Girl, Ultra Processed Written by Amara Sage. Reviewed by Kirsten, Age 14

The main character was a wonderfully cheerful girl called Saffron, who embodied sunlight itself in her bubbly persona. However, she was constantly brought down to earth with a thump by some of the people around her, who deemed her to be unhealthily heavy. She struggled through schoolwork and friendships all while juggling with these negative comments hurled at her, in attempts to shatter her confidence. And they worked – they worked so well she was forced to pretend to be someone she’s not online to gain some of that belief in herself back, which ends up spiraling into a huge messy disaster.

Although the premise of this book was very intriguing, I found it a little tricky to get into. The first part of the first chapter focused on a party Saffron is at, and a few too many characters were introduced at once, leaving me slightly confused. It got me a little while to get into the writing style, but once I did, I was fully immersed and couldn’t really put the book down.

The ending was also a little puzzling – it felt like a slightly easy way out, a quick way to tie all the loose ends up. That said, it was a good ending, one that I definitely didn’t guess with a lot of twists leading up to it!

My favourite element of this book was the freshness of it – it was relatable and poignant, speaking to toxic diet culture and what it means to be a young person today. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting read, although it did deal with some slightly more mature themes and is definitely directed towards teenagers.