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A review by mbfeeney
Always and Forever by Karla J. Nellenbach
5.0
I’m sure I’m not the only person who has wondered how they’d react if they were told that they only had months to live. I’d thought about how I would spend that time with family and close friends, getting my affairs in order and things such as that. I’m an adult, with children and responsibilities, so these are the things I would need to make sure are in place before…
But how would I have reacted if I was given that diagnosis and I was only 16?
I have a feeling that I would have reacted in pretty much the same as Mia did in Always and Forever. Even without her history of beating Leukemia, being told she had months to live makes her angry. Angry enough to decide that if she was going to die, it wouldn’t be of cancer.
What follows is a heartbreaking story of Mia trying her best to make her passing easier for her friends and family. Unfortunately, she takes it a little too far, and begins pushing them away.
It’s not very often that a book makes me cry. I’m not heartless, but the words have to be something spectacular to bring that level of emotion to the fore. I laugh a lot, but tend to hold sadness in. By the time I finished reading this book, I had a headache from crying so much, particularly the final two chapters.
I honestly feel that this book, and Nellenbach’s other, A Sliver of Hope, are some of the best YA books I have read in a long time. I enjoy paranormal romance books aimed at the Young Adult audience, but these are carrying a message to the target audience that are extremely important. They deal with subjects that some, not all, teens will come across in such a sensitive and sympathetic way that they will stay with the reader for such a long time. I know for a fact they will stay with me.
For this and more, go to: http://michbookreviews.wordpress.com/
But how would I have reacted if I was given that diagnosis and I was only 16?
I have a feeling that I would have reacted in pretty much the same as Mia did in Always and Forever. Even without her history of beating Leukemia, being told she had months to live makes her angry. Angry enough to decide that if she was going to die, it wouldn’t be of cancer.
What follows is a heartbreaking story of Mia trying her best to make her passing easier for her friends and family. Unfortunately, she takes it a little too far, and begins pushing them away.
It’s not very often that a book makes me cry. I’m not heartless, but the words have to be something spectacular to bring that level of emotion to the fore. I laugh a lot, but tend to hold sadness in. By the time I finished reading this book, I had a headache from crying so much, particularly the final two chapters.
I honestly feel that this book, and Nellenbach’s other, A Sliver of Hope, are some of the best YA books I have read in a long time. I enjoy paranormal romance books aimed at the Young Adult audience, but these are carrying a message to the target audience that are extremely important. They deal with subjects that some, not all, teens will come across in such a sensitive and sympathetic way that they will stay with the reader for such a long time. I know for a fact they will stay with me.
For this and more, go to: http://michbookreviews.wordpress.com/