetry collection through Kindle Unlimited and am enjoying her poetry collection as well. I’m glad I was able to read her words.

Every Last Thought:

The first book is about a girl who suffers from Schizophrenia. She hears voices and has delusions. She attempts to have a normal childhood and it fails hard for her. My heart was cracked open and I bled with this poor girl.

Honestly, I don’t know much about this disease and reading it through the eyes of a 16-year-old girl it made me feel the pain I didn’t know I could feel. I may be in my thirties now, but I felt that I could relate with this girl. Her being in love with someone she could never have and ending up with a boy she shouldn’t be with. I had that life; I battle with depression and not the same thing as Schizophrenia, but I did a lot of the same things she did to hide from the pain.

I loved that story. A lot. I was amazed by the words that flowed on the page and sucked me into a young girl battle with a mental disorder.

Psycho Girl:

I found this one shocking; it was no less good. I was surprised by the lengths someone would go to show her own pain and anger. Evelyn had her own share of problems and she finally cracked when she didn’t get something, she thought she was owed.

Zarina did an amazing job on these novellas. I saw her books posted on FB quite a few times and I loved this cover. I was happy to dive right in and soak up those words on the page. I learned quite a few things and I didn’t expect that. This book is not PG by any means. there are some things that will cause some to trigger so please be aware of it.

It is very much worth the read and a four-star in my book. Thank you again, Zarina for writing this. It was for sure a pleasure to read it.

I usually steer clear of YA fiction, as I personally find the characters to be too simplistic or cliched. So it came as a surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Every Last Psycho which comprises of two well-written novellas; Every Last Thought and Psycho Girl. Tess and Evelyn (the respective protagonists) are complex, flawed characters like any other person, who deal with quite severe cases of mental illness. Despite some of the disturbing nature of their beliefs, actions and ways of reasoning - especially Evelyn's - I found myself sympathising with both young women, and even growing to like them. Overall, on top of the fact that this is her first publication, Every Last Psycho is captivating and very well-written. I am excited to see what other publications Zarina Macha has up her sleeve!

Great read, I picked it up and could not put it down. I felt like I was inside the head of the characters, understood their thoughts, feelings and choices for their actions. Both are such interesting stories and I feel that they do explore mental health well and in a unique way that can be understood.
I highly recommend reading

When I first heard about this book I was really excited. And I anxiously awaited for this book to come out in paperback as I love the feeling of the paper between my fingers.

Before I had even started reading I knew that it would cover dark themes and have me tingling and engrossed into the story. I knew it would make me feel a little uncomfortable and question my judgements, decisions and perceptions.

However, I was somewhat mistaken. Why?? Because although I did love the book, I was completely surprised at how quickly both stories got dark. At how Tess’s obsessions, grief, hurt and loss are smacked into your face in the first few pages....no the first few lines. My family even questioned me why I was reading the book when I told them about it. At first I got annoyed at how some of the chapters were short and sweet (not sweet but you get what I mean...I hope