Overall really enjoyed this. Had actually struggled with the ebook and tried the audiobook and enjoyed it much more! There was a lot of angst at times, but Ellie is a character with a lot of fire and anger about her situation, as she had a right to. Overall a really solid and important YA

Ellie’s life hasn’t been easy or “normal” – she spends almost as much time in hospitals as she does at home. She’s done a good job at keeping these two parts of her life separate, despite her mother’s blog documenting every step of their journey. But this time, Ellie makes friends during her hospital stay, one of whom she realizes she might have growing feelings for. But Ellie doesn’t know how to have faith in her doctors or her friends, and it might just cause more problems than she realizes.

Let me start by saying that I really liked the premise of this work and what the author wanted to do with it. The representation was solid, and I liked seeing a YA book that emphasized what it’s like for teens who are in the hospital so often. There were many details included that are going to be beneficial for folks who haven’t really considered what this scenario would be like. This should have made for a compelling read, but the work ended up falling short for me.

Some of my main issues came from the characters. Ellie was not a compelling protagonist. She was excessively jaded. I get how that’s perfectly reasonable given the situation and the things she had to deal with, but there were no positive or compelling aspects of her character to balance the anger and hate out, so she ended up being quite repetitive/annoying as the whole book is told from her POV. She also firmly believed until the very end of the book that no one in her life would understand what she was going through unless they also happened to be in a hospital long term. This ended up being true in her case because she tried zero times to explain anything to anyone. This was part of the point of the story, but it wasn’t incorporated in a way that was meaningful – we weren’t given a compelling reason for Ellie to feel this way, so again, her stubbornness just became frustrating.

Unfortunately, I also felt no chemistry was present in the romance. This book would have been much stronger if the author had focused on creating a strong friendship rather than forcing romance on the characters. There was also a major subplot relating to Ellie’s mom and her blog detailing Ellie’s life. I had a couple issues with this. Blog posts were included between the chapters, starting from when Ellie was a baby in order to provide some background on her and her family’s situation. However, the posts were often quite long, and it just didn’t mesh well with the primary plot. Shorter and fewer posts would have strengthened the story. There was conflict between Ellie and her mom surrounding the blog, and they both came off as selfish and unreasonable, which didn’t make for a compelling subplot.

This book has a good message and representation, but it wasn’t executed in a way that made reading this enjoyable. I’m sure some folks will really love this one, but it didn’t work for me. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this work, which will be published March 5, 2024. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC.

This book is so funny and heart_breaking. I laughed and I cried. Ellie is such a a wonderful character and I think relatable even to people without a rare illness. I thought this book was brilliant and I loved every page.

I was really hoping to love this book, but I struggled to get into it. I liked Ellie, and the premise of the story was good but I had a hard time with the fact that her friends outside of the hospital setting knew nothing of her illness, like, nothing, especially since her mom had a popular blog. But, that being said, I still liked it. Having 5 teenagers myself, her character felt very realistic. I would still recommend this book especially to teens.

I have VACTERL, which the main character in this book has, and I I have never seen a VACTERL character in a novel and in this book there are TWO. There’s also romance, turbulent and brand new friendships, and Battlestar Galactica. The battle between keeping two separate identities - the disabled one and the “normal” one.
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I can’t review this book. It’s too personal to me. But what I can do is tell you what it means to me to see someone with my condition being on bookshelves… It’s freeing. It’s heartwarming. It would make me cry happy tears, if my tear ducts worked properly, because I grew up reading books with normative and able bodied characters. Characters I read about didn’t have missing limbs and organs and surgical scars. They have bleached white teeth and were normal.
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If you are a VACTERL adult, buy this book. If you are a mom of a VACTERL kid, especially a teen girl, buy this book. It doesn’t come out until March 5, but pre-order it now.

I enjoyed this different YA story. We don’t often get characters dealing with an illness like this and it was good to see this represented. A cute story.

This book follows Ellie Haycock, a teen girl with VATERs, who tries to keep her “normal” like and hospital life separate. As much as she wants to, she is finding it harder to do that with her latestu trip to the hospital.

As much as I wanted to love this book, I just had the hardest time trying to get into it and finishing. It took pure determination to not DNF. I found myself not even wanting to pick it up. The main character was pretty annoying and seemed to just walk around with a negative attitude no matter what. Nobody likes a pessimistic person.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of this is exchange for an honest review!

Fairly predictable rom com but it was still a good read that I enjoyed. I would also recommend this one.

This was a 5+ star read for me. And, when it’s going to be finally released I could be caught forcing it upon anyone who will give me the time of day because seriously, it was that good of a read.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal is an enjoyable YA coming of age novel. I loved the cast of characters and the different disability reps. It's a YA novel and sometimes it did read young, but that's to be expected. Overall a nice contemporary romance read!

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It’s well written with great insight into the world of life changing disabilities, while still trying to remain ‘normal’..

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC!

"Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal" by Gretchen Schreiber offers a unique glimpse into the life of Ellie, a teenager with a chronic illness, navigating the challenges of adolescence, friendship, and the complexities of living with a medical condition.

What I enjoyed the most in this book was the portrayal of Ellie's friends is highlighted, with particular praise for their unwavering support even when Ellie may not want it. The genuine camaraderie among friends was really heartwarming, and I think would really help make a connection with a teen reader who may be going through the same thing and wants to make sure they won’t be alone.

I also liked the focus on the mom’s blog and the consequences of the blog on her daughter. I think this is such an important topic right now due to all the family vloggers out there who put all their children’s information on the Internet, especially the more private information. I know the mom’s purpose in the blog was to bring awareness to Ellie’s medical condition, but I also don’t think it’s right to put so much personal information out on the Internet for everyone to see, especially personal information about a minor. So, the author exploring this concept kept me engaged throughout the book.

Ellie as a character is, I thought, too jaded and stubborn. While I do think her behavior is realistic due to her age and background, I did still found it challenging to cheer for her due to these traits. The romance was well-developed, though I found it a little difficult to connect to, maybe again because of Ellie’s character.

All in all, I really appreciated the positive message of the importance of owning one's story and autonomy. The book explores typical teen issues while delving into non-typical aspects, such as the balancing act of sharing medical experiences online. I think this book offers a good glimpse into a hidden world, providing a realistic illustration of being a teen with a chronic illness and navigating the road to adulthood. The potential for it to serve as a discussion starter for both teens and parents is something to note for readers, maybe parents wanting to find books with representation for their children.

With comps of The Breakfast Club meets Five Feet Apart this debut YA coming of age novel had me very intrigued in. With this vibrant cover my heart was not prepared for Ellie’s story/reality.

The audiobook opened up with a great note from the author which set the tone for what was to come. I haven’t read many stories like this one. The POV of a young character advocating for herself with medical professionals as well as having to ask to be the one to tell your own story on your own time.

There is a bit of a romance throughout but what really stood out to me was the friendships! There were so many great details/situations throughout the book that made me reflect and I think this will be a very eye opening book for many and hopefully someone will see themselves in Ellie’s character.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio
Releases 3/5

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A story about teenagers in unfortunate situations. All going through different things, but brought together by illness.

Ellie is leading 2 different lives with different friend groups. Trying to keep them completely separate from each other is proving to be hard. Especially with a mom who blogs every minute of her life. Eventually she realizes that she it’s ok for her 2 worlds to come together, and that she can tell her mom to stop posting all of her medical issues online.

I enjoyed the book. Character development was great.

Too much romance with low connection but the core story was great, and well told. I just found the romance part weaker. Thanks for the arc

A REALLY great YA coming of age debut featuring a teen girl with a very unique condition that includes several serious disabilities and who also has a mommy blogger mother who has spent several years sharing her medical history with the world and just wants to be able to be a 'normal' highschooler.

This book discusses difficult topics from finding love with a physical disability, having autonomy over your own story and advocating for yourself with medical professionals. Highly relatable and great on audio narrated by my absolute fav, Natalie Naudus!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!!

This is a great YA read. It addresses the difficulty of living in two worlds, the one where Ellie is in the hospital, and the one where Ellie is in school and a normal teenager. This book could be so helpful for teens who deal with health issues, but also for teens who feel like they are different people in different situations and places. I really enjoyed this one.

This book delivers meaningful messages about personal agency and the value of authentic friendships. However, Ellie's persistent stubbornness left me continually frustrated, as she seemed unable to acknowledge the positivity around her. At times, she became her own obstacle, and the hurried transformation at the end felt somewhat forced.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Ellie splits her life according to two things: Ellie at home and Ellie at the hospital. She doesn't want them overlapping. But when they crash into each other, she's forced to take a good look at her friends, boyfriend, and those who surround her while she's undergoing testing and treatment for her current bought of illness. Can she learn something new this time around?
I was excited to read a story about someone with chronic illness. The summary made the book seem like we'd be seeing a lot of Ellie's life overlapping. And, while there was some, much of the focus is on her hospital stay and the people she interacts with there.
I will say, I'm not sure how she kept so much a secret from her friends. I cannot see how this would happen with a chronic illness. How could she not see this would cause problems when things were revealed to her friends and boyfriend. It just made no sense to me. And how can she even know what they will and will not understand and accept if she never allows them to see who she really is. Her chronic illness should not define her but at the same time it is part of who she is and sharing this with those you care for would be essential for me.
Ellie's character honestly annoyed me. She was super jaded. And while I can understand this, she just didn't seem to even want to grow. She's super stubborn and barely sees the good around her. I was super frustrated with her during the whole story.
I will say. I scanned much of the book towards the end just to get through it. The pacing for the story was super slow and I felt like I was always waiting for something to happen and it just never did.
Overall, I didn't love the progression of the story. I'm sure it's for some but just wasn't really for me.

A wonderful and inspirational representation of chronic illness. The nuances of medical-related trauma are not often depicted in such an accurate way.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The only reason for my 3-star review is the pacing was slower than I could stay interested in. It took me a while to read it because of that.