Hey everybody! I haven’t been posting as much on this blog because I’ve been working super hard to post weekly on my booktube. But here is a review I wrote a while ago! Hope you like! Let me know what you thought of this book in the comments!
Ever think about the simple joys you get to experience everyday in life? The warm sun on your skin, freshly cut grass, or even your favourite meal? What if those joys suddenly became your biggest fears. This is the reality for a teenager named Maddy. She has a rare disease known as SCID; an immune deficiency that requires infants to be isolated from birth.
Spending all your life only being allowed to talk to your mom and your house nurse seems like torture for any teenager, however Maddy believes that everything she needs is lying in her house and in the worlds of a good book. That all starts to change when Olly moves in next door.
Maddy and Olly start sending messages back and forth until Maddy doesn’t want to do anything else. She begins to realize that maybe she has been missing out on some major things in life. But what will her mother say?
I didn’t know what to expect when starting this book but in the end it wasn’t my favourite. The plot, although easy to fall into, was a bit ridiculous. It was too “insta-lovey” for my liking. Knowing that most young adult contemporaries jazz up a romance I was expecting it to be a bit over the top but not to the extent that it was. It was like one of those bad romance movies where you are just rolling your eyes the whole time at how unrealistic it is. The plot itself at times was also hard to believe but believable at the same time. Maddy would do something that was completely crazy for a girl in her position to do but for a regular teenage it makes perfect sense. I think that the idea was good but considering she can’t leave the house, there is only so much that can happen without seeming repetitive or unnecessary.
Pictures and diagrams were placed throughout the book, which added a very interesting and interactive aspect to the story. It was nice to see the medical reports for Maddy and to have a deeper understanding as to what SCID really is and why it is affecting her life so intensely.
Although I didn’t enjoy Maddy as a character as much as I would have liked, I do think that they way she respond to her environment was very well done. I constantly had to remind myself that even stepping one foot outside was a huge deal to her, therefore her doing something over the top crazy was just astonishing!
Olly was a very cute love interest that was very caring for Maddy, always making sure she was doing okay but at the same time didn’t treat her any differently because of her illness. His humour made the story lighthearted at the most crucial times.
Finally, I did enjoy the mystery and twist that was added to the end. This book wasn’t developed to my liking plot-wise, but it still have me captivated. I have a fun time trying to figure out what was going to happen and what was really going on.
If I have to rate this book, after much consideration I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars. Some may love it and class it as one of their favourites, where others might not be able to push through it. I think the best way to see if it’s something you will enjoy is to just give it a chance. I did, and even though it wasn’t one of my favourites, in the end, I am still happy I got to experience this story and everything it had to offer.
Keep on reading,
Jordan 🙂
If I have to rate this book, after much consideration I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars. Some may love it and class it as one of their favourites, where others might not be able to push through it. I think the best way to see if it’s something you will enjoy is to just give it a chance. I did, and even though it wasn’t one of my favourites, in the end, I am still happy I got to experience this story and everything it had to offer.
Cover Too Cover 