Write me For You

 By: Tillie Cole  

Location: FIC COL

Genre: Romance

The story features a tender, "soul-deep" first love between two teenagers facing terminal illness. The intimacy is portrayed through gentleness, devotion, and shared vulnerability

Seventeen-year-old June Scott has always dreamt of becoming a novelist. To write the greatest love story ever told. One that would fill hearts and souls with happiness and joy. However, June has never been in love and when she receives some devastating news, there doesn’t feel as if there’s much time left for her own beautiful love story. That’s until she meets Jesse Taylor who treats every day as if it could be his last. Which could be true. For them both.

Together their worlds light up and a love so strong grows between them. With days slipping away like sand in an hourglass June begins to write their love story. June is determined to give the boy she loves the story of them. And the world a reminder of who they might have been if their stars were written differently. Because even when your heartbeat stops, a true love story never dies.

Here is a stunning review by Kaleigh

This book broke me into tiny little pieces. It was stunning, beautiful, hopeful, agonizing, heartbreaking and even though I knew how it would end, earth-shattering. I just kept on crying. It started with a scene here and there. But the last 20 pages I was bawling.

This beautiful book starts with June and her parents sitting in the doctor's office hearing that 17 year-old June is gonna die. There is nothing they can do and they are arranging palliative care for her. But a few days later Dr. Long calls them again and tells them a spot opened up in a clinical trial that might save her life. They instantly jump on the opportunity. 

They arrive at Harmony Ranch and June is part of a trial with 7 other teens who have acute myeloid leukemia. She instantly connects with Jesse. Their hearts just immediately open up to each other. And together with Emma and Chris they are a unit who fight AML together. They encourage each other, support each other and have each other's backs.

But the heart of the book is the love story of June and Jesse. I love how deep and meaningful it was. It wasn't driven by just mere lust. It's them truly seeing each other. 

It's a story of how they deal with setbacks and bad news. It's a story of how deep June's parents care for Jesse whose dad left him when he was 12. It's about friendship and ... my God my heart broke for Chris in the end. 

June is also a talented author and she is writing down her love story with Jesse. And she gives them a future after Harmony Ranch. And both she and Jesse are chasing that dream. To get wrinkles, get grey hairs and grow old together.

This quote squeezed my heart so tight I couldn't breath for a moment.

"If I die," I whispered a while later, "I want to go just like this-with you next to me, holding my hand."

These two show what unconditional love is. Their parents, Jesse's sisters, the other patients, the staff - they all show what love is. 

And that love broke me into utter pieces. 

I am glad Tillie explained why she wrote this book. How cancer suddenly popped up in her life, taking multiple people she loved. And that made me bawl again. Because like her I used to know no one close who had cancer. And then suddenly my father in law got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Spread and untreatable. He withered away within two weeks. Poof gone. Then my brother got lymph-node cancer. Luckily the treatable kind. But I saw how the chemo attacked his body. How he got nerve damage and was in pain all the time. But his resurgence? I have never admired someone as much as I do him. He went to every doctor's session alone, and when I brought him to the hospital and he came out of that room with his hands in the air I burst with joy. He was still tired. He heard the news at 10 am. And he was at work at 12 am. Yes it was hard and difficult and he had to rest a lot. But he was done with sitting at home and instantly worked full time again. His strength was awe-inspiring. And soon after that my mother in law got blood cancer. A cancer that will never go away. She took part in a clinical trial and luckily she didn't wither away. She beat it. Recently it was noticeable in her blood again. A very small margin. So we don't know what the future brings. 

But thinking about my own experience. I think that made it even more emotional for me. I felt their pain, their love and their strength.