Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts

 This is a story of an unlikely friendship.  While in the hospital after a bone marrow transplant, Zac hears the angst of his next door neighbor.  Beginning with a knock on the wall, Zac reaches out to Mia.  She doesn't want anyone's help and keeps her sickness a secret even from her closest friends.

After leaving the hospital, Zac finds his thoughts drifting back to Mia.  Then one day she appears - broken, lost, and looking for money to run away.  With a newly amputated leg, all Mia wants to do is escape.  Slowly Zac helps her find the things in life that are worth fighting for.

At the beginning of the book, I thought it was very similar to The Fault in Our Stars.  However, the similarities started to fade, and Zac and Mia took on a life of its own.  The Fault in Our Stars is probably one of my all-time favorite books, but I thought Zac & Mia's characters were more believable.  This novel is a story of friendship and how sometimes all you need is a little hope to get you through the toughest of days.  What could be a romantic component is not capitalized upon, and it makes the book work.  It is instead about two people who form a bond over a shared hurt, understanding how much one's life is altered by a disease as devastating as cancer.  It is through this bond that each is able to grasp onto hope that propels them through another day.

I will definitely be recommending this book to my students who loved The Fault in Our Stars and Eleanor & Park.