Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Laconis (Review)

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Laconis

Blurb

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 jeopardise 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

I watched the film of this in 2019 on a plane on the way back from my holiday and I cried my eyes out. I was so worried an air steward would come over to see what the matter was with me. As soon as I got home I ordered the book but didn’t get around to reading it until now. I will be honest the book made me even more emotional than the film did. 

Stella and Will both have cystic fibrosis and both find themselves in hospital but they are both very different characters. Stella is a control freak who lives her life following lists and making sure she takes all her medications at the right time so she can stay healthy for everyone around her. Will however is fed up with treatments and hospitals and wants freedom to see the world and couldn’t care less about taking his medications. 

However, Stella and Will find themselves drawn to each other but there is a problem: they can’t be nearer to each other than six feet in case Will infects Stella with B cepacia which would mean she could not get a lung transplant if one became available. Stella decides that they can still be together but will be five feet apart instead of the recommended six. 

The other character that I loved in this book is Poe. Poe is another CF patient at the hospital and has known Stella since they were children and they are best friends. Poe has a wonderful sense of humour and is a kind and good friend to Stella and Will and whenever he is around you can’t help but smile. 

Although this story is mainly set in the hospital it is still fascinating and lovely to see how Stella and Will’s relationship develops and how Poe helps it all to work. I really didn’t notice at times that it was a hospital that the book was set in. I learned a lot from this book about cystic fibrosis and I really loved how even though there is sadness there is also so much joy and happy memories to celebrate. This book made me smile, it made cry, and it made me laugh, I really could not put it down. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)