Liz Loves Books.Com.

The first thing to say, probably, is that this is one of those "Its not you its me" moments in my reading life because John Green writes well. So theres that.

But this one wasnt really for me when it got down to the nitty gritty. Despite the emotional resonance that should be present when reading a story about cancer sufferers, especially young people, I didnt really connect here at all. I kept trying, but it never really took.

It went on a bit in places, there were points when I felt that Mr Green was simply trying to put beautiful words on the page for the sake of it. At times it all felt a bit "oh I'll make the reader cry here, but here's a bit of humour for you" by numbers rather than letting the story flow organically

By the time I hit the last third of this book I was ready for it to be over..despite some moments where I could see the potential (when one of the characters was deteriorating in health and mind) by that time I really couldnt bring myself to care much about it. I kind of feel guilty for that.

The main problem for me is, I read a lot. Including a lot of Young Adult fiction of many kinds. And whilst I can see why this is so popular and wonder if I would have been more into it if I'd read it when I was younger, I just didnt think it was THAT good. When it comes to writing emotionally compelling young characters caught up in situations that elicit a huge heartfelt response from me, Patrick Ness and Courtney Summers do it better. By quite a wide margin.

It obviously hits the mark with a LOT of readers though. So for that reason I would still recommend that you read it for yourself. In this case I seem to be a minority opinion. But hey, when it comes to reading, we love what we love. Its just the way it is.

Happy Reading Folks!