Julie Murphy

The first book from Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin'—now a Netflix feature film starring Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, with a soundtrack by Dolly Parton! For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell comes this powerful novel about a girl with cancer who creates a take-no-prisoners bucket list that sets off a war at school—only to discover she's gone into remission. When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend, Harvey, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge as it is about hope. But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done. Contemporary realistic fiction readers who love romantic stories featuring strong heroines will find much to savor in this standout debut.

Side Effects May Vary

Monicap

See? I understand the appeal of cancer books. This one happened to have excellent writing and beautiful characters, but the point is, I GET IT! I do, I swear!

But I will never, ever read the Fault in Our Stars.

Well, I shouldn't say never ever. I might one day, fifty years from now, when everyone has ceased to ceaselessly push it on me. 

Anyways, I truly adored this book--the plot was compelling the character were real and the writing was excellent.

Alexa M

DNF @ 90% LOL
 i literally cannot even force myself to read the last 30 pages of this. the main character is truly abhorrent and not in an interesting way and i just cannot read about her redemption that i know is coming. i lovvvveee Julie Murphy but this is clearly her debut and i'm so happy her books have only gotten MUCH better.

For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell comes this powerful novel about a girl with cancer who creates a take-no-prisoners bucket list that sets off a war at school—only to discover she's gone into remission. When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend, Harvey, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge as it is about hope. But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done. Contemporary realistic-fiction readers who love romantic stories featuring strong heroines will find much to savor in this standout debut.

aisha

*3.0 (or 3.5)*
I actually do not know how to explain this book in a paragraph so for the first time ever, I'm making a list. 

- This book felt like a fan fiction from the very beginning up to half of the book. The plot was just very fanfic like. 
- This book made me feel a lot of things, like a lot of other books. Most of the feelings was mixed. So this review will be a mixed review. 
- 3.5 stars, so this book is a good read. Side Effects May Vary is a very youthful light read. 
- I hated most of the characters. But at one point, just one, I loved Harvey and it's only because I imagined how good looking he must be. I'm not going to leave my hatred for the two main characters unexplained so here it is. 

Alice: She was full of hatred. She just did not appreciate the fact that she gets a chance to live again after beating cancer. There are some good qualities about her but that didn't make me like her at all. 
Harvey: Harvey is a sad guy. I feel like he deserves better but his love for Alice became quite destructive and it wasn't great. 

One more thing I didn't like about this book is that it was surrounded in the idea of cancer. Unlike TFioS this book talked about cancer. Alice constantly talked about how even after cancer she still felt sick as ever. 

Something I did like about this book was that the parents were involved, even when it was completely unnecessary. I loved how it did not just include the relationship of Alice and Harvey but also the relationship of the parents with the kids. 

Overall I liked it as a read but it's really not worth sitting through for hours.

Written from the perspectives of both Harvey and Alice, in Side Effects May Vary, Julie Murphy weaves a compelling story of friendship, relationships and love, with a little bit of death thrown in for good measure; at least for a while. When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with acute lymphocyte leukaemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend Harvey, who's loved her forever, to help with compiling a crazy 'just-dying-to-do' bucket list, that's as much about revenge as it is about redemption. But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission. Now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done and discover just what happens when we say our 'final' words, only to find that life isn't through with us yet.

Amanda

Rating 4.5. 
Reviewed orginially posted at: http://glitterynerd.blogspot.com.au/2...

My Thoughts: I went into this book very excited, knowing that this wasn't going to be the typical cancer story. We know from the get go that Alice goes into remission. This story is about dealing with consequence, the consequence of actions taken when Alice thought she was going to die.

I thought this book was wonderful. This story is told from two perspectives Alice and Harvey, both told in the first person. The story also is told in Then and Now (during cancer and after cancer). I really enjoyed this story telling, and i loved that the two time periods meant that i really got to know the characters. Throughout this story you really got a good look at what was going on in Alice and Harvey's head, and why they did certain things.

I don't really have anything bad to say about this book. My only issues was that at time Alice is a very unlikeable character, she does so very mean things,. But the story wouldn't of worked any other way, plus this means you get to fall in love with Harvey.

In the end i think this book is mostly about growth. Dealing with the changing mindset of "i'm going to die i don't have to care what people think" too "i'm not going to die, how do i deal with this. This was not only a story of Alice dealing with the consequences of the mean things that she has done, but dealing with her feelings of not dying. Suddenly where there was no future there is one, and that's a whole other thing to deal with.

If you are looking for a light read that is a little bit Mean Girls, and a little bit coming of age story, i would recommend this book. Its a fun, quick and easy read and i think everyone should give it ago.

Nadine 

A real twist to the "dying girl with cancer" theme. She doesn't die and she's not a nice person at all. Refreshingly real.

Cindy Lee

*A copy was provided by the publisher for review*

Side Effects May Vary sounded just like any other YA book about cancer out there. Keep in mind that I don't usually read these type of books. Originally, what drew me in to read this one was the cover. Let us just all take a second and admire that simple and beautiful cover.

The book was a pretty emotional ride for me. I got to know the main characters, Alice and Harvey, a lot. I didn't really like Alice much. She's a cold-hearted person on the inside and she isn't a considerate person. That makes me really sad for Harvey, who is a sweet boy and totally in love with her. Without Harvey, I probably would've dropped the book at the half point. Reading it all the way to the end, I find that this is a beautiful book. I still don't like Alice but her part was necessary. She did dumb things that I don't approve of sometimes but I like how she learns her lesson at the end of the book.

Harvey is the cutest and sweetest boy ever. He's what made this book worth reading. It's like he's telling us that you can't help who you love and you just have to keep fighting for the person you love. The characters are probably my favourite part of this book. They're created so vividly and they both have such a different voice that it's impossible to confuse the two of them.

Overall, Side Effects May Vary is a heart-breaking contemporary about two teens learning how to love each other. I would recommend it to someone who is looking for an emotional love story. Unfortunately, the book only gets 3.5 flowers from me because of my dislike for Alice.

Rating: 3.5 flowers

ashley hopkins

in my mind, this one tugged on my heart more than tFiOS. if you've read both of them that may seem like a weird thing to say.

Emily

This one is really hard for me to review. Some parts were a 4, and some parts were a 1. I’m torn between rating this a 3 or a 2, but I think I’m gonna stick with a 3. 

If I didn’t have the audiobook for this book, and if I didn’t have to finish this for book club, I would NOT have been able to get through this. So thank you to my library for having the audiobook available!

I don’t have that much to say other than some parts I really liked, and then there was Alice. Alice is a horrible person, and she doesn’t really progress as a character throughout the story. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be the case or not, but I really hope it is.

There’s no way an author could write a character to say this line and want them to seem redeemable.

 “You’re sad and pathetic. You have no spine, and the fact that you think someone like me could ever love someone like you only proves my point.”

Jeni Enjaian

I can think of no other book that I have given such a high rating to in which I could not understand the main character or her motives at all.
Murphy creates a compelling narrative that forces Alice to deal with the consequences of her actions However, when Alice "deals" with those consequences, she does so incredibly poorly and makes me question everything about the ending or why such a brilliantly kind and wonderful person like Harvey would ever want to be with her.

Murphy created a believable character, just not a very likeable one.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads
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When I began reading Side Effects May Vary, I geared myself up for another book along the lines of The Fault in Our Stars or The F-- It List. The book was neither. I wouldn't even describe it as a combination of the two. It was entirely its own story and, while I found flaws, I also ultimately appreciated it for what it was. I wouldn't classify this is a cancer book or a romance. Yes, it contains both, but neither truly pull the focus from the character development of what I would classify as a coming of age tale. 

If you aren't capable of enjoying a book with a frustrating protagonist, a sweet love interest who is missing more than bit of his backbone and a storyline that might make you want to yell at the characters and rip your hair out, you might want to move along. But if you are willing to give some deeply flawed characters a chance and allow the author to make you truly detest them before coming to appreciate them as they are, you'll want to give this one a try. Just don't expect to find unicorns, rainbows and flowers here. You'll find gorgeous writing, complex characters, a plot that will keep you hooked... but it's not all happy and warm and fuzzy. 

Alice isn't a very nice girl. I tried to put myself in her shoes, but I failed to ever truly understand why she acted as she did. I would expect someone given a second chance at life would embrace it and the people who were there for her while she was at her lowest. She did welcome the possibilities that remission brought, but she pushed away Harvey, her best friend, the boy she loved and the one who remained by her side as she battled cancer. Her family life was less than perfect and she pushed her mom and dad away as well, but that wasn't as devastating to me as how she treated Harvey. She was manipulative. She knew how to play Harvey and didn't hesitate to do it. It was difficult to like or relate to someone who willingly treated people she loved so badly. I know she had been through hell on Earth, something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but it still didn't fully excuse her actions.

Oh, Harvey. How I loved thee. But how I wanted him to get a backbone. His feelings for Alice were obvious. He never hid them. Her leukemia diagnosis was devastating to him. He was in love with her and didn't know how to deal with the fact that she wouldn't be around for the life he wanted with her. But, as sad as he was, he was there for her every step of the way, no matter how ugly it all got. He was a fantastic guy, a great friend and the boyfriend any girl would want to have. To see him so hopeful at Alice's second chance, only to have those hopes squashed by Alice's actions broke my heart. He really did deserve better than Alice was capable of giving him. He tried to move on, but it's difficult to do so when the person you love keeps pushing your buttons and then, just as quickly, pushing you away.

Side Effects May Vary was told from both Alice's and Harvey's POV. It was also told in both past and present tense. This setup could have been tremendously confusing, but I never got bogged down in it. As a matter of fact, I appreciated learning the whole picture. Each character had a clear voice. The multiple POVs allowed me to get inside each character's head and try to understand their motivations. I truly felt for both of them. Their pain and confusion came through on every page. I found myself entirely invested in their story and was all but yelling at them through the course of the book. Any time an author can make me feel this much – good, bad and everything in between – I have to give them credit. I'm a feeler when I read, so it's not uncommon for me to cry when reading, but it's a little more uncommon for me to seriously dislike a character, but still be so very invested in them. I was, without a doubt, invested in Alice. I loved Harvey. That was never a question. Together they were complicated. Sometimes frustrating, often sweet and their interactions made me feel. A lot. 

Ultimately, I just wanted Alice and Harvey to find happiness, regardless of whether it was together or not. I wanted them each to admit to their faults and grow. I wanted this to be a story that left me with a sense of hope. By the end, each of my wishes were granted, but boy, it was a bumpy ride. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

Side Effects May Vary

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