The Goodbye Boyfriend | Spoiler-Free Review

You guys, I'm so behind on everything this year. It's ridiculous how much school work I constantly have to do when I come home. So far I've only read five books this year, and I set a goal of reading 52 books before the end of the day on December 31st, 2018.

Anyway, I hope this post finds you all less stressed than I am. Today I'll be reviewing the third book in Christina Benjamin's Boyfriend Series. All the books in this series are written as stand-alone novels, so you can read them in any order you like, or only read a few of the books (though I would personally recommend reading all of them because these books are amazing).

It's ironic that I'm typing out this review on the morning of Valentine's Day; I have not had a serious relationship since last summer, and I have been single for over seven months. The last time I celebrated Valentine's Day with a boyfriend was my freshman year of high school. Needless to say, I am not the biggest fan of today, and I prefer to refer to it as Single People Awareness Day. However, for a book about love, today is the perfect day to post this review. It is now March 7th, and this last paragraph is no longer correct. The week of Valentine's Day, I reconnected with a childhood friend of mine who I had not spoken to in nearly seven years. He did not remember me, but still we continued to converse with each other. After three weeks of delving deep into each other's lives and two non-romantic outings, he asked me to be his girlfriend last Saturday. For the first time ever, I will be spending my birthday with a boyfriend, and I am very excited to see where this relationship leads.

Now...on to the review!

Title: The Goodbye Boyfriend (Book 3 in the Boyfriend Series)

Author: Christina Benjamin

About the Author: Award-Winning author, Christina Benjamin, lives in Florida with her husband, and character inspiring pets, where she spends her free time working on her books and speaking to inspire fellow writers.

Christina is best known for her wildly popular Young Adult series, The Geneva Project.
Her best-selling novel, The Geneva Project – Truth, has won multiple awards and stolen the hearts of YA readers. Packed with magic and imagination, her epic tale of adventure hooks fans of mega-hit YA fiction like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson.

Christina loves to read and write across genres. YA is her favorite but she’s a sucker for a good love story. Don’t miss her romance, paranormal and historical fiction, as well as the multiple anthologies she’s been a part of.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Why did he have to say hello, when she could only say goodbye? 

Everybody likes Nathan Hawthorne. But he's looking for more. More life, more love, more reasons to live. After the sudden death of his brother, Nate moves to New Orleans, hoping a fresh start will bring him clarity. His easy smile and California charm wins him the attention of every girl at his new school. Too bad he only has eyes for Camille.

Camille LaRue is a nobody, and she likes it that way. Her life has always been predictable. She has cancer. She's terminal. She's going to die. Cami can't change her fate. The only thing she can control is how she'll say goodbye. And that's why she doesn't have time for Nate, no matter how much her heart tells her otherwise.

When Nate says "Hello" to Camille, everything changes with one simple word. But how can she risk her heart when she only has a few measured heartbeats left? Luckily for Camille, Nate knows the best things in life are worth fighting for. He brings chaos into her orderly life, showing her just how much life she still has left to live.

A stand-alone love story about a boy who learns to live, from a girl who wants to die.

Overview/Thoughts/Opinions: Let me start off by saying that this book is extremely relatable and realistic. All the emotions feel so real and so raw that I tended to forget that the events were merely happening within the pages of a book. I have a particular fondness for the subject material covered in the novel because I plan to be a clinical oncologist, as well as an oncological researcher, so I will be dealing with terminal cases such as Camille's quite often. I emailed Christina shortly after finishing the book to congratulate her on how beautifully written and how heartfelt every word was, while I was still crying. The relationship between Nate and Camille never really felt forced or rushed in any way by Christina; she portrayed the awkwardness that often goes along with new relationships, as well as the arguments that ensue throughout the relationship. I believe strongly that this book should be read within schools to show young adults how to cope with grief. Also, this book does touch on suicidal thoughts and has mentions of suicide plans; this is another reason why I believe this should be read in school. Far too many people experience thoughts like these, but do not realize the danger in them, and therefore do not see the need to seek help. I suffered from thoughts like these during my freshman year, and after reading this book, I wish my Freshman-self could have read this book; maybe then I would have taken a look at the destruction I was causing my body and sought help sooner. Despite the heavy nature of this book, especially towards the end, it was filled with such beautiful, heart-warming moments that made this book bearable to read without too much dehydration due to crying.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (If I could give it 6 out of 5 stars, I would.)

To Purchase:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Crown Atlantic Publishing (Personalized)

**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.**