Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 240pgs

The Story

Megan Bright and Jackson Dawes are two teenagers who first meet each other on the hospital ward where they are both being treated for cancer. Megan is scared and worried about her illness, but Jackson seems to be an old hand, having been on the ward for ages. And everybody loves Jackson! He is a whirlwind of life and energy, warmth and sparkle. Megan will need to borrow some of Jackson's extraordinary optimism to face her and Jackson's future. A moving story of first love and a remarkably powerful debut novel.

The Review

A big thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a review copy of this book!

I haven't heard much about this book before reading it, but it was actually quite a nice little read for me and it all flew by so quickly too. Now I will admit, I don't exactly like reading sad books dealing with very heavy topics like cancer because I will most likely start to cry once reading it and it will be a whole bloody mess in the end since I only - and rarely - cry when it comes to these sorts of books. Naturally. I just can't help it, especially if they're sad books containing characters still so full of life despite their dire circumstances, you know? It gets quite depressing for me.

When it comes to this book in particular however, I think I liked the concept more than the execution of it. I don't know why (I can't really put my finger on it) but I felt like the story it told just wasn't as interesting as I thought it would have been like and there could have been so much more development in the story as well to make it shine even more, you know? But, in any case, I still managed to really like this book and I think it had a lot to do with the main characters, Megan and Jackson, who were shining stars all on their own.

Personally I found Megan was such a delightful young character and she was pretty believable through my eyes too. She had this great innocence about her that I think a lot of readers can identify with and not to mention cannot help but feel her pain about being all alone in a hospital room. It was quite an emotional kicker as you immerse yourself into her own personal story. But then there's Jackson, the boy Megan doesn't like at first and yet he slowly grows on her. For me, I absolutely loved Jackson from the get-go and his witty ways. He was just so honest in the book and so upbeat with pretty much everything - even with his own pain, and it's quite easy to be drawn towards his cheerfulness and his character alone. I just loved him!

Overall, while ANTHEM FOR JACKSON DAWES didn't blow me away but I think anyone who likes John Green's The Fault in Our Stars will have a slow and burning love for this book too. It's cute and sad, and a perfect well-rounded book!

The Rating

3/5 stars