Maybe One Day: Escape with the most uplifting, romantic and heartwarming must-read book of the year!

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I loved, LOVED that both girls had family units that were fully immeshed in the book. That's a new YA trend that I am loving. In the past, the families of YA characters have been difficult to spot in a book. I really liked Olivia's brother Jake.He was an amazing brother to Olivia and friend to Zoe. Sometimes the friendship between brother and sister's best friend seems forced,but not in this case. Upon starting this one I was truly terrified that I was going to end up looking a little like this . . . . Maybe One Day was a hard book to read. I'm still not sure what to say about it. I did cry towards the end a lot. I was expecting it because Kantor did prepare us for the worst. I was waiting for it to happen a lot sooner but I'm glad it didn't. Another reason this book worked was the friendship between Zoe and Olivia. It was really beautiful and written so well. They loved each other so much and it was amazing to see the strength they managed to build up not for themselves but for each other. Zoe is an amazing character, I felt like she was on the edge of losing it throughout this book but she managed to keep it together. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for Olivia, nothing and that was why I liked her so much. Her best friend having cancer scared her but she didn’t let it show and she was a constant pillar of support not just for Olivia but for her family as well.

Zoe is someone I would never befriend in real life. She could be judgmental, mean, and kind of bratty. But I actually liked that about her in this book. To say she hates gender generalisations then be guilty of it herself, it happens. There's no censoring Zoe's thoughts to make her seem like a perfect person. And she definitely has some petty and horrible thoughts throughout the book. All these little things that made her less perfect, just made her feel more real. It takes a lot to make me cry and I mean a lot. Some people might say I am cold hearted, this is not true, I feel a great deal about a great many things but I don’t often cry. I have read books that people have sobbed over but not even suffered a lip wobble. For an author to make me cry they have to do a great number of things right, it’s not just about the storyline but the characters and the writing. It has to be super good because I have to lose myself in it so much that it hurts enough to make me feel that amount of emotion. Using Joe's cards and letters Jess, her cousin Michael, and one of Joe's friends Belinda travel from place to place, piecing together Joe's life and the people he met along the way. Thank you HarperTeen for sending me this copy. No compensation was given or taken to alter this review.

Then we have the MC. Oy, this girl had no idea what leukemia was, only that people could die of it and then upon arriving at the hospital saw the word oncology and immediately knew it was cancer. What high school aged person doesn't know leukemia is cancer? Hell, I would know the word leukemia way before the word oncology. Oh and what about the moment that she walked into the hospital room where her friend was getting her super fast chemo treatment and noticed the view out the window first and foremost. Then she proceeded to see Olivia's brother and have a fantasy in her head about how he was actually the one with cancer and she was just mistaken. She felt bad about this thought for a second and then RATIONALIZED IT AND FELT OK ABOUT IT. And don't forget about how she danced onto a curb minutes after finding out her friend had cancer... but I guess at that point she didn't know it was cancer because she's an idiot. As my friend Jenni's DNF review already pointed out, the cancer stuff is totally off base. Zoe doesn't know what leukemia is, but does understand the meaning of both cardiology and oncology. As she heads to the hospital to visit Olivia, she does a grand jete on her way, because she's so sad she has time for ballet. She wishes that Olivia's brother Jake, who she actually likes, were the one dying of cancer instead. We do have a potential romance with Calvin, which is kind of complicated because Olivia has a crush on him and Zoe doesn’t like him much at first. But I really liked him. Even when Zoe was difficult, he never stopped trying to be her friend. (Plus he was always there for Olivia’s brother. Nice guy.) I could have used more of him to lighten up the book and make his story arc a bit more complete. He felt glossed over, and his chemistry with Zoe was just too good to be ignored. (Even if it was a messy pairing; in the beginning, I thought she would hit it off with Olivia’s brother.) Eminem does not want to play the Prince Charming-esque character so desired by women and depicts himself instead as a battle-hardened soldier aware of what women genuinely want from men in relationships (this awareness gives Eminem a reason to avoid any sort of chivalry and sacrifice for women who will not return the favour). And I kinda wish there was more focus on the dancing bit at the start, since it was such a key element in the story.

After a tragic accident forced them apart, it's been seventeen years since Jess and Joe have seen each other. But now thanks to a hidden shoebox full of old letters and postcards from Joe, Jess realizes he didn't forget about her after all. With her cousin in tow as an emotional support passenger, Jess heads on a road trip to (hopefully) reconnect with her true love. More problematic is the behavior of the doctors in this universe, since it's obviously not set in the US where I live. Olivia goes to a doctor's appointment. The doctor, Dr. Weiss, notices some strange bruises, and combined with her headache and exhaustion, sends her to the Med Center. At the med center, they take blood, in which they find abnormal cells. Then, they send her to UH to do a bone marrow aspiration. They find blasts in her bone marrow, and put in a central line so the medication will go straight to her body. The medicine for her leukemia that they've just found. This is a very sad but happy book at the same time. Zoe's voice makes everything seem like it's okay and her and Olivia's friendship will always be there. The bond that they have was so unbreakable and so beautiful and I'm absolutely jealous. Olivia and Zoe had one of the most powerful friendships that I've ever read about. Together, their voices made the bookish world a better place. Maybe One Day starts off with a lot of info-dumping which was strike one for me. I cannot stand it when authors shove a bunch of information in the first few chapters and then expect readers to remember it when it actually comes into play. I read about four books at a time. Hell no do I have time to remember that shit. I also found the writing to be a bit stiff and awkward exactly like how I felt towards the romance. It's all contrived and rushed and just thrown together because this is a YA novel and romance is needed no matter what. On top of all that, the characters are choppy and annoying. Zoe is so very self-centred and mean, she does nothing but think about herself and how Olivia dying will affect her life and her plans. I couldn't stand her and her pettiness. Your best friend is dying, console her and her family along with yourself.I would recommend this read and its characters - it will have you almost reaching for a handkerchief and hoping for an ending that Jess deserves. There is a tiny bit of a romance in Maybe One Day (as noted in the synopsis) but it's definitely not a focus. It's a side plot, and I'm really glad for that, because the friendship is what dominates this story and that's how it should be! I loved both Zoe and Olivia in this story. Both loved each other so fiercely, and both were really passionate about dance, even if Zoe couldn’t admit it at times. I wish that the friendship was explored more. It. Was. Meant. To. Be. The. Main. Point. Of. The. Book. I felt like there was too much focus on some other elements of the story, and more could have been done to build on the friendship of the two girls. The book (and Zoe) just kept telling me over and over how they were such great friends and were basically twins & inseperable, etc. But there was hardly any of this acted out. They talked about their friendship more than they had one. SAYING OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT YOU ARE BEST FRIENDS DOES NOT SHOW THE READER THAT YOU ARE BEST FRIENDS! You actually need to do stuff together in more than like 5 scenes in the book.