Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal (YA fiction)

Ellie, protagonist of Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal, lives in two worlds that she works very hard to keep separate.
There's the world most YA readers would recognize where she attends high school, competes on the speech team, goes to dances and parties, and does typical teen things with her friends, and has a boyfriend, Jack.
And then there's the hospital world where she has to spend a lot of time. Ellie was born with a condition called VACTERLs featuring missing and malformed bones and internal organ problems. She's had over forty surgeries, the first when she was only weeks old. She has a whole team of specialists. During her hospital times she stays at the Family Care House, a pay what you can afford place for long time patients and their families. There she has a set of friends who bond over shared experiences.
Her worlds weren't always separate. When she was younger when she was home she was defined by difference as "the girl always missing school for surgeries". Then when she was twelve her father got a new job and her family moved. "For the first time I was just…Ellie. I've worked hard to keep it that way, hide everything as much as I can so they can't poke and prod as much as the doctors."
But that's about to change. All of Ellie's life her mother has had a very revealing hospital experiences blog. Jack's mother has shown him. So he turns up at the Family Care House looking for answers she can't give him.
On a purrrsonal note, it looks like a purrrfect community garden day. And after yesterday's downpour we certainly won't have to water the veggies.
A great big shout out goes out to the community garden crew.
Jules Hathaway