Book Review: Love Always, Kate by D. Nichole King

Dear Diary,

Leukaemia’s been my life since I was eleven. Now, six years later, I want my life back. Only I’m not sure what that is. The test results came back today. 22,000. Which means I’m officially out of remission—again.

I have three options:
1. Another round of chemo.
2. A super-new experimental drug.
3. Dump it all— forget the meds and treatments and enjoy the time I have left.

I think I know what I want. Then, in walks Damian, changing everything. I mean, everything.

He’s got his own set of issues. It binds us together, you know? We understand what it’s like to lose what matters most in seconds. Still, the last thing I need is to have someone else to crush if I can’t fight hard enough. And the last thing he needs is someone else to grieve.

Never mind. I’m down to two options now.

Somehow I know that whichever one I choose, the result will be the same. With the sand in my hourglass seeping to the bottom, I hope there’s enough left to show Damian that life’s worth living. Worth fighting for.

Worth dying for.

Love Always,
Kate

Hmm… Right okay, well I’m a sucker for sad, emotional books. I just love crying at a book and this one sounded totally up my street so I bought it after seeing hundreds upon hundreds of 4 and 5 star reviews of it. Love Always, Kate is about 17 year-old Kate who is battling Leukaemia for the third time. The statistics aren’t looking great this time around so she has a choice; Carry on with chemo whilst waiting for a doner, try a new experimental drug with no guarantees of it working or let nature take it’s course and enjoy whatever time she has left. Her decision becomes all that more important when she meets Damien, the son of her doctor who is going though his own pain and struggles himself and in the midst of her disease, she wants to help him realise that there’s still hope and that life is worth living – whatever you’re going through.

I was so disappointed that I didn’t love this book as much as everyone else seemed to. I know, we’re all entitled to our own opinion and all that but it’s just a shame I didn’t see what everyone else saw in this book. First of all, with it being a very similar sort of story to The Fault in Our Stars, I really couldn’t help but compare it and I know you shouldn’t do that and I know that any similarities I found were probably unintentional and because I’m such an avid TFiOS fan, I probably noticed things that weren’t even there so I am by no means criticising the author or this book as being a sort of “rip off” version but it’s just something to bare in mind.

Anyway, the main character Kate, I did grow to like after a while. I loved her spirit and determination and her acceptance to the disease but she could have done so much better than Damien. I have never wanted to punch a character in the face so much in my entire life. He was such an arsehole and despite having his sweet romantic side, underneath it all, he was just an arsehole. He was a screwed up kid who yes, was going through stuff but still acting completely disgustingly in the face of what was happening and despite everything, I couldn’t justify his actions. Arsehole. I know she had cancer and probably a different mind-set but I also felt their relationship blossomed too quickly and Damien tried too hard to be romantic and for me it came across as cheesy. Being a YA, it was very easy to read and it took me no time at all to get through – hell it even made me shed a few tears – but I’m afraid the way I felt about Damien completely ground everything to a halt for me.

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2/5 Stars