To quote one of my favorite TV Shows ever: “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.”

And that is exactly what our protagonist, Madeline, intends to do.

Madeline's story is tragic and lonely: we are told that she has an immunodeficiency disorder that requires her to stay inside at all times. Most people may know this from something like The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. She only experiences the world via books, the internet, Skype, movies, and more. But then a boy moves in next door. Her life changes forever.

Taking risks can be one of the forefront themes for this novel. It seems each character is faced with certain risks and we get to see how they choose to handle them (or run away from them and hide/lie in some cases). Life is not always about mitigating risk. Sometimes life has to be about accepting and managing risk, because it's going to be there whether we like it or not. How we manage it, not mitigate or minimize it, is what makes everything, everything worth it.

4.5 stars from me! I would have given it a full 5 but I am not sold on insta-romances, no matter how cute and adorable they are. It's just hard for me to get behind falling in love in a matter of days and a couple conversations. But that's just me! I know a lot of people who are fully on board with that. Find out for yourself and check out this book!