I really enjoyed this book. It is a YA novel written based on the author's life with a rare illness/disability. It is an inside look at what this can look and feel like as you're dealing with regular teenage emotions on top of medical diagnoses, surgeries, treatments and just wanting to be "normal" with your friends and relationships.

This was such an honest account of wanting to compartmentalize your life and only share what is "normal" or positive which is something I think a lot of people can relate to in different ways. The book is about relationships and letting people in, letting people be there for all of you and a part of your whole life and not just bits and pieces.

I loved the story and the characters and while Ellie was at times immature and frustrating in her journey, whenever I started to think that way I reminded myself that this character was a teenager and imagine how frustrating it would be to be her at times.

This is a good story for anyone who ever has felt like they just want to be fixed, to be normal, to belong in any capacity. I'd recommend it to anyone.

While I try to avoid doing this at all costs, I unfortunately had to DNF this book. I was struggling to get into this book, which was surprising for me given the medical subject matter and its relation to my job as an APRN. I was having a hard time connecting to the voice of our main character, which could be due to this being a young adult novel, though I have connected to and enjoyed young adult novels in the past. I found the peer relationships within this story to be difficult to interpret/relate to, which was a challenge. After getting to the 40% mark and feeling like I had to force myself to continue reading, I made the decision to DNF this book. I can see this book being an enjoyable read for someone wanting a young adult story with depth and more intense subject matter.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the copy of EllieEllie Haycock is Totally Fine by Gretchen Schreiber. I love YA books but it has been a while since I read one that captured the teen experience so well. It’s hard enough to be a teen, but imagine straddling two worlds, school and the hospital, as well as dealing with your parents’ divorce. You will fall in love with Ellie as she tries to navigate life and deal with two sets of friends. This would be a great gift for the teen in your life!

I enjoyed this YA story! It dealt with a girl named Ellie who was constantly in and out of the hospital. She always liked to keep her life separated...her at school with her friends and her at the hospital. But on her latest hospital stay, she ends up getting close to a group of friends and most especially to a new boy named Ryan.

It was a great coming of age story and also dealt with learning to let people in and learning to trust. It would be very relatable for people who suffer from chronic illness or have others in charge of their care, as that was a large theme in the book. Ellie could be quite stubborn, but she also had a certain amount of charm and I liked how she grew throughout the story.

I also really liked the Author's Note that was included, since this story is largely personal for the author herself. Overall, a great read!

This book featured a fantastic crew of characters and opened my eyes to a teenage hospital setting. It’s a story full of heart, and I hope many readers are able to see themselves in the pages. I enjoyed the dynamic cast of characters and watching everyone fight to maintain important friendships.

I was attracted to Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal because of the cover and the premise of living two separate lives. Result, a new favorite read of 2024 that felt very personal in some aspects, with the realities of being disabled, both good and bad, with a coming of age tale with friendship and romance all into one.

For her whole life, Eleanor Haycock has been splitting between her “normal” life and her hospital life, and it’s worse when her whole life and medical history with VACTERLs has been blogged by her mother, while having good intentions, has crossed some lines as of late, especially when she just wants to fit in. Most of the story takes place during another one of Ellie’s hospital stays, this time for lung issues. Though it’s not long before her two lives collide.

Especially to those that are disabled, this book is very relatable, mostly to Ellie’s challenges of trying to be as “normal” as possible, but knowing that she’ll stick out in the crowd, and the frustration that your life isn’t truly your own in more than one aspect. The coming of age aspects deal with trying to grow your own advocacy and autonomy, when many times, disabled people are denied this. I especially loved when Ellie aired out her frustrations about constant hospital stays and being treated like a project by the rest of the world. Other aspects of Ellie’s character that I liked was that she built up this stubbornness through years of hospital trips and she’s not immune to learning some valuable life lessons herself about life balance.

While there is a romance arc and rivals to lovers, there’s a just about equal focus on Ellie’s friends, both in and out of the hospital, and they were done well. Each of them had their own mini arc and I enjoyed learning about each of them and they weren’t just there for inspiration for the “normal” audience. I also like how Ellie’s parents are humanized as instead of these evil parents that don’t care for her. They are doing what they feel is best, but of course, they have to learn things too and mend the parent-child relationship, which can be so complex in these situations, so I appreciate that.

The prose was easy to follow along. There is talk of medical terminology and procedures, but it’s nothing graphic.

If you’re up for the less pretty parts of living with disabilities, this is a must read for anyone.

I really wish I loved Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal. Exploring the rare chronic illness VACTERLs, Ellie wrestles with keeping her "sick" life separate from her "normal" life and unfortunately her character was insufferable. Of course, as a teen who has been sick her entire life, she's kind of justified in her feelings, but she treats everyone around her like shit.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal was marketed quite well and read quickly. The story is told in the present timeline, main in a hospital setting, and through past and present blog posts [ mainly the former ]. I would recommend it to other YA readers who enjoy contemporary.

There is a very thoughtful author's note regarding the content of the story.

I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy through Wednesday Books Publishing and Netgalley. I give my honest review voluntarily. My review is my own thoughts and opinion; my experience in reading this story.

Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal by Gretchen Schreiber is a remarkable novel. I sincerely love the author’s characters. There is such quirkiness and vivacity and truth to these characters that you feel like you know them. This is such an important book and I cannot wait to see more books by this author. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

This was a sweet and sometimes moving story. I felt for Ellie and her desire to be allowed to grow and her struggle to find her place and her people. I also was frustrated with her inability at times to see and appreciate what was right in front of her. But, don’t we all do that at one time or another?

Overall, an enjoyable YA read that gave me a window into living with a chronic illness.


Thank you Gretchen Schreiber, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press, for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal gave me Wonder vibes but for a YA audience. Where Wonder gave readers an insight into bullying, Ellie gives us a glimpse into what it's like trying to navigate high school while also living part-time at the hospital.

I found Ellie to have this perfect blend of tension between wanting a normal high school life with the reality of battling a rare genetic condition which caused her to spend large amounts of time at the hospital and also influenced her relationship with her blogger-mom. Ellie aims to keep her hospital life separate from her school life, thinking that is the best way to keep friendships, but realizes that maybe it prevents her friends from really knowing the real her. And genetic condition or not, Ellie deals with boyfriend drama, friend drama, and momma drama just like any teen, she just gets the added layer of doctors and learning to speak up for herself despite feeling powerless within the medical community.

The found family cast are great and the banter and quirks about them are endearing. I wasn't only rooting for Ellie, but for Luis, Caitlin, Ryan, and Veronica.

Solid 4.5 stars! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

as someone who grew up in and out of the hospital i didn’t like the friendship setting. you can find people outside of the hospital who understand, it’s not the same but it isn’t whilst in the hospital anyway, everyone is different

Having lived with serious, chronic medical issues since childhood, I was hoping to find this book a little more relatable. Yes, there are some very condescending physicians and yes, medical gas lighting occurs. Yes, relationships are often difficult to maintain. However, I found the level of chronic anger to be over the top and Ellie's mom to be quite annoying. I'm glad I read it and I think it is somewhat useful in showing what life with a disability can be like. Thanks #NetGalley

Ellie Haycock has her “sick” friends and her “normal” friends and she is unwilling to let her two worlds collide. As someone who is medically fragile, she doesn’t want her friends from home to treat her differently if they knew about her life in and out of hospitals and the Home (read Ronald McDonald house). Her mother has already almost ruined it for her before with her online blog detailing her medical history. That oversharing is a whole other world annoyance in her life.

When a new cough racks her already weak lungs, she is forced to see the doctors again to figure out what is wrong. This stay is different. Besides her hospital bestie Caitlin (who also has VATER Syndrome), she meets two other patients with life threatening illnesses and a volunteer, and Team Tumor begins to make Ellie question everything she thought she understood. They work to convince her that her friends from her high school will still like her if she gives them more details about her diagnoses and surgical procedures, and that compartmentalizing isn’t helping her cope. More importantly, they help her to feel brave enough to confront her mom about her blog. As she has gotten older it is has become more invasive than her surgeries. All Ellie wants is a little autonomy over her own body when it comes to her parents and her doctor’s medical plan.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal is definitely geared toward a teen audience. As an adult, I found her whiny at times and ungrateful towards her friends and family, but she is a teen and she is learning to navigate the world with tougher circumstances than the average kiddo. I am sure there isn’t enough medical focused stories in the YA genre, so I applaud the author for contributing and giving us a character who is perhaps fragile in body, but certainly strong in mind.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and of course the author Gretchen Schreiber for the advanced copy of the book. Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal is out on March 5th. All opinions are my own.

Thank you for the review copy on NetGalley and the physical review copy (can I say i love the cover art)

This is a wonderfully welcome examination of adolescent development and disability rep. Schreiber writes a story the unites the complexities of adolescence and high school, of crushes and social lives, of academics and stress and pressure, with the nuances of disability, of being in a hospital, of being held up as a token symbol, of at times being seen as less than or weaker because of disability. The author understands, as you can tell from her note, that just because you are disabled, or in a hospital, doesn't mean that all the other things about being an adolescent go away or stop being important.... instead the desire to fit in, to be connected, to have friends might actually be amplified. I love the inclusion of how Ellie feels about how she is treated/seen by nurses, by doctors, by friends, and by her mom and her mom's blog. This book will have you rethinking how you view representation of youth with disability.

Ellie Haycock is gloriously insightful and a great read for young adults. As a health psych teacher I also think this is a great read for classes examining health and development.

Im upset I couldn’t fully get into this. It felt so slow and forced and half the time I had to go back and reread because the book was just too flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a beautifully written story about a teenager with chronic illness who tries to separate herself and the people around her from the “hospital” her and the “home” her. I’m so glad that books about chronic illness and kids who are sick are getting more attention. It’s good for people with these conditions to know they aren’t alone and they have people who are thing to understand them. It’s normal for people with disabilities to love and live a happy and normal life, and books like this help shape the way.

This was a wonderfully written book about self discovery. I flew through this book so quickly I hardly put it down. This is such a fun read I would definitely recommend.

A full review will come as soon as the publishers/imprints under St. Martin Press (i.e. Wednesday Books), address the racism, Islamophobia, pinkwashing, and Zionist rhetoric they have enabled and perpetruated. For more information and ways to raise awareness and support, please check out the website --> r4a.caard.co

This book will make you laugh and cry. This is just an overall wonderful story. Everyone can relate to Ellie, which really draws you into the story even more.