We Were Never Here

Starred review from March 21, 2016
One minute, counselor-in-training Lizzie Stoller is teaching archery to a group of campers. The next, she is incapacitated by pain. Thus begins Lizzie’s ordeal, fighting a life-threatening disease. In her first YA novel, adult author Gilmore
(The Mothers) movingly expresses a teen’s changing perspective, highlighting a series of turning points during a few months of Lizzie’s 16th year. During her illness, eventually diagnosed as ulcerative colitis, Lizzie’s separation from the world leaves her lonely and afraid. When she finally arrives home from the hospital exhausted and vulnerable, she feels disconnected from her old life and friends. More real to her are cherished moments she spent with Connor, a hospital volunteer who experienced a trauma of his own. Lizzie can’t let go of her memories of their intimate conversations, but Connor’s instability may prevent them from having a relationship. Reading this dramatic romance is both a painful and mesmerizing experience. The reward comes in Lizzie’s recognition of her own strength and resilience as her focus shifts from what she can’t do to what she can still accomplish. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM.

April 1, 2016
After 16-year-old Lizzie doubles over at summer camp, she enters the hospital and a "horror movie" of pain, tests, and vulnerability. After 13 days of tedium and poignant uncertainty, Lizzie learns she's suffering from ulcerative colitis, an inflamed colon, and will need to have her colon removed--and, afterward, to wear an ostomy bag. Her best distraction is Connor, a handsome hospital volunteer with a therapy dog and a secret. But once home, Lizzie suspects Connor has more secrets than she knows. Lizzie details her hospitalization and recovery with snark, self-reflection, and the occasional poetic phrase as the ordeal transforms her personality from "werewolf back to human," even "Wonder Woman," alienating her from her old friends. Lizzie's illness and search for a "girl group" of quirky friends are set to her eclectic taste in music; she'll have readers building playlists with songs ranging from Pink to the Beatles. Her persistent fear of her ostomy bag's coming undone both symbolizes her frustrating on-and-off romance with the endlessly evasive Connor and sympathetically addresses the self-consciousness of sex and socializing when bowel functions are often considered embarrassing; her friends' support will reassure readers who deal with similar issues. Though capricious, the ending leaves Lizzie--and readers--on an optimistic note. Lizzie and Connor are white. The romance is so-so, but the dual portrayal of friendship and adjustment to a rarely discussed condition is sensitive and insightful. (Romance. 14-18)

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May 1, 2016

Gr 10 Up-After 16-year-old Lizzie collapses at summer camp, she gets diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Days of testing ultimately lead to a life-changing surgery. While in the hospital, she meets and connects with the cute volunteer Connor and his therapy dog Verlaine. The more time she spends with Connor, the deeper in love with him she falls, even as she learns that he's hiding secrets from her. Meanwhile, Lizzie is dealing with the challenges of her new reality as she comes to terms with her illness. This young adult debut explores how invisible scars are often the hardest to heal. Readers will root for Connor and Lizzie even as past tragedy and circumstances tear them apart. Drugs, sex, and a tragic car accident make this more appealing for mature teens.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 Sixteen-year-old Lizzie's life changes forever after she collapses from acute stomach pain. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, she is told her colon can't be saved and she will have to wear a colostomy bag. She is in pain and ashamed about her condition when a cute boy named Connor appears in her hospital room with his golden retriever. Lizzie falls hard, but soon after she meets him, Connor disappears. She can't find any trace of him onlineit's as if she made him upuntil he eventually gets in touch via letters, revealing a shocking secret. Can she still love him knowing what she now knows? This is a story about two people who never thought they could be loved back, she realizes. And this is the story of those two people loving each other back and back and back. Lizzie's difficulty relating to her old friends' lives after her illness is authentic, as is the often poor judgment she and Connor show. This moving, lyrical, life-affirming story is perfect for John Green fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)