Author: Kary Rader
Publisher: Self
Released: July 8th 2013
Pages: 216 (Kindle)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
Add on Goodreads
They lived the life they were given; they loved the life they made.
Cheerleader Taylor Smith doesn’t want to die a virgin. Unfortunately, if the terminally-ill leukemia patient doesn't find a lover or a stem-cell match within months, her fear will become reality. When her cancer mentor is revealed to be a hottie entrepreneur from California, it seems fate might finally be on her side.
Tech-geek Gavin Taylor has everything he ever wanted, except someone to grieve for him when he's gone. With his melanoma cancer beyond the help of his riches, he agrees to participate in a cancer patient mentoring program where he's matched with a dying teen from Texas. Despite his immediate attraction, the Silicon Valley whiz intends only to provide friendship and happy memories to the beautiful, young woman who is determined to win his love.
When it's discovered that his frozen sperm and her harvested eggs could lead to a cure, Taylor's mother offers to be a surrogate. And Gavin must decide if he can risk the heart he has never given and a child he'll never know to a girl he just met.
How would I describe this book in three words? Cheesy, unrealistic, and adorable - not necessarily in that order. At first, I was expecting A Taylor-Made Life to be like My Sister's Keeper or The Fault in Our Stars - that it would look at the cold, hard facts of cancer and would tell a story about finding love at the end of your world. And it did, most definitely. However, the book was laced to the very brim with cheese...in the best way possible.
Taylor Smith and Gavin Taylor believe they have just one thing in common: cancer. But when they are partnered together, they begin to realise that they have other things in common too; they are both gamers, they are both reaching the end of their lives, and they both don't want to be alone. The pair strike up a friendship which quickly turns into more, and they both finally believe that after all this time, they have found something to live for. However, as fate would have it, the two have another thing in common. Gavin is a bone marrow match for Taylor, and if they create a child together, Taylor just might be saved.
Reading these books, I always wonder why the hell I pick them up in the first place. Cancer books suck - they are sad and suck and make me cry and suck and I hate that I love them, but I do. I know I'll cry, but I pick them up anyway, because there is something about these books that make you appreciate life in a whole new light. A Taylor-Made Life made me feel like this, if nothing else.
I don't think I'd be expecting the story to turn out quite like it did. I thought Taylor and Gavin would meet, get on, have sex, die. Wow, okay, that sounded brutal, but it's what I was expecting. In actuality, the story was highly unrealistic - I'm talking as in falling in love within, what, a day? And marriage? And children? It was quite a lot to get my head around, and part of me did feel like giving it a low rating because of how far-fetched it was. But on the other side, it was unrealistic in a good way - Rader took a horrible subject choice and turned it into a book the reader can escape in. I don't care who you are or what genres you like, this is freaking adorable, okay?!
Taylor was a great protagonist, made realistic by her fears and her innocent youth. Taylor is the one that readers will be able to relate to, whereas Gavin is the love interest that we pine after alongside her. The chemistry is thick between them throughout, and although I know this is a stand-alone novel, I want more of the pair! They give me the fuzzies.
Overall, this was a pretty epic love story, something I haven't had in a while. Rader made a bad situation beautiful, and left the reader craving more. I think that if you like books where they look at the serious side of these situations, then this isn't the book for you - but if you want a cute romance to escape into, then pick this up as soon as possible.
Rating: 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment