Countless by Karen Gregory

Countless by Karen Gregory
Release Date: May 4, 2017
Pages: 384
Rating:💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

 17 weeks, 119 days, 357 meals.
When Hedda discovers she is pregnant, she doesn’t believe it. The numbers just don’t add up. She is young, and still in the grip of an eating disorder that controls every aspect of how she goes about her daily life. Hedda comes to a decision: she and Nia will call a truce, just until the baby is born.


This should be pretty obvious, but trigger warning for people who have or are suffering from an eating disorder. I didn't realise how bad this book was until I started reading it, but Hedda is still deep in the eating disorder and has a lot of triggering thoughts.

This book is a YA contemporary with a difference. There is little romance, few happily ever afters, and more tears than smiles. After all the other contemporaries I've read, this one was like a breath of fresh air. The premise was so different, so unlike anything I'd ever read before. It had that unique spark.

Karen Gregory is very good at making you feel sorry for people. Every single new character she introduced me to immediately had me rooting for them. There wasn't a single character I didn't love in this book, no matter how hard I tried. I loved Hedda, and really wanted everything to work out for her. I loved and his crazy baking skills, as well as his ways of making Hedda smile. I sympathised with Hedda's parents and desperately wanted them to reconnect with her. All of the characters were just perfect.

The writing style in this book was what blew me away. Slow-paced as it was, it really got into Hedda's eating disorder. It was so dark and twisted that I could feel Nia's voice in my head as I was reading. There were points where it got pretty intense, and I actually had to put the book down which is why I would recommend avoiding this book if you have ever suffered from an eating disorder.

I would recommend this book to people who love Sarah Crossan books as they definitely have a similar vibe. It was also a very educational insight in to an eating disorder, so if you want to learn a little more about what that is like I would highly recommend this book!