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kaikai1618's review
I loved this book. I picked it up at Strand because of the glowing review from Emma books. I don't have any disorder, but I loved going through this journey with this character and learning more about this disorder. I've been reading more mental health books and I'm trying to get insight on these topics. Going through this journey on a fairly new disorder that I didn't know much about was just amazing. I feel like I understand more and the way that everything is described through that character's eyes, and how the information is weaved into the story was written very well. The book was well paced and I never found myself bored.
I love first love stories, and you could say it felt insta-lovey but to me, because as a teen, these kinda of things move fast(not that I know everything). In my opinion the romantic emotions are accurate considering the ages of the characters.
The second person view was a little different and I had to get used to it, but it didn't ruin the story for me, and I found it to work pretty well. I found myself just thinking of it in a sort or first person view and then remembering what POV it's in.
I will put a disclaimer for self harm in this book. There are times when it is very raw and it did scare me, but the thing is when you are reading about these serious kinds of topics, they do come with these times where people spiral down. These topics are heavy, especially since you are going through a journey with the character and get attached to them.
I would recommend this book if you think you can handle the weight of the topic and you wish to educate yourself. You could also just read it cause you like the topic obviously. The story has romance which is very bright, but through it all, Pea is still going through ARFID so it's not always fluffy.
**SPOILER SECTION**
So about the actual characters and everything. Wow.
All books have different aspects with different people and problems. What surprised me is how I related to this book sometimes even though I don't have any disorders.
Her situation with Alex was close to mine with someone else and I found that interesting because I haven't seen many books where that happens and the character thinks about it time and time again, and I can relate to this. She also had this situation with her brother where she thought he didn't care at all and they weren't close. I was never that close with my brother, and the way she finds that he is not what he seems is similar to how it was with me. We're cool now though.
I got really scared when she pulled out that safety pin and started pushing up her cuticles, then scraping her skin. I was panicking and it was giving me anxiety (not actually). And the thing is she just started to do this when I had to start Taekwondo. So I get a hair tie from my bag, and you know what they're bundled by? A goddamn safety pin. My stomach was doing flips.
This book was really cute with Ben though like damn when am I gonna get a Ben. I already got past a stupid Alex.
These paragraphs are just gonna be random thoughts
So was I the only one who liked Damian's shirts? they just made me smile you know
Also when Ken snatched that letter I got soooo pissed like how dare you steal my letter.
When Pea got into the St. Joe's, I got some serious "It's Kind of a Funny Story" vibes. I just had the same vision of it in my head.
After Pea snuck out at the end to see Ben and Todd asked where she was going, I knew he was gonna do something. I was getting some serious big bro vibes. And I just really liked the way he came around to help in the end because he does care.
I just finished it so those are my random thoughts.
I love first love stories, and you could say it felt insta-lovey but to me, because as a teen, these kinda of things move fast(not that I know everything). In my opinion the romantic emotions are accurate considering the ages of the characters.
The second person view was a little different and I had to get used to it, but it didn't ruin the story for me, and I found it to work pretty well. I found myself just thinking of it in a sort or first person view and then remembering what POV it's in.
I will put a disclaimer for self harm in this book. There are times when it is very raw and it did scare me, but the thing is when you are reading about these serious kinds of topics, they do come with these times where people spiral down. These topics are heavy, especially since you are going through a journey with the character and get attached to them.
I would recommend this book if you think you can handle the weight of the topic and you wish to educate yourself. You could also just read it cause you like the topic obviously. The story has romance which is very bright, but through it all, Pea is still going through ARFID so it's not always fluffy.
**SPOILER SECTION**
So about the actual characters and everything. Wow.
All books have different aspects with different people and problems. What surprised me is how I related to this book sometimes even though I don't have any disorders.
Her situation with Alex was close to mine with someone else and I found that interesting because I haven't seen many books where that happens and the character thinks about it time and time again, and I can relate to this. She also had this situation with her brother where she thought he didn't care at all and they weren't close. I was never that close with my brother, and the way she finds that he is not what he seems is similar to how it was with me. We're cool now though.
I got really scared when she pulled out that safety pin and started pushing up her cuticles, then scraping her skin. I was panicking and it was giving me anxiety (not actually). And the thing is she just started to do this when I had to start Taekwondo. So I get a hair tie from my bag, and you know what they're bundled by? A goddamn safety pin. My stomach was doing flips.
This book was really cute with Ben though like damn when am I gonna get a Ben. I already got past a stupid Alex.
These paragraphs are just gonna be random thoughts
So was I the only one who liked Damian's shirts? they just made me smile you know
Also when Ken snatched that letter I got soooo pissed like how dare you steal my letter.
When Pea got into the St. Joe's, I got some serious "It's Kind of a Funny Story" vibes. I just had the same vision of it in my head.
After Pea snuck out at the end to see Ben and Todd asked where she was going, I knew he was gonna do something. I was getting some serious big bro vibes. And I just really liked the way he came around to help in the end because he does care.
I just finished it so those are my random thoughts.
alexandrabree's review
2.0
I really really wanted to love this book because it was suggested by Emma @Emmabooks in an eating disorder awareness novel recommendations video and I loved some of the other books on the list (Wintergirls and Paperweight)
WARNING : this book would be extremely triggering for anyone recovering from an eating disorder, depression and self harm.
There are a few good things to be said about this book ; it portrays an eating disorder (ARFID) in a very real light, it illustrates how family struggles and suffers along with the effected person.
There was a lot of grey area in this novel as well that depends on your reading tastes; the perspective seemed weird to me and I never really got into it or adjusted to it, I struggled to separate "the voice" from other characters and thoughts. I was not sure about the character developement and very little was done with setting. The relationship portrayed was iffy in my eyes as well - A few reviews have disliked it because it was "too perfect" and that is not my complaint. My issue is how dependant Pea got on her relationship and that if it had fallen apart I couldn't see her continuing with treatment or worse spiralling down. Getting back to the too perfect boyfriend (this is my personal opinion so feel free to agree to disagree) 1. through the eyes of teens young love is flawless for much longer than when you are an adult
2. it shows how pessimistic people are about relationships (have we really come to expect drama in everything always? why does it seem like we want that 17 year old boy hurt her emotionally in some way?
3. the "other half" of a mentally ill person often over compensates to give their partner the most support possible (they do this consciously and unconsciously)
and onto the negative which I am sorry to report was more prominent than the positive...
we got a really bad example of the medical profession (unable to diagnose or unwilling to help) which is not fair at all. Yes to a teenager or anyone really, not knowing exactly what is wrong, but knowing that something is in fact wrong can be crushing. From a GP's perspective though she was a normal weight, ate relatively regularly, had no extreme vitamin deficiencies that could not be fixed with a multivitamin. Physically meaning she was healthy enough.
The book really clung to the ARFID - which was probably the biggest problem and a root cause of some of the following issues - but I felt it should have also addressed depression, social anxiety, alcoholism, family dynamic and regular teenage hormonal behaviour. Especially when we get to the mental professionals side of everything, if she had been in and out of doctors offices her whole life (as apparently she had been) and then was later prescribed Zoloft other problems should have been brought up an addressed with a psychiatrist. Counselling should have played a part earlier than it did.
They "fear mongered" the mental institution for dramatic effect which can be hugely damaging for people seeking help and they never addressed the issue of self harming and how horrible, damaging and not ok it really is!
I think it is wonderful Stephanie Elliot has tried to write a fictional account based on what her daughter went through, but it really fell short during execution. And again as I have already said this novel could do much more harm than good in the community and circles that will be drawn to it.
WARNING : this book would be extremely triggering for anyone recovering from an eating disorder, depression and self harm.
There are a few good things to be said about this book ; it portrays an eating disorder (ARFID) in a very real light, it illustrates how family struggles and suffers along with the effected person.
There was a lot of grey area in this novel as well that depends on your reading tastes; the perspective seemed weird to me and I never really got into it or adjusted to it, I struggled to separate "the voice" from other characters and thoughts. I was not sure about the character developement and very little was done with setting. The relationship portrayed was iffy in my eyes as well - A few reviews have disliked it because it was "too perfect" and that is not my complaint. My issue is how dependant Pea got on her relationship and that if it had fallen apart I couldn't see her continuing with treatment or worse spiralling down. Getting back to the too perfect boyfriend (this is my personal opinion so feel free to agree to disagree) 1. through the eyes of teens young love is flawless for much longer than when you are an adult
2. it shows how pessimistic people are about relationships (have we really come to expect drama in everything always? why does it seem like we want that 17 year old boy hurt her emotionally in some way?
3. the "other half" of a mentally ill person often over compensates to give their partner the most support possible (they do this consciously and unconsciously)
and onto the negative which I am sorry to report was more prominent than the positive...
we got a really bad example of the medical profession (unable to diagnose or unwilling to help) which is not fair at all. Yes to a teenager or anyone really, not knowing exactly what is wrong, but knowing that something is in fact wrong can be crushing. From a GP's perspective though she was a normal weight, ate relatively regularly, had no extreme vitamin deficiencies that could not be fixed with a multivitamin. Physically meaning she was healthy enough.
The book really clung to the ARFID - which was probably the biggest problem and a root cause of some of the following issues - but I felt it should have also addressed depression, social anxiety, alcoholism, family dynamic and regular teenage hormonal behaviour. Especially when we get to the mental professionals side of everything, if she had been in and out of doctors offices her whole life (as apparently she had been) and then was later prescribed Zoloft other problems should have been brought up an addressed with a psychiatrist. Counselling should have played a part earlier than it did.
They "fear mongered" the mental institution for dramatic effect which can be hugely damaging for people seeking help and they never addressed the issue of self harming and how horrible, damaging and not ok it really is!
I think it is wonderful Stephanie Elliot has tried to write a fictional account based on what her daughter went through, but it really fell short during execution. And again as I have already said this novel could do much more harm than good in the community and circles that will be drawn to it.
phoenixknight's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit
wwiillddeerr's review
1.0
yeah this was bad and glorified rep. op. knew what i was getting into tho lol
rachelwrites007's review against another edition
2.0
This could've been great; instead, the execution was lacking. There was a bit where the main character goes into a psych unit as she has self-harming intent, and the way she describes it and the other kids there is...not okay. I also felt this book fell under the "love saves all" mentality (which I get as a teenager, you might believe), but I would've liked to see more recovery focused aspects. It felt like she got "over" her ARFID tendencies and disordered behaviors quite easily in the end, whereas I'd think it may take longer.
shinesalot's review
4.0
Told in the 2nd person, this is the story of a teen's struggle with a rare eating disorder (ARFID) and her road to recovery. Along with her struggle to become a "normal eater" she falls in love for the very first time.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters and situations are all plausible and well thought out. Pea, the main character, is truly trying to get well and as a reader I was really rooting for her. The relationship that develops between her and Ben is healthy and full of mutual respect - the kind you wish for all young people. Very interesting look into a rare disorder.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters and situations are all plausible and well thought out. Pea, the main character, is truly trying to get well and as a reader I was really rooting for her. The relationship that develops between her and Ben is healthy and full of mutual respect - the kind you wish for all young people. Very interesting look into a rare disorder.
mindfullibrarian's review
2.0
I am so struggling with a review for this one that I have settled on 3 stars, but I'll throw in trigger warnings for anorexia, bulimia, anxiety, self-harm, depression, and suicide, and the disclaimer that I am not yet actually recommending this book, but because I haven't researched enough I am not sure on my stars......may end up lower??? Not higher. I read the entire book in 1 night and have had almost 24 hours to think and research and am still not sure.