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Generic Teen Book on Steroids.

Cast of Characters:
--Critically Ill Teen with a heart of gold. Yes, she's suffering but more importantly, will she find love?
--Overbearing Mother who keeps unreasonable tight leash on her 18 year old daughter because she loves her baby girl
--Edgy Angsty Hottie with a heart of gold AND emotional baggage. He has abs, he likes math and man-oh-man can he bat those baby blues. Swoon
--Abusive Father - one-dimensional jerk that beats Edgy, Angsty Hottie's family around. Was given a half-hearted backstory (like the other family members)
--Gay Music-Loving Friend, totally accepted by friends, hiding it from family (who I am fairly convinced only shows to check this one off the box) (he literally appears to once, drops some sage advice and is never mentioned again)

Essentially...

Critically Ill Teen has a long-term, incurable immunodeficiency that essentially imprisons her in her own home.

Edgy Angsty Hottie moves next door and does all sorts of edgy and angsty and hottie things.

Crit-Ill-Teen has to decide - will she follow the rules that literally keep her alive? Or will she throw everything away for one PG kiss and over-the-jeans-butt-touch?

(I think you already know her answer).

To channel my (already) long rant, I will limit myself to: the Boy Tastes, the Smex Scenes, the Idiocy of Teenagers and the Cop-Out Ending.

The Boy Tastes - cause minty-fresh breath is sooo last year

Seriously, WHY do all these YA teen boys have tastes?

He tastes like salted caramel and sunshine

Ah yes, he must be one of those guys always chewing on caramels flavored with the sun to get that extra zingy kissing boost.

He tastes like nothing I've ever experienced. Like hope and possibility and the future

...more like, he tastes like germs and diseases because you have a compromised immune system.

GURL - why is his tongue in your mouth??

The Smex Scenes - cause nothing says YA like complete incompetence...

Look, I know she's pretty isolated, but she has the internet. She knows how to Google. There are no excuses for moments like this:

I kiss my way across the landscape of him. Down to his toes and back up again.

Girl. What. Are. You. Doing.

And, to top it all off:

We are wordless and then we are joined

(gracefully fade to black). I am 99% sure it did not go like that. She was probably making another pass at kissing his toes at some point.

The Idiocy of Teenagers - it's totally not like you lived with this disease your entire life...right?

Critically Ill Teen complete disregard for personal safety regarding her disease drove me absolutely mad.

How can you grow up with an incurable, potentially fatal disease and not know/stay within your limits? HOW?

Everything's a risk. Not doing anything's a risk. It's up to you

It's the equivalent of peanut-allergy-kid nibbling on a reese's PB cup every couple of weeks too see what would happen.

Throughout this book, this girl makes one dumb decision after another - it's like... do you even know you have a disease?

There's barely anything done to keep her safe.

Technically, there's an airlock and a no-touching rule but Edgy, Angsty Hottie still touches so much of the house and the Overbearing Mother (who's a DOCTOR) seems to disregard even the most basic decontamination rules...

I know that the illness is supposed to be second to the romance but to use such a serious illness as a YA plot device? The least you can do is make it realistic.

The Cop-Out Ending - I read this much story...for THIS?

(view spoiler)[ It was all a lie the entire time!

She was never sick! Thank goodness because now the star-crossed lovers can be together.

BUT WAIT! There's more.

By bubbling this child, she really does have a version of the disease.

It feels like the author was always angling for this and never intended to have a real ending for the characters. (hide spoiler)]

Audiobook Comments
Narrated by Bahni Turpin and Robbie Daymond - they were pretty good! Enjoyable audio quality at least!

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