In Jamison Hill's poignant and deeply moving novel, "Something's Wrong with Micah," we are introduced to two teenagers, Micah Hunter and Evie Thompson, whose lives are irrevocably intertwined by a devastating car accident and the subsequent challenges they face. Micah, a sixteen-year-old football prodigy, finds his dreams shattered when a mysterious illness leaves him unable to pursue his passion. Confined to a wheelchair, he feels lost and alone until he meets Evie, a headstrong and resilient fifteen-year-old living with her own set of obstacles. As Micah and Evie navigate the complexities of coming of age and coming to terms with their disabilities, they find solace and companionship in each other. Their bond deepens as they embark on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance. With Evie's unwavering support, Micah delves into the truth behind his illness, uncovering secrets that bridge the gap between his past and present. However, amidst their growing connection, Micah remains oblivious to Evie's deteriorating health, which she conceals out of concern for his well-being. When the gravity of Evie's situation finally dawns on Micah, he is confronted with an excruciating dilemma: prioritize her health by seeking medical intervention or respect her wishes and risk losing her forever. This heart-wrenching choice sets the stage for a powerful and emotional climax that will leave readers deeply affected. Hill's skillful storytelling captures the raw emotions, vulnerabilities, and resilience of Micah and Evie, making them characters that readers will root for and empathize with. Through their journey, the novel explores themes of identity, acceptance, and the transformative power of love and friendship. "Something's Wrong with Micah" is a beautifully crafted and thought-provoking story that delves into the depths of the human spirit, leaving readers with a lasting impact long after they finish the final page.

Micah, a football player, gets in a car crash with his father. He gets sick, standing for too long, and he loses his dad. He struggles to come to terms with having to use a wheelchair until he meets a few people in his new class. After being told ways to “retrain” his brain to “get better”, it doesn't work. His new friends, Evie and Frankie, eventually help him.They find out why he feels the way he does and gets help to get better.


As someone who recently got sick and can't walk far distances like Micah. I was happy to find a book like this. I related to how Micah was before and when he got his wheelchair. How he didn't like it much, I didn't like myself using a wheelchair as I always think I can walk, just not a lot. I was very embarrassed about it and always felt like a hypocrite. People knew I could walk, so I was afraid that they would see me walking and say things. Slowly, I realized that I should just use a wheelchair to help me get better. There was no point in trying to prove myself if I couldn't walk far without wanting to pass out and be light-headed. This book was really nice to read as I don't really have someone to help me through everything I'm going through. It definitely felt like Evie and Frankie were talking to Micah and me, helping us come to terms with the fact that there's a spectrum in different disabilities.


So this book has some pros and cons for me.


PROS

It's very diverse in different disabilities, like muscle dystrophy and more!

I really related to Micah

I loved his friends and how they helped him


CONS 

His doctors before he met his friends, I'm sure most doctors nowadays aren't how his doctors are. (personally, I've yet met a doctor like his, and mine have all been pretty understanding)

How quickly he recovered. His symptoms are similar to mine, though I'm sick with something different from him. It felt unrealistic how he was under a new doctor, and he was able to do stuff like walking and running after a few weeks. I've been sick for a few months, and I try not to use my wheelchair as much, but I always end up feeling too tired by a couple of minutes. Though it maybe be different for everyone, I just couldn't comprehend how he was having a hard time and he gets a new doctor and a few weeks later he was able to do stuff he had a hard time with a few weeks ago.

Meet Micah, most popular man on campus, football star, handsome, prettiest girlfriend… we all know him, you may have even been him. His dad shares his love for football and lives to watch his son perform. Micha is aggressive on the field and has taken some blows to the head. This concerns both parents who want a healthy son over a football hero. Still he is on the gridiron for intense practice and games, constantly.

Then there is a devastating car accident, and sixteen-year-old Micah Hunter’s world begins to unravel. His beloved father dies in the accident. Then a mysterious illness leaves him unable to pursue the football dreams that he once shared with his father. We learn that his condition is CTE, Chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head, exacerbated by traumatic events. Micah, unable to stand or walk without blacking out, is now confined to a wheelchair. His mother has handicapped equipped the house and bought an expensive adaptive van to transport him. Micah’s popular friends have abandoned him except to make fun and bully saying hey, just get up and walk, you’re faking. He’s not! His girlfriend has left him for a more popular guy. She’s the real deal, huh?

He is seeing a doctor really a quack who is after his money. She focuses on mind retraining to improve his health and it’s not working! In the peak of his illness, Micah bumps his wheelchair into Evie Thompson, a headstrong fifteen-year-old living with her own challenges. Once a track runner, she had to have her leg amputated and her doctors are struggling to get her infection at the site under control so she can use a prosthetic. The two become very close as boyfriend and girlfriend. In the meantime of their dating and make outs, Micah finds a new doctor who puts him on the path to recovery. He’s not suddenly, but slowly coming back, by walking and rekindling his relationships with coach and his team. He is so desperate to get back on the field, he puts his friends betrayal behind him. Should Micah play and risk a setback that could affect the rest of his life? Can he and Evie’s love survive this?

This is a Coming of age and coming to terms with disabilities novel. I really enjoyed the way Micah and Evie find solace and companionship in each other even though it was not always rosey.

Will this have a happy ending?

A must read!

TW from the author: ableism, medical trauma, suicide, car accidents, profanity, sex, ableist language
I definitely appreciated that the author included this at the beginning and think authors should do this moving forward.

This was an excellent read, but most of all what I enjoyed the most was that it raised awareness about how many people are unintentionally ablelist and instead of trying to shame you for it, he takes the approach of educating you on things you may be doing or saying that are ablelist.

The story itself was really good, though I found the ending a bit too "rushed" or a bit too convenient. I felt like the recovery was just too idlylic/rushed. I also absolutely hated half the characters for their treatment of Micah! So be prepared to scream at the book and ask how people could be so cruel.


Thank you to the author and netgalley for this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Jamison Hill was so kind to send me an ebook copy of this on NetGalley! It was incredible. I really felt like I understood and could connect to Micah. Evie, Frankie, and Courtney were beautiful characters and friends and I loved every moment the four of them were together.

The thing I absolutely love the most about this book is how it can raise the awareness about unintentional ableist comments and thoughts. The book shows different ways in everyday life where people can be ableist and not even realize it. Hill's point of this book is to not make you feel bad about people who have a disability, but to instead to recognize that disabilities exist and that everyone is different.

Hill is also sure to include a content warning at the beginning of the book listing the following: ableism, ableist language, medical trauma, small discussion of suicide and car accidents, small sexual content, and profanity. Please be sure to keep this in mind before reading, but I really recommend you do!

Sweet and beautiful story about young love and internal biases. I was so mad at a lot of the people around mIdah though at points they seemed a little cartoonish. Thanks for the arc, this one was quite good and promising.

This is a young adult book about a football player who has become disabled. Over a year into being in a wheelchair due to fatigue, pain and nausea, Micah still doesn't know what's wrong and isn't any closer to feeling like his old active self.

I want to start my review with saying that I, too, am disabled. While I do not have the same conditions that Micah has, I am able to understand what his new world looks like. I relate to the moments where Micah pushes himself too far in hopes of it being a mind-over-matter problem, and his frustration that sometimes being disabled means having to get help with gross, embarrassing or uncomfortable situations.

That being said, this book was quite a struggle to get through. Many of the abled characters feel unrealistically cruel and one-dimensional, and Micah has nobody except for sometimes his grieving mother advocating for him, until he's able to find friendship with other disabled teens a year later. The ableism from the non-disabled characters, including medical professions, feels like this book would sit more in a 1920's setting, rather than a 2020's setting.

Micah spends over a year taking psychiatric medication and doing brain retraining programs, which at best do nothing and at worse actively harm him. Even his mother lets him continue these without seeking other opinions or questioning why nothing is working. The medical world can be flawed, but it felt strange to me that Micah was just allowed to continue being this ill without anyone trying to understand why, especially since he was an active football player before, so this couldn't be excused by "he's always been a little sickly".

There was good disability discussions with characters like Frankie, who has been sick his entire life and could offer a different perspective to Micah. Characters like Frankie and Evie, as fellow wheelchair users, had some initial internal biases against Micah which felt realistic. That even within the disabled community, sometimes people can be quick to judge others. Evie and Frankie were both able to understand their first impressions were wrong and each, at different times, apologize to Micah. Micah also does self reflecting throughout the novel about his previous biases, and knows that if he hadn't gotten sick, his thoughts would've stayed away from the disabled community.

I wasn't a big fan of the pacing of the book. I felt it skipped over certain important moments, like when Micah actually got his wheelchair. We have only a few flashback scenes, usually related to Micah and his father, but I had hoped we'd see more of Micah with his old friend group to understand why he'd been friends with them, and what he was like before becoming sick. He was a popular kid in school, and yet all of his friends have abandoned or actively bully him, with the exception of one friend who pops up sometimes to be kind before leaving him again.

Micah getting better near the end happened much too fast. Micah has been under new medical care for a few weeks, with a doctor who is able to identify and treat a lot of his symptoms, but he suddenly goes from still needing the wheelchair, to a week later being able to walk distances, carry his girlfriend and rejoin the football team. We don't get to see many of the moments of Micah getting stronger, he just suddenly is able to do these things again. After a year sitting down feeling weak, I have trouble believing he could do so much exercise without natural pain and fatigue. While he isn't suddenly 100% okay for the remainder of the book, the initial recovery just felt swept over.

This is not a book I'd personally read again, but there were some great moments in between all the rougher stuff.

I was very excited about this book after seeing other reviews and reading the blurb. The isolation and life adjustments are very raw and don't shy away from what is really experienced making it relatable and honest to readers and allowing for empathy and understanding from others.
Micah as the popular kid with a 'perfect life' experiences some traumatic events and we see that the this book is anything but predictable. This books doesn't aim to have a fairytale ending to events; it's real. It shows that living with differences and disabilities is not a straight path but finding positivity and the good in all situations is what we should strive for.

Great read!

Micah is one of the school jocks, incredibly popular and with a pretty girlfriend when he starts to get sick. He loves playing football but after receiving many injuries and a traumatic loss of his father, he finds himself unable to stand up without fainting. He starts to use a wheelchair to help get around and finds his friends pulling away from him. He gets to know Evie, a girl at school who uses a wheelchair due to a loss of limb. At one point I thought this book was a little too optimistic but it shows that disability is unpredictable. This book shows people with disabilities living and enjoying life. A doctor tries to prescribe mindfulness type tactics as healthcare but Micah soon gets the correct treatment to help manage his condition.

4.5 stars! Really well-done! I discovered Jamison Hill several years ago after the publication of his superb and honest memoir When Force Meets Fate, so I was excited to read his newest book - even if it is Young Adult, which is not typically my genre. As someone from a family with chronic illness and disability, this book hits the nail on the head, and yet if I didn't know any better, I'd think there's no way some of this stuff could happen. For example, doctor gaslighting is real! Even though this book is fiction, it is very informational. Hill does a fabulous job of highlighting "ordinary" high school/teenager life alongside disability/chronic illness. His main characters are good people who find happiness while struggling to cope with and accept their current situations. And he truly demonstrates how others do not understand disability - especially when a healthy person suddenly becomes ill. Something's Wrong with Micah is a great read! Thank you to Jamison Hill and NetGalley for the eARC.

Excellent book about Micah, in a wheelchair now, hoping life will get better now that he can’t play football and breaking up with his girlfriend. After hearing from a friend that his therapist might be scamming him, he finds a different doctor and starts feeling better. He and Evie, a classmate also in a wheelchair, become close and go to a dance together. When Micah has a chance to play football again, his new doctor won’t sign the medical release. Evie doesn’t think he should play either. What does Micah end up doing? Such positivity in finding the good in one’s disability.

I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to read, review, and acquire this title. Going through some health issues myself I can relate to the isolation and adjustments to lifestyle that people experience. This book is going to be so relatable and helpful especially for young people dealing with issues like these. I can’t wait to see how this story plays out and I pray for a happy and satisfying ending. I will be sharing much more soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you!