Having endometriosis sucks.
You’d think that wouldn’t be a hard fact to understand, but you’d be surprised. When Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney was released and depicted Francis passing out in pain, I literally fist-pumped. Genuinely. I was glad no one was watching. Because, holy shit, someone’s showing something I’ve experienced. On a TV, where thousands of people will see it.
Until the unrealistic depiction of the diagnosis process. Until it didn’t impact Francis’ life as much as mine. It probably had something to do with the fact that, seemingly, Sally Rooney does not have endometriosis.
This was why, when I was swiping through Instagram stories on my bookstagram account, and I saw someone say that a new book with endometriosis rep was coming out, I was dubious. But then I clicked on the wonderful Torie Jean’s profile and saw that this would be an Own Voices story that focuses on Evie’s experiences of endometriosis while making her way through a wonderful, sweeping, childhood friends-to-lovers love story. I needed it. Like, yesterday.
While Finding Gene Kelly wouldn’t come out until late September, I was kindly given an ebook version of the book to review as someone who has endometriosis.
What is endometriosis?
For those who don’t know, endometriosis is a full-body disease where tissue like the lining of the uterus grows on other body parts (often in the pelvic cavity, but often not). It causes scarring, adhesions, and so, so, so much pain.
In the UK, endometriosis is as common as diabetes, but the lack of funding dedicated to researching it means there’s no clear understanding of why it happens, and no rhyme or reason to who has it. It takes on average eight years from your first GP appointment to diagnosis (for me, it was six years), and there is no cure, only symptom management.
Due to the lack of education, not many people actually know about it, let alone write books about people living their lives with it.
This is where Torie Jean comes in.
Finding Gene Kelly review
Evie O’Shea lives in Paris, works in a bar, wants to open a bakery… and has endometriosis. She, like most of us, is scared of being hurt, scared of failing, and seems to think it’s easier not to try because it means she won’t be let down: whether that’s by the world, her own body, or Liam Kelly.
While this book is a rom-com of epic proportions (I laughed out loud at least six times and snorted at every pun), it centres on Evie’s experiences of it all through her endometriosis. It’s startlingly realistic and made me feel seen in a way a book never has done before. So much of it was like my own experience, down to the localised pain on the left, and forgetting to turn my heat pad on again after it times out.
While I’m not putting spoilers in here, we all know, as seasoned romance readers, that contemporary, open-door romances have usually got some level of sex scenes in them. And these were approached with compassion.
The writing itself is tight and nigh-on faultless. You can tell how much effort went into crafting the plot. It has all of the hallmarks of a truly great romance novel without the semi-unrealistic details that sometimes have me frowning down at a page (looking at you, The Love Hypothesis).
In summary, I would urge everyone to read this book, especially folks who, like me, are making an effort to read more books with disability representation.
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