Honestly, a bit of a surprise I liked this as much as I did. A beautiful reminder that no one is living on promised time, no one is guaranteed tomorrow, none of us know exactly how we will leave this Earth, and no one can ever be prepared. It was quick, touching, simple, witty, and yet the message was so clear. 

While it is your classic boy meets sick girl story, it’s simultaneously so much more. Another review used the term “life-affirming” and… I think that word encompasses this story while also not describing it to the full extent. You’ll sit there and think you know what is going to happen and how you’ll feel by the end of the book, but I don’t think you’ll actually be ready. I mean yes, it is exactly what you think it is, but it goes so much deeper than that. Even though things might not accurately translate from Japanese to English in the way Sumino might have anticipated, there is so much depth. Sumino takes you on an emotional journey of doubt, self-realization, love, acceptance, growth, and more while keeping the story short, suspenseful, and emotional.

This must've been fate. I don't know why I picked this book up from the store in the first place, because I never shop in that section, but I'll take that as a sign, somewhere in my heart I have an inkling of why this happened.

It felt like a part of my life was looking back at me from the book. I felt seen, and there were many moments when I could relate to the main characters - Sakura and [The Boy Who I Get On With Well]-kun. It was quite tantalizing to never find out the boy's name, but at the same time, it was kind of a doorway for me to relate to the character a lot more. Quite frequently, I found myself thinking, "Oh, I thought that too. I felt like that. This is so real," and so on.

I think this book gave me some kind of relief for what I've experienced. Near the end, I cried pretty often. All of it just felt so familiar, and I was genuinely heartbroken. Plus, the plot twist.. AAH, I slammed the book closed and just sat appalled on my bed. Because what the fuck, why don't you just rip my heart right out of my chest while you're at it?

All in all, this is a great book to get an insight into people's lives who are young and dying, while they're so full of life and desperately want to live alongside the power of friendship & love. <3