Review Detail

Evie was diagnosed with terminal cancer months ago. She's exceeded the number of days the doctors had given her to live so now she's just grateful for every extra day she gets. Until she miraculously starts getting better. For so long she's been The Girl with Cancer to her family and friends and getting them to see her as just Evie seems impossible. Then she meets Marcus, someone who doesn't know her past, and he makes her feel alive.

This book ended up being a faster read than I thought it would, considering the subject matter. There was definitely a before and after feel to it, before the miracle vs after the miracle. The before parts, when Evie was in the hospital, were both heartbreaking and yet also fun. It was a children's cancer ward and the author did a good job of reminding the reader of that when things were getting too lighthearted. The bond that had developed between Evie and two other kids, Stella and Caleb, was really nice and fun to read. The whole 'before' part had a bit of a Red Band Society feel to it.

The 'after' part almost seemed like a completely different book. Evie was, understandable, such a different person from in the first part. She had accepted death and it didn't come. All of a sudden she had to deal with the fact that she did likely have a future and that she was expected to fit back into society outside the hospital walls. She wasn't adapting well and everyone just seemed to ignore it or make excuses. Part of me sympathized with Evie but the more she used her cancer as an excuse for her behavior, the more she lost me.

Besides cancer, the book also touched on drug use/addiction, depression and eating disorders. There were a lot of issues going on and it felt a little overwhelming. There wasn't enough time to give all the issues the attention they needed.

The theme of old vs new continued through the whole book. Old Evie vs new Evie, old friendships vs new friendships, old romance vs new romance. Will, her boyfriend who stuck by her through everything, started off as really sweet and thoughtful while she was in the hospital and he did his best to understand New Evie, but he came across as a little smothering and condescending at times. Marcus, the new boy Evie met, was more of a mystery. He didn't know about her past so he could easily accept New Evie. I could see why Evie wanted and needed someone who didn't know about the cancer and who wouldn't treat her like she was about to break.

This was the first book in, I believe a duology, so it will be interesting to see what happens to Evie, Marcus and everyone else in the second book.