Scan barcode
A review by showthisbooksomelove
Brave Enough by Kati Gardner
3.0
A young adult coming of age and romance with cancer taking the mainstage, this was an enjoyable read. I found the friendships compelling and the feeling of parental pressure relatable. This is an own voices novel, and Garnder talks in her authors note about struggling to find hopeful books about kids who are cancer survivors. I appreciate her adding to the pool and normalizing this as an experience for kids.
Cason Martin is our main character. She’s a dancer, until she isn’t. She collapses during a performance only to wake up and hear that she has bone cancer. Her bones have deteriorated underneath her, and she will likely have tough choices to make in her journey to recovery. With her whole world thrown off balance, she needs to rediscover who she is and what she wants from the world. Her mom is obsessed with her dancing, and shows her love through pushing her hard to succeed.
Davis Channing is our other main character. He is a cancer survivor and recovering addict. As part of his recovery, he’s volunteering at the cancer center he was treated at, which is where Cason and Davis meet. They also conveniently attend the same school. Davis helps Cason through a lot, but he has secret struggles of his own. His scenes were very parroty, continuing to bring up his unconscious desire to use. I found this rather annoying, but also thought through, maybe this is what it feels like to be addicted, to constantly have that running through your head and having to turn it down almost constantly.
In the end, the friendships were what I was here for. The story was not totally fleshed out, but rather a light-hearted story about cancer and addiction, if ever there was one. Again, Gardner’s purpose is to normalize and reduce stigma.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Cason Martin is our main character. She’s a dancer, until she isn’t. She collapses during a performance only to wake up and hear that she has bone cancer. Her bones have deteriorated underneath her, and she will likely have tough choices to make in her journey to recovery. With her whole world thrown off balance, she needs to rediscover who she is and what she wants from the world. Her mom is obsessed with her dancing, and shows her love through pushing her hard to succeed.
Davis Channing is our other main character. He is a cancer survivor and recovering addict. As part of his recovery, he’s volunteering at the cancer center he was treated at, which is where Cason and Davis meet. They also conveniently attend the same school. Davis helps Cason through a lot, but he has secret struggles of his own. His scenes were very parroty, continuing to bring up his unconscious desire to use. I found this rather annoying, but also thought through, maybe this is what it feels like to be addicted, to constantly have that running through your head and having to turn it down almost constantly.
In the end, the friendships were what I was here for. The story was not totally fleshed out, but rather a light-hearted story about cancer and addiction, if ever there was one. Again, Gardner’s purpose is to normalize and reduce stigma.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.