Week 2 Review: Never Eighteen

From Goodreads:
Austin Parker is on a journey to bring truth, beauty, and meaning to his life.

Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. At the rate he's going, he probably won't even see the end of the year. The doctors say his chances of surviving are slim to none even with treatment, so he's decided it's time to let go.

But before he goes, Austin wants to mend the broken fences in his life. So with the help of his best friend, Kaylee, Austin visits every person in his life who touched him in a special way. He journeys to places he's loved and those he’s never seen. And what starts as a way to say goodbye turns into a personal journey that brings love, acceptance, and meaning to Austin's life.

My Review:
This was a really great, yet sad book. What? The main character isn't likely to live to be 18, to become an adult, and be able to legally vote, and still not able to legally drink. But since most teenagers drink before they're 21, since this is set in the US, that's not as big a deal as the voting and other adult stuff.

I really enjoyed Austin's bucket list of things to do before he dies, because first off, the whole point of it, is that he doesn't really have much time, and this book takes place over the course of a weekend. The the items, themselves, some of them were too cute for words, but others were were of a more personal, deep, and not so pleasant emotionally, besides getting of his chest, variety.

In accordance with the items on the list, the mood of the book changed from happy and light, to dark and sombre, and back again. And yeah, the ending is what would'd expect with a terminal main character, so don't read this book if you are sensitive to endings like this.

This was really a fantastic, sweet, and amazing book!

Author: Megan Bostic
Read: January 13th, 2012
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Debut Author Challenge, and it looked really good!
Publisher: HMH Children's Books
Expected Publication: January 17th 2012

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4.5/5 Stars