Sick kids in love

Ooh my gosh. This book!! So I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (diagnosed in June 2018). Pretty early in it so I'm still figuring out when I should give my body a break and all (absolutely not good at this) but I'm pretty sure that this is my first time reading a book with a character who has RA? And I read what she was thinking about her body and joints and everything and it's exactly what I feel?

Like when it said: “They think it's completely ridiculous that a person can just...have a sick life and be fine with it. So they have to build this story around you kicking the illness's ass. You can't coexist with it. You can't incorporate it into yourself. Because they don't. So you can't.” – LIKE I FELT THAT DOWN IN MY SOUL. And I know I'm early in my diagnosis, but I feel it and I know exactly what they're talking about. Like why can't we just live with the diagnosis? Why do we have to wish it away? Why should we want to be ‘perfectly' healthy and ‘normal' – Newsflash! Why is being healthy considered to be the normal?

Their relationship with each other was SO CUTE even before they got together! I loved how real they were with each other and they understood each other. And they were great as individual characters – I liked how they were written and how they came across on the page. AND WHEN they STARTED to give each other PET NAMES I'M SOFT.

And like also there's this part where Isabel talks about her uncle sending her an article about how carbs are linked to arthritis – which is EXACTLY how my uncle is and like yes I am on keto – my aunt won't cook for different people, so I've just adapted. But the pain isn't any less because I've dropped the carbs. There's so many articles cross-sectioning or whatever the word actually is. And why do people think they know more about something else than you? Even if you don't know a lot about your illness, it doesn't mean other people should come along and wave articles at you and yell: “Hear ye, hear ye, eating 2 of this per week will KILL you within a year!”

Also, NO ONE talks about how it makes you tired and I am here to say... that it does. Some days – especially on the bad days I just have enough energy to go down for a coffee and that's it. And I was so happy to see Isabel say it. And I want more of this!! in books! More characters with illnesses who talk about it.

I really liked Sasha's sister – she was fun reading about whenever she showed up in the plot. I liked their friends for the most part. They did say things and do things I side-eyed for a while but in a way I understood it because I know how they think. And what they think. And it is like that – not everyone totally understands when they know about your illness.