Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal was a really sweet YA story about a girl hiding her illness from her home friends as she just wants to be seen as "normal." As she builds relationships and friendships with other kids being treated at the same facility as her, she realizes they see her for who she really is and she comes to really love and appreciate that after a big breakdown. Her mother, who dedicates her life to her blog that chronicles her daughter's illness, much to her dismay, is a big storyline as well. The book touches on many topics, some difficult and sad but ultimately, it ends on an uplifting note of acceptance. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for an eARC version of this novel! Opinions are my own.

#EllieHaycockIsTotallyNormal transported me back to a time when I was in and out of hospitals and doctors' offices. When I became a spectacle with rare conditions that every person in scrubs wanted to see for themselves. When the operating room became both haunting and familiar. @greth_schreiber beautifully explores the myriad of emotions and complexities of the roles we play and the relationships we navigate. She pulls the curtain open and puts words to an experience that is often difficult to describe, and I am forever grateful for that.

Thank you again to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review and to Gretchen Schreiber for giving so many a voice.

I really enjoyed this book. I especially appreciate that the main character isn't serving as a kind of martyr or saint because of her disability. We see her struggle, but we also see her as a person with a boyfriend and friends, in spite of her disability and with her disability as a large part of her life. As a person with chronic illness myself, I see some of the struggles I've faced - being told by a doctor that your symptoms are "psychosomatic" was something that stood out to me and made me want to scream for Ellie! There needs to be more books for young people with disabilities and chronic written by authors with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Thank you for this book, Gretchen Schreiber!

i’m submitting the reviews for books by you that I already have, but I will never request another one. In October one of your employees made a horribly racist statement and you have chosen to do nothing about it. People have continuously asked you to say that you don’t stand with what the employee said, and you refuse to. This is not someone who I want to promote ever because you are sending the wrong message. These reviews will not be posted on social media because you don’t deserve the promotion. By not speaking out you are also not preventing your followers from stalking and harassing people who are participating in the boycott. Your silence speaks volumes. I hope that all of your authors move to other publishers because you are standing with a genocide. You are also currently saying that you support black women in black history month but you have ignored their concerns for months and shown them no support.

Having a chronic illness, there are many things about Ellie in which I can relate. Thankfully for me, my illness was diagnosed as an adult. I cannot imagine having to go through something like this a a child, much less a teenager. I loved Ellie and the supporting cast of characters. How they were there for each other throughout it all was heartwarming. This was a great read.

(I got this as an ARC through NetGalley, but it will out tomorrow!) I’m so happy that we’re seeing more stories about disabled main characters written by disabled authors, and this one is an incredible addition to the collection. Ellie is a high schooler with a rare disease who has mostly managed to keep her “home life” and her “hospital life” separate, though it’s mostly left her without any friends who really, truly understand all of her. When she’s sent back to the hospital for a prolonged stay, she ends up making a new group of friends, and Ellie has to decide if she can handle really letting someone in all the way to her life.

Ellie is in and out of the hospital and care facility with a longterm illness. When she isn't in the hospital, she loves being on the speech and debate team, and has a best friend and boyfriend who she loves. But Ellie does not know how to talk to them about her illness because she doesn't want that to be the only thing they see about her. Meanwhile her mother writes a blog all about her illness.

I understand that the author has a lot of experience with longterm illness, and the difficulties with it, including not being believed about it. I appreciate what this book taught me about the complications with getting care, and what kind of care, and what happens when the care isn't "successful." The parts of the book that fell flat to me were the relationships between characters. Ellie says she's heartbroken about her boyfriend Josh, but honestly, she kept so much from him, so what was she really heartbroken about? And she very quickly moves on with another patient in the facility, Ryan. It was also unbelievable to me that she could have kept her illness hidden while her mom's blog was very popular. Also, we are in the age where everything is public. There's a lot of teenage angst here like The Fault In Our Stars, but Ellie is so reluctant to share her feelings with anyone that I found it difficult to connect to her in the same way I did the characters in TFOS.

If you are looking for a book specifically about teen illness, and longterm illness, this might be an engaging read.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a great glimpse into the battles a teenage girl faces when her two worlds collide. Hospital life and “normal” life are kept separate from each other. When she ends up back at the hospital she must decide if these two worlds can remain separate or if they can be safely combined. All teens should read this to remind them that another’s life is not always what it appears from the outside.

Ellie Haycock is totally normal, except in all the ways that she’s not. As someone who really enjoys YA and especially YA that has interesting MCs in different life scenarios than the norm, I was primed and ready to enjoy this one.

I wish this had been one I could enjoy.

Ellie as a character is painfully stubborn, moving far beyond a typical teenager and to the point of frustration. There’s a part of me that thinks I’m just too old to really empathize with the internal angst that Ellie has and yet another part of me that thinks Ellie was just stubborn for the sake of it. As a sick kid whose entire life has been shown online, the subject of a “mommy blog: sick kid edition” was waiting for the inevitable blow up from a mom who means well but never listens. However, it all felt like it was leading to a commentary on the exploitation of kids online, especially sick ones with the best friend who also put their story out there for the world to see, only to fall flat and be shelved away swiftly offscreen.

The romance at the heart of it was underwhelming, with neither character feeling particularly drawn to each other beyond plot convention. A subplot with an ex and with “normal” friends attempted to serve as a contrast to the main cast of sick kids both they and the “mains” just fell flat.

Interesting but unfortunately bland, Ellie Haycock is anything but normal, but not quite interesting enough.

I received this book for free from Wednesday Books in exchange for my honest review.

This one unfortunately just didn’t hit the spot for me. I typically really enjoy YA but I found Ellie really hard to connect with.

I def think that there will be lots that really enjoy this one!

Thanks to SMP & netgalley for the opportunity to read this one in exchange for an honest review!

This feels like an authentic story not only in terms of the author's lived experience, but also within the parent-child dynamic and, well, the cognitive dissonance that comes with being a teenager. While I don't have a chronic condition--I'm glad I learned more about VACTERLs, as I'd never heard of it before--I can empathize with the desire to compartmentalize one's life and keep friends at arm's length. Although Ellie is stubborn and, at times, annoying, it feels realistic based on everything else happening in her life. Also, as a parent I definitely teared up reading about Ellie's relationship with her mother--the target audience likely won't feel like this, but I appreciated it.

Ellie was born with Vaters a birth defect that affects her whole body. She has endured multiple hospital stays and surgeries. Ellie's mother Gwen has created a blog to bring awareness. Ellie is not a fan of the blog showing all the details of her life. Ellie has created two bubbles. Her home life where she has a boyfriend and she's on the debate team. Her hospital life with her best friend Caitlin who also has Vacters. When her two worlds collide. Ellie freaks out.

I found this book sad but also informational. I had never heard of Vacters. I understood where her mom was coming from and where Ellie was coming from. Ellie could definitely use some therapy to deal with all that she has endured.

By the time she’s in high school, Ellie Haycock has already had forty surgeries. Born with VACTERLs, she’s accustomed to hospital visits and seeing specialists. She has her hospital life and her everyday life, and she prefers to keep them separate.

Now she finds herself back at the Family Care Home near the hospital. Ellie and her mom are staying there while the doctors try to determine what is causing the current issue with her lungs, and her mom is documenting every moment on a public blog about life with a disabled child.

Books like this are important, but that doesn’t mean they are emotionally easy to read. I appreciate that this one is written by an Own Voices author, who can relate to her main character’s experience, and that she doesn’t sugarcoat the experience of being a minor with a disability, surrounded by adults who make all the care decisions, or how medical professionals do not always have concrete answers or treatments for what’s going on.

This book dives into a high-stress situation with ambiguous outcomes where private moments are made public without consent. Understandably, Ellie struggles with how to respond and react in this situation, and that can be tough to read.

One of the highlights for me was seeing the close-knit group of friends form at the Family Care Home and seeing Ellie give a second chance to a couple of individuals that she had written off initially. I also enjoyed the romance subplot and liked that it was not the central focus of this story.

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Wednesday Books and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

Cute book that has a well written story in its pages. Loved how it unfolded for the reader and how the story progressed.

Has anyone watched Red Band Society?!? (I'm still jaded there was only one season of it, I loved it!) Anyways this reminded me so much of the friend group and the hospital setting. I adored the friend group and how the banded together, I could have probably done without the romance until the very end but that's just a small pet peeve because I wanted more of the friendship bonding. I enjoyed the idea of her mom running a blog about her life and I completely understand the feeling unheard with doctors (it's horrible no matter your age!).

Thank you to St. Martins Press, Wednesday books and Netgalley for e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is hard to review because I really thought I was going to like this going into it. The premise sounded fascinating but the execution didn’t deliver-at least for me. The FMC was unlikelable and bitter and flat out rude, and I know that she was written that way as a result of being sick for so long but it just made it hard to root for her because she was just mean to everyone. It’s hard to cheer for someone who is mean, sick or not. She compartmentalizes her life-her hospital life and acquaintances and her school life and acquaintances and she doesn’t let the two cross because she feels like they wouldn’t understand each other. But who is she to decide that. Maybe that’s the YA viewpoint and I’m too old to get it. But that bugged me. And she would never try to explain her illness to anyone. Just “you wouldn’t get it” Again, I get that she’s been through a lot, but if you keep people out you can’t expect them to hang around. Idk. I just didn’t get the point of her being so jaded. Somewhat yes, but so blatantly was unnecessary. There was no chemistry in the romance either.
Maybe I’m just not the audience for this but it was a miss for me.
Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

I think this book should be read by any and all teenagers who feel like they are not enough, because I want them to know that they are enough, just the way they are. I could see this being very popular at my library so I will definitely recommend it be purchased for circulation purposes!

The premise of this novel is lovely. I loved the balance of heartfelt moments and real emotions from a child who has been through years of medical issues. I appreciated that Ellie's medical issues weren't simply tied up with a neat bow and the medical community was still very much a part of her story. I also appreciated that Ellie was an imperfect character who didn't fit the "sick kid" stereotype with constant optimism and gratitude. The story itself was a little meh for me, but this novel was perfect with characters who felt real and their relationships were authentic.

Ellie Haycock Is Totally normal was a very important, insightful, and honest YA debut about life, relationships, feeling heard, and letting people in. It was a story about standing up for yourself, trusting yourself, and being your own biggest advocate. The friendships in this story will pull at your heartstrings, and truly showed the importance of community. Ellie was very stubborn and frustrating at times, but the character growth felt very natural, even still. The ending felt very rushed and the major conflicts throughout the story were resolved within a few pages, but it was an overall enjoyable read!

Ellie is a unique individual who just wants to be treated "normal", or, like everyone else. It's a sadly sweet look at the parts of her life - that at school which is her reason for being (now that she attends a school she actually likes, has friends AND a best-friend turned boyfriend). But, Ellie's life is anything but standard issue.

Ellie grapples with her unique health issues and is resentful of the times she has to go for extended treatments at a residence a few hours from home. She is extremely stubborn about trying to keep the pieces of her life separate. We, as humans, tend to take our frustrations out on those we love, and Ellie is no exception. She appreciates and resents equally her father's separation while she is in the treatment center, and se resents her mother being close at hand so often - and, she resents her mother's blog about Ellie's health journey.

Ellie is young yet old for her years all at once. Despite all she knows, she still has a lot to learn - as teenagers so often do, about life in general. I appreciate her strength and also see how she is her own worst enemy at times in her judgement of others who are just doing their own best right along side her. I am glad for the chance to read this book, and also to experience, through Ellie's eyes, how it must be to be living with devastating illness when one just wants life to be "normal".