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A.J. Betts’ YA novel, Zac & Mia, is the latest Goodreads giveaway that this pedometer geek was fortunate enough to read. Originally published in Australia in 2013 by Text Publishing, it has now been published in the United States. This is the extended review.

Zac & Mia
By A.J. Betts
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-33164-8

A.J. Betts’ Zac & Mia is a YA novel about two teenaged cancer patients, yet to classify it that simply doesn’t do the story justice. Divided into three sections, with the two main characters as narrators, the story is tough, tender, realistic, emotional, and even humorous at times.

Essentially, Zac Meier is a leukemia patient who has spent so much time in and out of the cancer ward that he has become familiar with every room on the oncology floor (he has stayed in all of them). Now, ensconced in Room 1, he’s in total isolation after a bone marrow transplant. Long, lonely days are still ahead when a new patient, Mia Phillips, enters Room 2 (next door). He knows nothing about her at all except for her questionable (in his opinion) taste in music. Playing Lady Gaga loudly over and over and over again is his first introduction to her. Over the next few days, he finds out more…that she is angry, scared, and scheduled for surgery.

Communicating via taps on the wall that separates them evolves into a Facebook messaging friendship as he and she begin to connect during their common 3:00AM wakeful period each day. They share fears, concerns, issues, and so much more as they form a bond that outlasts their stay in the hospital.

For Zac, it is his belief in science, statistics, and antibiotics that keeps him upbeat through the difficult times. While Mia doesn’t have his resilience or his attitude, together, the bond formed through those late night chats continues and helps the pair through the obstacles and setbacks post-release.

Told from both Zac’s and Mia’s perspectives, it is the poignant story of the growing relationship between two young people; it is also a tale of two ordinary teenagers enduring extraordinary circumstances.

This pedometer geek highly recommends reading this novel. I recently read John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, but I personally found Zac & Mia to be better. Both are definitely worth reading, but this pedometer geek prefers this one.