I did not review this book on my blog as I had to stop blogging due to time constraints. I did not yet read this book.

I thought this book was very sweet. I am not terribly knowledgeable about the topics discussed in the book, however to me it seemed as if they were well researched and handled well. I love anything that is set in Paris, also. I think this is a classic YA coming of age novel and would recommend to teens.

Content warning for disordered eating. Many thanks to Second Story Press and NetGalley for a copy.

Clara has lived in the shadow of her ballerina mother, a woman who has been telling Clara to "suck it in" since she was 6 years old and ranting about the poisons of candy. Clara gets pulled aside by the school counselor who is concerned about her eating and they get CPS involved. Clara's mom realizes the damage she has done to her body and Clara's and tries and fails to help Clara make some changes. So Clara gets shipped off to her Dad's in Paris for the summer to go help take care of her six year old step-brother, Alastair, who is "on the spectrum."

And that's where the book went off the rails for me, honestly. I think I would have rather read about Clara and her mom healing together. The comparisons of being on the spectrum for autism against on the spectrum for eating disorders were a little weird. The romance aspect of the book was also really weird and didn't work for me.

I also took issue with people trying to fix Clara by shoving food at her thinking it would fix her eating disorder but maybe that's just because eating disorders are such scary territory and in my mind, should always be worked on with a therapist/specialist, instead of the baker you happen to be dating.

The premise of the book was good but the execution failed for me.

I absolutely appreciate the fact of the mental health and neurodivergent representation in this book and wish that there was more of it in YA. Not only is there rep, but it's, for the most part, handled well and portrayed accurately and that is so important and invaluable. More of stories like these please.

The story was cute, but there were a lot of grammatical errors that caused me to get so frustrated I had to put down the book. The story jumped around a lot and could be incredibly cheesy.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, as I couldn't get into it - nothing against the author or book, just not to my personal taste. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

While the premise sounded promising, I didn't feel connected to the characters so I couldn't immerse in the story. The writing, however, was captivating to an extent.

A well-written book with an important purpose. It deals with a lot of issues important to young adults as well as showing a truly wonderful relationship between a 16-year-old and a 6-year-old with autism.

I loved on the spectrum and how it looked at autism in children and how non-autistic siblings react to the needs of their siblings. I loved the relationships in this novel and its take on seeing the world through a carer's eyes.

A realistic book, that was an enjoyable read. I haven't read anything like it before, and will be looking for books on a similar topic in the future.

I enjoyed this book. Fact. The prose was beautiful and the writing is distinctly the authors own.
Overall, the story the good and believable. Perhaps it tried to tackle too many issues in one novel, but it covered them all well enough.
I personally wasn’t familiar with orthoexia before I read this book, so it was definitely an eye-opener and I definitely feel like I learned a lot about this ED.
I adored Alastair, he was definitely my favourite character. He was so well written and developed!

Definitely a great read that I would happily recommend.

Clara lives with her famous prima ballerina mother in New York City, and with that comes an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy. She decides to spend a summer in Paris with her estranged dad and his family after a social media disaster back home. While in the city of light, she meets Alastair, her six year old half-brother who is on the autism spectrum, as well as Michel, a young baker’s apprentice – both of whom teach Clara about how to look at life in a different way.

This was a really sweet story that encompassed life lessons in several different facets. Set against the backdrop of an iconic city, all the characters – not just Clara – go through a journey of realization and growth. I felt that a lot of the overall theme in many of the situations were about perception; what would people think? What would they think about her weight? What would they think about him being different? I really liked how this was expanded upon, that there is a balance between not wanting to change for other people vs changing for your own happiness and self acceptance.

Mental health takes many different forms and I appreciated Gold’s take on Clara’s eating habits. It wasn’t strictly black or white of Clara being anorexic or bulimic but her intense obsession with healthy eating could be considered on the spectrum of eating disorders as well. The characters go on a journey of acknowledgement and action in this book that feels hopeful for others that may be experiencing similar situations in any form.

I loved the dynamic between Clara and Alastair. When the book starts out, Clara is unsure how to be around someone on the autism spectrum, and it was great to see that sibling bond progress throughout the story as both their horizons were expanded by the presence of the other.

On the Spectrum has a strong focus on mental health and family dynamics. It’s got some drama, sightseeing fun and a little bit of romance. This would be a great book for fans of YA contemporary and anyone who has some wanderlust!

I liked the idea of this book a lot, but I found it's execution to be lacking. Much of the way the characters with an eating disorder and the character with autism were written was reductive and childish. The novel implies that both autism and ED can easily be "cured' or "overcome" with the power of family and an emotional Come To Jesus moment. While the book had potential to be really influential, it fell short of the mark for me.

I received a free copy of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

As a mother of a daughter with Autism, this book was a wonderfully powerful novel that I believe can really change the way people see others with Autism. It was so well written with characters that really jumped off the page, and I found myself completely enamored with how great the overall story was.

I really enjoyed this book! I think if the characters were more fleshed out and we were able to see a bit more development, the story would have been a bit better received. Thank you for this opportunity!

Very interesting book - I loved that it dealt with autism in a healthy way, though they really avoid use of the word austisitc. And the descriptions were amazing - I want to go to Paris so badly now.

I just read a chapter of this and wanted to throw my laptop across the room. I didn't like it

Genuinely enjoyed this book, especially the French setting but felt sometimes the eating disorder subject was not dealt with sensitively.

Really good story however it needed more polishing.

This is a book that I couldn't resist requesting because it covers a topic that is really near and dear to me.

On the Spectrum is the story of Clara and her half-brother Alastair. Clara, the daughter of a famous ballerina mother, tries to 'eat clean' but maybe suffering from orthorexia which is an eating disorder (don't think she was ever formally diagnosed though). After a Twitter incident, she decides to finally accept her dad's offer and go to Paris for the school holidays to escape everything and meet her brother Alastair, who has autism but is high functioning (they keep saying 'on the spectrum' but it's really just high functioning autism).

The entire reason why I requested this book was because of Alastair. My brother has autism and like Alastair, he's considered high functioning. And that gives him a whole other set of problems. For example, my brother finds it very hard to make friends and gets bullied in school. So when I saw Alastair going through the same things (and through the lens of an older sister character no less!) my heart really broke for him. I love this book because it shows how hard kids like my brother and Alastair have it, and if it convinces even one person to be kinder than the world has been made slightly better.

I guess I should also talk about Clara and her relationship with food, but apart from the fact that I could sort of understand what she feels (but have no self control to give up snacks), I don't have much to say. All my feelings for this book were taken up by Alastair and the way that he and Clara were bonding.

Oh yeah and there's a romance in here but I don't have much to say about that either. I didn't particularly need it, but I wasn't annoyed by it and anyway I think we've all established that I read the book for only one reason.

I would highly recommend this book because of Alastair. That kid is adorable and reminds me of my brother and pretty much carried the book for me. Clara's own struggles were pretty well-developed too and I imagine would resonate with a lot of people.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.