Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I really enjoy this series and believe it holds such an important and valuable storyline that many need to read and be aware of. A beautiful ending to Grace's journey and highly recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

I feel a little betrayed by this book. I had no idea it was part of a series--much less the finale. From the title and description, I would have thought it had more to do with your "average" mental illness. I was hoping for some wisdom and inspiration, which is something I definitely needed in that department as a teen.

I do appreciate that there is starting to be coverage on eating disorders. I know it's something a lot of people deal with, but rarely talk about, so it's nice to know there's a series out there for them.

I feel like I was too far behind everything to have come in at the end. And having read the last, I can't say I'd go back and read the first two.

*thank you to Netgalley, Julia Tannenbaum and Wicked Whale Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*


4 stars.


This is the 3rd and final book in this series and quite a good one at that. I had read books 1 and 2 right before reading this so it was all fresh in my mind.

I prefered this book to number 2 as it focused more on Grace's ED. I felt book 2 lacked in that department so I was really pleased when the focus of calories and a lot of the daily thoughs and feeling that come with it, were present in this final installment. It gives the reader a more accurate account of what goes on in an Anorexic's mind even when they are in recovery.

There were two other backstories in this, Grace's best friend Lou and Grace's Sibling, Jamie. Both I found to be great additions to the book. I really liked Jamie and Grace's relationship.

I would definitely recommend this series but as I said in my review of the previous books, it does still feel like it's only a mild look into Anorexia. I can't say too much more on why this is as it will give too much away, but as someone who has had an Eating Disorder for 30 years, I can say there was a LOT left out of this book.

I also want to add that I really like the covers for this series.

This story has a lot of triggering content, which made me feel like it wasn't worth to finish, especially because I couldn't connect with anything, neither the plot nor the characters. This may partly be due to the fact that I haven't read the other books in the series, which I didn't know at the time of request, and have no interest in reading; this review was enough of a motivation to finish one book, but I don't think I could drag it further two other books.

I picked up this book with lots of interest, however I was unable to finish the book as it was too triggering personally for me during the time period that I read. I will definitely try to revisit the book at a later date when I believe that I will be less triggered so I can publish my full, detailed review.

Choosing Life gives a look into the reality of recovering from an eating disorder and is a very good red on top of that I couldn't put the book down

Choosing Life is the third book in the Changing Ways series by Julia Tannenbaum. Although easily read as a standalone, I would like to go back and read the series in order.

We all know teens/adults with eating disorders. Grace's journey is realistic and written with care. A senior in high school, and trying to recover from her eating issues, she still has a long way to go.

I enjoy the varied representation throughout the story, including a non-binary character.

I would definitely recommend Choosing Life to anyone who's looking for a high school character who's struggling with a mental illness, eating disorder or other. On the other hand, if eating disorders are a trigger for you, run fast and far from this book. Grace's issues with food are described and explored in heavy detail.

<i>Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Grace Edwards, a senior in high school, hasn't necessarily had the easiest high school experience. Fighting against an eating disorder, she's teetering between recovery and relapse, which is only one of the many issues she's experiencing between herself, her friend, her family, and her school. With her first year of college just around the corner, Grace must make some big decisions before she's off to a new, unfamiliar environment.

When I requested <i>Choosing Life,</i> I had no idea it was the third book in a series. I am keeping this in mind while writing my review because I know that any of my confusion regarding previous events that took place in this series was most likely due to the fact that I didn't read the other books in the series, rather than it being the fault of the author. Even without reading the other books, I still thought this was easy to follow.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed <i>Choosing Life.</i> At times, Grace wasn't the most likable character yet I was still able to empathize with her. I thought the writing style felt very authentic for a teenage voice and I think quite a few people in their teens to early twenties will appreciate some of the pop culture references in this book, as they felt shockingly similar to what I was surrounded with when growing up. There was also a decent amount of depth to this story that made it feel so real and much bigger than just the main character. I think it's very easy to get caught up in your own problems, especially when you're struggling with mental illness, so I thought Julia Tannenbaum was both careful yet realistic when portraying what it's like to accidentally miss what's happening right in front of you. This was such a great take on personal growth and finding hope without feeling too cheesy or preachy.

Overall, I would recommend <i>Choosing Life</i> to anyone looking for a high school centered contemporary fiction book that deals with mental illness. (Also, bonus points for adding a nonbinary sibling!) However, I think it's important to remember that the main character has an eating disorder and her thoughts regarding her relationship with food are described in detail, so this may not be suitable content for everyone.

Trigger warnings: eating disorders (including descriptions of not wanting to eat and calorie counting), a very brief mentioning of suicide, bullying, cancer, death (not of a major character)

I got an ARC of this book.

I tried to like this book, but there were a lot of issues. The first being I didn't know it was a third book in a series, which is totally on me. I was able to understand what was happening just reading the book descriptions of the other books, but I think I missed a lot of who was supposed to be important and why.

The issues go so beyond that though. The book has the mom casually going "oh, didn't you know so-and-so has an eating disorder?" I was so annoyed. That was not something for the mom to share. It rubbed me such the wrong way that I couldn't stomach whenever that character was on the page any more. It felt so much like what my mother did. Just a huge no.

The book was also super graphic in eating disorders. There was descriptions of calories and a lot of descriptions of food. There were tons of things that could have done with trigger warnings that I did not see. I was not in a place where I could handle some of the topics. I knew this wouldn't be an easy book, but still.

The characters were flat. Everything was told and not shown. There were unclear flashbacks. I really didn't find anything about this book I liked, so I stopped reading. Maybe if I had started in the first book I would have liked this one more, but the writing was also a problem so I don't think that would have solved too much. I really wanted to like it.

Thank you Netgally and the author for granting me an arc for this third book in the series. All opinions are my own.

Overall I really enjoyed this story, again, it took me some time to get back into it, because I read the first two parts in January and February, so some details were a bit foggy. The amount of representation about mental health and lgbtq+ was amazing and well done.

I’m glad with how the book progressed. Sometimes even I became angry at the main character about their progress, but it made me understand her position more. I think I learned a lot from this book about how people with anorexia struggle with food. I don’t have anorexia myself, but I know someone who does and I actually think I understand better, even though not one person has the same struggles.

The story is well written and realistic and describes perfectly how hard it can be to live with a mental disorder.

I recomend people to read this series. It reads quickly and completely engrosses you.

I'm sending digital praise and applause to Julia Tannenbaum's work, and highlighting this author's new work, Choosing Life, in this post. Tannenbaum draws on her own experience and crafts a book that is well-written, with appeal for a young adult audience, as well as older readers.

Tannenbaum gives us a main character, Grace, whose journey we can now trace across three books. Grace is written believably through internal dialogue and conversations with other characters. She exemplifies the search for identity that is such a prevalent theme in human experience, and Tannenbaum weaves a story around this theme that is elegantly accomplished.

Choosing Life is yet another beautiful book from an author worth sharing with a wide audience.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

Warnings: Eating Disorders talked about pretty in-depth, self-harm/scar references, therapy scenes, a nonbinary character that is bullied

This is actually the third in a series which I didn't realise until after I had read the book. I wasn't confused during this book as all flashbacks and past events were explained quite well! It is quite nice to read this perspective because I am sure many people do not know the struggles of EDs and the impact of it. There is a nonbinary character that is misgendered (most of the time it is a mistake) which I personally found uncomfortable, especially when the main character didn't correct people on their sibling's pronouns.

Definitely look at the warnings/tags for this book but overall, it was pretty good!

Rating: 3⭐
Would I Read It Again? Maybe
Would I Recommend it? Yes

Well I accidently read the third book in a series first 🙈.... However, from my experience in reading this whatever I needed to know from the first two books was mentioned and concisely. So I think if you read it as a standalone or first then I think you'll be ok.

To the content itself, it discusses someone who is recovering from an eating disorder and self harm so know that going in that there may be some restricting of food, suicidal thoughts and overall negativity with bullying involved in this book. There is also grief and cancer triggers as well.

There are however some good points like discussion with a therapist, a lot of fantastic representation on different sexual representation such as someone who is non-binary with also some representation on mental health other than recovery from an eating disorder.

In this particular book, it's all about recovery and how someone can cope with the past year of their life and how crazy it can be. It truly resonated with me because even though I don't have an eating disorder, there is something else in my life going on that made me feel for the main character. I think overall though if you don't feel that way you might find her annoying (but that's how teens can be you know). I also did appreciate that there was no romance in this novel although I know there were snippets in others.

Overall, enjoying myself would be the wrong thing to say here. Its more like I was enlightened by this book and glad I read it. Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked Whale Publishing for the ARC!

Recovery is never easy, and it's almost all the more difficult to settle back into normal life after. My adjustment was three and a half years ago, but it still feels quite recent. I was lucky enough to head into college, but Grace went back into the fire: her home, and high school.

Grace's struggles with her eating disorder and anxiety are present throughout the novel She's living on the edge of her discomfort, and pushing herself past and through it. Though she's having some minor relapses, she's doing her best to practice self-care and is succeeding. She struggles with being triggered, and her triggers are handled with respect, as are her reactions. The book ends with a triumph, a hope, and some uncertainly about the future, tempered with the strong hint that she would be doing well.

And sometimes, that's all we can ask for, isn't it?