The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Write Me For You

Series: Standalone

Author: Tillie Cole

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

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. – summary from Goodreads

Write Me for You will break your heart! It was an amazing story, though, and I highly recommend it!

I went into this story knowing it would be sad, but I did not think it would hit me the way that is did. I don’t usually cry when I read, but this one had me crying multiple times throughout the story. It really hits you right where it hurts.

I think what this story did so well was that it was based on real experiences. The author has a family history of cancer and death, and you can see that in how it was written. The only book I can compare it to is The Fault in Our Stars, and I think this book handled it much better. It felt grounded in reality and the grief and sense of loss was so much more amplified. This book was also more geared towards the whole family. You get these really great moments between the families of our two main characters that I enjoyed. I still love The Fault in Our Stars, but I think this book handled things a little better.

The romance was cute in this book. It really played into soulmates, so there was some insta-love. Usually I don’t like that, but it fit the story, and I understand why it happened that way. It was very sweet, and I really enjoyed them together.

There was also a dual love story. There were the real Jesse and June, who were dying. Then there were the other Jesse and June, the ones that June was writing, where they lived and had an epic love story. This was such an important part of the story and really made the whole things sadder because you could see what their lives could have been.

I liked both Jesse and June as individuals as well. Both of them were cute, and fully-fledged, but they shined in the romance side of things. I did enjoy how they interacted with their situations and grief in their own ways. It added depth to the story and was a good depiction of how you can respond to grief in different ways.

What this story did best was the depiction of grief and loss. It came out of nowhere, just as it does in life, and hits you. It felt very realistic and was very moving. I liked how it was all handled. I especially liked how Jesse took comfort in talking with the Pastor. It wasn’t a super religious moment, but it meant a lot to me, and I wish there was more moments like that in books.

I really liked the side characters, Emma and Chris, too. They were so much fun to read, and I loved how the friend group amplified the story. I was devasted by what happened to Emma, and the way it ends with Chris was also sad in its own way.

I will say that this book’s writing style wasn’t always my favorite. It sometimes came across as cheesy. There were also some minor grammatical errors, such as missing connection words. Not a huge deal, but something I noticed. The biggest issue I found was that one of the chapters was labeled as being narrated by June, but it was narrated by Jesse. None of this took away from the story, but it was something I noticed.

Write Me for You was a heartfelt book that explored love and loss, through two terminal teenagers Jesse and June. With a sweet romance, realistic portrayals of grief and loss, along with wonderful characters, this is a heartbreaking book, but one that I highly recommend!

Quotes:

“‘Write me for you. In your great love story. Fall for me. Allow me to fall for you. Write me for you.’”

“‘I love you without expectation. I love you with all my heart because you are the sweetest, kindest boy I know. You make me laugh and show me that life is more than I thought it was. I adore you. And I don’t care what you do with your life as long as I’m beside you.’”

“‘I will choose you every time, in every universe. I choose you for me completely.’”