Five feet apart by Rachael Lippincott- A book review

Five feet apart by Rachael Lippincott- A book review

Romance, YA | 23 comments

I jumped at the chance to buddy read Five feet apart by Rachael Lippincott, because it is not something that has ended up quite well for me historically and I would not pick it up on my own even though it was on my TBR. Go figure!

It has been a while since I read a young adult based in a hospital romance (or sick-lit, if I may). Yes it is supposedly a trope by itself, if you had not known earlier.

Have you read Five feet apart by Rachael Lippincott? Do you enjoy reading books set in hospital and people with physical ailments? Click To Tweet

About Five feet apart

Five Feet Apart

Book Name: Five feet apart

Author: Rachael Lippincott

Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult

Characters: Stella and Abby Grant, Will Newman, Poe, Camila, Mya

Setting: The United States of America

Plot Summary of Five feet apart

Stella Grant is a high schooler who is at the final stages of Cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder that mainly affects the lung. She has been a regular at the hospital for most of her life. She loves lists and being in control is the only way she knows to cope up with her health.

While she has a great support system and friends circle in and around the hospital, she has to avoid putting herself at the risk of infections she would be eligible for lung transplant.

Will Newman is a new CF patient to the hospital and all he wants is to get away from it. He has spent most of his life between clinical trials and staying at various hospitals and is now waiting to turn eighteen so that he can get away from all these restrictions and enjoy life as it should be. 

When they both stumble upon each other, they know they should stay away from each other. But what if they maintained a five feet distance between each other? Would that be so bad forms the rest of Five feet apart.

Book review of Five feet apart

Due to my earlier disappointments with the romances with sick teens, I was skeptical when I started reading Five feet apart and I was mildly surprised that I enjoyed it as much. Though I have a few misgivings about the plot, the easy writing and witty dialogues kept me going. 

I wish books would stop portraying that kids who are suffering some physical ailments do not get to enjoy anything in life and they need to break free of their treatments / medical restrictions to get to be “normal”.

I liked reading about the CF which is a new thing for me, and the story was cutesy as YAs tend to be and am totally looking forward to watching the movie Five feet apart starring Cole Sprouse now.

Things that worked for me

  • Five feet apart plays exactly into the trope of sick lit and does a good job with it.
  • I enjoyed the easy writing style and the witty banter between the characters.

Things that didn’t work for me

  • I didn’t feel related to the characters but it is just me. It did not hinder my reading.
  • As I mentioned earlier, I personally had issues with the trope that encourages patients to break free of the treatment.

Bottom-line

Five feet apart is a typical sick lit that does its job in opening up talks about the CF with a positive ending. I would recommend it for all John Green (of course) and Nicoola Yoon fans.

Similar reviews that you might like

Pin me!

Five Feet Apart

Let us chat

Have you read Five feet apart by Rachael Lippincott? Do you enjoy reading books set in hospital and people with physical ailments? Let us talk. 

Five feet apart by Rachael Lippincott- A book review

Review Shots: Three hyped up books that didn’t turn out well

Drama, Review Shots, Romance | 33 comments

You know I usually say I never read a book when everyone is talking about it, right? But I am here to show you that I have read some books at the right time. And of course, I forgot to review them right then, which is quite like me of course. 

So in our new episode of review shots, let me tell you about books that were not on my TBR and I read them only because of the hype. Well, that never turns out quite well, does it?

Books that I read only for the hype

Book Name: Everything, Everything

Author: Nicola Yoon

Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult

Hype

Characters: Madeline “Maddy” Furukawa Whittier, Oliver “Olly” Bright, Pauline Furukawa Whittier, Carla Flores

Setting: Los Angeles, California, The USA

This YA took the Twitter world by a storm and I got the book almost immediately to read it. 

Maddy led a very sheltered life all through her life due to her illness. She has never stepped out of her house in years and her mother and her nurse are the only one she interacts with. Them and her book blog. Until a new family moves to their next house. 

I liked the book and would have loved it even until for the twist at the end, which I didn’t see coming at all. I normally would love to be thrown off, but this twist was kinda ‘trying too hard’. I also didn’t like the theme that ‘love conquers all, even illness’ that kept surfacing. 

I loved reading the story, for the cutesy cheesy love story but it didn’t win my approval. 

Book Name: Turtles All the Way Down

Author: John Green

Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult

Hype

Characters: Aza Holmes, Davis Pickett, Daisy Ramirez, Mychal Turner, Noah Pickett

Setting: Indianapolis, Indiana, The USA

You all  know my beef with John Green.

This book had everything that the book world is talking about and needs now. Turtles All the Way Down has #Ownvoice leads, one of whom suffers from mental illness and a mystery the leads had to solve in relation to their parents. Sounds all good to me.

Yet I could not relate to the characters at all, nor did I buy their ‘love story’. Did I mention this book had an absentee parent as well? I know lots of people loved this book but for me it ended as a so-so read because of these reasons and more. 

I wanted to like it more than it deserved any way. And probably will stay away from John Green hereon. 

Book Name: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry 

Author: Fredrik Backman

Genre: Fiction – Drama

Hype

Characters:  Elsa, Granny, Alf, Britt-Marie, Kent, Ulrika, Lissete, George

Setting: Sweden

Oh I loved Backman’s other book A Man Called Ove and I started reading this one almost immediately. But it took me more than a month to finish this 350 and odd pages and I will tell you why.

The precocious ‘almost eight’ years old Elsa has just lost her grandmother to cancer. Her grandmother was also her best and only friend, who kept her safe at night with the tales of the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas. 

Now she is set with the task of handing over apology notes to the wacky characters in their apartment for her grandmother’s past and getting to know more about them and her family as well. 

I liked the concept of the book and how the little girl learnt to deal with all the changes and new people in her life. I loved many of these characters and their sub plots. But the book totally went over my head when it came to the imaginary land and its people. 

Maybe there is a reason to why I don’t read fantasy much. 

Bottom – line

Of course I don’t regret reading them at all. But I wish I hadn’t tried as hard to like them and gave up when I should have. Well, lesson learnt. Maybe.

Pin me!

Hype

Let us talk

Do you read books because everyone is reading them? Are there books that you have read only because of the hype and that didn’t turn out as expected? Let us talk.

hype