Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Monday, December 2, 2013

The F- It List by Julie Halpern

The F- It List by Julie Halpern
"Alex and Becca have always been best friends. But when Becca does something nearly unforgivable at Alex’s dad’s funeral, Alex cuts ties with her and focuses on her grieving family.

Time passes, and Alex finally decides to forgive Becca. Then she’s hit with another shocker: Becca has cancer. It also turns out Becca has a bucket list, one she doesn’t know she’ll be able to finish now. That’s where Alex comes in, along with a mysterious and guarded boy who just may help Alex check a few items off her own bucket list."- summary from Amazon

What's really funny about this book is that I started reading this shortly after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is what Becca is diagnosed with. I had no idea picking up the book about the cancer plot at all; I just love Halpern's books so I don't care what she writes. It was a pleasant surprise and it helped prepare myself for my own journey, though my experience so far is very different from what Becca goes through during the course of the book. Halpern infuses humor into this book very well (yes, there are cancer jokes) and it helps lighten the mood so much.

Alex is a great main character and I loved reading her journey throughout the book (especially the emotional arc she goes through, dealing with the loss of her father), following her along on the bucket list adventure. The romance is really sweet and Halpern gives it a nice, slow burn throughout the book, which to me made it much more realistic. Leo's a wonderful love interest and just an all-around great guy.

Overall, this is another hit for Halpern and she continues to be one of my favorite authors. Cannot wait to see what she does next!

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

1 comment:

  1. I just simply can't imagine how it would feel to read a book with a cancer storyline when you are going through it in your personal life too, to be honest I try and avoid books with a medical plot as they scare me too much.

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