Before We Were Blue by E.J. Schwartz REVIEW

Before We Were Blue

by E.J. Schwartz

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Synopsis

Get healthy on their own—or stay sick together?

At Recovery and Relief, a treatment center for girls with eating disorders, the first thing Shoshana Winnick does is attach herself to vibrant but troubled Rowan Parish. Shoshana—a cheerleader on a hit reality TV show—was admitted for starving herself to ensure her growth spurt didn’t ruin her infamous tumbling skills. Rowan, on the other hand, has known anorexia her entire life, thanks to her mother’s “chew and spit” guidance. Through the drudgery and drama of treatment life, Shoshana and Rowan develop a fierce intimacy—and for Rowan, a budding infatuation, that neither girl expects.

As “Gray Girls,” patients in the center’s Gray plan, Shoshana and Rowan are constantly under the nurses’ watchful eyes. They dream of being Blue, when they will enjoy more freedom and the knowledge that their days at the center are numbered. But going home means separating and returning to all the challenges they left behind. The closer Shoshana and Rowan become, the more they cling to each other—and their destructive patterns. Ultimately, the girls will have to choose: their recovery or their relationship.

Review

Thank you Flux and Netgalley for a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Told through the perspectives of Rowan and Shoshana, Before We Were Blue is a beautifully written story about two girls each with their own problems. When the girls become best friends it seems like they will stop at nothing to stay together. Eventually one of them moves from grey to blue and everything changes in a way that neither girl could have ever expected.

This book is extremely well written. The girls voices in each of their perspectives is quite different. Rowan's chapters are written like she is talking directly to Shoshana. It helps to emphasize the state of her mental health and clarify her feelings towards Shoshana.

This book takes place mainly in an eating disorder recovery clinic. Both of our main characters suffer from an ED and meet at the recovery clinic. Writing about an ED can be very difficult as there is so much you have to be careful with when trying to be realistic. I think the author did a really good job at showing the girls ED'S without focusing on anything that could be a trigger.

Overall, I think this is a really good book. It's really well written and has a great story line.