Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

19 reviews

genevieve_eggleston's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Chronic illness, Grief, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Cursing, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Vomit

jesse_5's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

It is an amazing story but I did find the first few chapters a bit hard to follow due to the time junping about so muc

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic friendship, and Grief

Minor: Stalking, Abandonment, and Hate crime

one of the main characters has sickle cell and dies multiple times due to it. This is the main theme of the book. In one section there is a very toxic friendship and a character gets shot (he is ok) for being on someone’s property A character has a deadbeat dad who essentially abandoned him In one section of the book there is a minor theme of stalking as Jack decides to anonymously help Kate and spies on her to check treatment is working

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.5

 This was a fun read that I picked up on a whim at a used bookstore. I thought the idea behind the plot was fun - was it totally creative and original? No, but I like how Reynolds used the idea of time travel and getting to re-do a situation that didn't work out for you the first time around. I did find that it started to get repetitive - I mean, I fully understand why, but it started to get boring as the same series of events (more or less), unfolded repeatedly. However, the first telling of the story was so fun and sweet that it was worth reading the whole book just to find out what happened to Jack and Kate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Terminal illness

bujo_bellel's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

3.5

I quite liked this book, it was rather slow at the start which I think could have been made quicker. I liked the build-up and how it teaches us the morale that time is precious and that we should never give up. I quite like the relationship between Jack and Kate. I really hate the pet name (baby) that Franny and Jillian called each other which is one of my pet peeves. This book was kind-of anti-climatic but it might be because I was reading this book for a long time and thus was in this world for very long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Oh my goodness! I'm so happy I finally got around to reading this book. The friendship, the romance, the banter, the importance of family all in one book. Chef's kiss! It was so sweet! I loved almost every minute of it. The representation in this book was phenomenal. Of course, whil the book wasn't 100% perfect for me I'd stil definitely recommend this book to anyone. Oh my goodness this book will have you feeling all the feels. 

But it sucks because this could've definitely become a comfort read for me if it weren't for the "3rd act breakup"

the betrayal that Jack commits again Francisco is callous. He literally goes on to date his best friend's girlfriend. I just found it to be so out of character for him. He knows how much Franny has struggled in life and the one person he though he could count on shatters his heart. I also don't like how easily Franny forgives Jack the first he screws up when he goes behind his back to "negotiate" with his dad. And also I don't like how Jillian liking Jack the whole time while she's dating Franny isn't addressed. Like she didn't even stop Jack when he kissed her. It made me look at their relationship differently and like Jillian a little less. She should be honest with Franny with her feelings because given what Franny has gone through he deserves someone that's willing to give him 100%.

I would lowkey like a sequel where we get Franny's story. I really liked his character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Car accident, Police brutality, and Racism

samanthas_books's review against another edition

Nothing wrong with this book, just not vibing with it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

srah's review against another edition

3.5

For most of the book, I was convinced Jack was going to

save Kate by donating bone marrow

. I was kind of disappointed that never came up!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

nerdysread's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

A good book. What really makes it work is the relationships between the characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Gun violence

grizzlysnack's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

The good things about this book:

• the concept
• Jack's support system

The bad things about this book:

• the execution of concept
• characters
• character interactions & dialogue

This book is very forgettable, to be honest. If I didn't write out the different scenes for this review and journal entries I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything significant from the plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, and Gun violence

Part 4 was by far the worst piece of text I've read in a good while. The rest of the book wasn't AS BAD but the rest of it was still bad

phai___'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

i liked this books very much, not really because of the story (because we've seen the groundhog day trope a lot in fiction) but because of the characters. Jack sometimes is just a really dumb teenager who you care about but annoys you to no end even tho he has good intentions. but the rest of the cast of characters are amazing, i loved franny the most honestly. jillian a bit less, i haven't really understood if she actually loved franny or she was just waiting for her chance with jack (which is just not meant to be). i liked the writing a lot and i got emotional and teary a few times. i needed a light read (writing-style wise) and this was perfect for that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Terminal illness