Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Death of a grandfather in the past and a child and friend from cancer, near-death experience, terminal illness
Score: Seven points out of ten.
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I've read from Hayley Lawrence before when I read and enjoyed Skin Deep last year. This year I saw a library getting The Other Side of Tomorrow, immediately making me want to read it. When I picked it up, read and finished the book, it was enjoyable but heavy. It was also part of the Children's Book Council of Australia shortlist for a young adult novel in 2023--it should've won it all.

It starts with the first person I see, Abby Finch, living her typical life years in remission in the opening pages. Nothing looks off initially until 70 pages in Abby came down with an unexpected sickness and the doctors soon diagnosed her with cancer. They also detailed the cancer is incurable now since it spread undetected for a while. The middle of The Other Side of Tomorrow is the most miserable part since I forced myself to read it, all while hopes dwindled for Abby. I appreciate the author for writing characters that can always bounce back and try to see the best part of the situation, which is what happened here as Abby tries to live the longest life she can before succumbing to cancer. I thought she wouldn't make it, but she did toward the conclusion, finishing The Other Side of Tomorrow on a bittersweet note. ( )

Hayley Lawrence is fast becoming a favourite author of mind. In this novel, the reader follows the pain and heartbreak of Abby, a 15-year-old girl whose cancer has returned after thirteen years in remission.

"The Other Side of Tomorrow" tore me apart. My heart wept for Abby and her parents. The love they had for each other was strong and I was especially moved by the relationship Abby and her dad shared. He was a wonderful father.

As expected, I cried throughout much of this novel, especially the epilogue. Harrowing, compelling and raw, "The Other Side of Tomorrow" is not for the faint-hearted. An emotional read. ( )

Abby's family have moved to the coast for a "sea-change" and her father has opened an organic restaurant in a small coastal village. Abby is still mourning the death of her grandfather but she is fitting in well with the locals and has made great friends with a girl called Lexie and two surfer boys called Jesse and Saxon. They hang out at the beach but Abby is afraid to go in the water as it will reveal the very long scarring of her body which occurred when she was young and had cancer. Abby is a bit of a closed shop but finds herself thinking more about Jesse and when he suddenly has a job at her father's cafe where she also works it seems she can't escape seeing him everywhere. But just when life looks settled, it throws Abby a curve and her cancer returns with devastating consequences.
This is one for fans of John Green and Nicola Yoon but set in Australia. Looks at friendship and death through the eyes of a cancer patient ( what to say and what not to say to them) and paints what I expect is a rather realistic picture of the downsides of chemotherapy and other drug trials that these patients have to endure in the hope that it will save their lives. Readers will need their tissues for the middle and the ending. ( )