One of my absolute favorite contemporary reads so far this year. Moskowitz's writing is clear and easy to read, as well as hilarious and artful. Sasha and Isabel are well-developed, likably flawed characters whose romance is compelling and adorable. Most importantly, this is an incredibly thorough exploration of what it is like for teens to live with chronic illness. I'll be recommending this book all over the place, as I think it will appeal not only as a contemporary romance read but as a way for teens to build empathy, better understand people they may know living with chronic illness, or find themselves on the page. On top of all of that, it's got great Jewish representation!

I received a free e-ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sasha and Isabel were such nice characters to get to know. I was terrified something bad would happen at the end but luckily no overly snotty tissues for me. This was fun to get to see two different sides of sick kids getting together. Like one who for the most part leads a normal life with normal friends and then the other who is in the hospital way more and relatively secluded to himself. I wish Isabel would have spoken out sooner and so weird for me to think she didn't complain more as a kid apparently she was better than me lol. Also my heart hopes her and her friends manage to keep in touch when life take them to different places as I imagined in my head they do.

Overall well written and a good read! Would recommend, my only caveat is that I wish they went into her health issues in a little more details even like two paragraphs because unfortunately I was sorta in her friends boat with not understanding how much pain she was truly in.

This book is a bit difficult for me to review. I have a Chronic Illness myself and have been waiting for the day Chronic Illness would be accurately represented in a book. However, I have some opinions and thoughts.
—
Isabel is a 16-year-old Jewish girl with Rheumatoid Arthritis. While at the hospital receiving an infusion, she meets Sasha, a boy around her age who also has a chronic illness, only one she’s never heard of- Gow-Shay Disease. Isabel is enamored with Sasha, soon the two are hanging out, sharing anecdotes surrounding illness, and learning from the other's experience. But, Isabel is struggling to let herself find love, she has a rule- no dating.
—
Looking strictly at this story without focusing on the Chronic Illness aspect- it’s boring. I found Isabel and Sasha’s relationship to be a bit annoying, I didn’t connect with either of them. The storyline in which the characters follow also felt very mundane. Not much drama except relationship and friendship drama happens.

If there wasn’t the Chronic Illness aspect I would’ve rated this book very low or DNF’d. Needless to say, I was bored with the storyline and characters.

However, I believe this is an important book for Chronic Illness representation as a whole.
Many topics related to Chronic Illness is explored.
Isabel experiences Chronic Pain and has dealt with medical sexism and some dismissive attitudes from doctors and even her own father (who is a doctor).
She is still high to medium functioning, meaning her illness hasn’t sidelined her completely but she does experience quite a few physical limitations that stop her from living life to the fullest.
There are many things that I as a sick person could connect with-
The physical pain of illness, the worry that you don’t ‘look sick enough’ when at an appointment. The talk of the everyday sick experience. The experience of having family members not understanding what it is you're going through, thinking you can just push through it, and just overall how healthy people view us and we view them.
Discussions about if your Illness defines you or not.
The feeling of not even knowing what to do with yourself when you're going through a rough patch. Missing out of fun things with your friends because you're physically unable to do them. The experience of having doctors tell you there is nothing wrong with you or you're faking your illness. Pushing yourself to do something fun and paying the price in the pain you will experience the next day.
And the defeat you feel when you realize that you finally need to have mobility assistance with either a cane or a wheelchair, and not thinking you are ‘disabled enough’ for either and fearing the ridicule these devices may bring from a young seemingly healthy person using them.
So many important conversations around illness and disability occur in this book and it’s something I wish I had access to when I was sick as a teenager and feeling so alone in it all.
These conversations are the best part of the novel and the thing that I most enjoyed.
Just based on these conversations on its own I would recommend the book to anyone who is possibly trying to understand a friend who has an illness or someone who themselves has an illness and want to be seen and heard.

But, because I didn't like the characters much or their story arc, I was left feeling bored and felt like much more could possibly have been done with these characters.

3 star.

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own
**ACR provided by Entangled Teen Publishing via NetGalley


** Instagram and Youtube link to be updated

I thought that this book was going to be a lot like The Fault in Our Stars or Five Feet Apart so I was ready to be an emotional wreck when I finished this book. I was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t end up feeling this way because this book is so much different.

While the book focuses on two teenagers who are both ill in their own way, this isn’t a book that ends in a traumatic way. This is a book about two people figuring how to continue living their lives to the best of their ability, figuring out how to fall in love and function in a world that makes it so hard for people who are ill, even if they don’t look it.

I found myself connecting with Isabel on a very unique level. Whilst I haven’t been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), I have lived with the insane doubt that you’re making these feelings up in your own head. I’ve suffered from depression clinically since I was 18. Now 9 years down the line I still wonder if I’ve made it all up in my own head, that from my years of studying psychology have led me to believe that I have these symptoms. I know that this isn’t true, the same way Isabel is truly suffering from RA. The fear is still there, and this is the first time that I’ve read a book where those thoughts have come to the forefront in our main character.

This is a book about chronic illness but it’s so much more than that. This is a heartfelt, honest, funny and emotional story about two teenagers who are just trying to live their normal lives. They’re trying to balance school, love, family and friendships alongside of chronic illnesses that most people can’t even pretend to understand.

This is a book that I found impossible to put down and one I found myself loving. I ended this book feeling warm inside and as I mentioned before this was not the emotion I expected to feel after reading this book.

This book is going to educate a lot of people and I’m honestly so happy that teenagers have the opportunity to learn more about chronic illness and how badly it can affect people, even if it doesn’t show on the outside.

Sick Kids in Love is a quick but refreshing and impactful book with love and self-acceptance at its core. It is definitely one of my favourite books of 2019.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into this review, here’s a short background on me: I was born with spina bifida and have since been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and transverse myelitis. All of these things combined plus surgical outcomes makes me very disabled and chronically ill.

When I got really sick back in 2008, I turned to reading. I have read hundreds and hundreds of books, but I’ve never found a book that I could relate so much to as Sick Kids in Love. When I first picked it up I was a little afraid that it would be another book that just didn’t quite get it. (Usually because of their able bodied authors.) You can tell almost immediately that Sick Kids is an ownvoice novel. There’s no way someone who is healthy could possibly write sick characters as authentic as Isabel and Sasha.

Although I don’t have rheumatoid arthritis or Gaucher disease, I fully understand what it’s like to be chronically ill. So many of these character’s reactions and interactions were familiar. The gutting disappointment of receiving normal test results, able bodied friends and family not quite understand even though they try, the utter hurt and disappointment that they can’t understand. There’s so many more instances that I could relate to.

Representation is so SO important. As a white person, I've had that rep my entire life. As a lesbian, that rep started really picking up in the last 10 years or so. Representation as a disabled and chronically ill person? It’s taken my entire 24 years to find some. And that breaks my heart, but also makes me so grateful for this book.
Not only does this gorgeous book have sick rep, the main characters are Jewish, and there’s tons of queer rep! Sasha is bi, has queer moms and a ton of queer cousins. One of Isabel’s best friends is a lesbian and dating another one of Isabel’s friends. All of this made me love the book even more. Another thing I really loved was it didn’t shy away from talking about chronically ill people having sex! It’s not an explicit part of the book, but it does show them talking about it and the things they would have to do different from a healthy couple because of their illnesses. I LOVED this part, because it’s shocking how often disabled/sick people are infantilized. Sick people can have sex too! And it’s nothing to be ashamed of if a few things have to be changed!

There are only a couple things I didn’t super love, but nothing major. One is that Isabel’s dad never really had any character growth. He is very dismissive of Isabel’s RA, which is so annoying (and something I can relate to as my dad is very dismissive of my illnesses.) I know that not everyone grows and that it would take a lot more than one conversation with Isabel, but I would have liked to see something more there. I also didn’t love how so opposed Isabel was to using a cane. I totally get not wanting to use it/being scared to use it, but I would have liked to see her use one in the end. I’ve been in the same situation of fear of what others will think of someone young using a mobility device, but eventually I got over that because of the need for it.
Other than those two things, this was so so so beautiful. It quite literally brought tears to my eyes knowing there’s people out there in the world who have had the same experiences I have. Thank you, Hannah Moskowitz, for giving me that.

THIS IS THE BOOK I NEEDED THIS MONTH!!!

So, I was doing this thing where I read nothing but spooky stuff for October, and let me tell you something. Reading nothing but horror and thrillers can make your brain all weird. So, I needed a break. This book checked off everything I loved in a romance, so here's my glowing review.

Isabel has rheumatoid arthritis, and she meets Sasha, who has Gauchers disease. Together, they form Sick Girl and Sick Boy, and they are the best couple in the entire universe. Seriously, the way their romance bloomed was so incredible that when there were those bouts of bad tension between them, I seriously feared for how much I would cry if anything happened to these cinnamon rolls.

Isabel has questions column in her school's newspaper, and these breaks in the story were a delight to read. I found myself laughing out loud at Isabel's humor. She is seriously one of the best protagonists not only for her strength but because she feels so deeply about the abandonment of her mother and the absence of her hardworking father.

And SASHA! AHHHHH He is a total book boyfriend material. He is stoic yet unafraid to show his feelings. I mean, the boy naps like a cat and he WILL NAP WITH YOU ALL DAY and lie around and do nothing but be near you and if that isn't just the perfect relationship, I don't know what is.

I learned a ton about these two diseases and how debilitating it can be. I had thyroid cancer and had to have mine removed in 2005 so I can relate to Isabel's fears of people seeing her "faking" her illness, just because people aren't able to see how she suffers on the outside. You constantly look at others who are way sicker and feel as though you have no right to feel the way you do, and sometimes these emotions drown you.

Isabel and Sasha navigate these feelings together and learn to support each other without trying to change each other. This book was an absolute breath of fresh air from all those sick kid books. I wish I could succumb to amnesia just for a day so I could read this book all over again.

“Here was someone who was just going to deal with the everyday slog of being sick for the rest of his normal-length life until he died of something completely unrelated, just like me. That’s a weird and special and boring kind of existence that you don’t get to share with a lot of people. If he has some illness he’s dying of, he’s not part of the Long Slog Club anymore. He’s in the Shiny Dying People Club, and he’s all important and significant and not just…this. Waiting. And also, you know. I’d rather people weren’t dying.”*

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

High school newspaper columnist Isabel manages her rheumatoid arthritis the best she can, getting periodic drug infusions and dealing with the chronic pain. Her hospital administrator dad can’t bear the thought of having a sick kid, not understanding that despite her recent favorable test results, she sometimes needs accommodations, and sometimes she’s in severe pain. He hates the fact she’s sweet on fellow sick kid Sasha, because he doesn’t want her to define herself by her illness. Sasha suffers from Gaucher disease, which while not fatal makes him fragile and constantly immunocompromised.

Isabel and Sasha may not dying, yet they struggle to manage their illnesses. They tend to butt heads, since the way the approach care is so different. Sasha has no problem asking for help, but Isabel, who was diagnosed later, constantly pushes herself too hard. Their romance is heartwarming. They understand each other’s situation, unlike Isabel’s circle of friends. Sasha invites Isabel to spend time with his siblings and dad, while her own workaholic father focuses on hospital issues.

The New York setting is a delight, as are the numerous LGBT characters. Isabel’s newspaper column provides a fun interlude between chapters. The author does a fantastic job of making the couple’s illnesses realistic and relatable, without making the book a downer. Isabel and Sasha make a great couple.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

*Please note that my review is based on uncorrected text.

There are so many books out there that will give you unexpected surprises. There will be books you expected to hate and love. There are books that you you will think are going to be fantastic and turn out to be disappointments. Then there are books that are able to give you so much more than you were expecting. An example of this book would be Sick Kids In Love.

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz is the story of Isabel and Sasha. They both have chronic illnesses and see things a little differently. They seem to get along fine and you’d think they would begin dating right away. Here is the thing though…Isabel has a rule about not dating. Though Sasha may be someone who she is willing to break that rule for.

The first thing I really appreciated about this book was the fact that it was #OwnVoice and you could tell that Moskowitz put a lot of thought into this story. I enjoyed the inclusion of Sasha and Isabel’s points of view regarding their illnesses, doctors, and more. The points made in this book are honest ones and things that I think will be relatable especially to readers who may also suffer from a chronic illness or similar situations to Sasha and Isabel. I personally identified a lot with a part of the book regarding fearing someone thinking of you as lazy due to taking a cab to an area that others may not have an issue walking to (for me it was taking a shuttle around my college campus rather than walking from my dorm uphill because I am someone who is easily out of breathe). This is just one point and there are so many other inclusions in this book that I am glad the author added that I am sure will be relatable to many others.

Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the romance. I really liked the relationship between Sasha and Isabel. I thought they were sweet and had a lot of great on page chemistry. They have cute jokes, witty banter, and a lot of great times with each other. The book also didn’t shy away with problems they need to face in their relationship regarding differing views about things and I really appreciated the author adding that in as well.

Finally, I really enjoyed that this book included advice question and answers that Isabel edits for her school’s newspaper. The column is a really cool part of who Isabel is and something I really liked that was added into the story. The advice was funny at times, serious at others, and even helped with moving the story along a few times. It was just one of many fantastically wonderful surprises in this novel.

If I had to say something I disliked about the story I would have to say I felt at times that the book was going a little too slow & that not much was happening. While I understand there will be slow points or filler portions of a story, I felt like there were a few more than I was hoping for.

However, that does not decrease my enjoyment of this book at all and I would wholeheartedly still recommend this book to everyone and anyone who is interested.

Overall, I really liked this story. The romance was cute, the advice column was a unexpected surprise, and the story really does feel genuine and honest. Regardless of some filler moments and slow scenes, I really think that this book would be enjoyed by anyone who reads it. So whether you can relate to Sasha and Isabel’s life experiences or not, I think that this book will be loved by everyone and anyone who reads it. I know I did.

4 out of 5 stars

**** out of *****

I enjoyed this book. I became so invested in the characters that I found myself holding my breath every chapter, worried something was going to happen.

<b>SERIOUS TOPIC BUT SURPRISINGLY - AND DELIGHTFULLY - LIGHT 😄</b>

Based solely on the title of this book, I was expecting something along the lines of [book:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085]. So when I set out to read it, I was actually expecting to be disappointed. I never like books that feel too much like I have read it before. However, I quickly realised that this was definitely <i>not</i> like TFiOS! I loved TFiOS as well, but this has the opposite feeling to it, it is light, humorous and optimistic. An easy 4 stars!

<blockquote><i><b>"That was beautifully distasteful."
- Sasha</b></i></blockquote>

<b>👍 THE THINGS I LIKED 👍</b>

<u>Surprise!</u>: The title let me to believe that I would be shedding some serious tears at the end of this book, possibly also throughout. However, the feeling of this book was quite the opposite, which was very refreshing.

<u>Humor</u>: I loved how often this book made me laugh. Like, actually laugh. Out loud!

<blockquote><i><b>"[...] I'm really just not interested in being friends with a dead baby."
- Isabel</b></i></blockquote>

<u>Sasha and Isabel</u>: These two were wonderfully adorable! They had the greatest chemistry because even though they had the shared experience of their illnesses, they were so different in the way they each handled it.

<u>Chronic illness</u>: To my knowledge, very few YA books deal with the pain of having a chronic illness. I loved how it was portrayed in this book, especially to see the different ways in which Sasha and Isabel dealt with it. It was a great representation and an eyeopener.

I really liked this book. I know there will be comparisons to TFIOS, but there really shouldn't be because these 2 books are nothing alike. This one isn't nearly as depressing. I really loved the main characters and their dynamic. And there weren't really those cliché romantic problems, everything felt really realistic. A really great read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

First off, nobody dies! There's that cliche written out.
This is a great book with a great story and message. The "kids" are chronically ill, not terminally ill, so they live their life with the struggles brought on by these illnesses.
It's about love, it's about change, it's about growth. It's beautiful.

4.5 stars.
A quote (from ARC):
“[…] God, I’m tired… You know what will be fun?”
“What?”
“When we can stop pretending that we’re interesting people who go out and do things and instead we can hang out and just do nothing.”

An amazing story, with two teenage characters as leads, about young love and living with a chronic disease, “Sic Kids in Love”, by Hannah Moskowitz (Entangled: Teen), features a dreamy, marvelous Beta hero, all depth, intensity and pain.
Sasha and Isabel are both mature beyond their ages, but the heroine’s constant questioning makes her character a bit frustrating, while the hero is swoon-worthy, devoted and full of stoicism and a little bit of sarcasm when dealing with his illness.
They’re young, playful, and so fragile; but so strong when dealing with their bodies’ treacherous conditions, yet still wanting to keep a good image of themselves:
“You either have to be overcoming it [your illness] or you have to be completely disconnected from it. God forbid it be an important part of your identity that you’re just living with.” (Sasha)
The insight on two chronic illnesses – Gaucher Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis – and the setting (New York) are great, too.

4.5 Stars. Loved this! Isabel and Sasha totally stole my heart. Especially Sasha - just SWOON. I don't know much about living with a chronic illness, but I feel like the author did such a wonderful job with articulating what day to day life would look like. There were a few heartbreaking moments in this book, but overall it was just so honest and sweet and hopeful. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This...was amazing!

The only I would change about this book is the synopsis: this is about so much more than dating or not dating a boy.

This story is told in two different ways: the normal chapters told through Isabel’s pov followed and a question from Isabel’s newspaper column. I loved the column so much because more than being a part of Isabel’s life, the opinions she published and the people she interviewed (or not) revealed a lot of what was going inside her mind, even when she was not aware of it and as a reader, uncovering those little pieces of information was really fun.

Going into it, I was afraid this was gonna be another of those “cancer stories” but this is not a story about dying, but about living, living with a decease.

Isabel has rheumatoid arthritis and the way that she sees and lives with her condition really changes throughout the book. Isabel’s condition is invisible so she was afraid of looking like she was taking advantage. Even when in pain, she felt like she couldn’t behave any differently from someone that was able because a lot of people had it much worse than her and they still lived “normal” lives. It was through meeting Sasha, the first friend she ever got that also lived with a decease, that she started not only to surround herself with people that understood her but that she started to realize that invisible did not mean non-existent.

I loved both Isabel and Sasha, the first because of how intense and sensible she was, sometimes to a fault and Sasha because, well I actually have a list:

1. Badass Russian name and I’m a sucker for those.

2. He has game

3. He is not macho: he knits and cooks and he is good at it.

4. He and Isabel have the most amazing conversations (and discussions) and he really listens to her instead of trying to placate her.

5. He is a boy and he is body-conscious because boys are allowed to feel insecure about their looks as well as show emotions and look for comfort.

6. He is really funny

7. I could go on, I seriously could but I got to finish this review before the end of the year.

Although I enjoyed this book in its entirety from the writing to the plot, the structure of the story, the rhythm at which it developed, the Jewish and LGBTQ rep, mental health, the female friendships and just how real it feels I’ll focus on two of the themes that Isabel and Sasha discussed that I was really enthralled by.

The first was how ableist the world in which we live is and how badly we are as a society not only to build but adapt our surroundings to people that might have physical impairings but also how we are taught to think of disability or sickness in general. Throughout the book, we see how Sasha and Isabel’s needs are ignored or talked over, often by those closest to them because “different” is still seen as “bad”. Sasha prefers not to have healthy friends not to deal with that kind of ignorance but Isabel is surrounded by only able-bodied people and it was really educational from a reader's point of view to see how not to behave.

The fact that this book focused on “invisible deceases” also allowed the author to delve into another theme that has only recently started to be talked about: sexism when it comes to medical care. People often joke about how a man with a cold is the worst thing ever because they cannot stop complaining but the truth is that despite complaining a lot less when it comes to pain, women are often ignored when they go to their doctors with a complaint and instead of being taken seriously, they get a five minute diagnosis of “it’s all in your head” and “have you tried to exercise?”. Much of this book is spent with Isabel’s being frustrated over the doctors around her, including her father, not taking her seriously and comparing the standard of care that she gets to Sasha’s, that does not hesitate in telling everyone in the hospital when they are being lazy or incompetent.

I absolutely loved Isabel’s and Sasha’s relationship and how respectful it was. This book felt like the out of wedlock child of “Full Disclosure” by Tamryn Garrett and “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green that I did not know I needed.

Thank you to Entangled Teen and NetGalley for this DRC.

This is my first Hannah Moskowitz book. I highly enjoyed her writing style. I like how it has RA and Gaucher's representation. It was well written and the characters are described well.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Moskowitz and Entangled Publishing for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t read much for YA novels, but the more I read, the more I wonder why I don’t! I actually really enjoyed this one and I loved the idea behind it. I think it had many valid points about how healthy people don’t really understand the struggles of being a chronically ill person. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a teenager to be chronically ill and try to make other teenagers who are generally self-centered try to understand. This was so beautifully written and I read the whole novel in one sitting because I couldn’t help but want to know what these two teens were going to get up too! I think this one was quite an honest view on what it’s like to be ill so young and the problems with having to grow up so quickly.

Out November 9th!

I'll never never never write a good enough review of this, but that's true of all of Hannah Moskowitz's books, so we'll just have to deal with that.

This book just hit me at a time in my life when I really needed something that approaches dating and love and friendship like this. I would have loved Sasha and Isabel no matter when I read them, because they are incredibly lovable, but the way they talked about being loved is something that I needed so much right now. And then it adds in all the banter and all the different personal and interpersonal issues Isabel is dealing with, from feeling like she's "faking" being sick and her absent mom and her clueless father and how she can't stop overthinking,, and I am drowning in emotion.

And then, and this is also something Hannah Moskowitz does wonderfully, every side character has their own issues, and you just catch glimpses of them through Isabel's eyes, the way you're surrounded by other people's problems without knowing them fully your entire life. The book moves between intense realism and romance that practically drips with cotton candy and like, this is the only valid m/f romance, I'm sorry, everyone else go home.

SICK KIDS IN LOVE is a beautiful story about love- as well as invisible illness/disability AND NOBODY DIES! (I do not consider this a spoiler, as you can see that fact from the author's review on goodreads.) Isabel has rheumatoid arthritis which means she is pretty much constantly in pain. She tries to fit in with her friends who just cannot seem to understand, and she tries to ignore it for her father who does not really get her illness (even though he is the Chief Physician at the hospital). One day, when she is receiving her infusion treatment, she sees a cute boy, Sasha.

Sasha has Gaucher disease, and he really understands what it is like to be sick. They pretty much immediately hit it off- but just as friends, because Isabel has a rule about not dating. It is part of her "thing" that got her a high-profile column in the paper. The book is interspersed with her Q&As that she compiles into the column with questions posed and answers from various people she encounters and interviews.

I have a lot of feelings about this book, and I really enjoyed it. There's a lot of power in the story to help readers understand what it is like to live with an invisible illness/disability. It's also just a completely endearing and lovely romance. I loved watching Sasha and Isabel fall in love, and I adored all the fun conversations and pitfalls and life lessons.

This is an absolutely gorgeous story, and I cannot recommend enough that you pick this up. No instalove, amazing characters, a fantastic romance, and all the feels. I smiled, I laughed, I sighed, and I fell in love with this beautiful book. Highly recommend for fans of YA contemporary romance.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

There were some aspects of this book that I enjoyed far more than others. I suppose the book’s two main protagonists are a good place to start. Isabel, whose perspective the story is told from, has RA and constantly feels the need to be perfect. Her boyfriend, Sasha, has a generic affliction called Guacher disease and proclaims he makes mistakes all the time. She loves talking to strangers, and he hates it. He changes easily and is a pleaser, she is pretty much the exact opposite. Their differences were established early on in the story, and I liked the common ground they found. I also liked the idea of the two of them being together and finding happiness through each other, but some of the things they did were a bit much. They swore every other sentence, and they had sex. While it didn’t describe that scene in too much detail, the stripping that led up to it was definitely covered. And their sex scene was referenced to later on in the book a few times as well, like any of us could have forgotten about it. That wasn’t something I wanted or needed to read about. The amount of gay and lesbian characters was also a little un-proportionate. I actually have a family member who is gay, and I want to make it clear that I wholeheartedly support him and others. I just thought it was a tad bit much when two of the girls in Isabel’s friend group are dating, Sasha claimed to be bi, his mother has a wife, and four of his seven cousins were gay. Another thing that bothered me was the number of times their illnesses were mentioned. I can’t recall a single page where it wasn’t somehow tied in. I understand that it was the main topic in the book, but it got to be a little overbearing. And don’t get me started on the stilted dialogue. I suppose my favorite characters in the book was actually Isabel’s friends. Even though they were supposedly unkind, and some of them were, I still thought they were overall really supportive. They were willing to make accommodations for Isabel and wanted to understand her, not that she ever really let them. Sasha and Isabel’s constant bagging on them and other healthy people got old fast. My father has a genetic condition, which I am also a carrier for, and neither of us blame normal people for not understanding. Either way, I just wished less had been focused on that and more attention had been given to their character development. Overall it was an okay read, and I learned a lot more about Gaucher disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis then I’d previously known. If you or someone you know has one of those conditions, then I’d recommend it on that reason alone. Just be aware that it does contain a lot of swearing and a sex scene.