Find out what Mumsnetters thought of The Food of Love by Amanda Prowse

I bought this myself and found it a hard but very fascinating read.

Another amazing book by Amanda Prowse although a very sad insight into eating disorders I found this book an emotional and compelling read

I got this from mumsnet - thank you as it's not a book I would have selected. I started it when it first arrived & got straight into it, very easy to read with engaging characters - painting a picture of a busy, happy family home. However, very quickly as it jumped time zone (into the future & back) there was a feeling if foreboding & I left it for a couple of weeks, not sure if if would return. I have 3 daughters, one is 12 & incredibly finicky about food. My OH has been paranoid about eating disorders since she was tiny. Thankfully we have not yet had to deal with smithing like this and I do hope it remains so. But due to this concern, I did return to the book. Overall it was a good read, that dealt with the emotions of the parents journey & impact on their relationship very well. However a couple of things that for me felt odd - Freya seemed to have no friends other than her editor. This seemed at odds with the picture of her life that was painted, I know she worked from home so this can be isolating but still.....? Also there was just one section/paragraph where we seemed to flip into American language referring to a car park as a 'lot' & another reference I can't remember. Just annoying but nothing major. Overall I'd say it it's important for this mental health issue to get addressed in this fictional way - it helps with education, a lot of the stuff wasn't new to me but I think can be shocking for those who come to this arena fresh (pro ANA sites for example). By the way, for those interested in this subject look out for CAroline Horton's award winning play 'Mess' which is a brilliant & has been touring internationally but hopefully may be touring in the UK again soon.

Thank you for the book. Unfortunately our DD has taken a turn for the worse and been admitted to hospital since I applied for this book. At the moment I do not feel up to reading it although I will do so when things have hopefully settled down again.

Touching and emotional read by someone who knows first hand the difficulties in dealing with eating disorders within a family and the effects on the person with the disorder and other family members. Excellent read.

Nearing the end of the book, thank you for sending me a copy. It's an emotive and deeply touching read on a subject that I've not directly been impacted by. It's beautifully written and described...my sister is already keen to read it once I've completed it!

I found this book to be a slow started. Once I got in to it I enjoyed the read. The story is told from the perspective of the mother. I wonder if it would have been better through the girls eyes. It could be an emotional read for anyone with experience of anorexia.

I found this book so harrowing to read and it brought me to tears on several occasions. Despite this, I could not put it down. The characters were so real and I could really imagine their emotions and what they were going through. It is a subject I know little about so I found it very inciteful. It was scary to see how easily normal, happy family life could so quickly turn into a living nightmare. I praise this author on how well written this book is and will be looking out for more by her.

I could really identify with this book having suffered with an eating disorder ever since I was around 14. I have always felt severe guilt for how it affected my family so this was such a good book to read.

Wow. What a gripping read. Took me a while to get into it as found it quite fluffy to start, but in hindsight that was the author depicting a normal family. Because this awful disease can strike anywhere, it's blind to class, status and finances. I was taken back to how my mum talked about food and weight and how it led to my disordered eating. The book was a reminder on how to allow your parenting to incorporate positive reinforcement and not niggling criticism.

The characters were very relatable. And I really thought the relationship issues felt by the parents were typical of any couple with the trials that kids bring, but with the added complication of anorexia.

I'll be looking out for more by this author. Thanks MN.

I love this book, such a good read. It really depicts how an eating disorder has an effect on everyone in the family and how hard it can be to deal with. I love the way that the book starts with food being celebrated in the family. The mum loves to cook and makes meals for all the family to share. As the book progresses the joy is taken out of cooking and mealtimes become a battle ground. It is really emotional to read and I really identified with how the mum struggled to come to terms with the illness and find an effective way to deal with it. The whole book is really well thought out and put together. I will definitely look for more books by this author

All in all I really liked this book. At the start I found the diary entries really frustrating and actually had to skip to the end to find some later ones to reassure myself that they weren't writing some sort of eulogy as I just found that idea far too heartbreaking but after that I really got into it and began to really enjoy it.

I feel like we never really got to know Lexi, she was entirely overtaken by the anorexia and the selfishness and betrayal that comes with that but I can only assume that this could be what living with someone with the disease might be like. Lockie and Charlotte were similarly threadbare, even Freya to some extent but I think to create a deeper back-story for them all would have made the book unwieldy and could have detracted from the anorexia storyline.

I feel like I've come out the other end knowing more about anorexia and it's certainly given me lots to think about regarding the way I speak to and in from of my own 7 year old daughter - and my son as well!

Emotional read. Well researched. A page turner

I have to be honest, I didn't really enjoy this book like I though I would. I felt it was written more like true story and not fiction which threw me off a little bit. Too much was based on the Daughters relationship with food and not about the relationships of the people around her, I just found it unrealistic so probably wouldn't recommend this one.

it deals with a difficult subject very well, I felt that the writer has researched the book, and wrote about Lexi's illness sympathetically and honestly. A good read.

This was an interesting read and very emotional to hear Lexi's journey. From a literary point of view I found it a bit clunky especially the dialogue. I also thought that the ending was too clean cut. Throughout the book the author toyed with the reader, suggesting that the family were writing to Lexi because she had died. I was pleased that this was not the case but it all seemed too good to be true after the struggles that she had faced. The book, at times, waivered between a U.K. setting and the use of americanisms which I found confusing.

Very thought provoking and gives a real insight to anorexia. This author always, without fail, draws her readers into the lives of all her characters so that you understand the feelings and views of each one.

Every mother's worst nightmare

Great story. Thoroughly enjoying it

very well wriiten loved this a lot .

Tough read, especially with teenage girls, who always think they are fat, even though there is nothing of them

This was a really well written book. I found the story quite emotional and can't imagine living through a story like this.

Felt sad reading it and made me think about my sister who suffered with an eating disorder throughout her teenage years.

I have a couple of friends who had eating disorders and I found this book a bit of a tearjerker in some ways and an 'I want to grab you by the shoulders and shake some sense into you'. It is really difficult being a friend to a person with an eating disorder as you feel guilty about eating in front of them and desperate to help them overcome it. What is the right thing to do? So difficult and harrowing.

I found this quite a tough read at some points. I don't know if that was because this wasn't a topic I've had much experience of myself, or because it was quite harrowing overall. I enjoyed it, but not sure I'd read it again