3.5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Michelle Elman has had a long road to accepting her body, and all that she’s been through with it. From the time she was a small child, Elman has had to go through a large amount of surgeries, and this continued into her early teens and again in her college years. Through it all, Elman had to struggle to accept her body, her scars and allowing herself to believe others could like her just the way she was.

This was an enjoyable read for me - most part because of Elman’s relatable writing style, and her great sense of humour that definitely shone throughout the writing. One of the weird reasons I enjoyed the first half of this book immensely is also because Elman spent a large part of her childhood in boarding school, and I lobe hearing about life in boarding schools!

Elman’s ability to tell her story despite how obviously difficult it must be for her- explaining the amount of PTSD she suffered because of the amount of trauma she had to suffer because of her ill-health - is really awe-inspiring and she seems like an amazing person.

I’m not a follower of Elman’s body positivity accounts (though I will be now) and I found this book more on the side of self-acceptance thorough health issues and scars of the body positivity sphere more so on the fat positive side - though Elman does dive into loving your fat body near the end. I felt by the time we got to the fat positive side of the story, the book was almost over and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Elman eventually brings out another book about being fat and proud because I feel like she could talk a lot more about it. This book just focused more so on her health and scars, and her childhood.