When did this trend of sad yet funny YA novels begin and when will it end!?

In short, I loved this book. I endured a lot of sadness while reading it and also had a lot of laughs. I honestly wish every single character's story could have had a different ending, but I wouldn't change a thing about this book.

Finally, if you enjoy John Green do not pass this book up! ( )

I loved this book so much! It completely broke my heart and made me sob for hours, but it was absolutely gorgeous. ( )

To be honest, I had no idea what this book was about going into it. I saw the cover and thought this may be the equivalent to a YA version of The Rosie Effect. After briefly skimming the synopsis, I believed this would be another cute quick read. While there were some cute, quirky moments, the second half of the novel does delve more deeply into the emotional impact of Charlotte's illness. I am grateful for this as I found the first half disappointing and slightly annoying.

For me, Charlie was an inadequate narrator. Part of the problem was he supposed genius- I felt much of his mathematics and science jargon was forced and not flushed out enough. Just name dropping famous mathematicians and equations or saying advanced [insert class here] did not feel authentic in proving Charlie's intelligence. Most of his narration came across as unnatural and awkward to me.

I did find his sister, Becca, and Ms. Finch to be great secondary characters that made this be much more than just a teenage love story of the terminally ill. My favorite character, however, was most likely Mrs. Dunwitty, Charlie's cantankerous old neighbor who is much more than what everyone assumes.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, with much of the good cancelling out the bad. ( )

This book! I did not see that coming. What a good book. I'm so glad that I found this book and decided to read it. Will post review soon ( )

Fantastic books always flow through my brain like a blockbuster movie. The scenes and characters exist in full action cinematic splendour. After I've finished the book I have to work really hard to remember whether the plot is from printed pages or a visit to Cineplex. That's how I know when I've read something really REALLY good, and that's what happened to me with Love and Other Variables. I could cast the characters right now and have them practice my most vivid scenes; Charlie touching Charlotte's neck in the Krispy Kreme donut line, Greta walloping James after the bee scene, Charlie driving through Mrs. Dunwitty's garden, Charlotte and Charlie throwing mud at each other, the stargazing episode, the dancing in the rain scene, Charlie asking Becca if he can ask Charlotte out, the restaurant date...I could go on but I won't. This book is fast paced, heartbreaking, humorous,mathematical, delicious and wise all at once. I don't think I've ever said that I "loved" a book but I'm saying it now. It's full of metaphors and brilliance and maybe it's the teacher in me that loved Charlie and his logical math brain but found myself rooting for Ms. Finch... It doesn't matter. This book is FANTASTIC and I am exhausted from reading it because it grabbed hold of my heart starting with, "Beginnings are tricky things." I don't think I can even look at another book for a few days so you know how serious I am about the epic awesomeness of this story. Go now... buy, beg or borrow yourself a copy. You can thank me later. :-). Would love to hear from you when you finish it. I'm betting that this copy won't spend more than five minutes on our library shelf. Any takers?
(If I was an author I would hate to have MY book compared, even favourably, to another, but I would be remiss if I didn't say that this is a perfect selection for your readers who loved TFIOS. Sorry Shannon Alexander, but it is true.) ( )