Maybe One Day

I wanted to read Maybe One Day because I am drawn to stories about sickness and cancer and always have been since I was a preteen and devoured Lurlene McDaniel. So I was thrilled when my diva at Harper Teen sent me a copy. I am pretty sure there was dancing involved when I got that envelop.
Maybe One Day was above all else, a story about friendship. Zoe and Olivia has that special bond of being friends for years and continuing that relationship in high school. They have inside jokes, countless hours spent together and that sisterhood without the rivalry that is so sweet.
This, of course, has an emotional punch. We see both Olivia and Zoe dealing with the illness and the fallout--nausea, hair falling out, strain on their relationship, how Zoe has the wild mood swings as she tries to come to term with the fact that her closest friend has a serious illness and that she could die. Things that teenagers shouldn't have to worry about, but in real life, sometimes come face to face with.
I like that Melissa Kantor wrote layers into the story though. The girls had been dancing together for years, part of what made them so close and had so much in common, and sadly, they were talented, but not enough to continue to study at the prestigious school they were attending.
The romance isn't in your face, but it is there, and I def find myself conflicted at the circumstances on how it developed but part of me was certainly pulling for it because of their chemistry as well as the things they had dealt with together.
I couldn't put this one down, even though emotional, Zoe is snarky and stubborn but loyal and she cares so deeply. I got lost in her voice, and everything she was doing to continue to be Livvie's best friend. She sees and deals with things that I don't know if I could personally but she tries to be strong and she does the best she can, but it is always by Livvie's side.
I loved seeing Zoe interact with the kids. That was priceless, and I loved the give and take, what they each had to offer, even though not perfect and never under the best of circumstances. But it gives the book another unique twist, and shows Zoe something to do for Livvie as well as brings back something she thought she'd never do or love again.
The ending was so sad, but perfect I think for the book and the themes. I always want the HEA, but sometimes the bittersweet is the only way to go because of the odds and where the author is going.

Bottom Line: Emotional tearjerker that is more than a girl with cancer, it is a story of friendship.

Bare with me here as there's bound to be a lot of tears that I will disguise as allergies while I write this review.This book was pretty much near perfection for me. As a child I gravitated towards the fictional works of Lurlene McDaniel and Melissa Kantor's Maybe One Day is right in that very same vein. Actually I would argue that they are extremely similar in a lot of ways. The way Maybe One Day sounded was not at all unlike Lurlene McDaniel's work fifteen or so years ago.

Zoe and Olivia were more than just best friends. They were sisters, not bound by blood,but by love and friendship.Their friendship made me jealous. I wished so badly that I could have had a friend like that at their age.They were there for each other in way that their parents and families couldn't understand. Olivia's mother had the most problems with the friendship. It was implied that Adriana Greco didn't believe that Zoe was a good influence on her daughter.

Once Olivia starts treatment, it becomes very clear how Mrs. Greco sees Zoe. She sees her daughter's best friend as "just a visitor" That was heartbreaking. No one wants to think that their best friend's mom doesn't like them. It becomes clear what Mrs. Greco's motive is. She's gone into protective mama bear mode. Her entire existence has turned into keeping her immuno-compromised daughter as healthy and germ free as possible.

Back to Zoe and Olivia though, Zoe is the perfect friend. She's unbelievably supportive and she spends hours upon hours visiting Olivia in the hospital.Hospital visits are something no teenager should have to do.Yet Zoe does it.She stays unfailingly loyal to Olivia despite the fact that they are living two different lives.

That loyalty is tested when Zoe finds herself dancing and kissing the boy who Olivia has been crushing on. Zoe takes it a step further by not telling Olivia about it until later, a lot later.I am really, really glad that the inkling of romance was just that, an inkling. I think any more romance would have taken away from the beautiful story of friendship that Melissa Kantor had so carefully crafted.

I loved, LOVED that both girls had family units that were fully immeshed in the book. That's a new YA trend that I am loving. In the past, the families of YA characters have been difficult to spot in a book. I really liked Olivia's brother Jake.He was an amazing brother to Olivia and friend to Zoe. Sometimes the friendship between brother and sister's best friend seems forced,but not in this case.

This book was a very emotional read and by the end of it I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. I was sobbing pretty loudly and violently. Yes apparently there is a way to sob violently.All the feels in this book were intense and amazing. This book will definitely be on my list of my favorite books of 2014. It should come as no surprise that I'm giving this book, the full 5 stars.If I could give it six stars, I would.Everyone should go pre-order this book now.I plan on pre-ordering a finished copy for myself.