A riveting portrait of teenhood shadowed by social pressure, self doubt, and the constant cost of anorexia, yet the strength to power onward.

This is a brilliant debut novel by Julia Tannenbaum, a teenager herself who brings fact-based insight, compassion and beautiful writing to this compelling story of mental illness, eating disorders, cutting, thoughts of suicide, and treatments. CHANGING WAYS is a page-turner as you cheer for Grace and her friends. This book will be a wonderful read for young people experiencing anxiety, depression, self-harm impulses, and other mental health issues. It brings guidance and comfort, not triggers. They will be inspired and strengthened as they see other teens going through their challenges too.

This book should be read by so many more people! I always feel like I learn more about mental illnesses by reading books on that topic and this was no different, I never read a book that portrayed anorexia. Grace didn’t want to admit she was anorexic because she didn’t think she was, she didn’t think she needed help, so while you understand her frustration you also want her to get better so badly that you get some frustrations yourself! I just loved this so much and I think it should be read by many.

Oh, and is it too bad if I say that while reading a book about anorexia I was also getting hungry by all the food that they talked about? Because I did… ups.

You definitely felt Grace’s frustration at what was happening to her but you also felt frustration towards Grace because she needed to get better. I kinda want to see what happens with her and Isaac and her relationship to everyone within the school and how she goes with soccer, I guess that’s just something to conjure up. I loved the included helpline at the end, it’s such a necessity with any book dealing with mental health.