Extraordinary Means

the book description is truly not as interesting as the whole book, you definitely have to dive in to it to actually capture the beauty of it. the description covers a lot of it but just read the whole book to really get it.

the characters, i think are so cool! i relate so much to Lane because of his studies and how he views it in his life. And Sadie, I personally think is definitely a unique and kickass girl. the secondary characters are quite so-so. Not as endearing and unique as other secondary characters in other books, but you'll love them too. but this is definitely a story about Sadie and Lane.

I liked their story. I love how it started as misunderstanding and false impressions because it wasn't rushed but how love is supposed to grow on its own inside of them. I like their subtle love story because it looked the opposite of fragile because the characters are the one who are fragile.

i guess, what i'm trying to say is this is definitely a new perspective on love. their love story is something i can't compare to with anyone. so the book is definitely unique on it's own way.

i read this as an audiobook. and the way the narrators read it are very emotional on the sad parts. but okay on other parts. i thought the narration wasn't quite up to par, but only... okay.

I finished this a few days ago and I swear, I was trying my best not to cry. I just so much feels due to personal reasons but this book definitely triggered it.

This book will definitely give you the feels and it definitely held something personal to me.

I'm looking forward to reading more robyn schneider books. i very much like her writing her. the best thing i can definitely commend her on is writing in a teenage boy's perspective and made it so believably like a teenage boy. i can definitely see the behaviors of a real boy in her writing that i think not a lot of female writers can grasp! props to her on that!

One thing to know before you read Extraordinary Means: it’s not at all like TFIOS. Obviously, if a YA book is going to have sick teens, dying teens, and a love story that’s been doomed from the start, we’re going to compare it to John Green’s masterpiece. But Extraordinary Means was a whole new category of its own. And since we’re going down that path, let’s make it plenty clear—EM isn’t a type of book you haven’t read before. It won’t feel new or unique or fresh. No. Not at all.

But that didn’t stop me from becoming a mess of tears and watery smiles while I read the book.

"One thing I’ve realised about new places is that they’re like jeans. Sure, they might fit, but they’re not comfortable. They need time to be broken in."

Lane doesn’t want to be at the Latham House sanatorium. Of course not. It will do nothing but take away his time from preparing for his dream—Stanford. But he’s been diagnosed with TB (the mutant strain which is completely drug resistant) and while the world waits with bated breath for a cure, Lane has to live at Latham and try not to die. While in there, he re-unites with Sadie, whom he had known for a short time at a summer camp when they were thirteen. She’s nothing like the girl he once knew—no, the new Sadie is rebellious and beautiful and a trouble-maker. The problem is, she seems to be angry with him, and he doesn’t know why.

Sadie has been at Latham House for fifteen months—she’s almost the oldest resident in there. With her close clique of friends and their “black market” of all things that Latham forbids, Sadie is quite happy (as much as she can be) within herself. But then Lane comes to Latham and she remembers everything that happened at the summer camp. And she avoids him as much as she can.

More than anything, I loved the way the two got together. Slowly, with wonder and awe, instead of hard and fast. Their gentle steps into a romantic relationship kind of made me long for a Lane of my own

Lane is new to Latham House, a sanatorium for teens with tuberculosis. He had his whole life planned out and now it’s at risk for falling apart as he learns that pushing himself as hard as he used to puts his health at risk. Sadie, a girl from his past, draws his attention. She and her group of friends seem different from all the other kids there. They’re rule-breakers and Lane finds himself slowly becoming one of them and falling for Sadie. Sometimes it’s even easy to forget why they’re all at Latham house, that they’re all sick, that their strain of TB is incurable. Then they’re forced to remember.

This book ended up being a surprisingly enjoyable read even with the main subject matter being sick teens. There were many light-hearted moments and a lot of humour sprinkled in with the more serious moments so I found myself laughing just as often as tearing up. Some characters used a lot of dark humour to cope with what was happening to them, some stopped caring about the little things like getting out of PJs, some broke rules. It was interesting to see the different ways the characters used to get through their days.

The characters were all great. Lane and Sadie were the main two with their alternating POVs. Lane was an overachiever struggling to adapt to the fact that his body couldn’t handle his workload along with his illness. Sadie was sarcastic and bold and seemed untouchable but she was also really sweet and loved her friends. Nick was the comic of the group, Marina was the artist, and Charlie was the quiet musician. In the world outside Latham house they probably would have never been friends but inside, they were inseparable.

There was a lot more to this book than a tragic love story. Lane and Sadie’s love story was a part of the book, a major part, but it was also about their group refusing to give up like so many of the other occupants of Latham house who shuffle around in their PJs. Their group wanted to keep living even as they were getting worse. It was about love and friendship and living and dying all at once.

I wouldn’t say it was an easy read, nor did I expect it to be. It still ended up being a fast read because I couldn’t put it down and the author did a great job of making it so I always wanted to know what would happen next. There was a lot of ‘just one more chapter’ before there were suddenly no more chapters left.