Not really what I was expecting, but still very good, not that much for me as an adult, but definitely better YA than most of what I’ve seen. Of course there is a lot of romance and that was my first surprise I didn’t expected it to be as much about the relationship as it was. But it’s an interesting relationship, even more if you think is was written in 1996, a teenagers having cancer and everything surrounding it was kind of «new» or at least less frequent at the time, the author also didn’t fall into stupid clichés, stereotypes and tropes, like instalove or the love triangle. My second surprise and worst deception was the fantasy/supernatural element. The story isn’t as much focus on it as I would have wanted it to be. Those elements are well developed but always introduce in a weird way. Everyone just accept it too easily. The last thing I want to talk about was the characters who were likeable and interesting, and the writing which was more than good for this genre, very fluid, fast paced, not too flowery for no reason, etc.
For me it would be a 3 stars, very fast read, enjoyable but not enough to get me going with the series. But for younger reader, both boys and girls, I think this can offer a fun ride and really take the transition between middle grade and YA, since it’s really easy to get into and kind of small. So I gave it a fair 4 stars. Not what I was expecting but in a strange way maybe better than what I was expecting!