Echo by Amanda Clay

Emily(Echo to her friends) is getting ready to go to Nocturne in Vancouver. A place where her cousin will be showing off her newest clothing creations. Emily is looking forward to modeling one of those creations. Of course she wants to look her best and that best means being the skinniest she can be. Echo at first starts out by limiting her intake of food. It then progresses to times of binging and purging. When Echo sees herself in the mirror all she can see is the fat content of her body. Soon her best friend Julian confronts her about becoming too skinny but Echo assures him that she is eating and being careful. When her new boyfriend Eddie and several other friends begin to take notice and express concern, once again Echo assures them all that she is being careful. Echo knows that she is in control and nobody can stop her from reaching her goal. Echo wants to be perfect, she finds out at Nocturne what a steep price being perfect can be.

My Thoughts:

ECHO sucks you in from the first page to the very last. It is told from Echo's perspective so the reader is able to see all of Echo's thoughts and feelings that lead her on this journey of destruction. ECHO's characters bring a variety of feelings to the reader also. Echo's best friend Julian is gay and they share many evenings together working on just the right outfit to put together. His care and concern for Echo is heart-warming as he confronts her about her eating disorder. I could not stand Echo's mother! In my opinion she is the majority of the problem in Echo's eating disorder. Instead of a nurturing mother she is more like a jealous high school girl willing to do what it takes to cut out the competition. Eddie made a great boyfriend for Echo as he too had a dysfunctional family life.

Amanda Clay did a great job portraying the progression of Echo's eating disorder. The characters were well thought out and consistent in their behavior. A great story for teens who love to read about angst and drama and real-life situations. My one warning about the story would be that some of the language could be offensive to some readers. While I have read books with much more cursing, the "F" word is scattered throughout the story. An entertaining first novel from Amanda Clay that has me looking forward to her next novel.