Book Synopsis:
There is nothing extraordinary about Tucker O’Shay’s dreams. Go to college. Become president. Fall in love. And pretend like he has enough time to get it all done.
Sixteen-year-old Sarah Miller doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary when she begins her first day at the one-room-school house in her new hometown of Rocky Knob. But when she meets seventeen-year-old Tucker O’Shay—the boy with the fatal illness who volunteers to tutor her in algebra—she finds herself swept up in a friendship that changes the way she sees the world and a love that changes her life.
My Review:
3.75/5 stars. This is going to be a short review because I really don't have that many thoughts. I liked this book and thought it was sweet, but it didn’t blow me away or break my heart like most of the reviews said it did for them.
The premise sounded cute and interesting, especially because it was categorized as a Christian book. For it being a Christian book, though, there wasn't too much focus on God. After Tucker's death, when Sarah goes up on the hill and cries out to God, that's kind of it. Going to church and reading the Bible is mentioned, but God and Christianity isn't a huge theme.
I thought the characters were fine. They felt kind of flat to me and didn't have a lot of depth, even the main characters. I really didn't get to know much about Sarah's personality. Tucker was cute and likeable, but he was almost too perfect. Maybe this is an inevitable downside of it being a novella, but I wish there was more depth and characterization of the protagonists.
One thing I did like was the simplicity of the story. I liked reading about all the day-to-day stuff like Sarah doing her chores at home or writing essays about topics that interested her.
As far as the emotional impact this book was supposed to have, - at least according to almost every review - it wasn't there for me. It was obvious from the book's description alone that Tucker was going to die, so it wasn't a shock. I didn't feel sad about the ending because I knew it was going to happen and the book didn't linger on it.
Content warning:
No language
Multiple kisses, one of which is described in a lot of detail
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