A Messy, Beautiful Life by Sara Jade Alan

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
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. 

***ARC provided by publishers via Netgalley in exchange of honest review***

Wow! This book had it all...humor, drama, and complicated issues. It's a heartwarming story of a girl fighting to stay positive amid terrible news and struggling with her new normal.

I thought that the author gave an interesting take on all of the emotions and conclusions that a person would draw during the process of finding out that they have cancer. Ellie displays quite a few emotions/reactions throughout the book and seems to go through the grieving process with regards to her cancer. I loved how Ellie tried to be strong for everyone around her. She didn't want to bring anyone down but inside she was crumbling under the weight of all that cancer could mean for her life. She was a great character who made me laugh and cry. I related to how awkward she was around Jason and how deeply she felt everything.

I thought that the author included some interesting relationship dynamics within the story mainly in Ellie's blended family with her divorced parents, stepmother, and her stepbrother. It was interesting to witness the "normal" relationship dynamics and see how they changed due to Ellie finding out that she has cancer.

I enjoyed all of the aspects of the story with the exception of the timing of everything in the book.
I would have liked for the author to take more time to develop things in the book. It seemed as if things happened very quickly and I would have liked the flow of the book to be a bit slower to be able to soak everything in. An example of this would be how it seemed very sudden how Ellie found out that she had cancer. I think that the author was trying to have it be humorous but the joke didn't land for me. Despite this, I thought that the topic was handled tastefully.