Side Effects May Vary

Sixteen year old Alice is diagnosed with Leukaemia. Things don't look promising, so Alice creates a bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies. A lot of things on that list are about revenge. Revenge on an ex boyfriend, and getting back at anyone who's wronged her. Reconnecting with her childhood friend Harvey, it's his friendship that she will count on the most. Just as her bucket list is almost complete, Alice is told that she is in remission. Instead of being happy and over the moon like most people would be, Alice realises that she now has to deal with the consequences of all of her actions.

I have to say that I was quite apprehensive before going into Side Effects May Vary. A lot of people had told me that they didn't like, or didn't feel any connection to the main character. When I first started reading, I couldn't understand where everyone was coming from. Here is a girl who has been battling leukaemia. A girl who has just been told that she's in remission. How could you not be over the moon for her? How could you not connect with a girl who has beaten her disease? But as the story went on, it became so clear to me what the issues were that people had with her. She made it so hard to like her. Almost every one of her actions felt schemed and plotted.

I think at some stage we've all wished karma on someone. I don't think we'd be human if we didn't, but when we take things into our own hands and deliver that karma in the way that Alice did... I think that's a whole new ball game. Yes these people wronged her. Yes they were horrid at times. But to go to the extremes that Alice went to for revenge. I'm just not sure that sat well with me.

Then there was the way that Alice treated Harvey. Harvey who is so good. Harvey who has loved Alice through everything that she's gone through and even though he wholeheartedly disagreed with what Alice was doing, he went ahead and helped her anyway. Harvey, who wears his heart on his sleeve and would give her the world if he could. Harvey who was just so beautiful and so special. But he was like her little lost puppy at times, following her around and being loyal to a fault.

But, at the end of the day, I didn't hate Alice. I felt sad that she had to fight such an insidious disease. I felt horrible for the things that her schoolmates did to her. I felt pity that she felt that she had to seek such revenge and then deal with the consequences of the things that she did. I was so unhappy that she struggled to treat Harvey with the respect that he deserved. But I didn't hate her. There were times that I disliked her actions, but there was always something that stopped me from completely giving up on her. I think that it was because that whatever Harvey saw in her, I wanted to get a glimpse of that too.

The story switches rather seamlessly from the past to the present and then backwards and forwards between the point of view of both Alice and Harvey. I didn't see any real structure to it, but it worked really well, since both characters thoughts and voices are very different. Had the book just been told through Alice's eyes, I think my thoughts at the end of reading it may have been very different, so I'm incredibly thankful for Harvey.

Despite my trepidations, I really enjoyed Julie Murphy's debut and I will definitely pick up more of her work in the future.

4/5 Sweet Harvey Stars

Received from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Side Effects May Vary was my most anticipated 2014 debut, so to say I am saddened by how disappointed I was was an understatement. While I think aspects of Side Effects May Vary were done well and exerted a small tug on my emotions, I have to confess there were several parts of Side Effects May Vary that left me feeling rather blah. Despite these strong statements, I did enjoy Side Effects May Vary while reading it, enough to rate it 3 stars, but there were things I had issues with and on the whole, I just expected more from this book.

The premise of Side Effects May Vary still fascinates me. Alice is a teenager who seems to have an infinite number of tomorrows until she’s diagnosed with leukemia. She’s hurt, angry with the world, and left wanting more, so she lashes out. With her friend’s Harvey help, she begins to exact revenge on those she believes have wronged her.

My feelings on Alice and Harvey, the two central characters of Side Effects May Vary, are decidedly mixed. I like that Murphy took a risk and made the main character of a cancer story so unlikable and catty. So often in books the people who may become sick are the ones we would want around us in our own life–kind, giving, selfless. Alice is not like that at all, and I really love this in an objective way. Alice isn’t by any means a terrible person, but she does some pretty unkind and mean-spirited things–the type of things most sixteen-year-olds would only dream of.

However, while I liked the take on Alice’s character in an objective way, I didn’t like it much as a reader, because after finishing Side Effects May Vary, I still don’t understand her. And not in a “I wouldn’t do that way,” but in a “I needed more insight into Alice’s head” way, despite the fact half of book is told from her point of view. I think in the case of Side Effects May Vary, the split point-of-view and also the split timeline hurt the book more than anything else. The characterization became muddled when I didn’t get enough time inside either character’s head, and the jumping back and forth between right after diagnosis and right after remission, which sounded so good on paper, didn’t work for me.

Much with Alice, I had a difficult time really understanding Harvey’s character. He’s in love with Alice, and I understand that, but I never understood why, except that they grew up together. That could have been a great foundation, but it was never explored enough in Side Effects May Vary for me to believe it. Harvey is a good character with the potential to be a great one, but I really just needed more for me to say that with confidence. I did like how Harvey, the male lead, was the more sensitive and quiet one, and how Alice was the more assertive one, so I do give Murphy props for mixing up gender roles. In the end, though, I felt too often I was being told what the characters were feeling or thinking instead of it flowing organically.

Despite some of my frustrations with Side Effects May Vary, I do think there were a string of brilliant glimpses in this novel. There were some incredibly moving scenes that affected me, though I think it’s important to address that Side Effects May Vary never felt emotionally manipulative, which is one of my pet peeves when it comes to books about sickness, so I’m quite grateful for that. I also thought that Murphy’s writing was wonderful and it sucked me in right away. I definitely breezed through this novel and in the end, enjoyed it, but it was more forgettable than I was expecting. Side Effects May Vary was a decent debut, but didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Alice has already accepted her fate. A sixteen year old diagnosed with leukemia, this isn't some miracle waiting to happen. The very thing that's supposed to be curing her is killing her. When her parents decide it's time to stop the chemo, Alice knows they just pulled the plug. She's going to die. With the help of her best friend, Harvey, who's had a crush on her since they were little, she gets revenge on her homophobic ex boyfriend who messed with one of her classmates and an arch nemesis of hers since she was a kid, relives some childhood memories, and tries some things she's never done before. Just as Alice decides she's done making marks, she goes into remission. Bam. Now, Alice has to go back and face all the horrible things she's done, all while trying to deal with her conflicted feelings about Harvey.
Alice is a brat. She's mean, and vengeful, and deeply flawed, and selfish and uses Harvey. Actually, she treats him like a dog. And I think that's why I liked her so much. Don't get me wrong, she's horrible, but she seems so realistic, you can't help but sympathize with her. I've actually never read a book told by a mean girl, and I only hope they all have the same second thoughts as Alice, even if they brush them aside. Harvey is SO much more likeable, but honestly, I didn't like him that much. Even though Alice treats him like a dog, Harvey lets her, even when he doesn't want to. She always manages to pull him back. His lack of...self control(?) really bothered me. I do kinda get where he's coming from though. Alice treats him like a yo-yo, bringing him in and letting him feel like there is something between them, and then pushing him away, leaving him stranded. I felt bad for him, but it was more like an "Oh, poor you, boo hoo, now deal with it." than actually sympathizing with him.
I really did like how not only did the story alternate between Alice and Harvey, but also between the past and present. Some people might not like that though, so watch out. There is a lot of cussing in this book, so not for younger kids. Overall, Side Effects May Vary is a great, not cliché cancer story that won't make you sob your eyes out.

4/5. I really liked the realism of the story and I really felt for Alice and Harvey. They really grow through the book and really reflect on the consequences of their actions, especially Alice. I obviously didn't agree with some of the things both of them did, but I understand them, still don't agree with them though. Also, it was a little slow at times, but I liked the depth and background of their relationship. Overall, a read that makes you ponder and shows Life takes unexpected turns.

I can definitely see the comparison that some people might make to The Fault in Our Stars but really – I have to say that the two books actually make me feel two completely different types of feelings. Side Effects May Vary felt..raw to me – real in the realist sense. High school – full of mean people and teenage life in general – can suck. Add in cancer, some other real life situations, and one of those complicated best friend relationships. You can see why Alice is spiraling out of control (and trust me, she is).

This book is gritty – it’s ugly-pretty. Half of the time I was so mad at teenagers being teenagers and the other half I was just plain disappointed in the decisions that they were making. The only other book that has recently made me feel that way is The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp. It’s like I wanted to shake these characters and ask them why they were doing what they were doing and how could they be so blind?

Side Effects May Vary made me feel passion for life and living, and sadness for those living it in such a self-destructive way. This book is heart-wrenching but not in the way most people think of the word. I recommend picking it up when you’re in the mood for something a little bit heavier.

I wanted to read Side Effects May Vary because I am a sucker for an emotional book. Anything about cancer or illness just screams my name and I have never really been able to put a finger on it besides the fact that I am a reader, and we all have things that push our buttons.
Side Effects May Vary is told in dual perspective, from Alice the main character with cancer who suddenly finds out she is in a miraculous remission. And also from Harvey, the boy who has love her forever, and helps her with her Dying to do list. They grew up together so the dynamics between them are complicated especially since they grew apart in high school. Alice got a jock boyfriend who she later found out things about and Harvey pretty much just stayed the same. But when Alice finds out she is sick, Harvey is the first person she goes to. At times, it was hard for me to still even really like and respect Alice though because when she found out she was in remission, we don't get her side of it, and she starts avoiding Harvey. I think that she often really takes advantage of Harvey, knowing his feelings for her, and she just takes him along for the ride. But as I continued reading about her, I realized that it was all defensive. Due to her personality and some of the things she'd seen in her life, she is afraid of feelings and commitments, so while I still don't agree with how mean she is and how she takes advantage of her close relationship with Harvey, I understand. I also see some character growth in her, that she realizes what she's doing, and that she isn't the person she wants to be inside. The transformation was so slow, especially when she is given a new lease on life, and nothing has an expiration date anymore.
That is the other thing about Side Effects May Vary, it is told in the then and the now, with the now starting right before she found out that she was in remission. So, in some of the time we get Alice's then while Harvey's now and I didn't really know why she was avoiding except maybe fear and not knowing what to do with herself with time she thought she would not have. At one point she said a really profound thing about she had come to terms with being sick and dying and now the future and the not knowing was completely overwhelming to her. The then and now was a good format for this though because we see how things are and also what happened to lead Alice and Harvey to that point.
Overall, I really liked their romance, they had a lot of history and chemistry, and I knew that what they felt was strong even if at times, neither of them went about it in the right way. But I think that Alice's fear of committment was really drawn out and it took a lot for her to get around it. Here's a great example of her voice and how she would tell the truth to Harvey, which made me feel a little less sorry for him at times, because Alice didn't lie about what she was dealing with and he knew her personality.
“You freak the s*** out of me, Harvey. I don’t get it—how you can feel like there are no consequences for living with your feelings on your sleeve. Because there are, you know. There are consequences so horrible, and I wish I could ignore them like you can—the feelings and their consequences. I wish it didn’t matter to me.”
I like the other touches in the book, such as Alice's dancing, her rivalry with Celeste, as well as Harvey's relationship with his mom and the extension of his piano playing and getting his independence through quitting and getting a job.
Side Effects May Vary was different from what I expected, and while I flew through the book, it wasn't the emotional hard hitter in the way that I thought it would be. There is still some ups and downs, but it is more a look at the lives of two people, seeing how they deal with illness, family issues, and their long standing friendship and feelings of love and not knowing what to do with it. Another thing that I had an issue with was her miraculous intermission. One day she was at death's door and the next, the doctor told her she was in remission. But I could mostly ignore it for the unique angle it gave on the book--about how cancer's presence or lack of could really effect people.
But I do think that it is a neat angle to take on the whole sick girl theme. That she was ready to die and then all of the sudden healthy and life being thrown at her quickly. She is having to think about college, and what she wants for her life, and also facing some of the consequences from her dying to do list. Which were pretty epic and also some cruel. She says and acts in some ways, and it was hard to see how it effected Harvey and she had no idea. But the girls in this were some serious mean girls and boy. They received it but also dished it back out in some pretty horrific ways. But it really showed some big growth in Harvey when he stood up to her about it and gave her a choice and walked away, leaving things on her court.
The ending was good for the story, and it showed that Alice really was changing and trying to do things the right way, not only to get Harvey, but for herself and for her family. It showed Harvey standing up for himself despite being hurt and still loving Alice. And it gave a glimpse of what their happily ever afters could look like without knotting the bow and making into some epic series that follows their lives.

Bottom Line: Good book that shows Alice getting a new lease on life and her love story with Harvey, the boy who was and always is in love with her.

First and foremost, Side Effects May Vary is not a "cancer" book. It's not romantic in the way The Fault in Our Stars is romantic and it's not necessarily a book that will make you cry. None of this means it's not a good book--in fact, Side Effects May Vary is, suffice to say, an excellent book. Julie Murphy takes the idea of the "cancer" book and turns it on its head, keeping her focus solely on the profound, and at times destructive, relationship between Alice and Harvey.

The synopsis steers you wrong here. It makes Side Effects May Vary sound like it's going to be filled with hijinks and getting back at the people who hurt Alice. Yes, these moments are there, but they're not explored in the way you anticipate. This form of revenge is not the center of the story, and these moments are fleeting. This novel is about Alice and Harvey and it's about how they have to learn to be together, despite each's own failings and need to accept the other. I can't stress this enough.

And oh, Alice. Alice is...a mean girl. She's not the girl I would have been friends with in high school, thriving on verbal sparring matches with other girls and causing scenes breaking up with her boyfriend. At times it's almost painful to read about what Alice says and does, especially when she's hurting Harvey, who is nothing but supportive and sweet to her. The thing is, though, Alice's meanness is appealing. The character with cancer always seems to take on this aura of being something of a martyr, an angel who is too good and too young to be struck by disease. Alice is real; she's spiteful and angry at times, pushing those who care for her away simply because their love is smothering and causing expectations she can't bear to face. She wants to be a better person, but she realizes she's simply not that person, though she can make an effort not to be quite so bad. You might kind of hate her, but you'll love reading about her.

On the complete flip side is Harvey. He is immediately totally endearing, giving Alice every bit of love and care that she is not reciprocating. He's been in love with her for years, and she knows it. Her crappy treatment of him doesn't stop his love, and while I hated that he was treated in such a way, it's lovely that he loves her so wholly and without expectation. His love is flawed, though, in that he lets her walk all over him, and he needs to learn to stand up for himself in order for a true relationship to ever work.

Side Effects May Vary is real. It's unique in its genre and, instead of dealing with sickness and death, explores how to go on living when you've already accepted death as inevitable.

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

This review appears on happyindulgencebooks.com

Side Effects May Vary is about a twisted, mean character who gets diagnosed with leukemia, but instead of living the remainder of her life fruitfully, she decides to take revenge on everyone she ever felt scorned by. Only there's a problem - Alice survives the cancer and goes into remission, and she must deal with the consequences.

It's not often that we read a book where the main character is mean, and Alice was a bitch. Alice has been criticised as a manipulator, mean girl and someone who makes enemies. She lashes out at people, takes advantage of Harvey, plays horrible pranks and chucks tantrums at her parents. While we see all the nasty things she does and what she becomes, I actually felt a disconnection between her actions and her point of view, which shows us a self loathing, lost and angry girl soon after her cancer diagnosis.

While I'm certainly not symphasising with Alice, her character is definitely complicated, but she isn't someone who is evil at heart. She felt like she'd be dealt a horrible deck of cards, and she deals with it by taking it out on the world. In her spiral of demise, she gets really nasty especially to Harvey, and I can see why people hated that about her. I think she was interesting though, with a lot of complicated depth, certainly more fascinating than the number of Mary Sues flitting about in fiction.

Harvey on the other hand, exasperated the situation by being a doormat. He does whatever Alice tells him to do, and he knows that he can't say no to anything, as mean and horrible as it was. That's pretty much his own fault and Alice uses it to her advantage. Without any parents as role models, it seemed that Alice was all Harvey had ever known, which is why a seemingly normal healthy person could go for someone who wasn't able to give him what he wanted.

Julie Murphy's writing was beautiful and lyrical and I had many bookmarked pages with her quotes. She took a risk with Side Effects May Vary, and I appreciated that. I felt it was an interesting and well-written novel, but it turns out that most of us don't like reading about mean horrible characters and you know what? That's okay too.

Who knew that John Green would spawn a YA sub-genre focused on kids with cancer? A few weeks ago, I reviewed Maybe One Day, about a girl whose best friend has cancer. Sadness overload. Well written sadness overload.

Now comes Side Effects May Vary, which puts an interesting spin on the whole teens-with-cancer thing. In this case, Alice had cancer.

Emphasis on “had.”

See, Alice was supposed to die. That was the plan all along, warped and heart breaking that it is. Diagnosed with a nearly always fatal form of leukemia, Alice draws up a “Dying To Do” list, a sort of bucket list for the sixteen-year-old set. Her best friend Harvey gamely does all he can to help her achieve her goals, if for no other reason than Harvey is deeply, irrevocably, inexplicably in love with Alice.

And he has been for three years.

During the year of Alice’s illness, Harvey’s jobs include helping her get a driver’s license and helping her retaliate against the people she thinks done her wrong. In Alice’s case, that is not an exclusive club. And in Alice’s case, most of the wrong done was because she deserved it.

Yes, I know it’s not becoming to speak ill of the would-be dead, but Alice deserves it. She is, as she herself admits, a bitch.

But Harvey loves her. Unconditionally, even. Well, he does want something in return – he wants to be loved back – but he’ll never ask for it.

As Alice wreaks havoc on ex-boyfriends and the people she detests, she also tries occasionally to do good. But really, in her mind, she’s dying, so why not have some fun? This is a dandy plan, except for one thing: Alice turns out to be a medical miracle. She goes into remission.

And when that happens, all of her plans – all of the experiences she shared with Harvey – are thrown into disarray.

You may wonder as you read this why Alice isn’t doing cartwheels of joy now that she gets to extend her time with Harvey. And you may wonder what on earth Harvey sees in her. She treats him horribly, before, during, and after the cancer. Does she care about him at all?

The thing is, though, Alice doesn’t think of this as a new lease on life. She thinks of it as even greater uncertainty. How long will the remission last? A year? Two? Forever? How can she emotionally commit to anything now that the one thing she held to be certain – the cancer would kill her – no longer exists?

Julie Murphy unfolds her story in alternate voices, Alice’s and Harvey’s, and also in alternate timeframes, “then” (aka During Cancer) and “now” (aka During Remission). We get to see Alice and Harvey’s relationship unfold, and we become deeply emotionally invested in the two of them. Try and not love Harvey. I dare you. TRY IT. It is impossible, faithful readers. Harvey is one of the loveliest high school boys you will ever, ever meet. You will wonder where Harvey was when you were sixteen. And you will want to throttle Alice for her abuse of him and his feelings.

These are two complex, entertaining characters. Alice is awful, but if you can’t see how and why that is, then you will miss the emotional crux of the book. Sure, she was no peach before cancer, but how can she face the future – a future she thought she wouldn’t have? She knows that life is tenuous at best, and to risk ceding control of her heart to anyone is verboten to her.

Gosh, I loved this book. I really did. It isn’t perfect – Alice’s “enemies” are a bit too predictable – but it’s just so beautifully written. And the ending is perfect. Julie Murphy knows what to leave for her audience, and what to leave for her characters.

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See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten! My copy was an ARC I received from the publisher via Edelweiss.

I don’t exactly read a lot of cancer books, but this one sounded different. Less on the cancer, more on what one girl did after she found out she had cancer and has to deal with it when she finds out she’s in remission? That sounded fun if she was ticking off items on her Jerk’s Guide to Getting the Last Word Before You Die. That’s partially what the novel was, but it went in unexpected directions too. Directions I’m not sure I liked.

The female lead Alice will make or break this book for you because literally everything centers around her, including every chapter from male lead Harvey’s point of view. If you hate her and think her character arc is poorly written, you’re going to hate this book; similarly, you’re going to love this book if you love her character. Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about Alice. She’s awful to the point where you no longer understand her, but toward the end, she starts becoming human again. My indecision about how I feel about her character is probably why this novel is a mixed bag for me.

Being in college as an English major, technical terms for all sorts of techniques come up often. One thing we reviewed as I read this novel was the postmodern movement, in which novels were often told in fragmented narratives that jump between multiple narrators or times. This is exactly what Side Effects May Vary goes for with its narrative and it fails to work because of how it’s fragmented twice over. we have both Alice and Harvey narrating when they sound so similar and we’re also jumping between before/just after Alice’s diagnosis and the present time after her cancer is in remission.

As much as I want to get into Alice’s story–to see what she did when she thought she was going to die, what she’s going to do now that she’s going to live again, and how Harvey is tied up in this mess–it’s hard to get involved with such an inconsistent narration. There is no pattern to the switches from past to present or from Alice to Harvey, so you might be reading a “now” chapter where Alice is trying to avoid making up for something she did one chapter and the next, we’re with Harvey in the past as he struggles to deal with Alice’s diagnosis and what she wants him to do for her.

But now that I think about it, I think I do like Alice’s character a little. She’s an awful person without a doubt who uses her best friend’s feelings for her to achieve petty revenge, definitely. Can I understand why she’s so messed up? In a way, yes, because she expected cancer to be the end and she suddenly has a life to live again. She destroyed everything and now she has to rebuild. Still, she spends the novel running around like she’s mentally twelve when she’s really sixteen/seventeen. Only toward the end does she age up mentally a little. A little is the key phrase there.

It feels strange to concentrate on just two elements like this–the point-of-view switches and a single character–while ignoring plot, pacing, quality of prose, etc. but those two take over the entire novel. The pacing is okay thanks to the POV switches (those make books move much more quickly for me most of the time), the plot is best described by the jacket copy, and the writing is fine even though Alice and Harvey sound like the same person like I mentioned earlier. There’s just nothing to talk about there.

Harvey may be the most interesting thing about this novel. He has basically revolved around Alice for years, waiting for her to notice him and like him back. Total Nice Guy (there’s being a nice guy and being a Nice Guy, which isn’t great), but in comparison to Alice, he’s an angel. Alice uses him only to throw him away because she’s scared to commit. Once he figures it out and decides he’s done with orbiting around her, I nearly cheered! If only it lasted.

This isn’t an easy novel to recommend. If you’re a reader who needs to like the main character? Run away from this book and run fast. There is nothing here for you. This is one to check out for yourself, I suppose.

You can read more of my reviews on The Windy Pages dot com, including an interview with this author!

I couldn’t read it fast enough. DEVOURED.

Alice has lived the last year with reckless abandonment. That is until she learns that her cancer is in remission. And all of her actions from the past year will not go away. Including her best friend, love Harvey. But how can she reconcile the past when she wasn’t supposed to have a future?

I heard really good things about this book so I jumped when I was approved to review it. And it did not disappoint.

Love Alice. I love how she’s mean, and vengeful. I love how she’s complicated and cruel, vulnerable and sweet. I love how she’s a complete person, neither good or bad. I think it’s hard when you can’t relate to the main character or like her, but I didn’t have that problem with Alice. She was such a force, watching her hurt herself and her loved ones over and over again. I couldn’t help but just feel for the girl.

Harvey is a great male lead. Yes, he’s sorta love struck through some of the book, but Harvey’s journey is just as important as Alice’s. He becomes stronger, standing up for himself. He tries to figure out what he wants, what’s healthy for him, what he needs. It’s easy to see how teenage girls will swoon when they read him. And how their hearts will break every time Alice breaks his.

The story moves back and forth between Harvey and Alice’s POVs, switching between before the remission and after. Each voice was distinct and carried me through. I liked how disjointed the story felt, going back and forth like I was being tugged along, getting the full picture. I think it really had to be written this way because this is a really clever way for the reader to feel something for Alice. Because for a while, she is a totally mean b*tch. By traveling back and forth, we see a weaker, sweeter and confused Alice. She is hard to love. She doesn’t make it easy.

And really, life isn’t easy.

AT A GLANCE REVIEW:

Bottom line, I STILL can’t quite simply put into words what I feel about this one. I’ve tried. It’s a complicated book and you have to be okay with the fact that Alice is REALLY quite awful and hard to like. I personally don’t have to like the character of a book to like the book but I can wholly admit she is a tough pill to swallow and she’s angry and honestly treats people like crap a lot of the time and sometimes it is SO hard to want to care for her in any way— but for some reason I found her so complicated and intriguing and I loved the messiness of the story. In how hard it might be to start living again when you thought you were dying and everything you did/said because you thought there would be no consequences to them, because you were DYING, are now things you have to be held accountable for. It just struck me as real. I appreciated the freshness and uniqueness of the story even if half the time I felt frustrated and angry. I love that it made me think a ton. This book is going to be so polarizing among readers and I’m interested in seeing the dialogue on both side.

FULL REVIEW:

I’ve been sitting on this review for a while. I finished having VERY complicated feelings — I like that because yay thinking– and I really had to process it all. Typically when I finish a book I can easily say, “I liked it! I loved it! Or EHHH not for me.” or something to this affect. But with Side Effects May Vary? I just wasn’t able to pin down my feelings for this one right away like I can with most books. And the more I sat on my feelings…I think the more I really liked it. It was like how sometimes when you make a chili or a stew and the next day it tastes even better…the spices and the flavors really got a chance to shine. That’s how this book felt for me once I let it sink in.

What worked:

1. I loved how DIFFERENT this “cancer story” was: Typically most of the books that I have encountered deal with somebody being diagnosed with cancer or something to that affect. The alternating chapter DID show her dealing with the diagnosis but the main thrust of the story is about how everything changed when, after being so close to dying, she gets a clean bill of health and has to deal with all the repercussions of what she did and said — things like revenge plots and also things she said to people that she can’t take back now that she’s not dying. She has to deal with all that. It makes it all very interesting because, despite what I assumed it was about, this wasn’t a story about a girl trying to complete this super meaningful bucket list or even trying to make these profound life changes after almost dying but rather she was just trying to come to terms with what to do now that she lived. How does she start planning for a future she didn’t think she would have? It didn’t always make her likeable or sympathetic but the struggle was real to me and, by the end, her story hit me really hard.

2. Honestly Alice is going to be a tough pill to swallow for some people but I didn’t HATE her: Don’t get me wrong. Girl sucks a lot (seriously, she’s manipulative and mean and downright awful most of the time) and honestly her redemption is kind of miniscule for most of the book. But for some reason I understood her in ways even though I didn’t like her for much of it. I mean, she THINKS she is going to DIE. She’s so close to dying. There’s almost like this new perspective one would have at that and she knows that there aren’t consequences to what she’s saying/doing. I can’t imagine the reality shift that happens when you are so close to death but then you are given a clean bill of health. Her road to redemption is a long, arduous road and it’s messy and we barely get to see ANY of it, just really the start to it, but I really felt for her in her long road to figuring out how to live again when she was resigned to dying. We don’t get to see the happy neat bow, but in my head, I see her story playing out to where she really does take a lot of meaning from her experience once she fully comes to terms with it.
What didn’t:

1. The timeline of the story was one thing that detracted from my reading experience for sure: It was so jumpy. It was Alice and Harvey in alternating perspectives but not only that there was past and present switches for both. So it might be something like Alice Present, Harvey Past, Alice Past, Harvey Present and it was just really hard for me to get planted into the story. It may not be a problem for others but I kept getting frustrated by it because I was being pulled out of it. It made sense in that we needed to know the backstory and how it lead to everything in the now but it didn’t flow well for me and I often got frustrated trying to keep it all straight.

2. For a good majority of the novel I felt really nothing emotionally: I’m a pretty emotional reader and I felt like this should have elicited something from me pretty early on but it took quite a bit for it to…but when it did it did. There was just this wall that just kept me at an emotional distance to a lot of what was going on until I got further on. It may have been the fact that the characters were hard to really get a good sense of because the perspective change. It could have been because Alice herself was hard to like and therefore I kept trying and trying to find ways to connect with her. I eventually DID but it took a long, long while. It could have also been because I loved Harvey in theory but I become frustrated by trying to see what made him LOVE her so much that he would continually take her crap. There was supposed to be something so incredibly special about her, as we see from Harvey’s devotion, but even in the “past” chapters I couldn’t SEE what it was that made him so over the moon about her. But, like I said, I eventually did eventually break down that barrier and had a huge emotional surge/point of connection/reason to care.

My Thoughts: I’m not sure if it was a good idea reading this one within weeks of Maybe One Day or not. They were so similar yet so different.

Side Effects May Vary was a very sad read but it also had some perks. It was very uplifting as well.

We are introduced to Alice who had cancer. Now she’s in remission. This one goes back and forth between then and now chapters. It also rotates between her and her friend Harvey’s point of view. These kind of books are always a hit or miss for me. I hate going between views and I hate going back and forth between what did happen and what is happening now. I just have a hard time following. This one wasn’t so bad or hard to follow.

I liked seeing things from both Alice and Harvey’s views. I really liked Harvey as a character. He was very understanding and would do anything for Alice. Sometimes maybe too much.

I liked that Alice had a way to stick up for herself but it was also a tad vindictive and mean and she could have handled things better. But, I know she was mad at the world (and every right too) and she just didn’t think of any of the consequences.

Alice also had a lot of secrets. Secrets about her family, secrets about herself, and secrets about others in her life. She had a lot on her plate.

I loved how Alice goes into remission and she does have to deal with her mistakes. Things aren’t just peachy for her and that is what made the book real. She had choices to make, and she had to live with them as well.

I loved reading this one. I loved the characters, I enjoyed the plot. And, most of all I loved seeing things from Harvey’s point of view.

Overall: I enjoyed this one! A great start for 2014 for me! As this was the second book I read in 2014. I hope this is a good reading year for young adult books! Great work Murphy. Can’t wait to read her next one!

Cover: Like it! I like the little pictures on the front and I like the font and colors! Cute!

What I'd Give It: 5/5 Cupcakes
_______
Taken From Princess Bookie

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.

4.25 stars

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I read a book that’s a 5-star book I get this warm fuzzy feeling that’s pretty much completely arbitrary. Even if I really, really, really like a book I won’t rate it 5 stars unless I get that feeling. I so wanted to have that feeling about Side Effects May Vary, and there were moments where the feeling kind of sort of started to spring up, but ultimately, as much as I enjoyed this book and respect so much about it, it wasn’t a 5-star read for me.

One of the things that I think held me back (yes, I’m starting with the negative) was actually one of the things I liked best about the book (see, now positive): Alice as the antihero. I love a good antihero and I don’t know if I have ever come across an cancer antihero before. Alice’s reaction to having cancer isn’t sadness or anger, it’s just, from what we read, pretty immediately acceptance and almost excitement to get it all over with. She’s angry at the people she feels wronged her and sad at leaving Harvey, but she never had those moments of denial/anger/sadness that typically accompany grief.

Even though Alice is often a difficult character to like (as both she and Harvey point out), I did like her and I respected her for living out her life on her own terms. I certainly cringed at some of the things she did and wanted to shake her and make her tell the people she loved the things she was holding back, but I never disliked her. What I did, not dislike, but struggle with, was what made Alice so emotionally closed off. It wasn’t the cancer, even before she got diagnosed with cancer she had very few friends and treated Harvey like crap. And it wasn’t finding out a secret about her mom, because, again, she was like that before finding the secret out. Maybe it was something to do with her parents’ relationship (who while present in the book were never 100% present so I never got a great feel for them); maybe it was Alice’s tempestuous relationship with her mother; or maybe she was just born that way, but ultimately I felt like I was missing an important piece of Alice’s history and that feeling never resolved itself.

On the other hand, I felt like I really knew Harvey. We know about Harvey’s mom, about how little Harvey knows about his dad, about his job at the grocery store, about his indifference towards playing the piano, and of course about his love of Alice. Harvey and Alice grew up together, their mothers were friends, and Alice’s family kind of adopted Harvey and his mom. Harvey and Alice were friends growing up, although I never got a good feel for how good of friends they were, but when high school starts Alice ditches Harvey and starts dating this total “bro” of a guy until shortly before she’s diagnosed with cancer. Harvey had always watched out for Alice for afar, but once she gets sick, towards the beginning of sophomore year, they fall back into being friends and possibly more. It would be so easy to write Harvey off as kind of a lovesick pushover, but I never felt a lack of respect for him or wanted to shake him too violently to snap him out of it. His best friend, a girl he’s in love with, is dying of cancer and he wants to do anything possible to make the end of her life better for her. Even later, once she’s in remission, I didn’t blame him for still trying to cling on to Alice.

The story is told from chapter alternating between Harvey and Alice’s perspective and also goes back and forth between “then” and “now.” “Then,” which the story starts out with, begins right before Alice is diagnosed with cancer and “now” starts with Alice pretty much on her deathbed, right before her doctor tells her she’s in remission. The “then” and “now” don’t alternate equally, maybe ultimately they do, but as your reading there wasn’t a “then,” “now,” “then,” “now” equal pattern, it would be a chapter of “then” and then three chapters of “now” or some variation like that. At first I worried that would drive me crazy or confuse me, but I actually ended up reading enjoying that aspect of the story. I would get to the end of a chapter and be dying to know what happens next, but until I turned the page I wouldn’t know if the story would pick up there or flash forward or back. I was never disappointed because I found both stories so interesting. I especially liked how sometimes “then” and “now” back to back chapters would subtly tie into each other or how the “now” chapters would sometimes reference something in the “then” chapters.

Bottom Line: Even though I didn’t make a 5-star connection with Side Effects May Vary it’s still a really great story and I have nothing but respect for Julie Murphy. In this story she did two things that really impressed me: created a great antihero and created a character who would have been so easy to write off as a lovesick pushover, but who was so dynamic and great that you just couldn’t. Plus she totally re-wrote the book (so to speak on) cancer and bucket list stories.

I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss (thank you!). All opinions are my own.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: An emotional book about second chances and living life to fullest. I had a hard time with the protagonist, but overall it was a good read.

Opening Sentence: If ever my parents gave me a religion, it was the gospel of honesty.

The Review:

What would you do if you found out you had terminal cancer and only had maybe a year left to live? Well, sixteen year old Alice just found out she has leukemia, and she has a bucket list she wants to complete before she dies. She recruits her old best friend, Harvey, to help her out. Her list isn’t just about doing things she doesn’t want to miss out on, it is also about getting revenge on all those who have wronged her. She goes to extreme measures to fulfill her bucket list and when everything is finally complete, she goes into remission.

What would you do if you got a second chance at life? This is the terrifying question Alice is now faced with. She never thought about the future because she didn’t think she had one. Now she has to live with the consequences of her actions in the last year, and she doesn’t know if she can handle it. She may have done too much damage to repair her life, and she may push away the only person she has ever truly loved.

Alice was an extremely frustrating character. I get that she has had a really hard year, but honestly, from the very beginning she was kind of bratty and it just got worse. She would take baby steps to start redeeming herself and then she would do something so annoying that I would like her less than I did in the first place. She is getting a second chance at life and all she can do is feel sorry for herself, when she put herself in the situation by living her last year not the way she should have. She was weak and petty, which made it really hard for me to sympathize with her. So for me, I really wasn’t a fan of Alice.

Harvey on the hand was my favorite part of the book. He is such a great guy who was there for Alice no matter how awful she was. His love for her was unconditional and so sweet. Harvey is one of those people that you wish could be a part of your life because once you are in his life, no matter what you do, he will always care about you. But he’s not a weak character either, he’s not afraid to stand up for himself when he’s had enough. I loved Harvey and thought that he deserved way better than Alice.

Side Effects May Vary was a very emotional book and it deals with the touchy subject of cancer. The book altered between Alice and Harvey’s POV. It also switched from present day to a year ago when Alice was first diagnosed with cancer. I liked this setup because it helped the book flow really well and it never seemed to drag. I liked the message that was portrayed and felt that it was delivered very well. Overall, this was an interesting read and if I had liked the protagonist better, I think this would have been a great book. I look forward to reading more books from this author, I think she has a lot of potential.

Notable Scene:

Mom doubled back to me and ushered me forward, nudging me with the tips of her fingers at the small of my back. I knew what she wanted, so I played along. It had been quite a while since I had made nice for Mom and Dad, and now it looked like there would be some making up to do. I reached up to pat Dr. Meredith on the shoulder and thank him, but he pulled me into a bear hug instead. The sweat seeped through his dress shirt, and I wanted to pull away, but I didn’t. because if I did, my parents would have seen the few tears rolling down my cheeks and onto Dr. Meredith’s lab coat. I’d grown so used to the terms of my life—the conditions—that now I didn’t know how to tell the difference between the good and the bad. But I knew, unless the cancer came back, that I was going to live. Now, I had to decide who and what I could live with.

FTC Advisory: Balzer + Bray/HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Side Effects May Vary. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

Young Adult fiction is sometimes sorted as “juvenile,” but that word has a host of negative connotations. You think immature, simplistic, narrow-minded, shallow, trivial, naïve, foolish, infantile…

Perhaps some “juvenile” books are one, or some, or all of those things. Side Effects May Vary is not.

I admit I believed it would be something funny and lighthearted, and the summary on the jacket along with the cover certainly seem to imply that: girl gets cancer and decides to go through a “list” before dying. She does, and then she discovers that she is not dying, after all. “Oops” is rather the unavoidable reaction, followed by a giggle. I expected she would get off to all sorts of shenanigans, and that their “consequences” would simply be humorous, as though all she ever got off too was innocent, childish mischief.

It’s not.

Side Effects certainly has its funny moments, but it is because funny is an inextricable part of the human fabric. The humor, though, is not slapstick, superficial, or overdone. It’s in there, and you’ll laugh, but it hardly seemed like the point of it to me, and that makes it all the more real.

This is a book that is beautifully surprising in its plot without being contrived about it. Some books seem to ask, “what is the ending the reader will expect?” and then do the exact opposite. Perhaps it is spite or an attempt at not being called “predictable,” but what I greatly appreciate is that Murphy didn’t do that. What’s more, the plot in and of itself also does not seem to be “the point.” And that is what I love about this book—it is about relationships. And, truthfully, without Harvey’s perspective, the story would’ve been unbearable (although at times it is a bit odd in that it is as though Alice is aware that the reader is in Harvey’s head and Harvey is aware that the reader is in Alice’s head, but it generally does weaves together then and now wonderfully).

Suffice to say that Alice is acutely not perfect. She is far from loveable. (As someone who is extremely consequence-minded and cannot see a beginning without seeing a destination, I admit I did not understand her, and I gave up on her fairly early on). But Harvey loves her anyway, and he deserves much more credit than to simply say he is a fool for loving her. That is truly what makes him, and the novel, beautiful. That and the fact that it is one that shows the growth of two characters coming to terms with their desires, their fears, and life—all simply human struggles that transcend “teenage angst”. What results is a mature, honest, and messy narrative that will wrench your gut and soul because of its persons.

This was an interesting read, though I’m sorry to say that I really disliked the main character, Alice–she’s a user and, as she was told many times in the novel, she’s just plain mean. Although Alice tries to blame many of her actions on cancer, it’s more that she’s a jerk who wants to make sure she gets back at everyone she feels hurt her in some way before she found out she was dying. But, lo and behold, she’s now in remission. Unable to deal with what this means—she can’t continue to lead on her best friend Harvey, she has to go back to school and face the people she tormented (granted, they tormented her too, but come on now… that’s your dying wish?), she can’t waste away in her room all “woe is me,” and she can’t avoid the world anymore—her life begins to spiral out of control. While I understand that it’s a shock for her when she hears she’s in remission, that she had resigned herself to death, while everyone else celebrates, she hates every minute of it, and that’s hard for me to swallow. And so were her actions throughout much of the novel. She’s just mean–and karma always comes back with a vengeance. The fact that she doesn’t seem to learn from any of her mistakes also drove me crazy–and I ran out of sympathy for her fairly quickly as the novel unfolded. Now, I’ve never ever been in Alice’s shoes, so I’m on the outside looking in, but I just couldn’t connect with her.

Harvey, on the other hand, I get! He’s a bit gullible and allows Alice to treat him like dirt time and time again, but he’s such a sweetie and… he reminds me of myself as a teen, a long time ago, when I used to pine for people who weren’t worth my time; I’m sure I’m not alone in this sentiment. And I’m so glad he finally takes a stand for himself, even though it hurts him to do it. He’s what made the book for me.

It’s true that Side Effects May Vary is a fearless book. Alice is a very fearless character, facing a death sentence after her leukemia diagnosis. She spends what she thinks is her last couple of months with her friend Harvey. It becomes a bit tumultuous when her cancer goes into remission and Harvey seems to want more from their friendship than Alice does.

Murphy tackles some really difficult issues through her characters diagnosis and life afterwards and I appreciated how different this book is from a lot of young adult books out there in the world. There isn’t your typical love triangle to get wrapped up in, and instead of pining for the girl to get with the guy, I was pining for her to stop being so horrible to everyone in the book.

I had the exact opposite reaction to this book and the characters than I thought I would. Of course the main character Alice went through a lot dealing with a breakup, cancer, a cheating mother and everything that those things bring with it, but I personally don’t think that excuses any of her really horrific behavior towards her family and Harvey. Especially Harvey. The way she handled her issues towards him made me feel so completely bitter and unsympathetic towards her that I would’t have minded if something horrible happened to her by the end of the book.

Overall Side Effects May Vary paints a much different picture into the life of a teenager dealing with life and illness than I’ve seen in any other young adult book. This might be enjoyable and refreshing to some readers, but I wasn’t able to get past Alice’s character defects, which ultimately is what ruined the reading experience with this book for me.

After reading a book I would normally not read, I started Side Effects May Vary because I was in the mood for a sad story. Okay, I am always up for a sad story. Unfortunately, Side Effects May Vary is not one. Although I didn’t shed tears, this book left me happy because anyone can change no matter how cruel one can be.

To be honest, for the most part I was annoyed at the main character, Alice. She was diagnosed with cancer and well, this was her excuse to treat others with little respect. During this time, her only friend, Harvey, was always there for her. I mean ALWAYS. He’s in love with her. One day, Alice’s doctor gives her the news that she is in remission.

Instead of brightening her with the good news, everything goes down the hill. Alice becomes a cold hearted… girl. But she is worst to Harvey. Poor Harvey, even if she is cruel with him, he is always saying yes to her crazy plans. He is too kind and sweet. Harvey is such a loyal friend and all he wants in return is for her to love him back. Alice really pissed me off many times and she certainly didn’t deserve his kindness.

After being cruel many, many times, Alice damages many relationships. Seriously, I was sick and tired of her. But at the end, Alice faces her consequences and realizes her mistakes.

Although the story was more of a realistic and second chance at life, Side Effects May Vary is absolutely not your typical sad story. Which it was a bummer for me at the time. Yet it provides just another way how people can always change no matter the circumstances.

Side Effects May Vary was probably the book that had me most worked up for 2014. I mean with a synopsis promising lots of drama and a "love story" blossoming between two childhood best friends I just couldn't contain my excitement. Add a cancer patient and then you have me hooked for life.

So I am not happy to write this review. You'll see why.

Mean girls have never bothered me before (I am not one of Courtney Summers biggest fan for nothing) but there was something really mean about Alice. I found it hard to believe she cared about anyone feelings but her own, like with her mom's affair, everything was about Alice and how her mom had no right to ruin her life, then she saying that she loved Harvey but she constantly played games with him and clearly took advantage of his feelings towards her. I couldn't really find it in my heart to like anything about her. Even reading the Now Alice, I just didn't see any changes in her. She didn't really show signs of maturing at all. In fact she acted even more selfish than when she was sick.

What I really loved was the "friendship" between Harvey and Alice. I really understood Harvey and think he is perfectly crafted as a person, so it was easy to see why he would feel so passionate towards someone like Alice. He was nice and caring and his good natured personality just makes you see why he is such a good friend to Alice even when she acts the way she acts.

But my inability to love Alice as a person didn't stop me from realizing that Julie Murphy is very good at story telling. The book was interesting. Things kept happening and even though some scenes were killing me to read, and I have a permanent scowl in my face from all the cringing; I can still say that I finished it and my time wasn't wasted. Murphy really did a good job at making the story come alive in front of my eyes, even if I didn't exactly loved it. But I am still interested in reading what she comes up next.

Why I picked up the book: Ever since The Fault in Our Stars came out, I have been a sucker for cancer books. The early reviews for this novel came out, and I was hooked. I MUST READ THIS BOOK. MY HEART HAS NOT BEEN BROKEN IN AGES. Little did I know this book stands alone in the world of cancer books. It was refreshing, heartbreaking, and so damn thought provoking. I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Four Things You Need to Know:

1. This is not your typical cancer book. This book is messy, but in such a good way. Going into it, I expected the typical boy meets girl story in which they fight the cancer together and end with tissues and chocolate and angrily shouting into the literary void. While there were a few tears, there was a lot of feelings for Alice, Harvey, and the angsty issues they continually battle. These battles are not easily resolved, nor are they painted in a pretty way. These are real battles that are ugly, raw, and filled with truth.

2. Alice is not your strong heroine. She’s your everyday heroine. Oh Alice. You crazy, broken, spirit-filled teenager. I felt for you, I so did. I was angry with you, but I understood you. I’ve noticed in several reviews people have commented that they didn’t care for Alice. I loved her. I’ll be honest, at times Alice is a straight up vindictive bitch (and gloriously so). If she’s going to die, she is going down in a blaze of glory. She wants the final word, the last chance to right all the wrongs that have been done to her and to those that she loves.

Are her methods the best? Nope. Not at all. Alice is selfish, manipulative, and thinks only of herself. I found it so interesting to read a character that was dying and not being glorified or self-sacrificing in their demise. The thing about teenage girls is that many readers forget that they are human. They are flawed. Alice was probably more normal than most dying characters I’ve read. She represents the ugly parts of humanity, the ones that come out in times of pain and stress. What was even better was watching her live with the choices she made.

3. Living with consequences. Like I said above, half of the book is Alice learning to live with the mistakes she has made. She hurt a lot of people, and even damaged her heart in the process. Sometimes, death is the easy route, and Alice learns that being strong means living with the life you have created. While her growth as a character is slow, you do see her come around. The one thing I wanted was more resolution. I wanted to see Alice healed, not healing.

4. Dual POV/ Before and After. The one thing that was a tiny bit confusing was initially getting used to the dual POV, along with “then” and “now” chapters that are scattered throughout the book. I enjoyed that I was able to see Harvey in the midst of all of this--because Alice’s actions didn’t just hurt herself, they hurt Harvey. Initially I was concerned that Harvey was going to take the role of “friendzoned nice guy”, but he does so much more. He stands up for himself (eventually), loves Alice, but ultimately, loves himself and knows what he deserves.

Check out more of my reviews at ofspectaclesandbooks.com

I rushed through this book because I wanted to see how it ended not because it was good. The writing isn’t bad but the main characters are unlikeable. Alice is a mean girl without many redeeming qualities or scenes. Harvey is a doormat. Their parents share a weirdly close relationship that spans decades. I know this is a YA book and the teens are the main characters, but there wasn’t wnough backstory about why these parents have a triangle of a relationship. It was odd. The book is not a must read.

Julie Murphy, she has ruined me.

People, this book is the type of book that makes you question your enthusiasm for the other books you've read, because this book is everything - voice, pacing, wit, characterizations, the infinite moments of memories, the ending.

This non-linear book reminds me one of my favorite reads, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Not that the story is the same, it's that the feel of the story is the same. That both Alice and Arnold Spirit are learning to live with their present self - no matter what that present self is. And this learning, the journey that took Alice (& Arnold in TATDPTI) down an unfamiliar road will have you laughing, crying, offering hugs of support and waggling your eyebrows in dismay.

Also, I'm starting the official #TeamHarvey and #TeamAlice campaign. They are everything. And more.

Side Effects May Vary is an exceptional debut novel. Readers become entranced in the worlds of Alice, a cancer patient, and her companion, Harvey. After being diagnosed with the deadly disease, Alice decides to go out with a bang, seeking revenge on those who have wronged her. It is a perfect plan, until Alice goes into remission and must face the consequences of her spiteful actions.

I absolutely loved Side Effects May Vary. The charcters-oh my goodness, the characters-- were authentic and unforgettable. Alice's confusion of her feelings for Harvey and her need for revenge felt honest. And even though she was what some might consider "unlikable," I loved her to bits. Harvey was sensitive, loyal, and so sweet-a true gentleman. And while my heart broke for him throughout the novel, I knew he would end up okay regardless of whom he ended up with. The relationship between Alice and Harvey was real and gave me something to root for.

Side Effects May Vary will be a top contender for my favorite book of 2014, as it is already on my all-time favorites list and is hands down the best debut I have ever had the pleasure of reading! I typically prefer standalones, but I hope that Murphy will someday revisit the world of Alice and Harvey.

I honestly thought I'd like this book, so I'm pretty sad to be giving it just 2-stars. What went wrong? Gosh. You tell me. I'm a pretty tolerant person. I'd even call myself understanding (sometimes, you know, not too often or you blogglings will accuse me of being smushy). But I have just one thing to say about this book:

Alice is a mean girl.

The end. Wrap up. Shut it down. Tie the bow. Put a stamp on it and mail it to France. Well, maybe not that far.

I really tried to get into Alice's shoes (that's what I try to do for every narrator I read). This is her story. Well, it's her story AND Harvey's. They dual narrate, sometimes in the Now and sometimes a reflection of the Past. Which was freakishly confusing, actually. But, when I finished reading the acknowledgements (I love acknowledgements! They're so interesting!), I realised I didn't understand either Harvey or Alice.

Alice said jump. Harvey jumped to the moon. Alice said "I hate you". Harvey said "I'm still here for you." Alice said let's destroy people. Harvey said if you say so.

I can't handle that! It's wrong. It's warped. And it doesn't really sort itself out by the end of the book! This is what I'd consider an abusive relationship. Alice fully abused Harvey the entire book. She wanted to be with him when she was dying, but not when she was living? She didn't want him, but she didn't want anyone else to have him.

The blurb leads me to believe it'd be about a bucket list, but it's not. Yes, there are bucket-list things in there, but it's definitely not the focus of the story. I'm a bit disappointed by that.

And why did Alice go to school while she's dying?! Why did her parents let her do that? She was puking and nauseous and sick. She was on pain medication so heavy that when she took it she had to lie down. And the girl was in school. Now I don't know anyone who's had cancer, so I can't say this is unrealistic. It just really bothered me.

Writing? The writing is definitely good. I think Harvey and Alice had very clearly defined voices and well explored personalities. They also needed counselling. Or a hi-five. In the face. With a chair.

I don't want to dismiss the horror of having cancer while I'm accusing Alice if being uncannily nasty. It'd be beyond devastating to have cancer, to watch yourself slowly disintegrate. To know you're going to die. I can't even imagine it. I think the author handled the cancer issue very thoughtfully (apart from the send-Alice-to-school-even-when-she's-puking-up-her-guts bit).

But I'm not going to pretend I thought Alice and Harvey's relationship just needed some work. I don't think they were okay for each other. Alice used Harvey un-remorsefully.

Harvey says: I didn't know what was worse: the fact that everyone could see that she was using me or that I could so readily admit it.

This is going to be one of those strange reviews where I do a lot of ranting, but tell you that I still enjoy the book. So let's start this.

Alice is a terrible person. I understand her wanting to get revenge, but only up to a certain point. Mostly, Alice uses her illness as an excuse to be the terrible person she's always wanted to be. She completely uses Harvey, who is a decent person and deserves someone better than Alice. And then she lives and treats Harvey even more horribly. And he still loves her. Alice doesn't care about anyone but herself. I can not express how much of a horrible person Alice truly is. And living just seems to make her an even more horrible person, though it is interesting to see her have to deal with the things that she has done.

And yet, I enjoyed the book. I thought it was well written and entertaining. For me, this just proves that you don't have to like the main character to enjoy the story, as long as the story itself is good and/or entertaining. Alice was a terrible person, but that character was well written, as was Harvey. So yeah, I enjoyed it.

I was left with mixed feelings after reading this book. I really enjoyed the setting - the idea of a person with a terminal illness suddenly having to face up to their actions when they thought they were dying is something I hadn't seen before, so I was excited to read it. I did wish there were a few more events in the book - there seemed to be a lot of talking, descriptions, and not many events.It would've been nice to see Alice exact a few more acts of revenge. I would've liked to see more of the characters of Luke, Celeste and Mindi. Overall, the main issue I had with this book was that Alice is extremely unlikable. She is mean, selfish and unapologetic. It's not a fault by the author to make an imperfect character, but it did make me feel frustrated while reading the book and wanting to shout "Just walk away, Harvey!". I think of this book as the alter-ego to The Fault In Our Stars. It's darker and not as sickly sweet. Very much worth a read.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It’s gritty, raw and the main characters are unashamedly honest. There’s no sugarcoating in this YA.

Alice is a tough character to like. She’s mean, no two ways about it, but the kid’s got leukemia so of course she’s pissed off at the world – plus, she finds herself privy to some pretty heartbreaking info. Thinking she no longer has to face the consequences of her actions, Alice’s mum and a select few peers are on the receiving end of Alice’s bad attitude but it’s dear, sweet Harvey who really bears the brunt of it.

Their relationship is a reverse of the usual bad boy-strings-girl-along, girl-keeps-coming-back-for-more type scenario, and I defy anyone who reads this not to choose him as the book’s stand-out character. I won’t reveal anything on the plot, the blurb says it all, but I will tell you that’s it’s exceptionally written and well worth your time. Just don’t judge Alice too harshly.

Reviewed by Charlotte Foreman on Behalf of BestChickLit.com

First we have Alice, this tough girl who really know how to kick an ass and she has cancer, she's dying and she knows it.
Then we have Harvey, he is such a sweet nice boy and he's totally in love with this Alice girl even though he knows she'll break his heart.
Alice has a list and Harvey helps her to finish it before she dies.
They're both the perfect couple and Alice has already assimilated that she's going to die in matter of days.
But then the miracle happens and she gets the amazing news: she's in remission. She will live.
But how can you live a life you though you've already lost?
She will now have to face the consequences of all she've done.
I really didn't know what to expect from this book and it was awesome. At first I said "Oh, another cancer book, well, I don't know if it will be good after TFiOS but let's see". And it has nothing to do with TFiOS. Alice knows that she is going to die and she faces it in a really cool way, not totally mature (because she wants revenge before dying) but not in a childish scared way, she faces it as a teenager (it kind of reminded me to this movie with Dakota Fanning: Now is good).
Anyway, she did a lot of things she wouldn't dare to do when she had her whole life ahead of her, but she was going to die so she did what she did because there were no consequences. I mean, I totally get it, I would do the same in a situation like that.
The problem? She dragged along Harvey with her, and he's such a nice cute boy. It wouldn't have been a problem if she died because they'll both be happy and Harvey would have his memories. But she didn't, she lived and now she has to face the consequences.
The book is narrated in first person by Alice and Harvey, in the past and present. It may sound a bit crazy and confusing but the author really handles it very well and it makes you be intrigued about the actions leading to the present and what's happening in the present too with Alice and Harvey.
It's a romantic book. A bit of comedy, a lot of drama.
I loved the characters and I loved the way Julie writes.
It was an awesome book that I recommend to anyone who wants to read a dramatic love story when the main character doens't die and has the opportunity to live again.
I really loved Alice and her tough character. She was the perfect girl for fighting against cancer, and she won.
The decisive point for the 5 stars was the end. And it was so good I had to give this book a 5 stars rating.

I really wanted to love this book. The premise appealed to me. A teenage girl gets diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to complete a ‘bucket list’ to pack as many new experiences into her tragically short life as possible. So although it is a depressing subject, I expected the book to be full of the joy of life.

Um, no. Do not be fooled. The bucket list was hardly featured in this novel at all. You never really get to see what made the list, and the things she does tick off mostly concern petty teenage revenge on her ex-boyfriend and ballet ‘frenemy.’
I don’t know about you, but my bucket list would include more of: “try every flavour Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream and make amends to those I have harmed” and less: “humiliate my ex-boyfriend and steal the dreams away from my high-school nemesis.”

Which brings me to the character of Alice (said bitter and petty teenage girl). She was horrid, horrid, horrid. I have not met a character that so annoyed me since the whiny and helpless Bella Swan of Twilight fame. I expected to have a degree of sympathy for Alice, considering her awful situation, but she was the most spiteful and selfish creature in my experience of YA fiction.

The way she uses (and abuses) her ‘love interest’ – Harvey, is appalling. She leads him on then blows him off. He is good enough to drive her places and keep her company when she is dying, but as soon as she finds out the cancer is in remission she feels too much pressure over his love for her and drops him like a hot potato. Not cool Alice!

And that is another thing – when any normal, sane person finds out their cancer is in remission, I expect there would be much whooping and cheering and happiness all around. But Alice seems disappointed she is going to live. Rather then seeing this as a second chance at living a better life, she sulks and moans and skips school. I really felt like slapping her and screaming: “Be grateful, you undeserving bitch!”

While I think my position on the main character is pretty clear, I liked Harvey. His only fault was loving Alice.

The story had so much potential, I am still reeling from my disappointment.

In this debut novel, Murphy brings to life characters you'll love to hate and hate to love, and an original plot you can't help but get invested in.

Murphy does an amazing job at creating realistic characters with an array of flaws. You will not like the main character, Alice. She's a manipulative shrew who makes no effort to even appear likable. She doesn't want your compassion, and even adds fuel to the fire. You will feel bad for her love interest, Harvey. He knows she's using him, but doesn't care. He gives up his life for her only to be cast aside in favor of a stranger at the first sign of trouble. He lets Alice walk all over him again and again.

Alice is very much the definition of an anti-hero.

This book does everything Me and Earl and the Dying Girl does not. My main complaint for M&E&DG was the lack of attention paid to Cancer. I thought Jesse Andrews (the author of M&E&DY) excluded the character dealing with cancer in order to make it a book about cancer without all the tearjerking bits that are usually essential in books about cancer. Well, Murphy does the same, except she does it right. Alice has leukemia. You read her go through chemotherapy, loose her hair, and become painfully skinny, but that is not what the story is about. Alice does not discover the good inside of her after being diagnosed. Instead, her bitchiness is heightened.

Cancer gives her a life without consequences, the chance to do whatever she wants, and she knows exactly whom to target. Alice is out for revenge.

But Alice knows she doesn't have much time left and she wants to do a few good things she dies, too. From reliving childhood memories to doing something kind, Alice's last year is marked by as many good actions as there are bad. However, Alice's personality remains rotten throughout the novel.

Then comes something Alice was not expecting: remission. Suddenly Alice has to come to terms with the fact that she has her whole life ahead of her, and therefore must deal with the consequences to her actions. She has to go back to school and face her enemies. She has to deal with her feelings for Harvey. But she cannot, so she ignores them instead. Until they can no longer be ignored, that is.

The climax is perfection. The story slowly builds everything up until Alice cracks, and it is so well written, so realistic, and so perfect. My favorite part of the book is everything that happens from the climax until the very last word.

Murphy managed to stir from the cliches and create a great, never-told-before story. Usually ill characters are giving an unprecedented amount of maturity and knowledge, but don't expect to get that from this book. Don't expect to cry, or for it to change your life. However, it certainly does not lack entertainment, great writing, an enjoyable plot, or incredibly realistic character. I am certainly looking forward to whatever Murphy comes up with next.

I was disappointed in Side Effects May Vary :( There were two main problems for me: I didn’t like the “then” and “now” style of narration (I don’t think it worked well here), and the main character quickly became very unlikable, and that made it hard to sympathize with her.

I’m perfectly fine with then and now narration in many books, but I don’t think it fit in this one. The “then” is right after Alice got diagnosed with cancer, and “now” is over a year later when she’s in remission. So the “then” is when she’s first starting her bucket list thing, and the “now” is when she starts dealing with the consequences of it. I think it felt jumbled and confusing because we’d read about the “now” chapters when she’s dealing with the consequences, but at that point we still have no idea what she actually did to piss people off. So we have to slowly figure it out. I just think it made the story too confusing and even frustrated at times because I had to try to figure it out with little knowledge. Sometimes this style of writing really works, but I don’t think it was a good fit here.

And the bigger problem was Alice herself. Alice and I started out okay. I don’t think I loved her, but I was open minded and giving her a chance. But she slowly got worse and worse. She turned into a huge jerk, and that made it SO hard for me to like her, sympathize with her, or even keep reading (towards the end). It felt like the whole story was about: “see how big of a jerk Alice can be for 95%, then watch her try to redeem herself in the last 5 pages”. It just went on waaay too long with Alice being a jerk. Here are a few examples:

When she thought she was dying, she got really close to Harvey and basically told him she loved him (she didn’t say it exactly, but it was implied). They were clearly almost in a relationship (they just hadn’t defined it). Then as soon as she goes into remission, she completely ignores Harvey and treats him like crap. I felt so bad for the guy.

“Why are you acting like nothing happened between us when something did?” --Harvey

Harvey was asked to drive Alice home from school since her parents were unable to. Harvey tells Alice this then says he’ll bring the car around. He’s in the car, waiting for her to get in (he’s like right next to her.. she can see him), but she doesn’t. He keeps waiting and waiting. Then:

"With her back turned to me, I could see Alice had no intention of getting into the vehicle anytime soon. She was talking to Eric Guy. She couldn’t talk to me, but she could talk to this a**hole. So I honked. For thirty seconds straight. And then one more honk for good measure. Alice turned, and narrowed her eyes at me."

She knows he’s ready to go and she just IGNORES him for like 15 minutes. She doesn’t say, “Hang on, I just want to finish up talking to Eric.” She doesn’t say ANYTHING. She just flat out ignores him. He’s doing her a favour by driving her home and she’s just being a b*tch about it.

Then she did just plain stupid stuff like this:

"I walked into our room on Sunday night and found Harvey in the process of putting his sheets on the top bunk. I threw my duffle bag on the floor and said, “I call top,” and walked out of the room." --Alice

Maybe that’s a stupid, small thing, but it’s those stupid small things that built up and pissed me off. Harvey already had the top bunk. He was putting his sheets on it, and she just “claimed it” to piss him off. I wish Harvey had told her to screw herself instead of giving in and letting her have it. Who the hell does that?

Alice used Harvey. She used him to help her complete her stupid bucket list, then once it was over, she abandoned him.

"Being an imaginary friend was a one-way street. If that’s what I was to Alice, then maybe she only ever saw me when she needed me. I wondered what would happen when I needed her." --Harvey

Alice only wanted Harvey when she couldn’t have him, and I hated that. She wanted him when she was dying (because she couldn’t stay with him), she wanted him when he was with someone else (because it meant he wasn’t hers), but then when she actually could have him, she didn’t want him.

“You are hollow on the inside, Alice, did you know that?” She asked. “Rotten too. And no one cares. No one cares because you make it so difficult to.”

This quote couldn’t be more accurate. Clearly Alice’s behaviour was intentional on the author’s part, but I couldn’t stand it.. especially when it just got worse and worse for like 90 or 95% of the book. I think I could have dealt with it if she was a jerk for 60% and spent the last 40% making up for it, but that wasn’t the case. She was a mean person and then spent like 5 pages apologizing and that was it. It wasn’t enough for me.

I think a lot of people will love this book because there is an interesting story there. Parts of it (especially about the cancer and how people acted) were really powerful. I’m just upset that the author decide to make Alice SO b*tchy for so much of the time. She wasn’t a nice person. I couldn’t see what Harvey saw in her, because she completely used him. I hung in there for a good part of the book, but when I saw that it was still an issue like 75% through, I started getting really fed up and annoyed. I started skimming a bit at that point.

If you think you can deal with a horribly mean and selfish character, or the above quotes don’t bother you, then I do recommend you give Side Effects May Vary a try. Because as I said, it is interesting and I think a lot of people will love it a lot more than I did. But if you can’t stand characters with a massive attitude problem, then you may want to avoid it!

Side Effects May Vary is a young adult novel splitting its focus between the moody Alice and the lovesick Harvey. Both offer unique perspective on the same storyline, but it's clear that Alice's life and the events surrounding it are the driving force behind the plot. Labeled The Fault in Our Stars meets Sarah Dessen, it is thankfully not a cancer book. Alice is indeed a teenage girl diagnosed with leukemia, but this does not swallow the story whole, nor does it cause the characters to descend into the overly sappy territory typically reserved for the subject matter. First and foremost it is about the relationship between Alice and Harvey, and Alice's unwillingness to commit to him. It's about family dynamics and how a child reacts when witnessing a parent's adultery. Finally, it's about examining how we deal with life's problems and whether or not we allow a bad situation to ruin who we are.

Alice as a character was certainly a bold choice. She is wholly unlikeable and this is not an exaggeration. It is quite a feat for the protagonist to have cancer and still be loathed. This is an extremely self-aware novel though. The author knows just how horrid Alice is and doesn't shy away from addressing her attitude at the climax. Still, her prickly demeanor may deter people from reading beyond the first fifty pages. In order to combat this, the story shifts between the present and the past, the past representing Alice's cancer treatment and the present detailing her return to the world of the living. Still, Alice is not a particularly open character, so even in her most vulnerable moments she barely invokes empathy.

This is perhaps one of Alice's greatest flaws. In her weakest moments, in her moments of absolute degradation and defeat, she chooses to retaliate in the worst ways imaginable. For instance, she has a long-standing feud with ex-boyfriend Luke and resident mean girl, Celeste. At first you feel sorry for Alice until you realize you aren't dealing with a passive victim, but rather a girl who can match her attackers in cruelty step-by-step. Somewhere in the middle of the novel, Alice orchestrates a Carrie like scene and pours blood all over her arch-nemesis Celeste. If anyone remembers Stephen King's Carrie, then they know Carrie was the victim. Here we have Alice, our protagonist, acting as bully. She was somewhat justified in wanting revenge, though I won't say why, but this was going too far. Alice had lost me at this point when I realized she was just as unkind as those she sought payback against.

Though her schemes of revenge are terrible to behold, she is at her worst when interacting with friend Harvey. Here we witness an interesting role reversal, with Alice displaying features of a typical boy and Harvey displaying features of a typical girl. Personally, I enjoy these kinds of switches, finding them to adequately exploit the sillier stereotypes thrust upon both sexes. Somehow Alice manages to embody the worst of both, by playing into the trope of the emotionally manipulative female. This is the crux of the conflict, for she uses Harvey's romantic feelings for her to her own benefit and does so because she believes she's going to die. Once she goes into remission, she realizes there is no out and that she has to deal with a love struck boy. This is quite possibly the most perverse scenario arranged in the novel. Alice takes a very casual approach to her illness, accepting death quite easily and moving along with it. Sadly, she preys on a boy she knows is in love with her and uses him as a sort of minion who can do her bidding. While she does have real feelings for him, they are dwarfed by her extreme selfishness and the underlying cruelty needed to carry out such actions.

If Harvey is placed in the role usually reserved for females, then it doesn't make him any more likeable than the girls who have come before. He is an overly sentimental, lovesick boy, who though very sweet, is overbearing with his feelings. This initial reaction offers Alice some reprieve, for Harvey puts pressure on her at a time where she's dealing with having cancer and then coming to terms with the reality that she may die. In fact, Alice is prepared to die when suddenly the rug is pulled out from underneath her and she's told she's in remission. She is then faced with the task of reorienting herself in a world that she had already mentally removed herself from. For him to be concerned about the status of their relationship seemed insensitive.

Any feelings of hostility against Harvey gradually dissipate as more of their past is revealed. Alice was aware of Harvey's feelings for her, but in many occasions allowed him to believe those feelings were reciprocated. They kissed, held hands, cuddled, and even on one occasion had sex. The level of emotional torture implemented by Alice should have been criminal. Harvey displays rare moments of courage where he stands up to her, but those are fleeting. She knows she's in control and so does he. He transforms into a mostly pathetic character, in desperate need of a wake-up call.

As the conflict comes to a head, Alice is called on the carpet for her bad behavior and Harvey ends all involvement with her until she can learn to cope with her feelings in an emotionally stable manner. The novel ends on a sweet note, with Alice recognizing her issues and finally taking a step forward. She does something truly kind for Harvey, and though he has every reason to sever all ties, he chooses to give her another chance.

Overall, a gritty, yet honest tale that doesn't shy away from the underbelly of teenage life. It's refreshing to see characters that are not instantly likeable. Though technically a risk, it was worth taking, for the author masterfully crafts together a compelling story through solid prose and deeply flawed characters. A highly recommended read for anyone who wants to a healthy dosage of reality in their teen fiction.

Julie Murphy is everything. I absolutely love her books! Side Effects May Vary is witty, raw and brutally honest. Alice is the girl you'll love to hate and Harvey, well he's a dreamy pushover. This is a fun, quick read with solid writing, emotional moments and realistic characters. Someone else said "If The Fault in Our Stars and Mean Girls had a book baby this would be it!" I totally agree! ??

Julie Murphy, PLEASE, PLEASE write the next book about Alice and Harvey! I NEED to know what happens next. I loved this book so much! I'm 52 years old, and realistic teen fiction has become my favorite genre. Alice's and Harvey's voices, in telling this poignant story, were dead, spot-on true. You have amazingly captured them, their feelings, their LIVES in a way that is pure and honest. You are an incredible writer, making the pages come alive. You made me -the reader- feel that it is IMPERATIVE to hear more, to know more about the lives of these of these teens struggling to be, to love. Thank you for sharing this book. It moved me deeply, and I hope you will continue to write. You are truly gifted, and I wish you well.

I enjoyed this YA novel and also felt comfortable letting my daughter read it. I found the main character to be quite unlikeable for the majority of the book, but eventually she grew on me. Its a little like the Fault In Our Stars, but catty!

Not sure his I feel a out the ending, it feels like if was somewhat of an open ended closing. Im giving it an overall, 3.5 stars.

I loved the reality of this book! People are not always nice to each other, and sometimes things are just ugly. All too often, the poor kid with cancer (or the kid that gets chosen for the reaping, or the orphan with incredible powers) is a great person who makes you feel sorry for them throughout the story just because they're so nice or good. Well, this story shows you that the victim can be anybody--cancer can affect ANYBODY and it's okay to feel bad for a normal, flawed individual who is in a horrible situation.

I didn't love Alice, but I didn't hate her like so many other reviewers have. Mostly I felt sorry for her, and even more, for Harvey.
I don't think her meanness and fear of love was explained well enough. She'd had this great life and family and I just didn't think it was realistic that she turned into a hateful birch when she got sick.

This is not your typical book about a character with cancer who rights all her wrongs and dies knowing she did everything she could for the people she loved. Alice comes across being so "real". Nothing is picture perfect. Despite having cancer, she gets mad, hates schoolmates, fights with her parents, etc. I loved that about her. There was nothing fake about Alice. On another note, I feel like the author wrote this book with Pink's song "Please Don't Leave Me" playing over and over in the background. "How did I become so obnoxious? What is it with your that makes me act like this?" and "You're my perfect little punching bag. I need you. I'm sorry." For those of you who have read this book, listen to that song and think about Alice and Harvey.

What would happen if you actually lived as if you were dying? As if you wouldn't have to deal with commitments or consequences because you knew your own expiration date? That is exactly what Alice does, but there's just one problem...she isn't dying. At least, not anymore. When her doctor tells her she's in remission, it's as if he's sentenced her to a new kind of death--living indefinitely.

I like that this is not just another kid-with-cancer book. While other cancer books idolize the ill protagonists, Julie Murphy realistically portrays Alice and those around her. Is Alice perfect? Far from it. She's a teen and she makes mistakes. A lot of mistakes. But none of these characters are perfect. Even though many readers will fall in love with Harvey and call him chivalrous, he makes the biggest mistake of all - loving Alice too much.

Murphy's realistic portrayal of Alice and Harvey's turbulent romance is what kept me hooked from one chapter to the next. She does an excellent job showing us the level of tenderness and intimacy the two characters share in the best moments of their relationship, which makes us hurt for them when their relationship starts falling to pieces because of their own actions. Though we may not always like the choices these characters make, their actions are believable given their histories and motivations, and we root for them in spite of ourselves.

Side effects of reading this book may vary, but, for this reader, it is a refreshing change of pace and well worth the read.

Warning: Depressing story..felt written more at a juvenile level and is for those seeking to read about drama. It has an unlikable mean main character. Especially getting cancer and going into remission, I kept waiting for her to grow and change and become likable.....to me the ending showed to little growth for her too late in the story. Disappointed I wasted time on this book.

I really wanted to like this story, and I hate writing bad reviews, After reading The Fault in our Stars not long ago I thought here is a similar story but with a girl trying to complete a bucket list of revenge, sounds great right?

No. I really love to connect to a character, feel what they feel and see the reasoning behind their actions. Alice to put it nicely is a bitch. Yes she has cancer and yes she thinks she is dying but she was not only horrible to those that have hurt her, she is also horrible to those that love her.

I get the feeling that Julie wanted us to know the real emotions that may go through someones head when they are told they are going to die. The anger, confusion and pain but instead of Alice’s character developing to come to terms with what she is facing she just pushes everyone away with her nastiness.

Harvey as a character was amazing I loved him he is adorable and only wants to make Alice happy, but she was just using him, which added to the fact that she was horrible.

It wasn’t just the characters that I had a problem with it is also the narrative, and time jumping in the plot. We are given the point of view alternating between Harvey and Alice, as well as time jumping from when Alice is better and when she is sick. It makes for a confusing time for when you are feeling sorry for her to yelling at her for being horrible.

I just couldn’t get into this story, But as I usually say it is my opinion only you may have a completely different feel of Side Effects May Vary than me, If you are expecting another Fault in our stars do not pick up this book, it is not a tear jerker, it is about a young girl who is angry and hurt and wants to get even before she dies.

Chasm of Books has a different opinion on this book than me if you want to see a positive review from someone that enjoyed it click the link.

I'm not going to compare this to other books, which others are comparing similar. I disagree. A "cancer" book is not like another "cancer" book. Just like one romance, drama, mystery, etc. is not like the other. This was a unique one. People are individuals and have their own way of coping or even just remaining themselves in situations. I really don't want to say too much to give away anything, but I really did enjoy it. Not like others with "similar" situation and would recommend.

The Bookworm says... Yes! Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy was an outstanding novel!
Then

Alice was diagnosed with leukemia one year ago. She always thought life was guaranteed, but now two weeks aren't even guaranteed. So, there are some things she must do before she dies. Blackmail her ex boyfriend into embarrassing himself after cheating on her, telling people her private information, and making fun of a gay boy in their grade. She must break into the amusement park from when she was little and go on the tea cups. She has to humiliate her former dance rival, and constant enemy onstage during the school play. She needs to buy a puppy for the little girl next door. And finally, she has to go to a prom. For all of this she enlists her childhood best friend Harvey.

Just after all of Alice's issues are settled, she feels she could die peacefully. She tells Harvey her feelings for him, and falls asleep content with death. Only to learn the next day she has gone into remission. She was living life like she was dying, but now she is going to live.

Now

Things are extremely awkward between Alice and Harvey. Alice has to return to school. Alice is still weak. She returns to school and faces her dance enemy Celeste. Celeste and her side kick Mindi are horrible to Alice, saying she should have died. While Alice tries to figure out her feelings for Harvey, she doesn't realize that she is leaving his feelings in the dust. She kisses him, but won't say she loves him. She doesn't talk to him at school, yet she is jealous when she sees him with other girls. She doesn't know what to do. Celeste and Mindi are trying to plan something awful for Alice, and it happens. They make her a shrine type memorial that would have happened if she had died. Alice witnesses her own memorial. Harvey has a girlfriend. Alice confronts her mom about what she saw in the window one day. Life is going down hill. Alice realizes that in her quest for revenge and good deeds, she never did something for Harvey. So, she tries to find his dad, and in the process finds her feelings for him.

This book was excellent. It switches point of view and time period every chapter which is usually enough to make me close a book. But, it works. Julie Murphy, well done. See my other reviews at TheBookwormsFavoriteBooks.BlogSpot.

Although Alice annoyed the bejeezus out of me and at times I just wanted to shout at her to be a nicer person, I found myself unable to put this book down. Alice might be a mean girl, but her flaws are for a reason and Harvey, well he's a beautiful soul. This is a gripping tale of heartbreak, broken spirits, and teenagers acting like real teenagers.

NB: I borrowed this book from my local library.

Alright, so, I am a big John greed fan, and so I automatically saw the resemblance between this book, and paper towns. The boy who's been in love with the girl that treats him like crap since childhood, the breaking into the theme park, the bucket list, the pranks, it just seemed so similar to me.

I didn't really like the main character all that much. Yes, I felt bad for her, but she was very snide, and vain, and only cared about herself, and her feelings. She didn't put any type of effort into Harvey's feelings till the very end.

All that being said, I'm still giving this book four stars because its well written, and I like how it jumps POVs

Describing this novel as John Green's and Sarah Dessen's writing is perfect. I love tragic stories, especially cancer books, but this novel is completely different. It flips between the present and the past between Alice, cancer-girl, and her best friend Harvey. This novel is different because in the present sections, Ali is in remission, but far from healed. All the pain existed after her remission. This book is still heartbreaking, but pure reality. She went from spending a year believing she was going to die to trying to figure out how to live again. In the end, she improved who she was first born as.

In today’s culture there is a stereotype about cancer books—they are often sentimental and sappy. Side Effects May Vary takes this stereotype and flips it on its head. Just when you expect to feel the heart wrenching sadness of a young girl dying of cancer, she goes into remission. The novels then becomes about a teenager finding herself and learning how to live.
The novel tells the story of Alice, a girl who is diagnosed with leukemia. She makes a list of everything she wants to do before she dies—essentially righting the perceived wrongs in her life. She gets revenge on her ex who cheated on her and her arch nemesis that she lives in competition with and who is the “other woman” in the previously mentioned cheating scenario. Along the way she manipulates and uses her childhood best friend—who she reconnects with once she is diagnosed and who happens to be in love with her. Then suddenly she goes into remission. Now she has to live with the decisions she has made and the person she has become—admittedly nasty. She also has to navigate the possibility of a relationship with her childhood friend, Harvey, and how she has used him.
The novel draws you in. Julie Murphy makes you feel all the emotions of the characters. By switching between Alice’s point of view and Harvey’s point of view you feel each of their emotions—from Alice’s struggle with life to the pain Harvey experiences due to Alice’s actions. She creates characters that you struggle with—you want to hate Alice, but you also see what she is going through. This creates a tension in the reader that we struggle to resolve. Alice was certain she was going to die; now she is going to live, but she doesn’t know how to handle this reality. Alice is a perfectly realized character. She moves beyond the idealized character to a character with real flaws.
This book was a perfectly painful read—one that I highly recommend. You feel the highs and lows of each moment and fair warning: you will probably need tissues.

I was very let down by this book. I enjoyed the majority of the book and writing, and thought the characters were interesting (although I found Harvey to be a little cliche). However I found the end of the book to be a complete let down. After so much buildup and drama throughout, for the book to end the way it did (SPOILER ALERT) with her "whispering in his ear" was really disappointing. I was expecting the end of the book to reflect the drama and excitement of the rest of the story.

This book! when I first rented it I thought ok quick read. but I got so frustrated with the main character, Alice, I kept putting the book down. I think the author did a great job of delving into what cancer and teenagers go through, and a great job of developing the characters, so much so that I literally hated Alice! what a selfish, self centered person! in the end the book ends like all teenage books.

Murphy's gorgeously written debut tells the story of a girl who has to learn how to live again after learning she's gone into remission from the cancer that she thought would kill her. Side Effects is searingly beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time. Alice is honest, complex, and at times hard to swallow—a character you won't soon forget. —Jamie Miller, Bloggers Recommend

An authentic and insightful story from Julie Murphy. It's less lighthearted than the whimsical cover suggests, though Murphy certainly made me giggle at times. Alice is a great character. Flawed in a deep way, but still relatable. And Harvey, oh Harvey... I won't get into more specific spoilers, but I'll just say that Murphy resolves things perfectly. Not too fluffy, but with enough hope to make me leave Alice and Harvey's story with a smile.

Alice is having to deal with some pretty heavy things in her life. Cancer, High school, and her relationships with the people closest to her are all a cover for the true message of this book. Being terrified of your own future is no excuse for being unkind.

Alice's cancer gives her an excuse to create a bucket list geared for revenge, and she drags her childhood friend along for the ride. She is willing to do whatever it takes to satisfy her desires because she knows she won't be alive much longer. When remission changes this, Alice must face the truth that her choices have hurt people, including herself.

Side Effects May Vary has a positive message for young adults, in that no matter what you are going through, whether it be cancer, bullies, or rocky relationships, being cruel is not a good response. This novel works to teach young adults to choose to be good people, to rise above the negativity in their lives, and to face any fear of the future.

Alice is easily one of my favorite YA protagonists . . . ever. Julie Murphy didn't take the easy route. Alice is spiteful, manipulative, and hard to like at times, but it's precisely those things that I loved most about her. She's authentic, and the difficult-to-like parts about Alice are what make her growth throughout the novel so powerful. And it is powerful. Side Effects is a moving, hilarious, and just plain incredible read.

She's got cancer. He never had a chance before; he was just a friend. But now things have changed.

And then she doesn't have cancer. And things change again.

A gentle little YA story full of high school drama with a bit of romance.

I got this book recommended to me as someone who liked The Fault is in Our Stars.
No.
This was NOT comparable.
I couldn't even like either of the main characters. One always verged on the side of being a total b*tch and the other was a total carpet being walked all over by another.

I would say more, but I will start ranting.
For those that rate this book higher, I just wonder what they were reading.

“Alice had cancer. Now she's in remission. This second chance on life changes everything, but she's not necessarily handling it well. Harvey has always loved Alice, but now that he's seen all her flaws, can he continue to be her whipping boy? Told from alternating POVs and alternating time streams, this is a great story of friendship, love, loss, growth, and life. ”

I had such a book hangover from SEMV. I love books where the characters grab you by the collar and take you on a journey, and that's exactly how I felt about Alice and Harvey. Their journey is not an easy one but it's subtle and masterful and REAL. And that ending...sigh.

Julie Murphy's prose is gorgeous and her characters are flawed yet redeemable. This was one of my favorite YA novels of 2014. Definitely check out her next novel, DUMPLIN', when it releases in September 2015!

I wanted to like this book, and there were moments that I I did. But ultimately I could not connect with the main character, who I found to be unlikeable. And therefore could not connect with the book.

I like this book a lot. Alice's character was amazing and Harveys love for her was so deep. Very well written I just wish the ending would have included their talk before the decided to get back together.

This book looked really promising in the bio but I was thoroughly disappointed. I hated the voice of Alice and while I can appreciate that this character was somewhat realistic, I still found myself getting totally annoyed, rolling my eyes and chorusing "seriously!?. And right at the end when you think things are coming together and Harvey starts to grow a backbone, BAM , it hits you with a sucky and grudgingly expected ending.

I have very little patience for books that I’m not enjoying. Unfortunately Side Effects May Vary is one of those books and after wasting a week procrastinating on and off reading this one and only getting to the half way mark, I’ve decided not to finish reading it.

My big issue with this book was how remarkably negative the entire reading experience was. The topic was negative, the characters were all negative, nothing good seemed to happen, even Alice going into remission managed to be an unfulfilling downer of an experience. This brings me to the character of Alice she was a horrible person, even for a “mean girl” she blew me away with how knowingly manipulative she was, how she willing to use people and then cast them aside, it was incredibly painful to read and I seriously did not care what happened to her in the end at the point when I decided to stop.

The actual writing of this book was well done and it flowed well, I actually liked the alternating chapters between Alice and Harvey as well as the then and now aspect which gave the book a patchwork narration style that added to the build up. It is a pity that the actual content just didn’t do it for me as I think Julie Murphy definitely has some talent and I will be interested in reading future books of hers which hopefully have a story that is less of a Debbie downer.

I’m sure this book will appeal to many people but for me I just think life is too short and there are just too many good books to waste time on something that I’m not enjoying!