Title:  Brave Enough

Author:  Kati Gardner

Page count: 320

Published: August 21^st 2018

Publisher: Flux

Genre: YA

Received: E-Arc/ Netgalley

Purchase:  Amazon

Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

Teenager Cason Martin is the youngest ballerina in the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory. She never really had a choice of whether she learned to dance or not. Her mother, the conservatory’s artistic director, has made all the decisions in Cason’s life. But that’s about to change. Cason has been hiding an injury, and it’s much worse than anyone imagines.

Davis Channing understands all too well what it’s like to give up control of your life. He’s survived cancer, but his drug addiction nearly killed him. Now he’s been sober for seven months and enjoying his community service at the hospital. But just when he thinks he’s got it together, Davis’s ex-girlfriend, who is still battling her addiction, barrels back into his life.

Cason and Davis are not friends. But, as their worlds collide, they will start to depend on one another. Can they both be brave enough to beat the odds?

My Thoughts: Okie first off, the cover to this is stunning. Its one of the most beautiful ones that I have seen in a while. The book follows Cason and Davies as the main character their stories are remarkable. Cason is a ballerina that gets diagnosed with Bone Cancer, and Davies is the one that is a cancer survivor and also recovering from an addiction to drugs.  Being in the heads of both of these two people an getting to see how they are with having cancer and dealing with addiction was amazing. We get to see Cason’s life as a high school student and her love of dance. She is a ballerina that is preparing for her audition for the American Ballet Theater. She only wants to dance and doesn’t have time for anything else. She’s not going to let the pain in her knee stop since she thinks is just a sprain. When she does find out what it truly is it changes everything. Davis is one of the lucky ones that was able to conquer cancer, but now he has a different type of problem. He has an addiction. He has to do community service at the hospital that he got treaded at a few years ago. Davis has an ex-girlfriend who I found to be rather annoying because she would always come at the worst times for Davis asking for help/money.  Cason is getting chemo at the hospital where Davis is doing his community service and when they meet you can tell there is an instant connection. Even with the both of them having their own stories they still find love in one another, aside from one another knowing what the other is going through. Kati wrote an outstanding book. I’m surprised that this was her debut book. I can’t wait to see what other works she has up her sleeve. I was able to connect and feel for these characters and you don’t always have that happen with this type of book. At the end of the book we get to know that this was something that actually happened to Kati just as Cason. Finding that out blew me away. With this book being one that deals with cancer/depression it may not be a book for everyone.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review form Netgalley and the publisher. *