Hope Was Here - Joan Bauer

Wow. I mean really, WOW. Leila had described this as comfort reading (hmmm, can't find that post, sorry). I can't think of a better way to describe it.

This book hit me like the Lois Lowry books hit me, I just couldn't believe how beautifully a seemingly simple story was told.

It had some 'issues', abandonment, cancer, death, but they are building blocks of the story, not what it is founded upon. It was a very sweet story, without it feeling sappy. Nope, can't explain why I feel that way.

It's a sad book. I read it while I was at my grandmother's watching her go through radiation and chemo. But, the death in the book is not an unexpected death. It's one of someone who's lived a good life, and while we could be sad for the loss, we could not feel cheated by it. It was strangely comforting at the time I read it.