The Thing with Feathers (Blink)

I was so impressed with what a professional and sensitive job MCall Hoyle did in portraying a teen with epilepsy while keeping in mind that this was only one aspect of her life and she had all the other typical high school anxieties... does that cute boy like me... will people make fun of me if I am authentically myself? And it was really great that one theme running centrally throughout the book was that everyone, or nearly every character, had some sort of issue they were struggling with. Emilie at the start truly felt isolated, and that with the death of her father and the medical issue she faced, she had been dealt a hand worse than the rest, that all the other students surrounding her lived shallow and empty lives. It was rewarding show more to watch her character grow and realize that there was more to everyone around her than she had originally assumed.

I particularly loved the relationship between Emilie and Hitch, and also between Emilie and her mother. The second was flawed, and very painful to read at times, but so realistically portrayed. This novel was simply a delight to read.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author. show less

Listened to this, read superbly by Nora Hunter. I was in awe of the writing, which is why I'm giving this a generous score. Despite this, my one reservation was that it made epilepsy seem like a dreadful disability. From my exposure to it in my own family, this is an unnecessarily dire view, bearing on scare mongering.

I agree with Lifeofaliterarynerd below that the story between Emilie and Chatham was somewhat under-developed and I wondered if that was partly due to its following the strictures on novels that seek to be classified as YA.

I read this novel as part of my foray in to YA, and I continue to be impressed by the genre, which I didn't even know existed!

Here's a para taken from an article in The Independent: For a genre that's show more so popular among readers of all ages, young-adult (YA) lit is surprisingly young: the term was only coined in the 1960s, introducing an official way to describe books aimed at kids 12 to 18.

Likewise, I had not heard of NA - New Adults - until recently - and I'll have to explore that next. show less

This was such a light and fluffy contemporary, but there was so much heart! Emilie Day is an epileptic teen who’s nervous about leaving her life of homeschool behind as she starts attending her local high school. She decided to keep her epilepsy a secret.

I loved that we got to have a main character with epilepsy! I loved seeing Emilie talk about her seizure dog, her medicine, therapy, the different types of seizures she has - we really get to see her and I loved it. Emilie and Chatham, her english partner, were really adorable. I loved their dates and seeing them flirting. Plus, Chatham was such a great guy. I also liked seeing Emilie’s friendship begin to develop with Ayla. However, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Emilie’s mom. I show more really had problems with how she handled the whole dating again situation. I also found that the story was underdeveloped overall. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the story, most of the characters, and the relationships we see, but I wanted more. The Thing With Feathers really is a story of love and hope - it shows the heart and courage and bravery, and was a joy to read. show less

I really love this one and it didn’t disappoint. Emilie is a homeschooled teenager who has epilepsy .... until her mom decides that she needs to be enrolled in a real life in-person high school. There she meets Chatham, the all American boy who is the star of the basketball team. She struggles with fitting in and telling anyone about her epilepsy. The inevitable happens and she’s got to decide how she’s going to handle it. McCall Hoyle is a masterful storyteller and this book was a great read. Highly recommend it.

This is such a heartfelt and beautiful book. There were quite a few tough topics handled in this book, but McCall Hoyle did such a wonderful job of showing that these adversities could be overcome. I really felt for Emilie and her struggles. Also, I LOVED HITCH SO MUCH!!!! Sorry. I have a sweet spot for wonderful dogs in books. One of my favorites of the year so far!

Emilie has been homeschooled due to her epilepsy seizures. Now, her father has passed away, and her therapist and her mother want her to register for public school so she is not at home grieving by herself so much. But Emilie doesn't want anybody at school to know about her epilepsy.