Name: A Messy, Beautiful Life
ISBN: 9781640633544

Sara Jade Alan

Life is funny sometimes. And not always the ha, ha kind. Like that one time where a hot guy tried to kiss me and I fell. Down. Hard. And then found out I had cancer. I’m trying to be strong for my friends and my mom. And I’m trying so hard to be “just friends” with that hot guy, even though he seems to want so much more. But I won’t do that to him. He’s been through this before with his family, and I’m not going to let him watch me die. So, I tell myself: Smile Ellie. Be funny Ellie. Don’t cry Ellie, because once I start, I might not stop.

A Messy, Beautiful Life

Lacy W

A special thank you goes out to Entangled Teen for allowing me to read this book early. Thank you so much! All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

My emotions are such a jumbled mess right now. This is one of the reasons that stand alones bother me. It's because I want MORE of the characters! This book had me smiling at the adorable friendship dynamic to crying at the sadness of getting a cancer diagnosis. How unfair is life that cancer even exists? It makes my heart hurt. 

Ellie was such a strong, flawed and all around awesome character. She was normal teenager and she reacted as a normal teenager should. I loved that. In YA, sometimes teen girls are written so meanly or they are written to be an airhead. Not with Ellie. I was attached to her immediately and loved reading her POV. Her wit and her strength were incredible. Not to mention, she is into improv. You definitely don't see that a lot in YA. Especially not girls.

What I really loved about this book was Ellie's circle of friends. Her support system was absolutely incredible! Her friends were just amazing. It is so refreshing to see girls  supporting  one another instead of turning against each other or drifting away, which can happen after a diagnosis such as cancer. Even though Ellie didn't want to burden her friends with her illness, they wouldn't leave her nor would they let Ellie leave them. And I think that is amazing. We all need friends like that.

Overall, I'm so happy with this book. The cover is beautiful. The story was beautiful, even if it was sad. The friendships will make you jealous and make you want your own pack. There was even diversity and LGBT representation in here that wasn't forced. This is a good example of how YA books should be done. I highly recommend this book!

Jackie

I finished this e-arc that Netgalley and Entangled Teen a few days ago but I've fallen ill and with that comes writer's block. I apologize in advance for anything in this review that may not make complete sense.

First off, I absolutely loved the story to this. It shows that bad things can happen but that there's always some ounce of good happening at that same moment. 

The book told Ellie's battle with her own form of cancer in her femur and that some cannot be treated the way we usually think when the term cancer comes into play. She couldn't do chemo because of how deep the tumor was near her knee and her doctor told her that amputation would be best. I liked that we were able to explore the more option she had when it came to a 'miracle' doctor.

From the author's note, I'd assume that her own story might be similar to Ellie's as they both had the same type of rare cancer.

This book had me pretty close to tears a few times but I'm thankful that Ellie had all of the support from her friends and family.

A Messy, Beautiful Life

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