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.

I have my review saved and ready to post on social media once St Martins Press addresses the three demands of the Readers for Accountability boycott.

Ellie has a chronic illness and as a result has separated her life into hospital Ellie and home Ellie. At home she is a member of the speech and debate team, and at the hospital she rolls with the punches.

When her latest hospital stay ends up merging home Ellie and hospital Ellie’s worlds, she starts to wonder if she really needs to keep things so separate or if she can just live one life.

This is one of those books that you can just feel the amount of heart that it was written with oozing off the page. I read the author’s note at the beginning of the book, and I was thankful for that. I think knowing that this one was loosely based on the author’s own experiences, made me enjoy it so much more.

While this is a YA book, I do think that you need to be on the more mature end to read it. Yes, the characters are teenagers, but the topics covered are very heavy. Chronic illnesses are in my book a heavy yet delicate topic, and the author did a wonderful job portraying the character in a non-discriminatory way. I do think that the character development could have been a little deeper as I felt like we barely scratched the surface, but I enjoyed learning more about the illness. I did enjoy what a strong character that Ellie was, and it was easy to see how her experiences helped shape her into such a strong young woman.

This is a beautifully written novel and it’s worth a read. I enjoyed learning more about this illness that I had never heard of.

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books, @Wednesdaybooks and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I received it as part of the influencer program.

Ellie is a teen living with a chronic illness and we follow her on her next medical journey. She is staying at the hospital residential home (think, Ronald McDonald House) and meets friends old and new that help her through this procedure.

This was slow to start and I wasn’t sure about it at first. I was not connecting with the characters or the material. I even wanted to DNF at one point because all of the unanswered medical questions were hitting too close to home. But by about a third of the way in I found my groove. I love the Tumor Squad and want to adopt them into my make-believe family of fictional characters! I thought this was a very believable representation of disability, chronic illness, and the impact it has on the individual and their caregivers and friends.

Well, it did make me cry, just to warn you. A very good YA novel about chronic illnesses and dealing with that as well as the tangle of the teenage years. You find yourself rooting for Ellie through the entire story. Very vulnerable, likeable characters as well.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

Thank you to #netgalley and #wednesdaybooks for the gifted copy of this book.

This book was such a delight to read. The characters were so raw and I needed that in this book. I can tell that Gretchen Schreiber put her heart and soul into a book that would most represent her teenage years. This book will make you cry and laugh and make your heart warm and fuzzy.
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Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal - she really is! She goes to school, participates in a club, has friends, a crush on a boy, etc. There's just one thing different about her.. she has a severe medical condition that has required multiple surgeries, treatments, and hospital stays over her entire life. This book is about her journey through part of life, growing up while trying to manage her health issues along with friends, school, family, and all 0f the other typical problems a high school girl experiences.

I really liked this book. Ellie is such a strong character, and her friends are great. I especially loved all of the information about her medical condition - I am a nerd, and it was super interesting to me.

I am looking forward to reading more books by this author in the future!

This was a very insightful book. Although the author states she can't speak to anyone else's experiences, she did a great job opening up my eyes to the emotional, financial and relationship strain having a chronic illness does to you. There were so many parts of the book where I was made aware of how illness can take over your whole life and how necessary it is to have advocates and friends who are there for you.
This may be a lot to handle for anyone going through medical procedures or being close to someone going through it but there were a lot of good coping mechanisms and emotional empathy that may be of help to other readers.
I really enjoyed this book and thank the author for bringing it into my life.