Blog Tour for Five Feet Apart

Welcome of the Blog Tour for Five Feet Apart, a YA contemporary about two teens who meet in the hospital, is the novelized version of a movie coming out in 2019 (starring Cole Sprouse from Riverdale!) and is perfect for those who loved TFiOS!

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, with Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis

To be published on November 20, 2018 by Simon & Schuster

Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC for review purposes!

Synopsis from the publisher: Can you love someone you can never touch? Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life.

At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.

The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.

Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.

What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?

Review of Five Feet Apart:

First off, this cover is so striking – and it’s based on a drawing that features in the story!

This was a tough and emotional read. I knew only a little about CF (cystic fibrosis) and learned a lot more through reading this book.

You can read more about CF here, but basically it is a genetic disease that, among other things, causes thick, sticky mucus to build up inside the lungs, creating an ideal environment for bacterial infections.

And that’s the explanation behind the title.  Germs spread through airborne droplets can travel six feet through the air. So CF patients are often advised to always stay at least six feet away from one another.

Will and Stella meet in the hospital. They both know the rules. Stella is on the list for a lung transplant. Will is participating in a clinical trial for a new drug that he hopes will eradicate an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that’s in his lungs.

Claire is a type-A personality and always follows the rules. (She’s also working on an app to help patients manage their treatment and medications.) Will is more of a cynic. They fall in love. And Claire declares that all that CF has stolen from her, she’s stealing something back. One foot. As she and Will inch both literally and emotionally closer, what will the consequences be?

As you can probably guess, there is a lot of sadness in this story. Reading about the lives of young patients struggling with a life-threatening chronic illness was both sobering and inspiring. I’m not sure I can handle the movie too, but here is a link to the trailer for Five Feet Apart.

More about the author:

Rachael Lippincott was born in Philadelphia and raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She holds a BA in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, splitting her time between writing and running a food truck with her partner.