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creolelitbelle's review
4.0
With a book about characters struggling to overcome drug addiction and survive cancer, I did not expect this story to have such a light tone. The overall feeling I came away with, though, is hope. The author did not let cancer and a leg amputation end her life, and she threw into the world a story with characters who refuse to be beaten down by those kinds of hardships as well. Who we are is not defined by what we look like or our pasts, and I really enjoyed watching Cason and Davis discover that.
I feel the story has a slight disconnect in the writing, though. As I read, it felt like much relational development and even some critical character development happened off the page, which I prefer to read directly and experience with the characters. Solid cancer and amputation survival story, regardless of that one qualm I have with it.
I feel the story has a slight disconnect in the writing, though. As I read, it felt like much relational development and even some critical character development happened off the page, which I prefer to read directly and experience with the characters. Solid cancer and amputation survival story, regardless of that one qualm I have with it.
akpjw24's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
steministkendra's review against another edition
5.0
Well I read this in 6 hours. Firstly I wasn’t ready for the actual feels I’ve cried so much reading this but honestly it warmed my heart too. I am currently writing a dissertation on the genetic biomarkers of paediatric non-Hodgkin lymphoma and if I didn’t already have the motivation I needed to finish it well this book filled my heart and made me want to carry on even more ❤️ Secondly I loved how addiction was described it is also a lifelong disease. Lastly this book was it all
katiem0201's review against another edition
4.0
"We all have something we're afraid of. We all have something we're fighting."
Don't let the pretty cover deceive you. This book is hella emotional. I can't say how many times I was crying.
Cason Martin is a dancer. She lives and breathes ballet. But her life gets flipped upside down when she finds out she has cancer. Her time at the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory is now being spent at the Children's Hospital. Then Davis Channing walks in. Davis has spent most of his childhood at the hospital since he had battle cancer, but he is now back volunteering because of his probation. As both of their lives become intertwined, they realize how much they need each other.
I haven't been this emotional invested in a couple in a contemporary in a long time. I instantly became attached to Cason and Davis and was rooting for them the whole time. They're just so adorable together it makes me cry.
This book reminded me a lot of the show Red Band Society , which I loved. That was one of my favorite shows and seeing similarities just made me feel so nostalgic. In the hospital, I loved seeing everyone come together when Cason needed it and just friendships grow in general. It warmed my heart and I wanted to protect everyone.
I noticed a few spelling and grammar errors, but since this is an arc I'm assuming that those were fixed so that's not effecting my rating that much.
Overall, this was a happy surprise for me. This novel was fluffy while still tackling heavy topics like cancer and drug addiction. This is a novel is a quick read and that I highly recommend if you want to cry happy tears.
I received an arc from Netgalley and North Star Editions/Flux in order of an honest and fair review.
Don't let the pretty cover deceive you. This book is hella emotional. I can't say how many times I was crying.
Cason Martin is a dancer. She lives and breathes ballet. But her life gets flipped upside down when she finds out she has cancer. Her time at the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory is now being spent at the Children's Hospital. Then Davis Channing walks in. Davis has spent most of his childhood at the hospital since he had battle cancer, but he is now back volunteering because of his probation. As both of their lives become intertwined, they realize how much they need each other.
I haven't been this emotional invested in a couple in a contemporary in a long time. I instantly became attached to Cason and Davis and was rooting for them the whole time. They're just so adorable together it makes me cry.
This book reminded me a lot of the show Red Band Society , which I loved. That was one of my favorite shows and seeing similarities just made me feel so nostalgic. In the hospital, I loved seeing everyone come together when Cason needed it and just friendships grow in general. It warmed my heart and I wanted to protect everyone.
I noticed a few spelling and grammar errors, but since this is an arc I'm assuming that those were fixed so that's not effecting my rating that much.
Overall, this was a happy surprise for me. This novel was fluffy while still tackling heavy topics like cancer and drug addiction. This is a novel is a quick read and that I highly recommend if you want to cry happy tears.
I received an arc from Netgalley and North Star Editions/Flux in order of an honest and fair review.
alexiasophii's review
4.0
[I was given a copy for an ARC for an honest review]
This was a different book than usual, in a good way. I read this book in one sitting, about three hours, and I enjoyed it. The characters are very well developed and you can understand their behaviour and how they act. Their feelings and thoughts are conveyed in a very understanding but, at the same time, raw way, with you being able to relate to the characters and their struggles. I really liked the main character because she showed lots of strength without necessarily being afraid of showing weakness at the same time. The mother, on the other hand, annoyed me SO much! I mean her child has a life-threatening disease and THIS is how she acts? I understand her way of acting and, in perspective, I can see it was a kind of defense mechanism but still, at the moment of reading I just wanted to punch her. All other characters in the hospital are very supportive and I loved they way they acted and were around each other, giving you a sense of hope for the main character. And the end? Made me so happy. I really enjoy happy endings and this was one of them.
Overall the book is very nice and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a happy-ending story with well developed characters and a good plot.
This was a different book than usual, in a good way. I read this book in one sitting, about three hours, and I enjoyed it. The characters are very well developed and you can understand their behaviour and how they act. Their feelings and thoughts are conveyed in a very understanding but, at the same time, raw way, with you being able to relate to the characters and their struggles. I really liked the main character because she showed lots of strength without necessarily being afraid of showing weakness at the same time. The mother, on the other hand, annoyed me SO much! I mean her child has a life-threatening disease and THIS is how she acts? I understand her way of acting and, in perspective, I can see it was a kind of defense mechanism but still, at the moment of reading I just wanted to punch her. All other characters in the hospital are very supportive and I loved they way they acted and were around each other, giving you a sense of hope for the main character. And the end? Made me so happy. I really enjoy happy endings and this was one of them.
Overall the book is very nice and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a happy-ending story with well developed characters and a good plot.
jennicajackson's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hilaryistired's review against another edition
5.0
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If I'm being totally honest, the reason that I requested this book from NetGalley was because the cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the first line of the synopsis mentioned ballet. I have a thing for pretty covers and stories that involve dance, so I requested it without getting any further into what it was about.
This book reminds me so strongly of a hand-me-down book from my cousin that I read when I was in my preteen years, My Sister, My Sorrow by Elizabeth Benning. This had the same sort of atmosphere and approach from what I remember, though obviously in a far more modern setting. And like that one, this was a beautiful picture of how people deal with rough hands in life and how relationships can make the difference.
The Good Points of Brave Enough:
That cover. Seriously. I want to frame that and put it on my wall.
I loved the way that Gardner portrayed both Davis and Cason's stories and struggles throughout the book. Though it's not overly long, the pacing and the way that their journeys unfold feels very natural and logical. It also helps that both of the main characters are fantastically written and developed.
This book doesn't get caught up in trying to force a plot or anything like that, but instead focused on the characters and the journey, and it just works so well. If Gardner had tried to put more plot in it, this would have been a disaster. Instead, it could be someone's journal (if they wrote in third person, but whatever) or a biography, because it has big moments, but most of it just feels true to life.
I'll comment again on this down in the downsides section, but I loved the romance in this. It was tiny and beautiful and perfect. It fit the sort of story that was being told, and it was so nice to find characters who didn't exist solely because they needed to fall in love with each other. It was sweet and innocent, and I really enjoyed it.
This book touches on some things that we don't see a lot of in YA. We go in depth with addiction and cancer, and neither of those are used as a convenient plot device. I've only come across one other book like this, and I can imagine that it's a breath of fresh air for YA readers who have found themselves with those conditions and are looking for characters to relate to.
The Downsides of Brave Enough:
Though I did like the way the romance played out, it did start as a cringe-y instalove. I was worried it was going to continue as such, but it does get much better.
I wasn't big on Cason's mom. She was obnoxious and over the top in the first half, and her dramatic and supposed-to-be redeeming change later on felt out of nowhere and threw me a bit. This may be because we don't get her perspective throughout the book, other than through Cason and Davis' eyes, but it just seemed a little too sudden to come across as real as the rest of the story.
All in all, this was a fantastic read, and a great journey into the world of cancer survivors and addiction. It's something we don't get too much of in the YA world - at least in what I've been reading - so it's a breath of fresh air, and hopefully something that can be beneficial for people in these situations. If you like character-based stories, books that look at the relationships between people as well as themselves, or like contemporary stories, you should definitely check out Brave Enough!
If I'm being totally honest, the reason that I requested this book from NetGalley was because the cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the first line of the synopsis mentioned ballet. I have a thing for pretty covers and stories that involve dance, so I requested it without getting any further into what it was about.
This book reminds me so strongly of a hand-me-down book from my cousin that I read when I was in my preteen years, My Sister, My Sorrow by Elizabeth Benning. This had the same sort of atmosphere and approach from what I remember, though obviously in a far more modern setting. And like that one, this was a beautiful picture of how people deal with rough hands in life and how relationships can make the difference.
The Good Points of Brave Enough:
That cover. Seriously. I want to frame that and put it on my wall.
I loved the way that Gardner portrayed both Davis and Cason's stories and struggles throughout the book. Though it's not overly long, the pacing and the way that their journeys unfold feels very natural and logical. It also helps that both of the main characters are fantastically written and developed.
This book doesn't get caught up in trying to force a plot or anything like that, but instead focused on the characters and the journey, and it just works so well. If Gardner had tried to put more plot in it, this would have been a disaster. Instead, it could be someone's journal (if they wrote in third person, but whatever) or a biography, because it has big moments, but most of it just feels true to life.
I'll comment again on this down in the downsides section, but I loved the romance in this. It was tiny and beautiful and perfect. It fit the sort of story that was being told, and it was so nice to find characters who didn't exist solely because they needed to fall in love with each other. It was sweet and innocent, and I really enjoyed it.
This book touches on some things that we don't see a lot of in YA. We go in depth with addiction and cancer, and neither of those are used as a convenient plot device. I've only come across one other book like this, and I can imagine that it's a breath of fresh air for YA readers who have found themselves with those conditions and are looking for characters to relate to.
The Downsides of Brave Enough:
Though I did like the way the romance played out, it did start as a cringe-y instalove. I was worried it was going to continue as such, but it does get much better.
I wasn't big on Cason's mom. She was obnoxious and over the top in the first half, and her dramatic and supposed-to-be redeeming change later on felt out of nowhere and threw me a bit. This may be because we don't get her perspective throughout the book, other than through Cason and Davis' eyes, but it just seemed a little too sudden to come across as real as the rest of the story.
All in all, this was a fantastic read, and a great journey into the world of cancer survivors and addiction. It's something we don't get too much of in the YA world - at least in what I've been reading - so it's a breath of fresh air, and hopefully something that can be beneficial for people in these situations. If you like character-based stories, books that look at the relationships between people as well as themselves, or like contemporary stories, you should definitely check out Brave Enough!
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Went in expecting something for my 'dance' shelf on GR and ended up with something better suited for my 'cancer' shelf (although of course the two can coexist!). Cason's story stands out from a lot of YA fiction in its results: she has bone cancer, and ultimately amputation is necessary for her survival. Obviously this would be devastating for anyone, but for Cason it holds obvious consequences. She's a dancer, a prodigy, and the loss of her leg also means the loss of her clearly defined future.
There's a lot to like, including the inclusion of characters with different kinds of amputations and other side effects of cancer—I don't think I've ever seen mention of a rotationplasty in fiction, for example, and I suspect that Mari's inclusion in the story was a way to shed some light on the author's own type of amputation (quite high on the leg, enough so to make prosthetics a challenge). The romance is pretty mellow, which is nice, and and I'd always rather see multiple characters struggling with multiple things rather than one character with an unbroken Problem to Be Fixed.
At times the book felt pretty distant, though. I'm not sure if that's because we had more than one point of view, and thus a lot of the time we were in on character's head when something big was going on for another character, or because the book tended to pull back on big moments—for example, Cason and Davis make Uno-based bets with reasonably significant stakes (shave your head! go to the police with information!), and at least in the second case, the card game scene ends before we know how the game ends, and the information about who won (and thus whether or not Davis has to go to the police) is presented in a sort of offhand, done-deal manner. I'd have preferred to be in Davis's head to know how he feels in the moment the game ends. Or...at one point Davis thinks of Cason as his girlfriend (139), but there's been no discussion of whether or not they're actually dating, let alone in a defined manner. There's a fair amount of that—of plot sort of slipping between the cracks of scenes.
Also (and this is a publisher issue, not an author issue): proofreading! It is a thing! We should not have Cason's mother referred to as 'Mr. Martin' (52), and Dr. Henderson shouldn't smile four times on one page (76), and the word 'seemed' should not appear in two different contexts in one sentence (95). Those are just the ones I flagged—there were many more small things that brought the book down in a completely unnecessary way.
Still! Happy to have gotten my grubby paws on this at last.
There's a lot to like, including the inclusion of characters with different kinds of amputations and other side effects of cancer—I don't think I've ever seen mention of a rotationplasty in fiction, for example, and I suspect that Mari's inclusion in the story was a way to shed some light on the author's own type of amputation (quite high on the leg, enough so to make prosthetics a challenge). The romance is pretty mellow, which is nice, and and I'd always rather see multiple characters struggling with multiple things rather than one character with an unbroken Problem to Be Fixed.
At times the book felt pretty distant, though. I'm not sure if that's because we had more than one point of view, and thus a lot of the time we were in on character's head when something big was going on for another character, or because the book tended to pull back on big moments—for example, Cason and Davis make Uno-based bets with reasonably significant stakes (shave your head! go to the police with information!), and at least in the second case, the card game scene ends before we know how the game ends, and the information about who won (and thus whether or not Davis has to go to the police) is presented in a sort of offhand, done-deal manner. I'd have preferred to be in Davis's head to know how he feels in the moment the game ends. Or...at one point Davis thinks of Cason as his girlfriend (139), but there's been no discussion of whether or not they're actually dating, let alone in a defined manner. There's a fair amount of that—of plot sort of slipping between the cracks of scenes.
Also (and this is a publisher issue, not an author issue): proofreading! It is a thing! We should not have Cason's mother referred to as 'Mr. Martin' (52), and Dr. Henderson shouldn't smile four times on one page (76), and the word 'seemed' should not appear in two different contexts in one sentence (95). Those are just the ones I flagged—there were many more small things that brought the book down in a completely unnecessary way.
Still! Happy to have gotten my grubby paws on this at last.
madelinefmcguire's review against another edition
5.0
All her life teenager Cason Martin has been a dancer, but that all changes when it's discovered that she has bone cancer in her knee. Davis Channing has been cancer free for a while, but it's only been seven months since stopping his drug addiction and staying sober. Cason isn't sure what to make of her new life as a cancer patient, in comes Davis who now volunteers where Cason is being treated. It's not long before Cason and Davis become friends and start to lean on each other. But when it's discovered that Cason's cancer is worse than they feared and Davis' dealer tries to get back into his life things turn tricky. But with enough determination both Cason and Davis will make it through.
This book was so good. It showed amazing parts of the journey of having cancer and dealing with the side effects, as well as the struggle of addiction. And through it all great support system. This would be a great book for people who like Fault in Our Stars or that type of book in general.
This book was so good. It showed amazing parts of the journey of having cancer and dealing with the side effects, as well as the struggle of addiction. And through it all great support system. This would be a great book for people who like Fault in Our Stars or that type of book in general.