Sick Kids In Love - Hannah Moskowitz

 

Title: Sick Kids In Love
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4 Stars

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Isabel has one rule: no dating.
It's easier--
It's safer--
It's better--
--for the other person.
She's got issues. She's got secrets. She's got rheumatoid arthritis.
But then she meets another sick kid.
He's got a chronic illness Isabel's never heard of, something she can't even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father who's a doctor.
He's gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her.
Isabel has one rule: no dating.
It's complicated--
It's dangerous--
It's never felt better--
--to consider breaking that rule for him.

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Considering this book is called Sick Kids In Love, it is remarkably light.  Don't get me wrong - there is a lot of talk about being sick, and about the struggles that come with being sick in a world full of healthy people. But, this book is filled with a lot of levity and hilarity, and that was great. 

Ibby has JRA (Jr. Rheumatoid Arthritis) and has spent the majority of her young life being doctored for that.  It's nice to see a book talk about the fact that even kids can get RA.  It's not as common, as RA is most common in adults in their 30's and older, but right now there are 50,000 kids in the US living with JRA.  Anyway - the REVIEW!  

I really appreciate that this book explores what it is like to be sick or to have some sort of chronic pain/health issue.  There is still, in 2020, too little knowledge about what it's like to live in pain, to live with health issues every single day. The author really does a great job delving into what arthritis can do to a person's body.  There is a lot of depth and exploration into what a person's body goes through when dealing with chronic health issues.  

The author also does a great job of exploring what it's like to be sick when you're surrounded by people who don't deal with any chronic health issues. I know all too well that people without chronic health issues don't understand what it's like to have to fight the urge to even talk about what you're going through at the risk of making someone else uncomfortable.  Ibby really struggles with that with her friends - and while she also starts out the book struggling with the idea of calling herself sick, she also has all these moments where it seems she struggles with not wanting to disappoint her friends. So, she says she'll go skiing, or go to that party, or go out for dinner, even though she may be in a lot of pain. But her friends really struggle to get that as well. 

This brings up the issue of character development and growth as well.  In the beginning of the book there was a lot of emotional discomfort. Ibby didn't talk about a lot of stuff that she struggled with because she thought her friends didn't want to hear about it. Her friends didn't bring up a lot of stuff because they didn't know exactly how much pain Ibby was in all the time. So it led to a lot of miscommunication about why Ibby couldn't handle doing stuff.  By the end of the book, she had actually grown in her own views about her JRA, and she had actually taken the time to talk about that with her friends and voice her frustrations. That gave them the chance to open up to her and let her know that it was okay for her to be honest about where she was and what she was going through. Although Ibby did suffer the loss of one friend who just couldn't come to terms with Ibby being sick or having this relationship with a sick boy (there's more to it than that - which basically boiled down to Ibby's friend only hitting on Sasha because she felt bad for him because he has gaucher disease.)

Most of the characters go through great developments and realizations about themselves and that is something I really love about this book.  It's not always a given that characters will grow or develop, so when it happens, I love it. 

I love the way this story unfolds.  From the beginning when Ibby meets Sasha while they are getting infusions, to all the moments she sees him while she's candy striping, and pretends that she doesn't like him, but hi it's obvious she does.  I love watching their cuteness together throughout the story, and I love watching that Sasha calls Ibby out and stuff, and reminds Ibby that it's okay to not be okay all the time. They have this great relationship that works, and would work even if they were just friends! I love watching what unfolds between Ibby and her dad as well, and watching her learn that she needs to speak up more towards him and let him know that she needs him. 

Overall, this is an adorable read that I think anyone would love!  Go Read It Now! And if you have already read it let me know what you thought of it in the comments. 

Book Haul!

 

Welcome back reader friends!  I got a gift card for my five year anniversary from the company I work for. So I bought some books.  SURPRISE! 

Anyway, here's a little video I did talking about my book haul.

Let me know down in the comments if you've read any of these books (no spoilers)! 

Books I'm Excited to Read The Rest of This Year

 Hey Reader Friends!  Welcome back to my blog.  Today, you get to hear me talk about some of the books I'm excited to read this year. And by that, I mean you literally get to hear me talk about the books!  Enjoy!

Now, after you've watched this video, drop a comment down below and let me know what books you are excited to read in this remainder of this year! 

My Favorite 2020 Books So Far

 

Hey reader friends - welcome to another favorites post.  My favorite 2020 reads so far.  I'm about to read a bunch of books I'm very excited about, so expect there to be a longer list at the end of the year! 

What have you read so far this year that you loved?! Drop a comment down below and let me know.

Library Haul

 

Hey reader friends! It should come as no surprise that your lady right here has another stack of library books sitting in her apartment.  Not only that, but I have a bunch of audiobooks on my tablet that I downloaded from Overdrive.  Two are re-reads, and the rest are books I can't wait to dive into.  I won't ramble - here's my current library haul! 

The Paper Books

The Audiobooks

Okay, reader friends, I want to hear from you now! Drop me a comment and let me know what's on your TBR, what hauls you have, or just drop a comment to ramble about how you're doing! 

Top Ten Tuesday - Cover Freebie

 

Hey reader friends!  Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a cover freebie - so I'm going to show off my top favorite books whose covers give me all the Autumn Vibes!  Enjoy!

Simon Vs. The Movie Version

 

Hey reader friends.  So, I re-read Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, and oh goodness did I forget some stuff.  After re-reading the book, I realized how much it drives me nuts that certain things happen the way they do in the movie.  

Now, listen, I do enjoy the Simon movie. Most of it is good.  (I hated the principal, but we'll get to that in a second.)

So, if you've read the book and/or seen the movie, you know it's about teenager Simon Spier struggling with coming out.  He goes to a school with very few out gay kids, and he knows he'll probably get a lot of shit because, you know, the south. 

Anyway, when Simon gets blackmailed and then outed without permission here's what happened:

In The Book: Simon gets blackmailed by Martin (puke) and when Simon gets outed his friends are all like "Hey dude, we love you and we're going to be there for you so much!" 

In The Movie: His friends didn't talk to him for weeks and just left him to his own devices in a place where other people were being absolutely horrific to him. 

When Simon is trying to go through all these different guys to figure out who Blue is:

In The Book: He didn't think it could be Bram until last.  Like, it never crossed his mind. Not even once until Bram was on the Tilt-a-Whirl with him.

In The Movie: Simon thought a couple times that it could have been Bram. 

Now, my LEAST FAVORITE THING: 

The principal (or was he the vice-principal?) was not even featured in the book.  But!

In The Movie: That damn P/VP was horrible. Absolutely horrible.  

#1: He tries WAY too hard to be all buddy buddy with his students.  He is all like "Hey where did you get those shoes," and "Hey Simon let me tell you about my Tinder date?!"  What kind of educational professional thinks it's okay to talk with your students about your Tinder dates? Or any dates for that matter? I mean, seriously?!??!??!

#2: This principal acts like he cares about his students and wants them to confide in them, and tells Simon "Oh, we have so much in common." But when that stupid jagoff finds out that Simon is gay, he becomes visibly uncomfortable, and tells Simon, "Oh, you know when I said we had a lot in common, I didn't mean..." and sort of stumbles over his words and wiggles a finger between himself and Simon. As if Simon being gay IS THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD, and he could NEVER EVER have that in common with him! God, It's been over a year since the first time I saw this movie, and I'm still fucking pissed about that.

#3: When Simon and Ethan get called to the office due to some kids that were bullying them, the Principal just ASSUMES that Simon and Ethan are dating? Because, as we all know, as soon as there are two gay people anywhere near each other they are automatically a couple....  And this dude keeps thinking that and shutting Simon down despite Simon telling him that Si and Ethan are not together. 

Ok folks, so really,we all know there are going to be differences between books and movies. We expect that.  But this was really getting on my nerves! 

If you've seen the movie and read the book, what did you think of each, and what did you think of the differences? Let me know in the comments down below!