Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

"Don’t think about what you’ve lost. Think of how much you have to gain. Live."

—Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott 

Title: Five Feet Apart

Author: Rachael Lippincott

Page Count: 288 (eBook)

Synopsis:

In this moving story two teens fall in love with just one minor complication—they can't get within five feet of each other without risking their lives.

Can you love someone you can never touch?

Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.

The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn't care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he'll turn eighteen and then he'll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.

Will's exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot in the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn't feel like safety. It feels like punishment.

What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?

Thoughts:

It reads a bit like The Fault in our Stars in a way that “let’s do all these dangerous things for experience since we are dying anyway”. But at least for FFA I genuinely liked Poe. Honestly, I would have been okay even if the story was only about Stella and Poe’s friendship. 

I would still recommend this book even though I have some concerns because to be fair, I did enjoy the book and it introduced me to CF. I laughed, thought some parts sweet and teared up a little bit (bec POE!) but at the back of my mind I know there’s something wrong. Everything is just so convenient for them. Where are all the hospital people when they sneak off? How could they spend those times breaking rules about being too close, even touching, and somehow be okay? And that bit at the end:

SPOILER ZONE!!! Only click if you have finished the book

Why would you suddenly throw that ‘chance for a little more time’ you’ve been fighting for all your life? If a friend dies and you contemplate how his loved ones might be feeling—even literally saw it—why would you knowingly subject your own loved ones to the same?? Yes, they may be fearing for it all your life too. But knowing something would eventually happen doesn’t really prepare them for that death they’ve been dreading. Stella even knows this herself, that her death will break her parents. So her actions in the end was insane and out of character if not completely unrealistic. You love him so it’s okay to die right about now and okay to potentially kill him too!? When you both can live at least some years more and still be in love even if you’re apart. That act of Stella kind of ruined the end bit for me. Well, at least Will got sane enough to leave.