That was beautiful. I feel like anyone who starts this book thinking there will be no death and there will no sadness is definitely an idiot. Someone needs to crown me, because I’m that idiot.
I have this hopeful optimism beginning every book that the ending won’t completely shatter my heart into a trillion pieces. I don’t know why I go into every book hoping, when I haven’t read a happy, positive book in so damn long.
Before this review is over, I want to touch upon a couple of points that I think every review of this book needs to have.
1) Throughout the first half of the book, I found it extremely difficult to care about the characters. I definitely felt empathy, but it wasn’t until I was way past the halfway point that I finally began to truly care for Stella, Will, Poe, and everyone else. I think the authors could’ve done a much better job hooking the readers in from the beginning. I definitely think that was possible.
2) The authors did a great job describing the faults of Cystic Fibrosis. Throughout the entirety of the novel, I was able to feel the same frustration as Will and Stella when they couldn’t even get close to each other. Especially with Stella and Poe. If I saw my best friend crying and I couldn’t even hug them, I’d probably punch 🥊 a hole in the ground. I definitely felt the realness of what that would be like if I was a CFer.
3) The romance was somewhat unnecessary. Again, throughout the first three quarters of the book, I completely failed to see the purpose of why Will and Stella even fell for each other. As a reader, I would’ve been perfectly content to hear about the struggles of having Cystic Fibrosis between two close friends. Even if the story was between Stella and Poe, I think the story would’ve still been great. I feel like authors have been forcing romance into novels with plots that don’t require them. I’m seriously looking into different books that don’t have cliche romance, or romance at all. Besides, y’all already know how I despise quick, overnight romance, and this was just one major example of it. Will and Stella fell in love within weeks of knowing each other. I understand how the circumstances might have rushed things a bit, but I would’ve liked to know that it wasn’t just because of those circumstances.
Overall, I really liked this book. It was definitely a very quick read, which I haven’t had for awhile now. I debated which rating this book would get. It isn’t a five-star, because it’s not one of my favorites. It’s not a four-star either, because it isn’t one of the best books I’ve ever read. But overall, I feel like a different person after reading this, which is why I didn’t rate it two stars.
I got to learn way more about Cystic Fibrosis than I’ve learned from any other source, and I’m grateful for that. Five Feet Apart was a fun read.