Radiate by Marley Gibson

Hayley Matthews is determined to be the best cheerleader she can. She works hard and pushes herself 110% all the time.

Then Hayley finds a lump on her leg. The diagnosis is cancer. The prognosis is unclear. She could lose her leg. Or maybe her life.

At first Haley is scared, terrified. In an instant, everything she’s worked for seems out of reach. But Haley is strong. She’s going to fight this disease. She will not let it take her life or her dreams.


My Thoughts/Review:

This book shows two different sides of one story: the darker side, and the lighter side. On one hand, the darker side really didn't last that long. It was less capitalized on than the lighter side. The lighter side is really what this book is all about. It's a super cute and sweet contemporary, with a strangely dark twist: the protagonist has cancer.

That's actually what most of the first half of this book was about: her cancer. And most of the dark time didn't occur then, it occurred  afterwards. It really didn't hit her until it was over, it seems. Hayley was a very upbeat character, and I was honestly rooting for her throughout the book--she makes you want to.

She makes you want to wish her well, to wish her better, and to just let her be who she wants to be. And how cool is it that she's a cheerleader? I mean, really. THAT IS AWESOME. She's a cheerleader, and she get's cancer, and SHE STAYS HAPPY. I honestly don't know how she did it, or even how she could honestly stay so positive, but I liked it.

I do wish that the cancer had hit her a little harder though, maybe caused a bit more emotional development, and a bit more drama. I do know that this is based off of the author's own experience, so I really can't comment on that. Maybe the author was extremely upbeat--the note from her mother in the back of the book makes me think that she was.

Because I'm a complete girly girl at heart, I also wish that there had been more romance. I mean, I loved it as is, but the romance was mostly of the cute variety. Which I like, but I craved a bit more on Hayley and her boy's relationship.

I did think that a few things were over the top, but I won't state the here. Okay, I will. In between those brackets. {TWO people in this story get cancer. TWO. Within months of each other. I mean, both of my grandparents had cancer, but it seemed kind of unlikely in this storyline. But I don't know if this was one of the severely fictionalized parts, or one of the loosely based parts. O_O}

All in all, Radiate is a read that I would definitely recommend to lovers of contemporary, and to people who like a sweet teenage read.

*This book was provided by the author for review.


Favorite Quote: The lighter side's quote: As I watch him saunter--and yeah, he does--back to his house, I can't help but note how he's grown up and changed from the kid I knew. I guess we all grow up eventually.
The darker side's quote: It's hard to accept the bitter pill that sometimes cancer wins out, no matter how hard we struggle to battle it with all our might.