Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

I fell in love with hope by Lancali

78 reviews

alexiia's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Dear GOD. What have I just read?

I got this book as a birthday gift, and all I can really say without going on forever is that I really wish I hadn’t told that person about this book. I feel awful for letting them spend money on this. At least it was a topic of conversation when laughing about how ridiculous it was with a few friends.

First of all, there were literal grammar errors. In a physical book. That I held with my hands. I would have understood this if it were, perhaps, written as a side project on wattpad, but as an actual book being SOLD to people? I can only feel bad for people who have spent their money on this disappointment. Call me a pedant all you want, but if you’ve spent YEARS writing something you claim to put your heart into, you’d want it to… be perfect—or at the very least… alright? I do not know the author or their thought process when it comes to editing (if the author even bothered to edit, that is.) , but come on.  If we can’t even pick out the right version of a word to force into an obnoxiously poetic sentence, should we even be writing?

Wow, what a nice lead up to a quick sentence about the prose! I cant really say much, as I’d thought this book could be a quick way to get into more flowery writing — I personally love an extended metaphor here and there. However, as many people who have reviewed this ‘book’ have already said, it gets excessive. Purple prose is a real thing, and this book has a bad case of it. To say the author follows so many accounts on Instagram telling people to not do this sort of thing in excess, and then doing it is… slightly embarrassing. If you write a whole poem about eating an apple, of course there’s not going to be any affect when the ‘plot twists’ occur.

Speaking of which… can we please just laugh about how badly thrown in each plot twist is?

From just randomly dropping in the fact that the nurse is Sony’s father, to Sony being pregnant (I think), to Sam… being the hospital (is that what happened?)… each thing the author decided to add just seemed like a pathetic attempt to make you carry on reading.

Please, do not get me wrong — I like plot twists as much as the next guy — but having no lead up, or any reasoning for adding plot twists that added nothing was… definitely a choice on the authors behalf. 

Hey… while we’re on the topic of poor pacing, may I just add how awful it was to just throw three of the “main characters”’ death scenes right next to each other was? It’s like they were asking me to not care. Especially when the only semi-tolerable character was the last to die.

The next thing I’d like to mention are the characters. More importantly, how insufferable the narrator is. Am I supposed to care for Sam when they only seem to speak in riddles and complain? A narrator doesn’t have to be likeable by any means, but by god would it help the story be more bearable if you also decide to make them the least relatable bore on the planet. There is nothing to say about them. They are not memorable. Hikari, the new love interest, seems to just be a ‘quirky’ girl — hey, isn’t that what Sony is as well? Having two characters so similar is… well, let’s just say that I was getting the two constantly mixed up. The majority of the main characters (save for Neo, and in some instances Cœur) were bland and unlikeable. You know something is wrong when the reader has to actively search for a reason to root for the main characters. You know it’s even worse when they find a side character mentioned twice more likeable than the main cast (nurse Ella fanclub, anyone?). 

The dialogue was also unbearable ; I found myself wondering if the author had even been a teenager before. By the way, how old are these characters supposed to be? They have the thought process of a five year old, the humour of a thirteen year old and the words of an eighty year old pensioner, but not in the way that made it seem like that was just who they were. 

One final thing — the portrayal of some of the topics in this book are… questionable, to say the least. I’d question why they felt like it was their duty to write about it, but they wrote it in such a disgusting way that I simply do not care. If you want to handle a sensitive topic, that is fine, but at least treat it with more respect than an off-hand line for character development. It was like watching someone wade their hands around in a blocked toilet instead of just looking for a plunger. The portrayals of mental illness, let alone other things, disgusted me. I may not have experiences these things personally, but even then I thought that these descriptions were awful ; it’s frankly sickening to see real things that real people have gone through get reduced to a throwaway line that gets dismissed as quickly as it is brought up. As I have already said, I have gone through none of the things that this book includes, so please do not take my opinion for gospel.

Overall? I feel bad for giving The Inheritance Games a zero star review because of this ‘book’. And I hated The Inheritance Games. A friend of mine tells me that she wants to borrow my copy of I Fell in Love with Hope. I tell her that it’s not worth it. There’s better books to read, and better things to waste your time on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

fanboyriot's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I knew this book was going to be heartbreaking to read—and I was right.  However, it was also funny and all so wholesome at times too.  The writing was truly beautiful to read to learn their stories and to read lines in the book that felt all too relatable at times.  Just a nice found family doing their best to live their lives to the fullest for however long they can.  It was truly a lovely read.

Queer Rep
Found Family
Hurt/Comfort 
Mental Health Rep
Beautiful Writing Style

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Rape, Gaslighting, Ableism, Death of parent, and Vomit

biowoman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A challenging but profound read about a bunch of young people who live/spend time at the hospital for a variety of reasons. The story is of how they came to be bonded and how they survive and understand each other through the trauma of their situations. Emotionally challenging but very worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Homophobia

fairybekie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Suicide, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Bullying, Gaslighting, Child death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Death

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think what works in this book far outweighs what doesn't. A group of chronically ill teens who practically live at a hospital buoy each other through the storm. There is a supernatural/metaphysical element of the story that I can't get into without spoilers, but it takes what would be a run of the mill drama and makes it fascinating The characters are compelling and beautifully drawn. The prose is often beautiful. The world is interesting, there's an almost plucked out of time and place feeling, where the hospital exists in its own world with its own rules, which only heightened the sense of it as the only world these kids know. What I thought it needed help with was focus. There are a lot of ideas. But once the twist of the story became clear, it also became clear how many of those ideas were unnecessary to make that ending land, and in fact, the ending would’ve landed that much harder had there been more focus. It made me wish the author, who clearly has immense talent it should be said, had been able to get this book published the traditional route so that she could’ve had an editor helping to hone the narrative. That said, the whole time I kept thinking what a fantastic movie this film would make, especially if the film can narrow the focus to its most important parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Suicide, Bullying, Eating disorder, Abortion, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Terminal illness

rabiyaraza's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

gothmiku's review against another edition

Right book wrong time for me reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Death, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Child abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Infertility, Suicide, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol and Ableism

reaperwrites's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

That happened I guess.

I urge anyone who considers reading this book to check the content warnings beforehand. Although there are some at the beginning of the book, I did not expect the depictions to be so constant. This is a long read, so please take breaks if you need or leave it unfinished.

Overall, this book wasn't what I thought it would be based on the synopsis or the author's marketing. I can understand why so many people love it, but it just seemed to drag on and on. The ending wasn't satisfying to me, although I can't really think of another ending. All in all, I think this book just wasn't for me.

If you're looking for something similar, I recommend the book The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin (5 stars). If you happen to enjoy anime, the narrator, Sam, reminded me of Fushi from To Your Eternity (4 stars).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Medical content, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Child death

Minor: Rape and Death of parent

defeating_my_demons's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gore, Homophobia, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

donatio's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-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

5.0

I cried my eyes out in the first chapter and it didn't get much better after that, but I still recommend this to everyone.
I loved the writing style even if there were a few little things I didn't think logical, but in the end they don't matter, because the story and its characters, which I fell in love with, are just so much bigger. 
I especially loved the story's resolution, it was an answer to all the questions asked through out this book and it gave me reason. 
Maybe the story wasn't perfect but it was beautiful and it was raw and I don't believe that words can express how much this books means to me. It wasn't about a hero/heroine, it was about all the questions I asked myself so many times and it's another book that gave me answers. 
Before reading, though, you definitely should check out the content/trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Bullying, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Vomit, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Grief

Minor: Cancer