Barely Above Water by Gail Palette is a very touching story of dealing with an undiagnosed chronic illness and reaching out to help others through that struggle.
Suzie has an illness that none of the doctors can diagnose or treat. She goes from champion swimmer to barely being able to walk some days. Her boyfriend, Carson, breaks up with her when he cannot deal with her symptoms and suggests she must be on drugs or something. She finally quits her job as a newspaper editor and moves to Destin Florida to try to get help from alternative medicine doctor and chiropractor, Dr. Granger. She is able to land a position as a swimming coach for the local county’s new swim team which is made up of children from parents working in the service industry. She quickly learns that some of her team members can’t swim adding to the challenge of uniting a team while dealing with overwhelming fatigue and pain. Her boss, Matt, assists with the team as much as possible. They also go out to eat and walk on the beach but she is afraid to tell him about her illness for fear she will lose her income and her friend. Matt introduces her to Commie who is able to give her some freelance writing work to supplement her income. Will she ever be able to trust and tell Matt about her illness? Will Dr. Granger’s treatments work or are they just quackery?
I did enjoy this story though at first I wasn’t sure I would. It was difficult to read of the terrible symptoms Suzie was having and no doctor willing to help her. Her struggle really pulled at my heart. I was angry at Carson for being such a jerk but it was good she was rid of him. Matt struggles with his own personal issues that he must confront when he finds he might be falling for his new employee. The focus of the story quickly becomes building the swim team and not completely Suzie’s illness. There are a couple places in the book where sentences are mixed up and don’t make sense but overall the writing is good. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me and I was left wondering what one character’s issue about working with the children was. For those reasons I give this book a 4 of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book has a great plot and well developed characters. I really felt for the main character who is ill and none of her doctors and diagnose her illness.

This is a nice story about a woman who is trying to find a cure for a chronic illness while falling in love in the process. I think this book will help explain to a healthy person what a person with a chronic illness goes through everyday.