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| Creepy cover... |
September 2014, Text Publishing Company, 272 pages, Paperback, Review copy
Content: teen romance, health issues, humour, tissues needed
Summary from Amazon UK (I don't benefit by mentioning them)
The last person Zac expects in the room next door is a girl like Mia,
angry and feisty with questionable taste in music. In the real world, he
wouldn't - couldn't - be friends with her. In hospital different rules
apply, and what begins as a knock on the wall leads to a note - then a
friendship neither of them sees coming. You need courage to be in
hospital; different courage to be back in the real world. In one of
these worlds Zac needs Mia. And in the other Mia needs Zac. Or maybe
they both need each other, always.
Nayu's thoughts
Any
book which involves an alpaca farm is my kind of read ^o^ Zac and
Mia's story intrigued me because I spent a lot of time in hospital
when I was younger, and still have to visit a few times a year now.
Being ill is no fun. It sucks to have a condition whose treatment
makes you feel rough, as both Zac and Mia experience. The way they
communicate is unique and made me smile. It was heartwarming and
heartbreaking to see how they each dealt with the varying emotions
involved with life changing diseases. They didn't always turn to each
other for support, or to other people, but friends and family were
there at the cruicial times.
There is some hospital humour which
readers who have experienced life in hospital will be able to relate
to (the food, although I still remember the ice cream being
delicious!). I never experienced isolation, which added a separate
layer of emotions for Zac to deal with, which he tried to help Mia
with although for a while she was far from receptive to his offer of
advice. Their communication methods were inventive and made me smile
whenever they happened. I was unable to guess what direction the
story would take, so I was surprised at how some events turned out.
It's not a super happy go lucky read, as deep emotions are explored
and there's uncertainty of whether Zac and Mia will survive their
treatment, but it's a book to make readers think about love, to
appreciate what good health they have, to share understanding if
they've experienced something similar, provide thinking points on
various aspects of life. It'll make you live life to the full if you
aren't already doing so!
Find out more on A J Betts' website.
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