Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

"The greatest risk is not taking one."

“My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Madeline Whittier is allergic to the world. She was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) or “bubble baby disease.” She is confined to her house with only her mother, a doctor, and a nurse, Carla, who is there during the day. At eighteen, Madeline does all of her school course work online. Her father and brother were killed in a car accident when Maddy was an infant. Maddy seems content with her life until a new family moves in next door.

Oliver Bright dresses all in black and stares back at Maddy through her window. The two begin email conversations after Olly writes his address on his bedroom window. Emails soon turn into IM chats. Against her better judgement, Carla allows Olly into the house after being decontaminated. The pull the two of them felt through the window and the computer explodes when they meet face to face. Before too long, Maddy’s mother feels neglected. When the Bright family’s latest argument spills out onto their front yard, Maddy rushes out of her house without any thought to help Oliver, who is being hit by his abusive father. After realizing what she did and returning to her house, Maddy realizes that the life she is living really isn’t living. Soon, she will risk it all to be with Olly.

I thought I knew how this book would end but boy was I thrown for a loop. I wish I had read this when it was first published and cannot wait to read Ms. Yoon’s next book, The Sun Is Also a Star out on Nov. 1, 2016.

Visit Nicola Yoon’s website.