Review: Radiate by Marley Gibson.

Rowena’s review of Radiate by Marley Gibson.

Main Character: Hayley Matthews
Love Interest: Gabriel (highlight to see)
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

Hayley Matthews is determined to be the best cheerleader she can. She works hard and pushes herself 110% all the time.

Then Hayley finds a lump on her leg. The diagnosis is cancer. The prognosis is unclear. She could lose her leg. Or maybe her life.

At first Haley is scared, terrified. In an instant, everything she’s worked for seems out of reach. But Haley is strong. She’s going to fight this disease. She will not let it take her life or her dreams.

I wanted to read this book because the blurb hit home for me with everything that my family went through a couple of years ago with this very same thing for my nephew RJ. RJ was 14 when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and to read in this book that Hayley was diagnosed with the exact same thing hit me really hard. She’s one of those girls that wants to live life to the fullest, make the most of her senior year so she quits band and tries out for cheerleading squad…and she makes it.

Going into this story, I liked the way that Hayley thought. She wanted to be a cheerleader so she practiced and tried out. When she starts feeling pain in her leg, she does what any teenager would do. She ignores it until she can’t ignore it anymore. I thought that Gibson did a wonderful job of capturing the mind of a teenager. Everything is all roses and sunshine until it’s not but with Hayley, she didn’t let any of that stuff keep her down. She went into her diagnosis with a fighter’s attitude and loads of people told me that when your mindset is already set to fight, the odds of you coming out of the big cancer scare goes way up so it was good to see that Hayley was a fighter right from the jump.

Reading this book was like taking a step back into 2010 and reliving everything that my family went through with RJ. It was like bringing all of that dark stuff back to the surface and reminding me how much I have to be thankful for. RJ suffered from the exact same condition as Hayley did and he went through the same struggles that Hayley did and this book put me inside his head. The strength, the determination that Hayley went through I saw everyday with RJ and this book was just full of win for me because it’s told in a way that brings out the emotions. Fear, grief, resolve, relief, joy…it’s all in here and I enjoyed every word.

Gabriel was such a treat to get to know in this book. I adored him right from the beginning when he walked into the scene with his green Scooby Doo shirt that said, “What happens in the van, stays in the van” I thought he was such a sweetheart and adored him.

Seeing Hayley come into her own while she’s battling for her life was an eye opening experience. She went through so much, found out who her true friends were and I’m telling you, it was just full of awesome and I can’t recommend this book enough. Kudos to Marley Gibson on a job well done writing this book. I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author.

..and that’s your scoop!

This book is available from Graphia.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

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