Review: Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
"What if you'd been living your life as if you were dying-only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?"
I'm not sure if I would have picked this book up if I hadn't had to read it for a read-a-long I am hosting with some other booktubers. You can join in the read along by using the hashtag, #SideEffectsLiveShow and join our Goodreads page here.
I gave this a book a 3/5 stars because I liked it, but I didn't think it was outstanding.
Summary:
This is about a girl named Alice who is diagnosed with leukemia. She turns to her old friend, Harvey, to help her out with the list of things she wants to do before she dies. Some of these ideas involve revenge. About a year after Alice is diagnosed, she finds out she is in remission. Now she has to deal with the consequences of her actions.
Overall Review:
Like I said, I just liked this book. The story didn't really appeal to me as much as I'd like. I thought it would be more like "I'm going to die, so I am going to go out there and take risks!" but it wasn't like this. It was more like "I'm going to get revenge before I die." Although, I really enjoyed the two positive things Alice did on her list.
I didn't hate or love Harvey and Alice. They were both flawed, but realistic. I just wish they could have been more likable.
The one thing I absolutely loved about this book was the writing style. The author has a true talent for writing. Her words were so delicious to sink your teeth in. She also put some good, thought-provoking points in the story. My favorite quote was:
"I'd heard in class once that our society has become so accustomed to violence that when we do actually do witness real gore and brutality, we're unable to differentiate between what's real and what's not."
There is my review. Really short, but I just didn't have much to say about the book.
