Review: Full Term by Ellie Rose McKee

Mya Byrne is 16 and has a whole host of problems: her boyfriend broke up with her, her stepdad has been hitting her mum, and she’s gone into early labour in school — but nobody knew she was pregnant. Full Term, the first in the Family Ties trilogy, follows Mya’s journey through the first month of motherhood and finding her independence.

While Full Term handles some heavy-hitting topics with a light touch, this is not a light book. McKee pulls no punches in describing the details of hospital procedures, potential birth trauma or the realities of Mother and Baby units. Mya’s mum goes missing in an effort to evade her stepdad’s wrath, and McKee weaves the complexities of legal dealings with domestic violence neatly throughout the subplots of the story.

There is a lot of story within this novella, with a number of threads and mysteries to unravel that on occasion detract from the pacing and the development of some of the character relationships. In terms of the supporting cast, Mya’s flatmate Lynne is vibrant and jumps off the page, and Mya’s sister Zhara is aloof and intriguing enough that I was excited whenever she reappeared. Throughout the book, Mya’s determination and need to survive ring true.

Overall, Full Term is an ever-topical quick read that puts me in mind of a thematically modern version of Catherine MacPhail’s Roxy’s Baby.

Courtney Smyth