Zac and Mia by A.J Betts starts out in Australia during present-day in the point of view of one character, Zac. Zac is currently at the hospital for cancer when Mia, the new cancer patient there, moves into the room next to his. Zac is confined to his room because of recent surgery, but the two still find ways to communicate and slowly become friends. Soon, Mia leaves the hospital and does not return for awhile, and when she finally does Zac is moving out because his treatment is done. A couple months pass without the two talking again, but then Mia runs away from home, and impulsively goes to Zac’s house. Soon, she leaves and the two are back to not communicating for awhile until Zac starts sending postcards to Mia supposedly from the United States. Mia finds out from Zac’s older sister that their family is not in the U.S, but that Zac has been hit with another round of cancer and has decided to essentially give up the fight. Mia travels to his house and is devastated by the pessimistic and depressing friend she finds. Throughout the story Zac had been the one who gave Mia hope and now he has given up on himself. Mia then decides she has to give Zac hope now, he needed her. They go outside and begin to argue because Zac did not want Mia there, let alone trying to be a good friend. In the end of the scene, the two kiss and Zac agrees to continue the fight against his cancer. Sometime later, you get a look into the future where Mia and Zac’s mother take turns being with Zac at the hospital where he is currently being treated and moving towards recovery.

Zac and Mia was a good book in general. It was nicely written and had in-depth characters. I think the main reason I personally did not get too emotionally invested in the book was because I did not like Mia as a character. She is well-written and detailed; I just would not like her as a person outside of the book, so it was hard for me to become involved with her as a character in the book. I do not know if that was purposely done by the author, but if it was that worked. I liked how the author switched perspectives between the two main characters because when they were not talking you got to still see what was happening in each of their lives. The actually writing was decent, there as not any specific quotes that stuck to me, but it was very nicely written.

Over all, Zac and Mia was a good book and if you were looking for a teenage love story with a twist called cancer, then it’s for you. Also, if you have read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and you prefer to not have one of the main characters die, this would be a good book. It’s a good mix of cancer, teenagers, little bit of love, and is good in general.