Review : Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Maybe One Day
Author : Melissa Kantor
Publication Date : February 18th 2014
Publisher : Harper Tenn
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Zoe and her best friend, Olivia, have always had big plans for the future, none of which included Olivia getting sick. Still, Zoe is determined to put on a brave face and be positive for her friend.

Even when she isn't sure what to say.

Even when Olivia misses months of school.

Even when Zoe starts falling for Calvin, Olivia's crush.

The one thing that keeps Zoe moving forward is knowing that Olivia will beat this, and everything will go back to the way it was before. It has to. Because the alternative is too terrifying for her to even imagine.

In this incandescent page-turner, which follows in the tradition of The Fault in Our Stars, Melissa Kantor artfully explores the idea that the worst thing to happen to you might not be something that is actually happening to you. Raw, irreverent, and honest, Zoe's unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

Personal Thoughts

I'm always talking about how much I enjoy when friendship is depicted in a positive light in YA books, especially between two girls, so when I read that Maybe One Day would be heavy on the friendship element, I was quick to download a copy of the book from Edelweiss. Maybe One Day started off strongly for me, but somewhere along the way, I began to see the main character in a negative light and I could no longer deal with her. So, sadly, this ended up being a DNF for me.

Zoe and Olivia have been friends for a long time and they are happy together when Olivia is diagnosed with cancer. I started off really enjoying the closeness between Zoe and Olivia. You could tell that they were good friends and I loved how they cared for each other and looked out for each other. Together, they were fantastic. They portrayed what friendship should be like in real life. Individually though, I had huge, huge issues with Zoe. She rubbed in the wrong way and she's not the sort of person I would want near me. First of all, she was really judgmental. She had this whole "I know everything about you just by looking at you" attitude that annoyed me to no ends. This was especially visible when she was around Calvin, Olivia's brother's best friend and Zoe's future love interest. The guy clearly had a huge crush on her, but she kept passing these selfish and judgmental comments about him that made me want to slap the hell out of her. And then there's this whole "I wish it was Olivia's brother who had cancer" like thought that she had once she discovered that Olivia had leukemia. That just made me really angry. I get that you're upset and devastated over your friends' situation, but to wish cancer on another person, who by the way treats her like his own sister? Are you serious? From that point onwards, I knew Zoe and I would not mesh well together and I was right. Over the course of the book, she just acts like a complete bitch to everyone around her using the excuse of her friend's cancer to justify herself. Halfway through, I decided I had had enough.

I wish this book had been written in Olivia's POV, because she was a much more likeable character and much more sweeter than Zoe was. Yes, she was bitter over her diagnosis, but she never once acted like an awful person. Aside from the characters not really doing it for me, I also had issues with the way the cancer was handled. It was so unrealistic and to have a high school student (Zoe) not know what leukemia was made me want bang my head against the wall. Do they not teach about cancer in high school biology in the US? How can someone who apparently gets good grades at school not have a working knowledge of leukemia? See, if I'm going to read a book that tackles cancer, I need it to be tackled in a realistic way. Plus, the book was filled with inaccuracies. I'm not going to bore you with those (and ruin your Monday), but instead, I'll just lead you toward Jenni @ Xpresso Reads review here. She talks about it much better than I could possibly discuss it.

Maybe One Day just wasn't the book for me. I wanted an emotional read that would possibly bring tears to my eyes, but what I got instead was a book that made my blood boil and made me want to bash my head against the wall. This is a very much hyped book though, so it might be just me.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot :3/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 2/5

Thank you to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for the e-ARC of Maybe One Day.