Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

This is a young adult novel. The two main characters are teenagers who fall in love, but can't be together. Maddy is 17 years old and is living with SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). She is "allergic to the world". This means that she lives in a sanitized environment. Everything is sanitized before it enters her space. The only people she actually sees in person is her mother, who is also her doctor, her nurse Carla, and occasionally a tutor (after he goes through a hour-long decontamination process. There is no one else in her life, except for on-line. Maddy's dad and brother were killed in a car accident when Maddy was just a few months old. Maddy spends her days reading and her evenings playing games with her mother. Her two best friends are her mother and Carla.

Olly and his family (parents and sister) move into the house next door to Maddy. Maddy watches them move in from her bedroom window. She spends a lot of time watching the family. She figures out that Olly's dad is abusive and the family fights a lot. She eventually develops a relationship with Olly by emailing. Sometimes Olly communicates with Maddy be writing backwards on his window. She notices that Olly climbs out his window at night and spends time of the roof of his house. Maddy finally tells Olly why she can't leave her house - ever.

For obvious reasons, Maddy is incredibly lonely. She really wants to see Olly in person. Carla surprises her one day and invites Olly over. He goes through the decontamination process and they get to spend time together in the same room - although on different sides of the room. Once this "door is open", Maddy and Olly want to see each other more and more - and they want to touch each other, kiss, etc. Once Maddy's mother finds out, she is incredibly angry and fires Carla, Maddy's "best friend" and confidante. Maddy's world gets even smaller.

Maddy needs to make the decision to stay in her sterilized environment or take a significant risk by breaking free for her love for Olly. I don't want to explain more than what I have because of what happens after she makes her decision. Let me just say that sometimes we make well-intentioned decisions in our lives that deeply impact the people we love in a negative way. It's a good book and an easy read for an adult. 

Wendy's Rating: ****