The Thing with Feathers is a cute YA read that I really enjoyed, about a shy teen stepping into more of a spotlight setting in ways. It was told really well, and I would love more from the author.

After a slow start I could not put this book down. I loved the arious neurological disorder and mental health rep. A great read for teens that could fuel great discussions.

A book where the main character has epilepsy isn't something that I've read before. This book does a very good job of raising awareness of the struggles of living with such a disability alongside telling an engaging story.

I have never read a book about a main character who is diagnosed with epilepsy, and I feel like this is a great place to start. I feel like I learned a lot about the disease and seeing how she lives with it on a daily basis was very insightful. Each chapter starts off with a gorgeous quote from Emily Dickenson and I thought that was the perfect addition to this wonderful novel.

I absolutely loved the character in the whole book, the romantic prospect was just adorable! I thought the friendships sustained throughout the book were portrayed wonderfully. Hitch is just the BEST, don’t even try to dispute this, it’s a fact! I loved reading about Emilie’s life and seeing how she handled everything that was thrown at her.

Overall this was a beautifully written story and I can’t wait to read more by this author. I loved that the story sucked me in from the beginning and never let me go. My only regret is that I didn’t pick it up sooner.

I enjoyed this story of a girl just hoping for a normal life experience, even though her seizures make it impossible. She is terrified of having a seizure in public, or even telling her new friends she even has epilepsy. I love the seizure dog. In today's world, so many people claim to have and need service dogs, but few are actual trained to do just that. The "therapy dog" has severely over-shadowed the good work and intense training actual service dogs do. I loved getting to meet an actual service dog in this story and see the wonderful work he did. While there is romance in this book, it is more about a girl trying to come to terms with her epilepsy and learn how to live out in the real world. She learns to embrace who she is and be okay with what that means. As is often the case, she has a harder time accepting her condition then the people around her. Overall, I enjoyed this look inside the life of someone suffering from epilepsy.

This book blew me away! It caught my attention because I have a loved one with epilepsy and have never seen the topic included in any novel before, let alone in young adult lit. The protagonist is so lovable despite imperfections and the relationships (familial, platonic, and romantic alike!) are beautifully illustrated. I loved following along with this story and would recommend it to everyone. The tie-in references to Emily Dickinson were a nice touch as well.

Emilie Day chose to be homeschooled for years because of her epilepsy. She also still struggles with the death of her father. But both her mother and therapist have decided Emilie should try and rejoin the world by attending high school.

Set on the coast of North Carolina, The Thing with Feathers, follows Emilie Day as she discovers her own resilience.

Because she could have a seizure at any moment, Emilie Day has been very careful to avoid anything that might be dangerous, including high school. But then her carefully constructed world comes to an end: her mom and her psychiatrist insist that Emilie stops homeschooling to enter high school so that she can build a better social life. Emilie is sure it will be a disaster, but she has no choice but to go along with their plan.

McCall Hoyle's book, The Thing with Feathers, is the story of a teenage girl dealing with big problems, like her seizures, grief over her dad's death years ago, and a little bit of depression. She thought she was doing fine with it, too, when she was forced into public school. But hidden problems have a way of coming out in times of stress, and it helps Emilie to face them. I really enjoyed watching her grow in that way.

This book was cute and interesting. Aside from focusing on Emilie's internal and bodily challenges, it also told about her friendships and budding romance. The book in general was also kind of funny for me to read since it was about a person with the same name as me and a similar personality. It made me relate to her all the more, even though I don't have epilepsy.

I enjoyed this book and I recommend it to readers of YA contemporary.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for sharing them.

Lyrical and weighty, but slow at times. Would recommend for a more thoughtful read.

Cute YA romance about a young girl with epilepsy who falls in love with the boy she is partnered with for a project about Emily Dickinson.

I loved the way Emilie wrestled with her fears throughout the story—not just her fears about having peers find out about her epilepsy, but her unresolved grief over her dad’s death and the possibility that her mom might move on to have a new relationship, and her fear of rejection when handsome Chatham shows some pretty strong interest in her.

The tie-ins with Emily Dickinson’s life and poetry added another interesting layer to the story as well. I liked that Emilie recognized so much of herself in the reclusive poet and yet it was often Dickinson’s words which challenged her to go beyond the boundaries she felt comfortable within.

On the whole, I liked the story and enjoyed reading it. The Thing with Feathers is a sweet story with a strong but clean romantic thread. It’s a story about friendship, facing fear and finding hope. Fans of Stephanie Morrill’s Skylar Hoyt and Ellie Sweet books need to add this one to their reading lists.

This was a really nice contemporary. The thing that made it stick out to me was something you'll know if you've read the summary: the main character has epilepsy. This was the first book I'd read about an epileptic character, and it's still the only one about an epileptic main character. I'm not epileptic myself, so I can't speak to the quality of the representation - if anyone knows of a person with epilepsy who's reviewed the book, please let me know so I can link to their review here - but I thought that seeing that kind of thing in an otherwise typical contemporary novel was very important because it adds a whole new set of obstacles that the disabled community can identify with and that is eye-opening for the abled community. My favorite part of the book was also tied into the disability aspect: the service dog. Just so adorable! And the fact that he was a service dog instead of just a pet meant that he was around a whole lot more, so I got a lot more attached.

Ultimately I am disappointed with THE THING WITH FEATHERS. I was so excited to pick it up because it features a girl with epilepsy and I think disabilities in YA are woefully underrepresented. So this was really great! However the book falls into so many cliches and has some ableist undertones that really bothered me.

Emilie was a a really awesome narrator! She's been homeschooled and is now going into a public school (cliche) but she also has depression along with her epilepsy She's really smart and nerdy and in love with classic literature (cliche) and full of insecurities about her disability. I do think that was totally realistic. Because the world is really discriminatory and ableist and I'm really really sad she was so ashamed of her epilepsy, but I think it was super realistic how her thoughts and actions surrounded it.

However all the characters get mad at Emilie for not telling about her epilepsy. This is SUCH a problematic trope because someone else's disability is not anyone else's business. And while I'm so proud of Emilie for overcoming her shame of her condition and trusting her friends enough to talk about it -- I hate that she was basically bullied into it by people telling her she's lying and living a double life if she doesn't tell. This is wrong. Your disability is part of you, but if you don't want to tell people about it, you do not have to. Anyone saying otherwise is actually really horrible. No one should be forced into "coming out", in the disability sense, either.

I also am unhappy that in the end, Emilie has an epiphany and basically overcomes her depression by just "deciding" to. This is super problematic because that's not how depression works.

And as much as I liked Chatham and though their tentative romance was very cute, he was such a flat and bland character. His full personality was "nice" and with all his volunteering and being friends with EVERYONE and being a top sport player and looking after his autistic sister...it was just piling on all this "perfection" that by the end felt over the top and annoying. I like flawed and realistic characters.

I also found the plot really slow. Most of it's set in a classroom and that totally bored me. Don't we read books to escape mundane things like school?!

So while the epilepsy aspects were really well written, the ableist undertones and lack of plot ruined this book for me.

FirstLine ~ My mother lost her mind today, and I'm going to prison.

This book is jam packed with every emotion, so if you read this book get ready for the feels because you will have them from the start of this book to the very end. It is one of those reads that grabs you and does not let go. From the very first line to the last you will be fully present in this book. What a treat Hoyle has given to her readers. Amazing!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Summary: Emilie may seem like any other teenager but she is hiding a secret--she suffers from Epilepsy. And now, her mother and doctor have decided that it'd be in her best interest to attend public school rather than continued being homeschooled because "she needs to be more socialized" (especially considering that her best friend is her four-legged assistant dog, Hitch. While Emilie learns to navigate her way through high school, classes, crushes, making friends, and hiding her Epilepsy, she learns to live with who she really is.

Rating: I gave this one four out of five stars. I don't think there was anything WRONG with it, I just didn't feel like much happened.

First of all, the connection to Emily Dickinson was appropriate and relevant especially considering that Emilie is much like Dickinson (safe to say that Hoyle modeled Emilie after Dickinson--I don't know enough about Dickinson to fully draw this conclusion). I also like that each chapter started with a relevant line or a few lines from a Dickinson poem. Each line captured the central idea of each chapter and I appreciated this quite a bit.

I'm not entirely sure that this book helped me better understand Epilepsy as I was hoping that it would. Emilie bothered me because she is basically the stereotypical angsty teenager. She's annoyed and angry with her mom for dating someone new, even though it's been three years since Emilie lost her father to cancer. There are points when she even thinks to herself that she is acting like a brat and, yet, she can't stop.

I was oaky with the romance in this one (I'm NOT a big romance-reader but this one was okay). It seemed believable and I genuinely liked Chatham. I appreciate that Hoyle didn't make another "badass" the love interest of this story. I'm happy that "a good guy" got to win for a change and, now that I think about it, Emilie is the brat in my eyes!

Overall, I think my students who've loved "All the Bright Places" or "The Fault in Our Stars" might enjoy this read though this one is NOWHERE as sad as this one.

As soon as I started reading The Thing With Feathers by McCall Hoyle I was captivated and it held me all the way through.

Written in the first person, Emilie's story, her struggles, her challenges, her gifts really appealed to me. She is a bright, intelligent girl, up until the story opens she has been home-schooled, but now she faces into the jungle of high school and her counsellor's and mother's bidding. Up until now she has been safe at home, now she must face the scary new faces and situations.

Emilie has epileptic seizures and is terrified that she will have one while at school. She endeavours to keep herself distanced from people there, but soon finds herself drawn into a couple of really important relationships. But hanging over her head is the fact that she has not shared that she suffers from epilepsy.

It seems that some of the girls envy her new budding relationship with Chatham, a golden haired sports hero who benefits from a little tutoring from Emilie, who has a real feel for books and poetry. I loved the references to Emily Dickinson, even though I am not familiar with her poetry - although now I feel myself drawn to read some of her poems and that of Walt Whitman as well. Anyone I suspect who knows the poetry of Dickinson will recognise the title of this book.

I liked watching the relationship unfold between Emilie and her mother, and their struggle with the loss of Emilie's Dad three years before and the way that things are beginning to change.

Emilie has a service dog called Hitch - so loveable, his awareness of Emilie was just adorable.

The book moved along at a great pace, it was one of those books that was so easy to read and left me a little bereft when I had to leave all the characters behind. A refreshing read.

This book was so real and emotional while taking on the subject of epilepsy. Emilie is a teenager who has had epilepsy since elementary school. She has stayed cooped up at home almost her entire life, and she has lost her father to cancer. One day Emilie's mother decides that Emilie should go to public high school instead of being home schooled. Emilie ends up making friends with several people and developing a relationship with Chatham, a popular and athletic boy who sits by her in English class. Throughout the story, Emilie learns to let go of the past and courageously embrace the future as she and her mother navigate some difficult circumstances. Will Emilie continue her new relationships, or will the fear of her health take over?
I could probably count on one hand the number of books I have read with characters that have epilepsy (and I read all the time). I thought this book dealt with the disease very well and portrayed the various emotions someone who has seizures would experience on a daily basis. I know a couple of people who have seizures, so this book helped me see their experience in a different way. This is a clean read with realistic characters that came alive for me as I read. I highly recommend this book (but keep the tissues handy).
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Emilie is perfectly fine staying in the safety of her home with her mom and best friend (her seizure dog). She disagrees with her mom and her therapist: attending public school is not a good idea. She doesn't want to be known as "that girl that has seizures." When Emilie starts school, she makes a decision not to tell anyone about her epilepsy. As she gets closer to her friends and a boy she's paired with her decision not to reveal her medical condition becomes more and more critical. But it's been months since Emilie seized, so she'll be okay, right?

THOUGHTS: Readers will fly through this light-hearted and realistic sweet novel about what it means to be different and what lengths we will go to hide our differences. With a compelling storyline - Will she or won't she tell? Will she or won't she seize? - readers will fall in love with Emilie as she experiences public school, friendship, and first love.

The Thing with Feathers is a fabulous debut novel that deeply explores epilepsy. Though the main character has epilepsy, the novel focuses more on the connections between people -- mothers and daughters, friends, love. This is a very thoughtful book and I would recommend it to all teenagers, whether they have epilepsy or know someone who does or don't know anything about it at all. This book provides a beautiful window into the life of a teenager, with all of her challenges and complexities.

Emilie has epilepsy, a fact she wants to hide as she begins high school life. This novel packs in many other issues: grieving loss of a parent, domestic abuse, and other family dysfunctions, but at its heart, it is a predictable light teen romance. Recommended for younger teen readers who enjoy happy endings.