Purge by Sarah Darer Littman

Janie is a secret bulimic, until now as she finds herself hospitalized and facing weeks of therapy alone and in a group. As she stays with anorexics and bulimics in the hospital, ruled by nurses and therapists she slowly unravels and finally confides the events culminating in her admission.

Janie is a typical teen in the issues she deals with by binging and purging as she feels lost and insecure as well as rejected from her family and the boy she liked. Dealing with her sister getting married and ruining the wedding haunt her and she opens up more as she builds trust with the members in the hospital such as Tom an anorexic. We delve into the complexities of eating disorders and self esteem again in this novel.

If My Body Could Speak by Blythe Baird

In this collection of poems the main themes are eating disorders, anorexia and rape and the culture surrounding it. There are also poems relating to sexuality, self worth and image as well as the usual self doubts being raised too.

Utterly raw and relatable we can feel the emotion seen between the lines of each poem and I found so many of them relatable especially the ones focusing on Anorexia as I too have suffered in the past it was a true collection of heartfelt work.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Girl Out Of Water by Nat Luurtsema

In this book we meet Lou an avid swimmer until she doesn't beat her record and fails to make her swim camp dream come true to possibly compete in the Olympics one day.

She fights off jealousy as her best friend and only friend from her school, Hannah makes the team and thus leaves her behind even though they keep in touch during the novel via text as Lou tries to make new friends and Hannah starts to suffer with mental and physical health and raises alarm bells on Lou.

As Lou awkwardly tries to make friends she finds herself helping out three guys in her school who want to enter Britain Has Talent as synchronised swimmers.

Lou is a fun protagonist and a friend you could dream to have as shows her caring nature over her friend and family. I had heard a lot about this book, all good and I have to say I agree it is a great read as not many teen fiction books focus on swimming as a passion usually it's a lot of love and growing up topics instead of the love of a hobby which added a great soon on this novel.

Love, Lucie by Marita Conlon-McKenna

This book is set from Lucie's perspective as she writes in her notebook to her mum after she dies from cancer.

The year noted in the notebook shows how the family do and don't cope with the matters as their dad struggles to cope with work and childcare whilst older sister Chloe develops anorexia it seems as she hardly eats and becomes worryingly thin.

The stress on the family is obviously amped up but the summer holiday to their grandparents in France makes them happier as the girls find summer crushes and can relax away from home and school more. The year shows how tough all their relative's take their mum's passing and how much it can affect someone but Lucie copes well writing all the thoughts down while in contrast we see how it can make someone else become destructive to themselves. It was a touching book and a truthful one as many families are effected by cancer year by year.

Up For Air by Laurie Morrison

Annabelle struggles in school but has an amazing talent for being a fast swimmer on their team. She feels undeserving of her school place due to her lack of academic achievements and her struggle to learn unlike her friends Mia and Jeremy.

Her crush Connor always pays her attention especially as she now swims with his high school aged friends as she's advanced at swimming.

With summer arriving she discovers a letter from her dad as well as an invitation that she should go see him sometime.

However as summer gets off to a good start soon she's fallen out with friends, feels let down by the guys and winds up hurt and questioning her life completely feeling increasingly sad and pointless a lot of the time she to her lack of school skills.

Kayla her best friend Jeremy's sister who's been in treatment for anorexia and it helps Annabelle to see someone else who's struggling carrying on and dealing with life being strong even though it's tough.

I did enjoy this book but it wasn't as good as I hoped, instead I found it quite juvenile in the way that Annabelle behaves towards her crush and handles her school life wanting to get better but then not helping herself at all she just bugged me at times. However the book did do well at showing how an absent parent can lead you to acting out on impulse as she does as well as the inclusion in the book of a girl with anorexia as the book is sports focused is a good move to look into the world of sport and how your focus becomes on how you can be the best.

Skin And Bones by Sherry Shahan

In this book told from a male perspective about his fight with anorexia and in patient treatment we meet, Bones as his inpatient roommate Lard calls him he suffers from compulsive overeating unlike Bones, an anorexic boy and group therapy shows him how others suffer to with food disorders.

I liked the flair of romance in the book as we see Bones fall for anorexic girl Alice, a ballet dancer wanting to perform for a company.

We see how control is taken from them and they try to take it back. We also see how dangerous their battles are with food.
It was believable and realistic as the teens all deal with real issues in relatable ways because of various reasons. We see their struggles and how much they are controlled in their thoughts about food.

Skinny by Donna Cooner

Ever Davies is dangerously overweight, and gets talked to by the voice in her head she names Skinny. Skinny encourages and tells her negative thoughts until finally Ever decides to change her lifestyle by getting gastric surgery to lose weight and make her stomach smaller.

As she loses weight effectively, her best friend Rat is always by her side and champion ing her efforts of even getting into some exercise and finally following her dream of taking drama class.

As she loses weight, she gains friends and her thoughts about food change as does her feelings of severe loss at the death of her mother.

As a typical teen weight topic tackling book, it was new to the category in what it mentions. I've never come across a teen fiction tackling the subject of obesity and gastric surgery until this one and it was a new subject altogether. It was honest in how girls can view their body and feel out of control and needing to gain control and following Ever as she becomes more confident in herself we see great character growth. It was a great honest look into eating disorders and their triggers.

Nothing Tastes As Good by Claire Hennessey

Julia is a girl affected by her past, Annabel is the voice urging her on into disordered eating, a voice of a girl who died due to her anorexia.

In order to get a message home from beyond the grave, Annabel must help Julia to become happy believing Julia is stressed and sad because of her pressure she puts on herself to be perfect, flawless in her future career as a journalist and run the school newspaper efficiently.

However as deeper issues surrounding an older man come to light, broken friendships, new friendships and even a relationship bloom and soon Julia is destroying but living her life at the same time during her rocky patch inspired by Annabel's memory.

This was a strange read personifing yet making anorexia a ghost at the same time. Julia was a believable character to suffer as you see her become engrossed in discovering Annabel and her desire to be perfect on the newspaper team.  It was realistic but could be triggering at places too. I feel the writing flitted from amateurish to just uninteresting in areas but I finished the story and that was good overall.

Zoe Letting Go by Nora Price

When sixteen year old Zoe's mum leaves her at Twin Birch, an inpatient recovery for eating/mental disorders, with six girls staying for six weeks. She finds herself with Caroline as a roommate.

As Alexandra her therapist encourages her to write letters and
Journal, she feels like Elise will be there for her but as she grows erratic at getting no replies from her best friend, Zoe finds herself being outcast by a fellow inpatient after she reads her folder and finds out what truly happened to Zoe and Elise.

A mystery interwoven which was half expected to be truthful as unfortunately cases as in this book are tragically true whether in person or online friends. The issues raised where approached sensitively but I would've liked more input into Zoe's mum's life and her views as she wasn't really in the book much.

Orthorexia by Renée McGregor

Orthorexia is a relatively new not yet official eating disorder but it still impacts many and is as dangerous as Bulimia or Anorexia,the most common eating disorders.

As a sufferer of Anorexia previously I have been recovered for five years but each year can still be a struggle and I see a lot of myself and past traits and actions in this book.

We learn of the combination which results in Orthorexic tendencies as well as OCD factors which come into it as well as forms of stress which can be added pressure on top of all the preexisting things occurring within us.

We learn of how it can start, flourish and manifest the person into believing a clean diet is the only option possible and everything else is bad when its not. We learn of types of strict diets and see through case studies the health side effects which can occur as result.

This is one of the most essentially eye opening books on the newest eating disorder happening around us and this book is educating just when we need it.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon

Bryony recalls her life with her mental health and how it caused so many other issues to coincide and keep her condition a persistent problem to be solved though nothing can completely fix a mental health problem, you can improve your condition.

In the book we learn of how when she was growing up her OCD became a known condition to her by chance as her symptoms and rituals got worser over time until she and her mum first went to the doctors who tried to down play the help she needed immediately not in the future.

Over the years, we see how her parents divorce, finding love and accepting her body all created more problems piling up with bulimia, alcohol, drugs and not just the prescription kind she needed were all a factor in Bryony's health.

This book is useful if you are interested in mental health, if you too suffer with any of the conditions or want a real life read packed with truly humorous or saddening times. This is a gripping read by a brave woman.

Countless by Karen Gregory

For Hedda life is changing fast, living alone in a ran down flat after leaving her eating disorder unit she had been in on and off since age twelve and not living at home or having the option to.

She now faces a big decision, right after her best friend and bulimic, Molly die in front of her from a heart attack months ago, she realises she would have conceived her now twenty three week old foetus around that time and as she faces the choice whether to terminate or have the baby she faces another battle, her eating disorder Nia as she calls it.

We follow her meeting a new and caring neighbour Robin when he moves into the next door flat and how he takes care of Hedda, cooking for her and keeping an eye on her as she progresses through and beyond her pregnancy.

But just why is he so good at looking after her and the baby, you may want to brace yourself!

Don't worry, no spoilers for that cliffhanger I'll leave it on for you, but Hedda soon realises how she has come a long way allowing herself to have the baby and create something amazing with her beat up body.

She also finds her sister, mum and dad aren't as happy as she though they'd be with her not a worry in their lives as much as before but learns why too late to help.

Countless shot to the top of my tbr pile when I was scrolling through Amazon a few days ago, hearing about it months ago in YouTube video's. I am so glad I read it, Hedda is a strong girl in will and power eventually as she seeks further support. Her situation is one we haven't visited before the idea of a girl set severe into anorexia/recovery and facing a life altering decision either path she should choose. Karen did a great job nailing the subject with a good amount of shocks along the way.

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Tori follows her curiosity of the mysterious trail of post it notes to find a computer with Solitaire, a new empty blog open on the screen. Then she meets Michael a new guy before her old childhood friend Lucas also resurfaces.

Meanwhile her brother, Charlie is recovering from anorexia and self harm and we see how protective she is over him as he gets attacked by a bully who Solitaire later ensures gets a taste of his own bullying back.

Through the book, Michael and Toria grow closer while her best friends grow distant and more involved in other plans than friendship until Solitaire progresses. Then she realises, Solitaire or more importantly, who runs Solitaire is trying to talk to her and it's revealed to shows Toria who she can really trust and who cares for her truly.

It was hard to understand the whole concept of Solitaire and their plan overall but it was okay and had some good themes raised with male anorexia and self harm.

Girlhood by Cat Clarke

I couldn't believe my eyes when I stopped this book available for review, the latest young adult fiction novel from Cat Clarke!

Having previously read and enjoyed all of Cat's books, I'm so excited to share a review and overview of this book with you all!

Set in Duncraggan Academy, an expensive boarding school, Harper is trying to get on with her life after the death of her twin sister, Jenna who died because of heart failure as a result of a post Christmas diet of Harper's suggestion.

Harper has a key group of friends at the Scottish boarding school, Ama, Lily and Rowan. Kirsty becomes a talked about 'legend' after surviving initiation which the four friends make her undertake as it's essential for new students.

Kirsty and Harper both bond over their shared loss of each one's sister, Kirsty's sister died as the result of a car crash in which Kirsty is now scarred on her body from.

The girls games, truth or dare and the like result in an awkward situation and Rowan and Harper become distanced over Kirsty. Harper really likes Kirsty whilst Rowan seems very off towards her and wary.

The title being Girlhood shows it's true of the novel as we see Harper becoming distanced from her core group of friends as she becomes closer to Kirsty.

However, the truth surrounding Kirsty and her past comes to light and the girls have to help Harper realise before anything can happen to her, after all Kirsty likes shooting at the Clay pigeon's, would she shoot Harper?

You'll have to read it to find out what happens!

In the book, Harper is bisexual and rowan is lesbian, the sexual themes are unique as in older boarding school books I can't recall a same situation where it has been pointed out. Also, the girls are accepted and not outcast for being their true selves. It also shows that death can be a bonding opportunity over recent losses at the same time even though it's a bittersweet deal.

Cat Clarke has written another stellar book and is sure to be an essential teen read this year, pick it up when it's released!

All Of The Above by James Dawson

Moving to a new school is hard and here we follow along the journey of Toria as she falls in with the outcast crowd and finds a great mix of friends.

She also gets a boyfriend, Nick, from meeting him at their hang out, a seafront golf course, which is being threatened by the council to be shut down.

Toria and Polly set about getting a petition started and try to gain as many signatures as possible to keep their place open.

In the book, a character passes away, a gay relationship ensues and Toria and Polly find themselves growing closer as Nick's band takes off and he moves to London to pursue his dream.

A story for teenagers coming of age, discovering who they are and experiencing new, different, scary and exciting things with a few low blows along the way. Just like real life.

Reckoning Daze by Michael Beaulieu

Lindsey is a nineteen year old struggling actress. After the series she is starring in is cut short, she finds herself unsure of what's to come next for her.

Lindsey battles with anorexia, also with a diagnosis of body dysmorphic disorder and heavy drug abuse, she talks a lot about her mother whom passed away and competing against her in terms of weight as she used to make Lindsey think she was fat by name calling her.

After a night out with her friends, they find one of their friends dead, unable to revive them. So just what happened?

Well, it's a shocking ending and shows how you can never fully know those who grow closest to you as secrets come to light between Lindsey and new love, Mark.

Lindsey is extremely self destructive in her behaviour towards herself as those closest to her pass away, her boyfriend included as Jesse committed suicide, she feels guilty and responsible so turns to self harm, drugs and anorexia to keep control as much as she can.

Its a very crazy book, I suggest you're late teens at least to read this to handle the issues raised. I found it good but a bit too much in parts. It does however show how sick the world can be.

Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Paperweight by Meg Haston

Stevie is our main character in this book, her brother Josh has passed away and now her dad has sent her to a retreat clinic for eating disorders. The distinct first feel is she's having a tough time coming to terms with events and has been drunk too much to cope with her feelings previously as well as impulsively cutting her hair in to an uneven crop thanks to her friend and sort of girlfriend of sorts, Eden.

We follow her on her journey to the retreat where she stays with twenty girls in total admission, four to a cottage each. She meets her therapist who is coincidentally called Anna when Stevie is suffering with what she believes is anorexia, then later her diagnosis is bulimia nervosa. In memory flashbacks, her mum seems to have controlled the household's food choices and is a perfectionist. She has abandoned Stevie and her dad to go live in Paris with her new boyfriend.

She has plans for twenty seven days time from her supposed, sixty day admission as it's the one year anniversary since she believes she killed her brother, Eden was there the night he died but not at the scene of death, she did however cause a scene just before.

Now though, Stevie plans to commit suicide and join her brother as she feels guilty living.

This book dealt with really strong issues, death, suicide, eating disorders, abuse, manipulative behaviour, love and LGBT related issues around that. It was well crafted but I do feel in part, for readers who are sensitive to eating disorder talk and about foods and food types etc, do not read it or be mindful reading it. It again proves how true to eating disorder talk it is though and really shines light on the situations eating disorder sufferer's go through.

I really did enjoy this book and it's already one of my top for the year so far!