Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal (by Gretchen Schreiber)

I thought this was a RHC book (a book by an author with a disability) but it didn't qualify (I was supposed to read a genre book by an author with a disability) but I still was glad to see the representation of a main character with a physical disability, in this case, VACTERLs, which the author also has.

The Goodreads detractors found the main character too unlikeable, which I understand, but I had different problems.  I thought the writing was really strange. Often I had to go back and try to re-read a conversation to figure out what people were responding to, because the dialogue didn't flow for me at times. And some of the metaphors are bizarre.   Her mother's blog is like noxious butter. The friends sit on the couch like lasagna.   Her reaction to a text message is like a boob-punch.  Also the mother's blog is called "VATERs Like Water" and I don't understand why it's VATER instead of VACTERLs or what that even means. I spent a lot of time confused!

I hesitate to say this because it's hardly #ownvoices rep, but "snarky girl with a life-threatening illness" was done better, I think, in The Fault in Our Stars.  Then again, a lot of readers loved it, so maybe this was just one that wasn't for me! It happens.