Not About the Love Story: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I don't talk about this a lot, but I love romance. Fantasy is my favorite genre to read - but fantasy with a strong angst-ridden romance? My absolute weakness. So, why I am talking about this in relation to The Fault in Our Stars? Let me explain briefly. When this book shot up in the popular charts, many who talked about it focused on the tragic love story of Hazel and Augustus. The sob-inducing, Kleenex-clutching heartbreak of their relationship and its trajectory. Now don't get me wrong - I love Hazel and Augustus's romantic relationship. But what I noticed people didn't talk about as much was the very aspect that made this book one of my favorite books of all time: it's portrayal of illness. How disease affects both your own perception, and the way you're perceived by those around you.

I had a brain tumor when I was 17 years-old, which was accompanied by seizures and staph infections, and I have struggled with severe eczema my whole life. (I've fortunately never had to deal with anything as bad as cancer!) The way John discusses illness in this book gutted me the first time I read it. He was voicing the thoughts and feelings I'd had swirling around my brain my entire life. Things the healthy people around me couldn't always understand.

"Physical illness repulses."

"There is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it."

"I wanted to not be a malevolent force in the lives of people I loved."

"The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people."

People often talk about physical health and mental health separately, but I think the two chase each other in a vicious circle. Dealing with a chronic illness changes your perception of yourself, and can leave you with long-lasting insecurities about your appearance and your inherent worth as a person, because you cannot do certain things that other people do or look the way that other people look. 

Gus's commentary on how you never see people dying heroically of illness in museums, and Hazel's casual references to hospital talk (rating your pain on a scale of 1-10), made me feel so seen. And as much as I love their love story, the reason The Fault in Our Stars shattered my heart is due to how well John understands and portrays the thoughts and feelings of someone dealing with serious illness. I could probably write an entire thesis on this topic...but hopefully this post/discussion made some sense!

Quick Review: Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

A ballpark three stars. Jenna Welch's writing is as humorous, clever, and insightful as ever in this follow-up. Love & Luck follows Addie, the best friend of Lina from Love & Gelato, as she's on vacation in Ireland after undergoing a heartbreak back home. She's fighting with her brother, Ian, and decides to follow the instructions of an Irish guidebook on how to heal a broken heart. The author's descriptions of Ireland are vivid and beautiful, and I ended up enjoying Addie's character a lot more than I thought I would. 

The story is a road-trip adventure of sorts, which I always have fun reading. I will say, though, that I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one. The plot wasn't as solid, and some things that happened felt rushed and were beyond my bandwidth of belief. We do get to hear from Lina and Ren again, which I loved, but even their appearances felt a little shoved in. Overall, I'm still glad I read Love & Luck, even if it didn't quite live up to its predecessor.

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Quick Review: Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

3 stars. I've never read anything by Siobhan Vivian before, but I thought this was really cute. The story really pulled me in, and it was cool how ice cream was almost like its own character in the book. I also enjoyed the flashback diary entries written by the shop's original owner, Molly. Some may see the main character, Amelia, as a "weak" character, but I actually related to her in a lot of ways (not sure what that says about me). She was more job-focused and understanding of others than Cate, her fun-loving best friend, and I identified with her struggle to balance her drive to be a good worker and her desire to have fun with her friends. 

Overall, this was a perfect contemporary to pick up for the summer - especially for us fantasy lovers who occasionally need to dip back into the real world.

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