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Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy is about a girl, Alice, who was diagnosed with leukemia. As you get into the story, you quickly realize she is terminal and has made the decision to get some revenge for some wrongs she feels she has been dealt. Alice knows that Harvey, her friend who happens to have some pretty strong feelings for her, will do what she wants so she decides to lean on him to help her get things done. Once Alice has finally gotten to the point where she is ready to be done with everything, she finds out some news – her leukemia is in remission and now she has to face the consequences of the actions she took.
I have to say, Alice was not one of my favorite people. Don’t get me wrong, I felt for her from the point she found out she was sick all throughout but she made it very difficult to really like her due to the way she treated everyone. Yeah, she was dealt a crappy hand but she could have handled things a lot differently. With that said, she stood up for herself and I can’t fault her for that.
I loved Harvey. He was always there for Alice regardless of what she wanted. He supported her through everything and when she finally admitted her feelings and then turned around and treated him like crap I wanted to climb into the book and smack her. I think I understood where she was coming from but she really could have handled things better. Harvey is sweet and truly cares about Alice. He knows she isn’t perfect but he doesn’t care about that.
Murphy does a good job of not only telling the story from both Alice’s and Harvey’s points of view, but she also transitions from current time (now) and the past (then). I found both added to the story as not only was I able to see how things were between both characters after Alice is in remission but I also got to see things from both sides. The same goes for the time when she was sick as we find out they weren’t really as close as they used to be until she did get sick and that made things even more impactful when we get into the now sections and see how things are between these characters.
Julie Murphy pulled me into this by weaving together a story that included some solid characters that have to figure out what to do when dealing with not only sickness and death but also, what happens when things completely change and you have to face up to the things you did. Definitely check this one out when you can.
Thank you to HarperCollins for the review copy.
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