Five Feet Apart by Rachael LippincottMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
"For the first time, I feel the weight of every single inch, every single millimeter of the six feet between us. I pull my sweatshirt closer to my body... trying to ignore the fact that open space? It will always be there."
Even though her lungs seem to have a mind of their own and send her in and out of the hospital too many times to count since she was 6, Stella Grant likes to have control over her life. Suffering from Cystic Fibrosis, a simple sore throat or cold can be the difference between life and death for her. And as a senior in high school who organized the senior trip to Cabo, a simple sore throat caused her to miss the once in a lifetime opportunity to spend a week with her best friends, Mya, and Camila in Cabo. Admitted to the hospital, she is welcomed by the nurses who seem like a second family in the hospital that she views at home. After the initial welcome to the hospital, her best friend of 10+ years, Poe, is also admitted; for he has CF as well.
Stella and Poe are the types of best friends that you do not find every day. Suffering from the same illness, they both realize the simplicity and beauty that life has to offer every day. Poe and Stella both are strict with their medications and the single rule for all CFers; six feet apart at all times! In all the years that Poe and Stella have known each other, they have never hugged or even touched. And then Will Newman messes up Stella's entire routine! :)
"His tousled, dark-chocolate-brown hair is perfectly unruly like he just popped out of a Teen Vogue and landed smack in the middle of Saint Grace's Hospital. His eyes are a deep blue, the corners crinkling as he talks... He's so cute, my lung function feels like it dropped another 10 percent"
Also a CFer, Will has traveled all over the world for CF treatment, hounded by his mother 24/7. He wants to travel outside of the hospital every place he has been. As new clinical trials spring up for B. cepacia, he arrives at different hospitals in the hopes of a cure from the bacteria. He couldn't care less about his treatments, and in one week he'll be 18, and he'll be able to unplug from all of the machines and actually be able to live and see the world. And then he meets Stella Grant...
"I smile as I watch Converse girl for a second. I can't help but stare at her reflection, everything beyond the glass blurring as I look at her. She's prettier close-up, with her long eyelashes and her full eyebrows. She even makes a face mask look good..."
This review is long, so just hang on, but a spark between Will and Stella is imminent from the moment they meet, and you can't help but fall for them too. So Stella agrees to let Will draw her if he agrees to strictly abide by his medications and treatments for CF. Stella is an advocate for CF on YouTube (she even made an app for medication reminders!) and Will comes across all of her videos and watches them with an open heart. He notices that her sister vanished mysteriously from her videos a year ago, and when he questions her, Stella shuts him out. (I won't spoil it!)
Stella overcomes this obstacle with Will and they start to become as close as they can (six feet apart of course!). And when Stella's G-tube gets infected, pre-surgery, Will tells her that everything is going to be alright, and he promises her so. She recovers well but is still hoping for a lung transplant. Poe helps to get Stella and Will on a date in the hospital with none of the nurses/doctors noticing, and it goes without a hitch. (Again, I won't spoil this because it is too perfect and heartwarming given their condition).
"I did a lot of thinking about foot number six. And to be honest, I got mad... So, after all that CF has stolen from me- from us- I'm stealing something back"
So, Stella and Will decide that instead of six feet apart, the will be five feet apart, that still seems to be miles away from one another. They continue to hang out, skype, and Will draws her cartoons which is so so so funny and kind. When the unexpected happens with Poe, it drifts everyone apart, and Stella decides to seize the moment and live her life as a normal girl. Of course, Will accompanies her, and they have the times of their lives (they even tell each other they love each other!!!). When neither thought any worse could happen, it happens, and Will is at a standstill on how to save Stella. Will this be the end of Will and Stella or the beginning of what is yet to come?
"I smile at him, and take just that one more stolen step, until we're five feet apart"
OH MY GOODNESS!!! This book made me cry so much, and I am so so so excited for the movie!!! Will and Stella are unlike any book characters I have ever read and they are so perfect for each other and even each other out so well. This book is one of my favorites of all time, and I hope you feel the same way! Plus, I hope everyone has a love story like that of Will and Stella!!!!!!!
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