The Last Wish of Sasha Cade follows Raquel Clearwater, after the death of her best friend since childhood. Struggling with grief, she finds that Sasha has arranged adventures for her, a trail of envelopes covered with pink sharpie, giving Raquel a connection to her dead friend and something to focus on.

This book was certainly very sweet and as someone dealing with her own grief, quite therapeutic to read. The real life consequences of death aren't found too often in YA so this was a nice change of pace and why I wished for it in the first place.

However, it wasn't entirely perfect. I'm not the biggest consumer of contemporary and I'm quite fussy when I do pick it up! However, here are the things I did like.

It didn't hold back on the subject of grief. It definitely had me in tears at points, which is not something that easily happens with books! Sasha was a great character, bubbly and strong. She was also obviously incredibly kind to find the time during her illness to make sure that the people she loved the most would be alright. Even as a posthumous character she just leapt off the page.

However, I have some issues with pacing and it felt quite slow at times. This issue leads into problem number 2: Raquel. She's our MC but compared to Sasha, she fell flat. Most of what I know about her is in her relationship with Sasha. The only thing I think I know about Raquel herself is that she wants to be a vet. It makes it hard to like an MC when I don't really get who she is. Even in the context of the story and it obviously being about Sasha, I would have liked a bit more from her.

However, this book is three stars as it was an enjoyable read and it was definitely what I needed to read.

Sasha Cade is a beautiful story of friendship, love, loss and life!

This book was absolutely heartwarming. The premise was sad but it was so infused with hope and love that it made me happy just reading it - as illogical as that might sound.

Sasha Cade is larger than life! She is 17, in high school and dying of cancer. Upon her death a letter arrives for her best friend, Raquel. The letter sends her on an adventure - one of many that arrive spontaneously and with perfect timing. These adventures help Raquel mourn, heal and find love.

I don't want to give too much away but this book was simply adorable. The friendship, the family aspect and the love story - all worked perfectly together. Then there was the ending! It left me smiling as I turned the last page. This is a feel good, YA novel not to be missed.

This novel has taken my heart, thrown it on the floor and stomped on it. Then had the process on repeat for another 33 chapters. Its so good!

Normally I am not one to gush about soppy stories nor do i have a heart with anything vaguely emotional but this book hurt me in ways that i have rarely been hurt before. Full dynamic relationships, the cutest #couplegoals and amazing secondary characters, i was hooked (and quietly sobbing - don't judge me) from the first page.

Although the title states the story is about Sasha Cade, it is in fact more about how her childhood shaped her to be the person she is with generous heapings of teenage angst and young love thanks to the books actual protagonists Raquel and Elijah.

Secondary characters, although not the major focus are given souls and backstories, allowing the reader to relate with them on a level rarely seen in a debut work.

While the initial theme is that of loss and grief, this eventually evolves into what it means to be family regardless of upbringing and how despite perfect outwards appearances, every home has its secrets and grievances.

Overall this novel has left me a changed woman and i absolutely adored it.

I was provided an advacned reading copy of this work from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions within are that of the author and have in no way been influenced by the publisher or its affiliates.

**Review can be found at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/ **

I am so in love with this book! When I first heard about this story I knew I was going to read it- I am a sucker for the sad "death books" as my friends and family like to call them, where someone is either about to or in this case just died from some sort of terminal illness. There is usually something just so uplifting about the stories, you know, once the initial sadness is over. The Last Wish was no different, a journey of kinds, and just what I wanted.

This is a big day, Raquel. It’s only one of the big days that will happen in your life, and although I’m not actually there, hollering your name like a crazy person from the stands, know that I am still with you. I’m in your heart, and all that sappy BS, right?

This was very much so a story about love. Not necessarily romantic love, which was perfectly done in the book, but about the love of friendship and family. Even though Sasha dies within the first chapter or so of the book, we get to know her and her bond with Raquel so well that I was grieving and healing right along with Raquel. This is the kind of friendship that spans lifetimes and everyone dreams about. It was so easy to connect to the emotions in the story, so many moments I was overwhelmed with grief and fought to cry, other moments I wanted to cheer and smile. I highly recommend a box of tissues handy, just in case.

Can I just say that the ending was perfect, I would not change a single thing. I just highly recommend that you read the end by yourself- and not in public, like during lunch at work with all your coworkers like I did because you may sniffle...a lot. This is my second book by Cheyanne and I enjoyed the first, it was super cute, but this, this will forever by my favorite. Seriously, the feels! This was touching and sweet and romantic and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to read this and go on the adventures that Sasha created.

I reviewed a complimentary copy of this title and I refuse to ever let it go.

This book was amazing! This is the first book I've read by Cheyenne Young and I was not disappointed. It was sad and heartbreaking bit it was also inspiring. This story showed the aftermath of losing someone to cancer and how it affects everyone. This was a story of loss but it was also a story of love, finding yourself, and learning how to stand up for yourself. I completely adored Raquel and Elijah and the parents in this book. The two of them were so freaking cute and their romance was amazing. I can't get over how much I really enjoyed this book! I cannot wait to try something else by this author.

3.5/5 stars

*I was provided with an ARC of this book through Netgalley, in exchange for my honest opinion. All quotes included in this review may be subject to change.

I was teary eyed within the first few chapters of this book, the writing drew me in immediately, making me instantly fall in love with Sasha Cade, with the ever present thought in the back of mind, that she wouldn’t be alive for much longer. It felt like I was just missing out on getting to know someone really great, and it was very, very bittersweet. The Prologue and the first chapter, for me, were the strongest in the book, the writing just seemed a lot more intentional here and I loved it. There’s a really poignant moment where the author plays with the idea that cancer doesn’t mean to cause any harm, that it just wants to survive – at the expense of someone else, it was a clever, yet sad way to look at it. There isn’t much focus on the specifics of Sasha’s condition, because she’s pretty far along when the story starts, but I didn’t mind, as I don’t think that it was the Author’s intention to focus on the details. Because as much as this book is about Sasha’s last wish, it mainly zeroes in on how people survive the loss of a loved one, which just happened to be at the hands of cancer.

When Sasha dies, it is one of the most heart breaking scenes I’ve ever read. The Author does such an amazing job of showing how, despite knowing that this day was coming, it doesn’t hurt any less. It was just so devastating, especially when it comes to Sasha’s dog, “At the foot of her bed, Sasha’s golden lab, Sunny, is also awake. His head rests on top of her foot, and his eyes slide over to mine, holding my gaze for the longest moment. Dogs are intuitive. He’s known longer than I have.” If that doesn’t make you well up, than I don’t know what will, honestly it hit me so hard every time the Author mentioned how Sunny was coping with her death. It was a lovely touch to add these moments, as people never to tend think about the pets left behind.

Now bearing in mind how gut wrenching that death scene was, one of the things that frustrated me so much about this book, is Raquel’s boyfriends reaction to Sasha’s death. I’m not kidding when I say that this guy is a first class A-hole! She tells him she doesn’t want to go to school and be pitied by people who only liked her because of Sasha, and this sorry excuse says “Don’t be bitter, babe”. But wait it gets better, he then says to look on the bright side, at least she can let her hair grow back out (she cut it, in solidarity with Sasha). He tells her that she should of consulted him when she cut it, and when she counters with the fact that he shaves his hair all the time, why can’t she, He rolls his eyes. “Because you’re a girl. You’re supposed to be my princess, not look like you’re about to go on the front lines of war.” He honestly makes me so freaking mad! She asks him if he’s even a little sad and this guy literally says “I mean, yeah” and shrugs. Like, what kind of heartless being are you, he is so toxic! Now for the cherry on top, he finishes with “Your life has been halted lately because of Sasha, but now that she’s gone, you’re free. Free to be yourself and live your life.” I’ve never wanted to harm a fictional character more.

Whilst we’re on this line of subject, I’m going to get into a few of my issues with Raquel, who most of the time I thought was just okay. Firstly, I couldn’t help but think, that if I’m so angry reading about Zack’s reaction to Sasha’s death, why on earth is Raquel being so calm, somewhat angry, but mostly calm about it. He says disrespectful, after disrespectful comment and it’s not until the one about her being ‘free’ now, that she tells him to leave. This is so bizarre to me, he’s then on his phone at the funeral, and brushes his manhood against her when she returns to school. He then apologises, only for the boner thing mind you, and then guess how Raquel reacts “My lips press together, and God help me, my ice-cold heart starts to melt a little. “Okay. Sorry I’m being a bitch.” Like…what, I was enraged to say the least.

When the mysterious Elijah, who is a total sweetheart by the way, comes into Raquel’s life, they are both forbidden by Sasha to tell anyone. This is where I started to question how much I liked Raquel, I just didn’t like the lies she told her parents, using Sasha’s death, even if it was to fulfill Sasha’s wishes. Because by that point she wanted to go mainly for her self, to see Elijah again. I also felt like she was a bit unfair towards Elijah at times, making ignorant comments about him, which she later hates other characters doing. I wasn’t completely invested in Raquel, but the thing that was most likeable about her, was her love for Sasha, even if she did make strange comments later in the book, about their friendship that she’d previously said hadn’t bothered her.

Elijah was a beautiful character and the secret that surrounded him made things extremely interesting! He was such a genuinely caring person and not to mention drop dead gorgeous, I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot with all the amazing guys in my last few reads. I wasn’t too crazy about his storyline, outside of the secret, as I don’t think it worked in the way that it was supposed to. I believe that it was meant to show that people from a certain background aren’t all the same, but is this really shown if only one person isn’t like that, and they get dragged into that stuff anyway. I think this is where my initial interest in the book started to fade.

Overall, this was a quick and cute story! I loved the romance, it was sweet and might even give you a few butterflies at times. However the immediate physical contact for me was a bit strange, but maybe shared grief and consequently, a need for comfort sped things up. The idea of Sasha making them go on these little adventures from beyond the grave, was brilliant, and I had a lot of fun with it. Although I had my issues, I wouldn’t deter anyone from picking this book up, I even loved the ending and we all know how rare that can be.

Okay so I'm conflicted about this book. I think the idea behind it was really nice and I enjoyed the plot a lot. It was super sweet and really made me feel things. My main problem with it being the romance. But more on that in a second.

Plot:
This book is about Raquel, who's best friend Sasha is dying of cancer. She dies, and when she does, she leaves Raquel a cryptic message, which turn out to be a bunch of adventures and a stranger to do them with. This is her last wish, complete these adventures with this stranger. This concept made me happy, I liked it a lot. The parts of it that were focused on this were my very favourite, and the last letter was very sweet. I loved all the adventures and the explanations behind them and all the effort that went into it. The plot was good, a solid idea that was sort of well-executed, if it wasn't for the takeover of the aforementioned romance.

Characters
Raquel. She was fine I guess? She didn't really have any character past being Sasha's best friend and wanting to go to vet school and lOvInG Elijah. She needed more substance. Sasha on the other hand, you really got to know (obviously) and I think I would much prefer to read a book about her. She was sweet and thoughtful and truly passionate and I liked her. Elijah was okay? He was your stereotypical "broody bad boy who comes from a troubled past and has secrets and rides a motorcycle. He loves the MC, but he just can't let her in". Let's not forget the compulsory part of all broody bad boys, the "possessive in a weird subtle way that is definitely still problematic" trait. You just met. Stop acting like you'll die without her. It's weird. It's very overdone, and nothing was really exciting about him. The side characters were fine, they weren't really relevant to the story anyway.

Let me just say, I went into this kind of expecting to dislike the romance aspect. There is really no way to sell me on "someone died and I'm grieving but this hot boy is hot and in pain and I love him so now I'm better". The only book that has ever successfully done this for me is The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone, but that's because that book didn't make the romance the cure for the MC's grief. A boy will NEVER be the answer to anyone's problems, it will never fix the broken pieces. And okay yes, I understand that it might make it easier and I'm okay with that, but in this book it totally took over. Raquel no longer cared about Sasha or herself or anything but him, and it made her rather unlikable after a while. She's obsessed, they both are, and I'm not really here for the fact that this is supposed to be okay? They need like therapy or something.

Now a small list of other things:
- The romance was pretty insta-love
- this was definitely more about a romance than about moving on
- im not saying you should be sad forever, but Raquel's grief becomes a little more like throw-in pieces so that the author feels like it's still about that
- love doesn’t cure all wounds stop
- these characters switch moods, as the iconic Taylor Swift put it, “like a record changer”
- who cares more about a random girl they barely know than their dead sister that loved them?? I have a problem with the automatic throwaway of Sasha in favour of this poorly constructed romance.
- Y’ALL ARE SO DRAMATIC I CANNOT
- <i>“His hand fits into mine like it was molded specifically for me to hold.”</i> Gag oh my god, you literally just met
- <i>“Who was that?” Elijah asks.
“Just someone from my past.” I’m actually smiling, believe it or not. “But right now, all I care about is my future.”</i> this book is so cheesy I actually cannot
- Um does no one care about any of the emotional trauma just because they have money??? The Cades are terrible and they use their money at the end to fix it all and no one even cares about any of it and acts like it's all totally normal and I hate it.
- this girl is all like “go to college its so important” but is totally gonna flunk, and not because her best friend is dead, a completely understandable barrier to learning, but because of a boy. Pay attention in school kids
- The Reinharts are saints and I love them dearly
- I love Sasha
- Raquel shaving her head for Sasha is a cliche I will love forever and ever it is so cute ugh
- Izzy is a true gift to the world, and the essential oil grandma we all deserve
- I wanna work in a flower shop

The Last Wish of Sascha Cade begins with the day Sasha and her best friend Raquel have been planning for and dreading for months: Sasha’s cancer killing her. Raquel has spent every last possible minute with her best friend, they’ve made plans for Sasha’s funeral together, spent hours watching their favourite films and Sasha’s dog Sunny. When the day of Sasha’s death comes, Raquel is overcome with more grief than she could ever have prepared for. Brokenhearted and lonely, she is overjoyed when she discovers Sasha had made plans for Raquel before she died, starting with a letter that leads Raquel to discovering Sasha’s biggest secret in an unexpected meeting with a boy named Elijah. The pair follow Sasha’s adventures and quests, mending their hearts and meeting unexpected hurdles that make Raquel question: can she honour her best friend’s last wish or must she choose her own path?

I was immediately drawn into this beautiful book by the friendship of Sasha and Raquel. It’s always so refreshing to read a lovely female friendship, even one so bittersweet. It’s not very often that a book makes me cry within the first few chapters, but Cheyanne Young managed it with gorgeous writing and characterisation that just jumped off the page and straight into my heart. The friendship between Sasha and Raquel, how Raquel deals with life after her best friend is gone, and how Sasha’s letters and videos as part of her adventurous last wish keep Raquel breathing, is one of the best things about this book. It was a beautiful and heartbreaking friendship to read.

What entices me most in YA novels is the characters. If the characters and their relationships aren’t strong, I quickly get bored. Cheyanne’s characters made me kept reading and I couldn’t put them down. Sasha is beautiful, warm and lively character, Raquel is relatable and true in overcoming her grief and finding her feet, and Elijah is a boy I know everyone will root for. Sasha and Raquel’s families are also great in the story, especially when we see Raquel interacting with them after Sasha’s death; you can see how close knit they all are. There are a few great supporting characters, as well, which were lovely additions to a great cast within a beautiful story.

The concept of Sasha’s last wish is a super exciting and entertaining part of this book. Each of Sasha’s letters or videos are different and inspire Raquel and Elijah to work through their feelings about Sasha’s death and ultimately find each other as they spend more time together. Sasha’s letters were magical, funny and sad. It was wonderful to see how Raquel and Elijah developed throughout the novel as they waited for Sasha’s next adventure and took part in them, reaching an understanding of themselves and each other along the way. Raquel and Elijah both have to deal with some big issues that I can’t reveal without being spoilery, and while I thought some of those issues felt rushed in how they were introduced and how they were resolved, they worked well within the story as a whole and gave it a touching and meaningful ending.

The Last Wish of Sascha Cade is a hopeful, exciting and moving book, full of bright characters and important life lessons. The story has such a wonderful balance of the happiness in life and the sadness in death, and I honestly don’t know when I was laughing or crying. I’m really thankful I got to read the ARC and hope this book will go far.

This book made me envious of the love and friendship Raquel and Sasha had. Even just a half of their relationship would make the world a better place.

After just a few short years cancer took Sasha away from the people she loved most in the world but bought someone just as special as she into their lives when she passed.

Heartwarming at its best. Beautiful book.

Author Cheyanne Young will rip your heart out and toss it into an emotional blender from the very first page. Readers should prepare themselves for a roller coaster of feelings. Tears will be shed while reading so be sure to grab some Kleenex. Although there are sad, ugly cry parts to the story, it is balanced with laughter and happiness.

The story is about what happens after someone you love passes away and how people pick up the pieces and continue on. Death leaves a gaping wound in the lives of those who are left. This book does a beautiful job of letting readers see, feel, and learn from the characters how this emptiness can change over time. It is very well written and the characters are beautifully done. Despite the emotional roller coaster of emotions, it is a must read. Definitely recommend.

I do not have time to read this and the premise no longer interests me. I do not have time to read this and the premise no longer interests me. I do not have time to read this and the premise no longer interests me. I do not have time to read this and the premise no longer interests me.

I do not usually like contemporary books, but when I heard about this one I was intrigued. After only reading a few pages I was already tearing up. This was an emotional and yet uplifting story that I encourage all contemporary lovers to read.

Love and friendship are displayed through out this amazing book. I think the issue of death was handled in such a fresh and appropriate manner. I love that I was given the opportunity to read this book and I hope word gets out how great this story is.

I absolutely loved this book!!! It roped me in right at the beginning and couldn’t put it down. The beginning had a sort of feeling that I just can’t describe, but loved

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here when it comes to giving this book a chance. On one hand, I didn't like this book almost immediately upon beginning to read it. On the other hand, I only read two chapters? Which is almost hard to believe, considering I've written a fairly lengthy review on those two chapters alone and I'm assuming an awful lot. Read this at your own risk, I guess.

There are several things stacked against this book for my favour: One, it's a contemporary, which is one of my least favourite YA genres. Two, it's about a girl who dies of cancer, which is not my favourite topic to explore (which is not to say it shouldn't be explored, but I don't tend to enjoy it). Three, it takes place in Texas, which is NOT a bad state - I just don't really like reading about it. Four, it involves an overarching "I have future plans for you" plot that shoves two people together where they inevitably fall into instalove and can't live without one another. I know this because even though I haven't finished reading the book, I can tell by the summary. Also other reviews. So my review is mostly going to be a review of the first two chapters (plus the prologue) that I did read, but judging by several things (including the publishing house it comes from and my experiences with them in the past), I can imagine the rest of the book is the same.

I think Sasha's struggle with cancer and dying is oversimplified and frankly disrespectful to those that do have to live their life knowing they are terminal. Half of the prologue is spent telling us how Sasha (+ her cancer) were basically fetishized just for the sake of the 'gram. Seriously. I don't know if this is meant to be a comment on how social media-focused young people are these days, or if this is just a poorly created plot device to create some sympathy for our main characters. But there is honestly 2 whole paragraphs dedicated to telling us how the second Sasha got sick her "friends" were surrounding her to get selfies and spend time with her because her having cancer was the "cool new thing." Like, she's dying, people. Get a grip. Because the book is in first person, we get a lot of inner thoughts by Raquel, our main character. We get to hear about how she's special because she's Sasha's only best friend, and if she wasn't she'd be a loner, and how they're all surrounded by fakes (I mean, true), and how they're now always getting invited to parties and to eat with the "popular" crowd. I just can't stand characters who go on about how plain and alone they are, but then actually have a life where they are surrounded by people who want to be their friend? I mean, I know I previously stated grievance at the fact they only want to do so because of the cancer, but still? It doesn't sound like you're alone to me.

Sometimes this feels more like an outline of a plot or story rather than the actual literature itself. There's no flair to the writing, and it's super plain. It reads like a list of things that the author wanted to put into the plot, but never fully connected the pieces together. There's an awful scene when we are introduced to Raquel's on-again off-again but currently off-again boyfriend that made me hate him with every ounce of my being. It reads like 1) introduce boyfriend. 2) have boyfriend say sorry for your loss. 3) have boyfriend be super inconsiderate to mourning character's feelings. 4) have him be more focused on kissing and touching his (reminder: off-again) girlfriend when she's clearly not feeling it. 5) have him tell her she can now move on with her life. That's essentially the whole paragraph! I've hardly even summarised! There's also a quote that's like "The time for moping is over. I have a funeral to plan." I'm not sure that describing a funeral as if it's a high-tech mission is really appropriate and grief is way more nuanced than that, but whatever. What I'm saying overall here, is that the writing is not great, and the story-telling is not great, and there doesn't seem to be much sympathy for the characters at all, and there really should be. Writing is super important, and I am a firm believer that good writing can pull an otherwise bad story, but unfortunately, a good story cannot pull bad writing. But that's in my own personal experience and opinion, so obviously your view could be quite different.

In the small bit that I read, there's a few interesting things. Sasha is described as dark-skinned, so points for POC rep. But she's also the dead person, which I feel like isn't a great message. I am quite obviously not a POC, so take this observance with a huge grain of salt. Raquel is actually in the room and sleeping next to Sasha when she finally passes away, which is a really interesting thing to write about. It would work in a darker novel about grief and the effects of cancer on a person, but I don't really think it fits in with the contemporary romance this book is trying to be. This is the third book published by Kids Can Press that I have been thoroughly unimpressed by (and I've only read three books), so I think at this point I'm going to have to avoid their books until someone I trust tells me they've found a good one. It's really unfortunate, because Kids Can Press publishes Franklin, which was my favourite picture book series as a wee small child, but I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that they can publish good YA books.

Anyway, if this if your kind of book, great! I won't shame you for that. But it's just not for me, and I'm really disappointed by that. I had high hopes, but perhaps that was my issue to begin with. Lots of people seems to love this, and it's a shame that I don't as well. I toyed with giving it another chance, but honestly there are too many books out there and so little time to read them all, I can't justify keeping with one that I never really liked from page one.

The Last Wish of Sasha Cade is a book about which I have mixed feelings. It disappoints and it doesn't as well. It deals with a teenager diagnosed with cancer. And when it turns terminal, her family and her best friend are by her side. Loved by everyone, Sasha deals with her illness with an enviable calm. But what of those she leaves behind? Raquel, Sasha's best friend is the one person who has been with her through the years. She is there as Sasha plans for her own funeral. There are no secrets between the two. And when Sasha says she plans on contacting Raquel from the other side, Raquel believes Sasha will do it. And how she does it! Sasha sends Raquel on a treasure hunt of sorts. She asks Raquel to consider the whole thing an adventure that she needs to do for Sasha. And on this adventure, Raquel unearths secrets that she did not know Sasha had.

I’ll be buying a copy of this book once it is published in October. I really loved the characters, relationships, writing style, and plot. It reminded me of Letters to the Lost. My only wish is that there was more development and involvement of Izzy’s character. This was a really great read.

Very well written. Read it in three days. Probably would have read it faster but I was busy adulting. I LOVED It

•Love
•Loss
•Family
•Romance
•Self Discovery
•Acceptance
•Friendship
4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal and love leaves a memory no one can steal”

Book Name: The Last Wish of Sasha Cade

Author: Cheyanne Young

Genre: Contemporary Young Adult

Ratings: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Imagine you and your best friend, sitting on your bed, discussing a movie you just saw. Imagine sitting with your best friend in the cafeteria and complaining about a teacher. Now imagine finding out that your best friend has cancer. Imagine losing said best friend to cancer.

Raquel Clearwater is an average teenager who, for all her life, has lived in the shadow of her best friend Sasha Cade. She wasn’t unhappy. She was perfectly happy with this system. Until the day Raquel wasn’t a shadow anymore. The day her best friend, Sasha died. Although, Rocki knew this day would come, it still hurt like a ton of bricks. No one could have prepared her for this, not even Sasha.

The book gives you a roller coaster of emotions in the first few chapters itself. With the expectant death of Sasha, Raquel’s emotional breakdown and experiencing the raw and vulnerable narration of the situation. It’s not easy to function once a loved one has passed away and Young has given great thought in portraying those feelings. Everyone around Raquel gives her enough space to breathe and cope with the loss of Sasha instead of expecting her to act or feel in a certain way. It shows a great deal of how every person deals with grief in their own way.

But that’s not all, Sasha prior to her unfortunate demise, has planned a bucket list for Raquel and a mystery boy named Elijah. Cue entry of a handsome male, with a great build, rugged look, a motor cycle and piercing blue eyes. *drool* The pre-planned bucket list entails Raquel and Elijah to go on little adventures to give them some closure.

Not only, is Elijah super handsome, but also openly shares his feelings with Raquel. I guess it’s a Peter Kavinsky thing. Gives a fresh look on the whole ‘bad-boys-are-mean’ narrative. Bad boys have feelings. Boys/Men have feelings. Period. Raquel starts to fall for Elijah and learns of Sasha’s predictions of her feelings as well. #bestfriendbondforever

Raquel, doing right by Sasha, follows every instruction on the list, whilst also breaking a few major ones, tries to bring about changes in the lives of those who matter to Sasha. In doing so, she herself finds her peace and eventually goes on to becoming everything Sasha always wanted her to be.

A tear jerking book about friendships, forbidden romance, new relationships and moving on. Young has done an exceptional job at portraying life choices and how class differences shape who we are and who we grow up to be.

Publisher: Kids Can Press

Publication Date: October 2, 2018

Book Acquired: ARC, Netgalley

The Quick Cut: A girl learning to adjust after her best friend dies of cancer is surprised when she starts receiving messages from her beyond the grave.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Kids Can Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cancer is a disease that affects everyone that the person whose dying from it touches. Something about watching a person's body betray them can really wreck you and those left behind can have a really difficult time adjusting to the new norm without that certain someone. In this tale, the girl with the cancer does everything she can to make sure her best friend moves on after her life ends.

Sasha and Raquel have been best friends for years. However, when the cancer diagnosis came for Sasha and continued to ravage her body, neither of their lives were the same again. In their small town, suddenly everyone was Sasha's friend and Raquel was spending all her time preparing for the today: the day her best friend died. There's one thing Raquel definitely wasnt ready for and that's Sasha's messages and videos after she died. She's sending her bestie on an adventure and she's NOT going alone.

The story here is very cute and the connection between the two girls really is the centerstone for the entire book. It's the thumping heart that the plot drives from and for this core piece, I applaud the author. They are more than just BFFs - they were really more like sisters. Yet, secrets come to light anytime someone dies and isnt there to protect them and its fascinating to see the play out for those moments. There's another character that plays a central role, but I can't talk about him without revealing too many details of the plot.

As enjoyable as the story is, it still has some flaws. The pacing for the major plot points is very odd and doesn't make for real smooth transition from one to the next. There's really 3 story sections and middle section felt too long while start and especially the end felt too short. It ends up feeling a bit like being on a malfunctioning car jerking back and forth.

Even with some odd pacing, this story about life after a death is quite charming and thoughtful with a strong heart at it's core.