A hospital is an unlikely place for first love, but for two teenagers with cystic fibrosis who have a history of extended stays, it proves to be a realistic yet difficult backdrop.Stella is a high school senior who is dedicated to her CF treatments while Will, a talented artist, is home-schooled and anticipating his 18th birthday, when he will be free to make his own medical decisions. Despite rocky first impressions, Stella and Will make a deal--Will must stick to his treatment regimen, and in return, Stella will model for him while he draws her portrait. This leads to romance, but the combination of CF and Will's infection with B. cepacia requires that he must stay several feet away from Stella, making physical touch an impossibility. Stella eventually understands why living on the edge can be freeing, and Will begins taking his treatment regimen seriously--leading to their only bit of meaningful development. The novel is written in alternating chapters, creating a few unexpected plot developments, but much of it is predictable and forgettable due to thin characterization. All characters are presumed white except for gay, Colombian CF patient Poe, whose story arc fulfills tired stereotypical tropes and who seems to function mostly as a catalyst for Stella's growth.The pleasure of the protagonists' romance notwithstanding, give this one a miss. (Romance. 14-18)
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March 25, 2019
High school senior Stella Grant has cystic fibrosis and is tired of living a life in which “CF gets the final say.” Stella is strong and goal-oriented—she manages her medications with an app she designed and uses YouTube Live to educate others about CF. Her to-do list is a mile long, but she’s truly thrown off course when she meets artist Will Newman, another CF patient in a new drug trial at the hospital where they are both staying. Eight months earlier, he was diagnosed with B. cepacia, which knocked him off the lung transplant list and also means that he must stay several feet away from Stella or risk her health, even when they start falling for each other. She chastises him for not following his care plan; he trivializes her vigilant focus (“So is your plan to die really, really smart so you can join the debate team of the dead?”). Adapted from a screenplay, the novel uses alternating points of view to capture the teens’ desires to explore and seek freedom. The characterizations are thinly fleshed out, but readers interested in The Fault in Our Stars–style tales may root for them and their budding romance. Ages 12–up.
November 1, 2018
Grades 7-12 Stella Grant has control issues. She also has breathing issues because of cystic fibrosis, and she must remain six feet away from anyone who could give her an infection. She has spent years in and out of the hospital, and now, instead of joining her friends on their senior trip, she's fighting a simple sore throat that could ruin her chances for a lung transplant. Nevertheless, she hosts YouTube videos about CF and works diligently on her medicine-treatment reminder app. When CF patient and rich kid Will Newman arrives as part of a clinical trial for a drug, Stella knows there will be trouble. He doesn't care about the trial or his regimen, so she forces him to help test her app. Eventually, Stella decides moving one foot closer to Will is worth the risk, and both find their worlds expanding as a result. The characters' backstories are complex and moving, and the unpredictability of the disease will break readers' hearts. Teens will clamor to read this before the film version releases in March 2019.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)