Cover:

Author: @lunarlevana_

Chapters: 24/37

Genre: mental illness, romance...

Review:  🌟🌟☆☆☆

Ok... i was being a bit too nice about giving it 2 stars. But plz hear me out. This is all your fault for making me read it! Thanks for the recc shashi1903! Update! Sorry not u but... ItsmeAxelle_ Anyway... let me explain what i mean.

I wont give a synopsis coz im gonna rant soo yeah. Also, dont attack me! I at least have REASONS for my opinions and ill support them with evidence at the court of law. *bow bow*

Ok, let me talk about the good things, The PROS about this book.

It is amazingly written! Even if the author was an amature writer at the time, i was impressed! The writing style was great and i loved the way the author describes emotions and situations! Lovely description. But heres a tip, make sure when describing not to 'tell' a characters appearance, it makes it harder to visulise.

Now the CONS

Yes... thats all the pros i could find for now.

Ofc, u might be mad for why am i making a rant/review if i havent read the WHOLE book! Well, i didnt want to make the same mistake by finishing a good book and forxing myself to read the fricken SERIES! (im referencing what i mentioned in my last review) Dysmorphia has 3 books in its series and i added 2 of them in my library, thinking they were different books.

What is dysmorphia?

Glad to see that in the beginning, they announced what it was. Its a condition where a person sees themselves as overweight when they arent. They have low self esteem and they have this fear of being overweight.

Dysmorphia is mostly tied with eating disorders. 

Why did i want to read this book?

Forgetting the fact i was recc by my VERY nice friend. I needed some help or advice on how to write a book featuring anorexia without making it triggering. Nevertheless, the book did NOT trigger me in anyway and it did do a good job of it and ill tell u why in a minute. HOWEVER, it did a terrible job in HELPING people with this disease and ill get into more detail later.

So, thats the reason why i thought this book is gonna help me with mine. But oh boy... i think its gonna be the other way around!

The beginning

Lets start here. Main character: Florence Clarke has anorexia and woke up in a hospital bed bounded and finds out that a guy she vaguely knew is her nurse. And what a hottie!

Ok yeah u get the jist.

Character developement.

THERE IS NONE! im sorry idc what u people say...

I was surprised to see so many people thinking that their development was golden! When it has so many flaws in it...

First, the narrator does everything! This book is written in 3rd person. Makes sense... coz it would be too much to write and overwhelmingly emotional if it was in 1st person (i know from experience).

2nd, there are no dialogues! I mean it... there are some but it doesnt even flow nor make sense. The characters emotions are all over the place especially when the narrator talks abt them. Like use dialogues to support ur claims!! If a person is bad, use dialogue. If a person is angry use dialogue.

3rd, despite reading thro 20 chps (short ones mind u) i saw no development because of this:

It had been a month and she had started to feel excited every time Chase came in.

Im rephrasing it. But the writing is like this. We dont want EVERYTHING to be narrated out for us! We want to SEE it, to FEEL it! Show dont tell! Is a key in writing a good book.

Plot dev

The plot of the story... girl with mental illness gets saved from hot nurse boy. Thats it! Thats all it is! There was no goal for the mc. There was no chemistry between the characters and i got really confused with the timeline of this story. Its been over a month since Flo had been in hospital but then she has 3 weeks till prom (and she really wants to go) Chase says she can, shes happy, but sad coz Chase doesnt want her to want him for no reason (if there was idc) she has no reason to be angry with him. Heart broken. She lives her life. Realises why she shouldnt have hated her parents when they did nothing wrong and says she loves them and 4 months later shes still in hospital! Lik what?? Did they go to prom? I would like to see that thanks

Ha.... but thats not made me give up on the book.

I dont like the side characters, not because they were just AWFUL simply AWFUL to her, but because they have no point in existing. Like Davis for eg, i have never heard of him and neither did flo know who he was either. They just knew each others name and davis was NEVER mentioned before this scene, but apparentky he knows where she lives???

Also, Chase isnt my fav guy... sorry. I know hes hot. (Not to me)

He kisses Flo on the neck and they both dismiss it comoleteky! (Not sory for my spelling misotake) Like Flo had nothing to say fpr the matter, didnt she feel uncomfortable???

Anyway, if i keep up with this ill be up all night...

Mental illness protrayed in books/media

I was gonna make a rant book abt this... but oh well, i have an excuse for people to read this coz they wanted to.

The mental ilnness (MI to make my life easier) is not used correctky in this book whatsoever. Its a stereotypical book abt ED (eating disorder). The Mc, flo, doesnt onky have anorexia and dysmorphia but also scezophrenia (however u spell it). She sees an imahinary friend called Neeta and she leaves once flo gets too close to chase (the 17 y/o nurse).

But i must say idk if the author has or had an ED. if they did this book would be so much more accurate with the whole clinic and medical proceedures and shit. Like if Flo was as bad as they made it seem, she was starving herself (they never mentioned this word once) to the point of dying, she had to go to a hospital! And if it wasnt so bad, then she needs (not a nurse!) A dietition, a nutritionalist and a therapist to help her recover. Not a sexy boy nurse!

Sorry, but using MI as a trope or the premise of ur book is no good.

Yes, i dont have anorexia. But i know what its like and can HELP people with it. Not to make fantasies in my head for pleasure... people with this disease are suffering from it and falling in love or finding a guy aint gonna help them get better.

Books shouldnt protray things like this... because it hurts.

I dont have remorse fpr Flo or anyones else... because she has no personality. Shes nothing without her ed.

When she was so-quote 'heart broken' by chase, who shouldve said that she didnt need a guy like him coz she had her own worth. But he didnt coz they suck at communicating, she got angry. But when her heart shattered (well written btw)

People said this.

There was no reason for her to be upset. Its very immature.

It didnt even seem that she has dysmorphia (maybe shell develope it later on in the story idk), coz she sees herself as fat, escpecialy in the first few chps. But becuase of a boy, she doesnt. He has some strange methods to help her heal in a medical sense.

But... the thing that made me give up on the book was this line... "most importantly, [she] was no longer applicable to the category shed been placed in."

I took the time to quote this.

Meaning, she was happy that she was getting better. Really happy that she was skinny and no longer in that ctaegory of the FBPG (Fat but pretty girl category thats on The List). This made me so mad. Like yeah, we all love to be skinny! But she used an ED to get that! So does that imply that i shpuld too?

I lied that this didnt trigger me. THIS ONE line triggered me.

Now on to the facts...

Medical issues

This story (tho it doesnt mention it, i guessed coz its my profession) is based in the uk. (Haha...) Now, kids who are 17 are in, i believe, college. Thats Chases age, idk abt Flos cpz they never mention it. But shes in year 11, last time i checked so 16.

First of all, im not a nurse. Idk anything abt the medical field in the uk. But i do know this... you need to finish college to become a qualified nurse! Meaning u need at least 2 A levels. Also, Chase mentioned that he did go to medical skl....

U dont need to if u wanna be a nurse.

Theres a special nursing training course that u can do after college. Which takes 3 years. U cant do that if u havent done ur GCSEs u dimbo! All it takes is a simple google search.

Also, things abt medical stuff in this book dont make sense. Like when she fainted, even tho she ate that day (like a few pieves of popcorn and water) she had to wear an oxygen mask. Now if im a reader that doesnt know abt this sprt of stuff... can u plz explain WHY she needs oxygen? I srsky dont know... thats why im asking and it kinda feels like the author doesnt know either.

For eg, flo has been making some really good progress thanks to her bf nurse. But they prescribe her anti depressants a MONTH after she was admitted! Mate... she has even been to therapy why now?

Also, there was no mention on what happens to an anorexic when they eat after weeks of starving.... no mentions on anything abt anorexia excpet she starves and exercises a whole lot and counts calories. But not the gross parts... yeah coz its all neat and tidy isnt it?

Argh... theres a lot of issues with this book.

Especially the whole: she she she she she she she she she she she she she she she she business all over the book! I couldnt tell who SHE is! Plz mention her name at least in the beginning of the chp. And when shes talking is a problem with me not understanding whos saying what:

She laughed.

"What do you think? Have you been in love?" (Actual not quoted text)

Chase avoided her gaze and looked away.

"No, but i dont believe in that stuff anyway."

He said.

Wait he did!

See what i mean.... just read the book if u dont believe me.

Id like to end this off on a side note... the book did a good job on making it faster to read i  one day. (Yes, i read this one day) the chapters were short and on a side note i REALLY liked the past scenes and how they came in chapter after chapter instead of all in the beginning kinda thing.

What i didnt like was the MC, she had no reason to hate her parents, she really didnt want to lower her guard but did anyway, she falls in love with chase for no reason, he likes her (and he said this) coz shes broken and beautiful (arent we all), and when she gets made wt him for breaking her hesrt she doesnt confront the prob she ignores it until she forgives him again. And when she does, chase refuses to tell her anything abt herself but tells her he loves her after saying she cant be with him (still doesnt give her a reason) then kisses his patient!!

Like wtf?!?

Ill let this go if it was the writers first time at writing a MI book but plz edit it!

Im working hard on my book which is similar to this but im finding problems in making it less triggering. Ive done 27 chps of my 1st draft and im not happy with it... im replotting and writing a 2nd draft. It wont hurt anyone if u made the chps longer than this fucking review. And it wont hurt to add more dialogue. Dialogues are engaging.

Also, u should be proud coz so many people have read ur book even tho there seemed to be not much effort involved in writting it.

Ill be really saddened if after rewriting and writing my book to perfection! I still dont get much views... then i dont see how thats fair.

You probably write coz u love writing and i dont wanna stop u. I love writing too but see the difference? I write for perfection so i dont have people feeling more uncomfortable with their body because of it. Use mental illness wisely in a story dont make it the premise.  Make the MC worth something! Make her be something other than a MI.

Im done ranting sorry.

Also a side note, i was told by my friend that i shouldnt read it coz it could be triggering since ive been triggered by my own writing, i feel insecure abt my own weight. And i hope whoever chooses to read this book wont feel that way.