Book Review: Let's Pretend I'm Okay

Let’s Pretend I'm Okay, Jasmine Little is a young adult romance with all the fun and tears. Margo sets a mission to help her sister fall in love, until she finds out that she is falling for the bad boy. Now her mission has changed to stop her sister falling in love with Daniel. Meanwhile Daniel has felt abandoned from childhood but with Margo bugging him, he starts to fall in love with her. But no one knows her secret, which is that she is dying. 

I enjoyed this book. It was a refreshing read, when I saw it on my Kindle I was intrigued and drawn to it. And I am glad I did. I told myself this year to branch out and I felt I did reading this. I liked the main character Margo, she was fun and outgoing, completely the opposite to her sister. Who kept herself to herself, hence why the story unravels like it does. I did like how the two sisters were different because you could relate to both of them despite being so different. The parents' role in the story was the right amount that you needed to understand the connections they all had and it was nice to learn their stories and the impacts of having a child with a terminal illness, along with what it is like in grief after. 

Margo has a terminal illness which you think this story is going to focus on but it is so much more than that. It wasn’t all about her illness and more so how she wants to be ‘the normal girl’ in her last few months and what she wants to make of it. I liked how her extrovertiness and bubbly nature brought the best out of people. Moving onto Daniel and his part to play with his dark moody teenager vibe, Margot walking into his life taught him lessons and nurtured him. She softened him and taught him about living life without his burdens and navigating through these.

The ending was both sad and happy. At the start of the book you were made aware that the inevitable would happen to Margo. But it didn't make it any less sad as you built a relationship with her throughout and almost felt like you were at a loss too along with the other characters. It was a happy ending in a way purely with the impact Margo had on her family and friends, which was really her mission, to make a mark for the rest of their lives. It ended not just with Margo being lost but how the characters navigated through life after.

What I didn't particularly enjoy at times was Daniel. I felt it could become a pity party and his attitude could bring down the vibe. I understood that was his character and there was a shift but not till the very end. When you compare situations between Margo and Daniel it doesn't make sense. A part of me at the end wanted to be proven wrong that she wouldn't pass away even though I was told at the beginning, I think maybe I was holding onto false hope. 

Overall I would rate it 4 stars out of 5.