TAYSHAS 6

Zac and MIA by A.J. Betts

As per the norm, I read the "bad" reviews on Amazon for this. Many people said this book tries too hard to be The Fault in Our Stars. Several said they loved Zac and hated Mia. I read it anyway.

Zac and Mia are eighteen and almost eighteen respectively. At the beginning of the book, Zac is enduring a stint at a cancer hospital because he's just had a bone marrow transplant due to his leukemia. A few days into the book, a new neighbor comes in, blaring Lady Gaga. They develop a relationship through the thin hospital walls that relies on knocks and taps. Eventually, they become Facebook friends.

The new neighbor, of course, is Mia. She has osteosarcoma, which, in this case, is not so bad compared to other people in the cancer hospital. Her odds of survival are good, but Mia doesn't see that. She's angry that it's cancer. She's angry at everything it's taken from her, including her leg because it was either her leg or her life.

After being released from the hospital after her amputation, Mia runs away. She's embarrassed because of her leg, her loss of hair, of what her life is now. On a layover on a bus trip, she checks out an olive farm, which just happens to be run by Zac's family. They reconnect, and Zac makes her see that she is worthwhile, and she gets the help she needs.

While Mia is getting better, Zac seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth. Does he no longer care? What happened to him? Then she figures it out.

I have to disagree with the Amazon bad reviews. I didn't think this was a TFIOS try hard. It was its own story that touched my heart in its own way. It gave me some serious feels along the way too. And the people who hated Mia and called her a bitch? I think her behavior was perfectly justified, given what happened to her. I thought it was probably an accurate estimation of the reaction of many when they get a cancer diagnosis. And anyway, she wasn't angry and bitchy all the time. She was human.

I liked this book, and I feel I am a better person for having read it.