Deserts usually make me happy, but not this kind of Dessert First. This book is all the reasons why we should throw caution to the wind and start every meal with dessert first. Kat is the narrator of this story and also the middle child, which I can relate to. She feels like her role in the family is the peacemaker and to make sure that things in her family run like a well-oiled machine. However, when Kat’s brother, Beep, has a relapse of leukemia, things get turned upside down. Now Kat is not only the peacemaker, but also the closest match for a bone marrow donation to try and save her brother.
This pressure mounts with the residual stress Kat has from essentially failing out of school during the previous time her brother was in the hospital, making her ineligible to play on the soccer team, and the ruined friendships that she didn’t have time for because of all of the family stress.
Kat has a strong virtual presence in this book as she is the voice of reason on her family blog updates about Beep’s treatments, but she also has an alter-ego where she can chat like a regular teenager and enter chat rooms of other suffering teens. One of those teens is on the verge of suicide and Kat feels like it is her responsibility to talk her out of it and another is a teen also suffering from cancer as a star athlete during his senior year of high school.
I read the first 80 pages no problem, but had to break out all the tissues for the last 2/3 of the book. Be prepared to sob and sob! This is for fans of The Fault in Our Stars and All the Bright Places.