A deep and thoughtful book about what it's like to live with an eating disorder as a high school girl. I found myself unable to put it down.

Ballard's Young Adult novel is a strong debut, taking a first person look at the toll eating disorders take, not only on that person, but also their friends and family. Ballard pulls no punches about the lengths people will go to maintain their disorder, and the lengths to which doctors and family will go to save their lives. Touching and truthful.

I can definitely see young readers clicking with this book. I'm glad it didn't promote or glorify eating disorders in any way.

I really liked this title. It evoked strong emotions and I'm not even a parent. I really got angry with the mother's treatment of Elizabeth, and her denial of her own eating disorder. This story is totally relatable to any parent who tries to do "what's best" for their child so they avoid the same problems they had growing up. It was difficult to read about the girl's feelings and food. I'm glad we added this one to our collection. I think many teens struggle with a relationship with food, and this is a great title for them to access. We are going to showcase it with other teen issues in our teen room.

A diet snowballs into anorexia and Elizabeth finds herself being sent to an inpatient eating disorder clinic. Elizabeth befriends the other girls and women who have their own struggles, and has to come to terms with her own family dynamic, her father who is burying his head in the sand and her mother, whose own eating habits are pretty troubling. A realistic look at eating disorders, the challenges those who have them face and the hard work that goes into getting better.

"What I Lost" by Alexandra Ballard is an ugly, heart-wrenching, and devastatingly important story about recovering from an eating disorder. It doesn't gloss over the facts or paint a pretty picture for a happy ending. Nor does the novel paint the girls depicted in it as stereotypes--each of the girls could be a girl that the reader knows. The story is important because it addresses serious issues and offers hope in a way that is realistic rather than trite.

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that I tend to read books about eating disorders. The reason for that is because I always feel a little connection. I am in no way claiming to have an actual eating disorder. What I am saying is that I can feel the same types of feelings that the characters in these books share. While I am pretty much able to control myself so that I don't go down those paths, or maybe just my personality doesn't let me go that way, when I read these stories, I feel emotionally for these girls. I can see how easy it is to slip into the habits and lifestyles that they do. I'm pretty sure that I, like probably many girls/other people, have a distorted body image. I remember when I was at what is an ideal weight for my height, and how I still would feel that I had a stomach bulge, something that while I can go look at pictures now and see there wasn't any such thing, I still remember looking in the mirror and seeing it. Even today when I look at pictures of myself, or catch myself in a mirror, I can see something that I know is not right or maybe I think it looks better than it does when I see myself in a picture. I don't know, enough about me probably. Let's just say that I read this type of book because it helps me look in and take a look at what I am thinking.

I feel like this story was very realistic, yet had what a good story can have, a happy, yet realistically happy ending. All the things that Elizabeth went through were so real. She didn't go in and just follow all the rules and get better. She didn't just have a bunch of people around her that were inspiring and perfect. When other girls may have gotten to leave the clinic, they slipped, they returned, and as they had done before, during and after their time at the clinic, they lied. So did Elizabeth, even when it seemed she was going to be ready to go back out and try on her own in the real world, she slipped. But I like that she had real parents in the story. Parents that made their own mistakes. They loved her, they were supportive, but didn't necessarily know how to do what needed to be done. To see that maybe it was something in her family life that maybe helped push her in the direction she went in order to end up where she was. The fact that even back in her parents' past could also have contributed to this whole situation was also very telling. While it is so easy to blame the bullies, to blame parents for what they've done, it is always also important to look just at what may be the cause of why they behave the way they do. Believe me, I am NOT saying any kind of bullying or bad parenting is okay, I'm saying that looking at why those things happen could be exactly what could help in the end. If those people are willing to help themselves and get better.

I could write a very long review about this. I guess these days I should probably say something about possible triggers in here for people with eating issues. But I feel the author did a good job with them. Didn't gloss over, make them look silly and easy to overcome. This is another great book to share about this topic. And the romance in here? Also a perfect and pretty realistic one for me. It was not what you thought. Although I did get a little inkling when we first got a clue that it wasn't who Elizabeth had assumed sending the anonymous gifts. The book touches on social media issues, as well as looks at just how hard it is for not only the person dealing with the issue to talk about it, but also for how hard it is to be a friend and not know how to deal with it. Great, great story. Definitely will be purchasing for the school library where I work.

A sharp, poignant and funny story about a girl with a condition that's rarely depicted in fiction without a maximum of drama. It's a refreshing take and characters are well-drawn and compelling.

Much better than I had anticipated! Ballard doesn't shy away from the darker side of the disordered thoughts caused by anorexia. But it doesn't go down a super dark path (a la Wintergirls), so the book doesn't leave me feeling bleak and despairing, but is ultimately uplifting. Without giving away too much, I appreciate Elizabeth focusing on her own health and recovery in the end.

In today's day, we seem to be in the mind frame of body shaming others. This book lends itself well to this discussion. Elizabeth has anorexia and has gotten to the point of needing help. Her parents take her to stay in a medical facility where everything is mapped out for her, including her meals. At first, she struggles with it, but realizes she does not want to deal with this forever. You have the opportunity to see it through her eyes and the struggles she has in trying to find a balance. Great read with a great message!

Elizabeth is a strong, believable character who struggles with anorexia. She has just been placed in a residential treatment center and soon learns that her journey to recovery will be anything but easy. The main characters are all well-developed, and her relationship with her mom is particularly interesting since her mom struggles with eating, too. It's readily apparent how Elizabeth's own troubles began.

Many books like this can be preachy, but this one wasn't. Readers will learn a lot about how some people with eating disorders think, and root for Elizabeth to stay on the road to recovery.