THE BRILLIANT LIGHT OF AMBER SUNRISE

Learning, loving and surviving with cancer.

Suffering from headaches, weight loss, bloody noses and more, 15-year-old Francis is diagnosed with leukemia, to the dismay of his functioning-alcoholic mother and his older, gay brother. While in treatment at a local hospital in northeastern England, he meets tough, straight-shooting, sassy Amber, who intrigues and dazzles him. The two fall tepidly in love, and the novel progresses as expectedly any romance between two teenagers with leukemia might. From the beginning, Crow establishes that Francis is considered “sensitive” or “soft” by his mother and brother, and readers should keep that in mind as they make their ways through. Parts of their affair will have readers rolling their eyes in embarrassment, but other parts will grab their attention with Crow’s cinematic ability to create an emotion or character with such sharpness they’ll want to read it again. All of the characters are rendered with affection and plenty of detail; readers will especially like Francis’ mother and his brother’s friend Fiona, both of whom have fiery personalities set against warmer cores. Francis himself may seem a bit whiny at times, but his sense of introspection helps counterbalance the fluff. Readers who like to cry will definitely need a box of tissues before they reach the end.

Mushy but satisfying. (Fiction. 13-17)