Overall, I liked the story! But there was too much hatred/anger/selfishness for me to want to read this and get excited for a happy ending, or at least an ending

Ellie is angry. She doesn't want to be back at the hospital. She wants to know why she's sick. And she wants her mom to stop blogging about her life.

What an insightful read about a teenager navigating chronic illness. The author notes that she, too, dealt with a period of medical complications growing up and I can only imagine that Ellie's fears in the hospital are also the author's fears.

I've always wondered how children presented in these medical blogs would feel once they get older knowing strangers have read such intimate details of their life. This was a great topic to focus on and questions when exactly can a child consent for how their life is portrayed and even treated.

3.5⭐ Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I can not say enough about this book. It was unique and had me wanting to learn more about Vater syndrome

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

I chose this book because I thought the title was interesting, and the cover was so cute! Ellie Haycock is a high school girl who essentially lives a Hannah Montana double-life: she has her school friends and a rocky relationship with her boyfriend, while having an entirely different group of friends (and crush??) at the hospital and community home. Although determined to keep these lives separate, she battles her mom's blogging, her friends' optimism, and her own distrust in the medical system in an effort to live as normal a life as possible.

This was exactly the kind of book I would have loved in early high school, when books about childhood medical trauma dominated the library shelves. I thought that Ellie was a character that I really wanted everything to work out for, and she was surrounded by quirky, positive, and unique friends. She not only tackled issues with her family, as most teens do, but really had to fight an internal battle and do some growing up by the end of the book. I also really appreciated that (spoiler alert!) no one died. I feel like death, while an obviously significant and traumatic life event, can help to shape characters, it's not the ONLY thing that can cause trauma. Ellie's medical and familial issues were so complex, and I really appreciated that the author took the time and energy to create much more nuanced issues for Ellie to explore and overcome. She was surrounded by great friends, caring family, and resilience to tackle challenges, and made her a much more empowering character.

Overall, this was an enjoyable YA book, and I think a lot of middle and high schoolers would really enjoy this! (It would also make a great TV miniseries/movie...)

Ellie Hancock was born with a disfiguring and debilitating syndrome that requires regular surgeries and hospital stays. She's separated her life into two parts - regular Ellie and hospital Ellie - and never the twain shall meet. At home, she tries to be as "normal" as she can be, active in speech and debate club and with her boyfriend. In the hospital, she has a separate set of friends. When the two world collide and her at-home boyfriend visits her in the hospital, she's not quite sure how to handle it.

This book has great representation of people who are dealing with chronic illness. It brings to light, the "medical industrial complex" that often overlooks the needs of the patient in favor of the bottom line, and the impact of chronic illness on family dynamics and relationships. However, I struggled with the story at times, trying to understand Ellie's point of view about her friends from home. It was hard to follow at times.

All in all, the positives outweigh the negatives and I enjoyed this book.

Thank you St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

I genuinely enjoyed this YA read. Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ebook in exchange for an honest review. A solid little story about a teenage girl trying to be a normal teenage girl except that’s challenging when you have medical needs and have spent a lot of time in the hospital.

But because I’m a mom and have spent my fair share of time in the hospital and doctor’s offices with my kids- I really related to the mom in this book. It becomes a chore to update everyone who wants updates and then because you’re helping- you continue… I definitely appreciated the daughters insight to mom’s blog.

But take all the medical drama out and it’s just a girl getting to know a boy she likes. Managing different friend groups. Tough teenage stuff.

Overall a good story, this read like a cross between a memoir and fiction, if that’s possible. Which was interesting. You could tell how much knowledge went into writing this book, the middle was a little slow for my taste, but non the less still an great read.

Review: Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal by Gretchen Schreiber

Ellie’s coming of age story is unique and immersing. Schreiber’s personal foreword at the beginning of the novel sets the stage for a meaningful exploration of what it means to live with disability as a child and the ins and outs of respectful and meaningful interactions.

I absolutely loved the characters in this story. They were great to connect with and learn from. I liked the development of the community throughout the story. It was akin to a found family story (my favourite).

Ellie, the protagonist, was a force to be reckoned with and her character development was careful and personalized. I liked how she stayed true to herself while learning how to be open and make meaningful connections.

This coming of age novel is an important addition to your tbr list. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

A sweet and charming book I wasn't expecting. Ellie is such a lovely character. An angsty, stubborn teen going through all the normal things a teenager experiences, while dealing with her VATERs syndrome. A great book for a YA audience.

This book hit close to home having grown up with a childhood best friend going through cancer treatments, however it gave me a very different perspective. I enjoyed Ellie’s voice through the book but at times the book seemed repetitive and the pacing was slow for me. Over all I thought it was a good read

When I first requested this book, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. It wasn’t exactly what the description promised, but I liked it anyways. I learned a lot about how children with medical problems are treated by doctors but also their families. I also learned a lot about different conditions I never would’ve known about.
I think the epilogue was a bit rushed, but I’m also someone who loves a good epilogue.

This novel dove into a lot of the trials and tribulations of being a teen and also having a life-altering disease. The main character, Ellie, was relatable but also exhausting and hard to like.

This one was a bit rough for me. I thought I was getting a romance. This is more Chick Lit. I wasn’t a huge fan of Ellie. She was a bit toooo stubborn. So much so that she often made it difficult for herself and that grew tiresome. Her character arc was also limited to the end of the novel, so I feel like it wasn’t as flushed out as it should have been.

I struggled with this book, while I like the idea of Ellie and learning the world through her eyes, it was really hard to read. She is so angry with everyone that I had a tough time trying to connect with her. I really hope the author writes another book from the other main characters sides at some point though.

A poignant novel about a rare disability, VATER syndrome, that requires frequent hospitalizations for MC Ellie Haycock. She learns to separate her real life friends from her hospital friends while her Mom blogs publicly about her illness. Written with great heart by the author, who has the same syndrome.

Oh Ellie, I wish I was your friend so I could tell you that you are enough. This book is an honest and beautiful look at what it is like to grow up with a disability, specifically what hospital life does to your life-life. Thank you for this ARC!

Ellie Haycock is a bundle of laughs, cries, and utmost enjoyable reading experience! Grab this one, your towel, and sunnies, and head to the beach! The perfect summer read!

Ellie Haycock is straddling two worlds and not very successfully. As a teenager with VACTERL syndrome, hospitals and surgeries have become, if not a normal part of her life, then a very common occurrence. When she's not having surgeries to correct the disease's many debilitating effects, she wants to live as normal a life as possible - hanging out with her boyfriend Jack, her friend Brooke, winning speech competitions and dreaming of being an actress. Unfortunately, a mysterious lung ailment has her back in the hospital's Family Home among the typically temporary friendships there, contemplating another scary surgery that may (or may not) be what gets her back to her "real" life. What's more terrifying than another surgery, though, is when Ellie's desperate attempts to keep her two lives separate, sheltering her "normal" friends from the cruel realities of her disability and eagerly leaving behind her "hospital" friends in between surgeries threaten to alienate everyone she loves.

Ellie is a vivid, if occasionally frustrating, narrator. Faced with her "normal" friends during her hospital time, she can't bear to share even the smallest tidbit of what she's going through. Instead, she quickly makes a group of hospital friends, including Caitlin, another teen with VACTERLs, Luis with the "little c" cancer, an overly chipper volunteer named Veronica, and prickly Ryan Kim who changes her perspective and maybe...her heart? The unique setting makes fast friendships and perhaps even some romance more believable than they would otherwise be.

This book gives readers an inside look into the struggle of being a constant patient without ever having the luxury of being able to hope to leave the hospital cured. Ellie's frustration with the constant swing of the pendulum between what she considers her to be her real life and her life in the hospital is palpable. Additionally, her mother is one of those parents who shares her whole life story via a blog, that as she grows older, feels more and more invasive. If you've ever seen a blog/Facebook page/Instagram, etc. featuring a very sick or disabled kid and wondered how weird it would be to be that kid, this book is for you.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal is an excellent coming of age book with a welcome unique perspective on disability that mingles tough topics like medical autonomy, not being heard by doctors, and privacy with the more typical page-turning stuff of romance and friendship drama. At times it felt like everything was happening a little too quickly, Ellie was a little too obtuse about reality, and the dialogue had a tendency to reference thoughts that were more implied than actually written which left me feeling occasionally like I'd missed something. In the end, though, I was touched by Ellie's discovery that all her lives add up to just one and that there is healing to be found in letting people in.

Ellie Haycock is totally normal. Well, aside from attempting to keep two parts of her life completely separate from one another while she navigates living with Vater Syndrome, but according to her (not Caitlin) that's totally normal. When her school life collides with her hospital life, Ellie must decide if her original prognosis was correct. Does everyone outside the Home eventually find hospital life too much to handle? Are hospital friendships really fleeting after all and does she even want them to end anymore now that she's met a new group of friends?

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal doesn't sugarcoat illnesses. Unlike other books, we don't have quotable characters living to inspire those who haven't had to experience the pain, heartache, and confusion of hospital life. We have Ellie and she's telling it like it is no matter how uncomfortable it gets. The relationships in this book are difficult for our main character to navigate, including the relationship with her mom, and they feel more genuine for it. This book will stick with you.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I appreciate the topic of this book. I don’t believe there are a ton of medical stories out there like this one. I love that it didn’t feel forced or full of Hallmark happy endings. It tells a more real story than that which can help build empathy for the characters and the unique situations they are in. The theme of found/chosen family runs deep in this book as well.

Unfortunately this book did not hit the mark for me in terms of writing or character development. I found Ellie to be a difficult character to like. I understand she is going through a lot but it was challenging to root for her in relationships. Ellies relationship with her mother was troublesome. I wasn’t sure whose side I was supposed to be on. Maybe that was the point? However it just made me dislike them both. Some of the side characters were interesting and had a bit more personality, but the writing didn’t serve those characters well. They needed more time and more nuance in their own stories for their characters to be more effective in Ellie’s story.