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Side Effects May Vary

Julie Murphy (Goodreads Author)

3.44 · Rating details · 12,412 ratings · 1,851 reviews

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend, Harvey, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge as it is about hope.

But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done.

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Kindle Edition, 336 pages

Published March 18th 2014 by HarperCollins/ Balzer + Bray

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Mar 18, 2014 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it really liked it

Shelves: high-school, contemporary, ya-contemporary, twins-triplets-clones, beta-male, ya, romance, mental-illness, awesome-guy, illness

I’d always heard that when you truly love someone, you’re happy for them as long they’re happy. But that’s a lie. That’s higher-road bullshit. If you love someone so much, why the hell would you be happy to see them with anyone else? I didn’t want the easy kind of love. I wanted the crazy love, the kind of love that created and destroyed all at the same time.

They say it takes a bitch to know one, and it will come as no surprise to many people that I found myself loving this book.

I love the l

I’d always heard that when you truly love someone, you’re happy for them as long they’re happy. But that’s a lie. That’s higher-road bullshit. If you love someone so much, why the hell would you be happy to see them with anyone else? I didn’t want the easy kind of love. I wanted the crazy love, the kind of love that created and destroyed all at the same time.

They say it takes a bitch to know one, and it will come as no surprise to many people that I found myself loving this book.

I love the lies. I love the manipulation. I love the bitterness. Or rather, I hated the main character. I hated her manipulation. I hated how she used people. I hated her doormat of a love interest.

But the thing is I loved hating them.

You are not meant to like these people. Make no mistake, Alice is a horrible, horrible person. What this book does so spectacularly is its ability to portray someone who feels real. Someone deeply flawed, someone so complex that you cannot help understanding them and sympathizing with them while hating them with every cell of your being. This book was so tremendously well-written.

Think about it. If you're going to die, and there are people in your life who deserve what's coming to them. Fuck, I know what I would do. I'm going to be a fucking bitch and do all the shit I could never have gotten away with otherwise before I die. It's called revenge, and it tastes as sweet as a plate of dark-chocolate covered orange peels, served to me by a half-clad Tom Hiddleston.

Whoo. Excuse me. Yum.

This book is not purely about revenge, it is about an immature girl, so caught up in a lie involving her family, that---in typical teenager style---she lataches onto that as an excuse to act out, to be a jerk. The cancer is merely the catalyst to her anger.

You're not going to like Alice.

The Summary: Some people feel that their life begins anew when they receive the news that they are recovering from terminal cancer.

Dr. Meredith took a deep breath. “Alice.” His brown eyes found mine, and it was only me and him. He exhaled. “You’re in remission.”
Oh shit.
This, I did not expect. This was not on my list.

While most people would rejoice at the prospect that they're going to LIVE, Alice is most unhappy about this. You see, she has lived the last year of her life knowing it was her last---including doing some rather unsavory things. It wasn't an entirely angelic year. There's no Make-A-Wish-Foundation final Disneyland trip with posed family pictures of Mickey Mouse shit here.

THEN:

You see, last year, there were some people who wronged Alice. And before she dies, she's going to make them pay.

Harvey is her best friend. They have literally lived their lives next to each other, their parents are best friends, and Harvey and Alice have grown up alongside each other. Harvey adores her. Every pair of best friend has a ringleader, and the leader of their little duo has always been Alice. He can see nothing, no one but her.

On that cold night in January it all slipped into place for me and she became my everything and my everyone. My music, my sun, my words, my hope, my logic, my confusion, my flaw.
I was thirteen years old, and she was all these things to me.
And I was her friend.

Alice treats Harvey like a dog, meaning she knows he'll always be there for her, she knows he will come when she shouts "Fetch!"

“Harvey,” I said, my voice low. “Trust me.”
I knew what this looked like. It looked like I was using Harvey. But here was the reality of the situation: the minute my life went from semipermanent to most likely temporary, I decided to latch on to everything in my world that had always been permanent, and for me, Harvey was so permanent he was concrete.

Everyone has the sort of people who become a pebble in the shoe of life. Alice has several, namely Luke, the asshole ex-boyfriend---the one who revealed a secret, and Celeste, a lifelong nemesis and rival. Alice wants to get even, and get even, she does.

I can't say they don't deserve it. Luke is an asshole. He is homophobic, he is an abuser, he is a cheater. And he's about to get what's coming to him.

Luke hauled ass out of the locker room and ran for the ladder to the projector, which ran up the back of the bleachers opposite us. To Alice’s absolute delight, he wore nothing but a towel.
Luke leaned forward a little farther and his towel began to slip. He wasn’t fast enough to catch it. We all watched as the white piece of fabric drifted slowly down to the bleachers below, leaving him in nothing but his skin.

Alice doesn't just use Harvey, she abuses him. She pushes him, using his love for her to enlist his help in executing her revenge.

I shook my head again and Alice took my hand, pulling me to her.
“Please,” she whispered, so close to me that when she spoke, our lips touched.
“Fine, but after this I’m done.”

NOW:

“What do you want, Celeste?”
“All I want is for you to feel welcome. It’s cute how people are so excited to have you back.” She took two steps closer to me. “They don’t know what I know. The cancer might be gone, but the bitch isn’t.”

Now, Alice is going to live. And it completely sucks. She has to face up to all she's done at school. She has to face the hostile glares, the people she's alienated.

We stopped in front of the last case. Every surface was covered in cloth. Old, dying flowers had been thrown across the surface. There were candles; those idiots could have started a fire. And pictures of Alice. Her eyes had been crossed out and things like bitch or whore had been written across each print.

Now, she has to face what she had with Harvey. Their moments of tenderness, as he held her while she was dying. Harvey was fine for Alice when she had no future, but now that she's going to live, she can't bear to face him. Now, Alice plays with other boys, so she doesn't have to admit what she feels for Harvey.

Pushing away my memories of Harvey, I shoved Eric’s shoulder back and straddled his lap. This wasn’t scary or complicated like being with Harvey. This didn’t have to mean so much.

Now Alice has to face up to everything she's done. She has to confront her family. She has to come to terms with the fact that she has her whole life ahead of her.

Will Alice's future be one without her best friend?

I laid my head against him and he wound his arm around my shoulder. “What’s going to happen to us, Harvey?”
He pressed his lips to my head and said, “It’s a surprise, I think.”

Alice: The characters in this book were so well-done, and I loved how Alice was written, while hating her. Alice is not a likeable character. She is selfish, she is a teenager. She blows things out of proportion. At the beginning of the book, Alice finds out that her mother is having an affair. That one single event becomes the stimulus for everything she does in the book. It becomes her drive for revenge. Teenagers can blow one single event out of proportion, and as frustrating as it is to the reader, that becomes her driving force. Cancer gave Alice a free pass to her anger.

Cancer would take away plenty. My hair, my body, my life. What I’d never realized, though, was that there was one privilege to dying: the right to live without consequence.

I hated her selfishness and her manipulation as I reveled in horror as I read about what she did. She uses her best friend, Harvey, as she sees fit.

After a moment, he threw his arms up and said, “God, what the hell, Al? This is so screwed up. You don’t talk to me for a year and now—no, this is ridiculous.”

I loved her anger, I loved her self-hate, because a person cannot act like this and not be utterly fucked up on the inside. Alice doesn't know how to be kind, it's like her mind thinks one thing, and she does another. She willfully sabotages every remote bit of kindness that comes to mind.

“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound that way.” I almost said it, that I was sorry for how I’d acted and what I did, but instead I said, “Do you want to write up your own apology and I can sign it? Would that work better for you?”

Alice hates her mother's actions---what she sees as a desecration of love.

This feeling that the world was so pleased to call love destroyed people every day and it would do that to me too. It would disappoint and deceive and manipulate. But then, the part of me that was dying thought, What would it matter? If I wasn’t going to live long enough to have to worry about the aftermath of it all, what did it matter?

I loved it when Alice snaps. Like all good characters, there's a moment when everything comes to a climax, and boy, was it worth it to see Alice fall to pieces.

“You should’ve left us then. Ripped the Band-Aid off. Because the lies are destroying us,” I said, my voice catching on every syllable. “You ruined me. You made me this way. This.” I motioned to myself, my chest heaving now. “Is your fault. And now it’s too late to fix it.”

Harvey: Initially, he got on my nerves. He thinks the sun rises and sets on Alice. For most of the book, he puts up with Alice's bullshit without a fight. In his effort to get over Alice, it almost feels like he's using someone else, as he's pushing himself to like someone for the sake of liking someone. Harvey doesn't know how else he can move on, even as he realizes that he can never totally escape her.

I wanted to lie to her and tell her that I didn’t like Alice in that way, but I couldn’t. “I don’t know. But I’m not on a date with Alice. I’m here because I like you. That’s not a good answer, but I won’t lie to you.”

But as much as he is a doormat, Harvey isn't an ass. He's just a guy who's hopelessly entwined within Alice's web.

“Yeah.” I was an ass. I knew from the moment I asked Debora out that I wasn’t over Alice. I was too selfish to even bother wondering how this might end.

The Other Characters: I loved everyone else. All the side characters were brilliantly portrayed. There is a authentic dynamic between their relationships, and every single character feels human.

There are minor characters, like Debora, the really nice, smart girl who captures Harvey's attention---whom Alice instantly, irrationally hates. She is so fucking nice and my heart broke for her involvement in Harvey and Alice's twisted version of love. I loved the relationship between Alice and her mother, both with strong personalities. They are two negatives sides to a magnet: put them together, and they will repel each other.

Most mothers don’t talk to their daughters like that, but my mom and I had never been most mothers and daughters. I remembered reading about wolf packs when I was younger. Each wolf pack could only have one alpha, one chief. This was the very unfortunate truth of my mother and me. We were two alphas who could never coexist in peace. The only time we had was when she thought I was dying.

This was such a frustratingly amazing read. If you wanted adorable characters you could love, run far away. If you want devastatingly believable, hatefully flawed characters, you need this book. ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Giselle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, ebook

I loved parts of this book, while others irritated me. Or I should say Alice irritated me. However, the angle of getting a second chance at a life you were done and over with does give you food for thought for which I applaud. Cancer books are not stories I go into lightly; there's so much cancer in real life already, why would I want to read about yet another victim of this monster? Still, there's something about this one that called to me and I'm glad I read it. It brings up a different, highl I loved parts of this book, while others irritated me. Or I should say Alice irritated me. However, the angle of getting a second chance at a life you were done and over with does give you food for thought for which I applaud. Cancer books are not stories I go into lightly; there's so much cancer in real life already, why would I want to read about yet another victim of this monster? Still, there's something about this one that called to me and I'm glad I read it. It brings up a different, highly thought-provoking side to a terminal illness. It's a great story, but the characters made loving this book a stubbornly difficult task.

Alice had her whole life ahead of her. Sure she had a cheating boyfriend and other crappy stuff going on, but she was pretty, smart, and full of potential. Told in "now and then" perspectives, we get to see what happened during her diagnosis, then how she reacts to being told she was now in remission. Which, surprisingly, was not altogether happy news for Alice - considering she spent her last days being a complete bitch, uncaring of any consequences she wouldn't live to see anyways. Unlike most bucket lists, Alice's was not about doing things for her, but rather about getting the last word. I was expecting to sympathize with Alice enough to get behind these pranks of hers, but I just felt bad for everyone around her. High school relationships fail. High school kids cheat and spread secrets. It's hardly worth your last ditch effort in the most literal of sense. I completely understand her anger towards her own declining health, especially when these people who did her wrong are able go on with their lives, but still, it was frustrating to see her concentrate on the wrong things. I mean, what about Harvey, girl?

Romantically, Alice is a whole 'nother story. She treats Harvey like mud on her shoes and I hated her for it. She refuses to admit she loves him. Worse, she refuses to let him love her. Yet when he tries to move on she gets angry. I seriously wanted to throw book across the room. She plays him like a puppet whenever she pleases, just to ignore him the next day. I guess in a way it's also his fault for letting her string him along, but if this book did not have two sides of a story, I would not have had the patience for it.

Fortunately, it did have another side: the psychological angle of literally getting your life back, and I absolutely loved that part. Even though I despised Alice for how she acted, I still understood that she was living with an incredibly broken mental and emotional state. This book shows us how a sudden chance at a future can be just as distressing as it can be elating - I know you wouldn't think it a bad thing ever, but this girl was 100% ready to die. Imagine, one day you're living with no need or reason to think of long term commitments or consequences for things you say and allow yourself to feel (plus secrets you're keeping), but then all of a sudden everything matters, because you're actually going to see tomorrow. How she'd been living, was because she was dying. There's a catch to her remission, too: A miracle like this remains uncertain. She's still living in cancer's shadow. Would you allow yourself to fall in love, to make commitments, knowing it could slap you in the face again? I may not have liked or agreed with Alice's behavior - at all - but I did get that she was blocking herself off. It does make you think, and putting the reader in the characters' shoes is important in a story like this.

Love and hate is my relationship with this book. Nevertheless, I would recommend it to contemporary lovers, though with a warning that patience will come in handy when it comes to Alice.

--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

...more

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Jan 30, 2018 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it really liked it

Shelves: liburrrrrry-book, becoming-groweds-up, teenie-bopper-books, it-s-all-in-the-name, read-in-2018

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

“I knew how to die. It was the living that scared me.”

At a time when cancer has become nearly cliché in young adult romance stories, Julie Murphy comes up with a new spin on things. Everything was going great for Alice. She was surviving her freshman year in high school, was the best ballet student in her class, had landed a popular boyfriend . . . but then she saw something that she couldn’t unsee, found out Mr. Perfect was cheati ...more

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Jan 12, 2014 Merna rated it it was ok

Shelves: contemporary

The book is essentially about a girl named Alice who is revealed to have leukemia. She creates a bucket list of things she needs to complete before her death. Forming a close relationship with Harvey is one of them. They were buddies during their younger years before fate took them to different directions

“Then we’d drifted. High school did that to you, turned you into pieces of driftwood. And the parts of you that you’d tried to keep in one piece became the property of the wind and wate
...more

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Jan 09, 2014 Glass rated it it was amazing

Shelves: realistic-fiction

All mixed reviews made me read it. Jasprit gave up on 50%, Alise and Giselle were annoyed by main character, but Brandi and Christy gave me hope that it might not be that bad. Where does that leave me?

Better than that other popular book about cancer. Earlier this year I read the famous The Fault In Our Stars by John Green and I failed to find it appealing as many other readers. There was "something" that felt off and I couldn't buy the whole "we are dying and everything is rainbows and unicorn
All mixed reviews made me read it. Jasprit gave up on 50%, Alise and Giselle were annoyed by main character, but Brandi and Christy gave me hope that it might not be that bad. Where does that leave me?

Better than that other popular book about cancer. Earlier this year I read the famous The Fault In Our Stars by John Green and I failed to find it appealing as many other readers. There was "something" that felt off and I couldn't buy the whole "we are dying and everything is rainbows and unicorns" atmosphere. It was a good book, but hype messed up with my expectations. That was one of the reasons why I skipped Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor and why I avoided Side Effects May Vary. But after reading all reviews and comments about Alice and how "insensitive" or "bitchy" she is, I knew that I was on to something different. Because seriously, if someone tell you you'll die soon, you will be angry and selfish and bitchy. Because on one wants to die.

Why do I think this book deserves higher ratings? It felt real. Julie Murphy did an excellent job with dual point of view. Alice is mean, self-centered, she treats people badly, she is selfish and she is terrified. Scared of dying, scared of her illness coming back, scared of losing people she loves, scared of facing her own actions, scared of living when she knows that everything can change in one second. That is why she pulls whole tough act and pushing away everyone she loves. Other reason? The way people in her school acts - yes, in real life you'll be a freak show. Author did a good job of portraying everyone.

I can't wait for Julie Murphy's next book. I stayed up all night to finish reading Side Effects May Vary and went to bed thinking that she is an author I'd have to keep my eye on. Her second novel (not the sequel), Dumplin' will be published next year. Let's hope it will be even better.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review posted at Ja čitam, a ti?

***Copy of this book was provided by publisher, Harper Collins, via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.*** ...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Stacy rated it it was amazing

Julie Murphy, she has ruined me.

People, this book is the type of book that makes you question your enthusiasm for the other books you've read, because this book is everything - voice, pacing, wit, characterizations, the infinite moments of memories, the ending.

This non-linear book reminds me one of my favorite reads, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Not that the story is the same, it's that the feel of the story is the same. That both Alice and Arnold Spirit are learning to live ...more

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Jan 19, 2014 eileen rated it did not like it

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult

Check out more of my reviews at Singing and Reading in the Rain!

Side Effects May Vary, contrary to the positive reviews everywhere, was a strong miss for me. I found the main characters annoying, the pacing disarming, the severe gender stereotyping, and the organization messy. I was looking for a cancer book that would punch me in the gut with redemption and justification, but ultimately my gut was untouched and rather disappointed.

First of all, the pacing was rather a mess. We have four differe ...more

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Mar 21, 2014 Chelsea ❤Peril Please❤ rated it really liked it

Recommended to Chelsea ❤Peril Please❤ by: Harriet

Shelves: my-favorite-covers, alternating-pov, tearjerkers, unforgettable-male-leads

Karma was a bitch, but so was I.

Once upon a time, there was a girl. This girl grew up with her best friend, her partner in crime, and they were inseparable. She was the ring-leader, and he'd follow her anywhere. He'd do anything for her, because he had fallen madly in love with her. They got to high school. They drifted apart. Then one day, her world shattered with the uttering of three simple words: You have cancer. And with the proclamation of these words, the world became clearer. ...more

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Jan 18, 2015 Arlene rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-2015, ya-contemporary, young-adult, overdrive-audio

Harvy = 5 Stars
Alice = 0 Stars
Rating Clarification = 2.5 Stars

Wow! What a tough book to warm up to! I haven’t struggled with a protag this much in a long time. There were many moments in the story that I just about threw in the towel, so I surprise myself that I saw it all the way through.

Side Effects May Vary balances a potentially touching story between two very different protagonists. First you have sixteen year old Alice that is diagnosed with cancer. From one day to the next, she sees her l Harvy = 5 Stars
Alice = 0 Stars
Rating Clarification = 2.5 Stars

Wow! What a tough book to warm up to! I haven’t struggled with a protag this much in a long time. There were many moments in the story that I just about threw in the towel, so I surprise myself that I saw it all the way through.

Side Effects May Vary balances a potentially touching story between two very different protagonists. First you have sixteen year old Alice that is diagnosed with cancer. From one day to the next, she sees her life take a dramatic turn where she not only fights to stay alive but also struggles with coming to grips with some of the troubles in her life. Because her days are suddenly numbered, she decides to enlist the help of her longtime friend Harvey to exact some revenge on those who did her wrong.

However, when she finds herself in remission, she’s not only forced to deal with her new reality but also the consequences of her decisions that leaves many people angry and troubled with her actions against them.

Throughout the entire story, I struggled with trying to gain an ounce of sympathy for Alice. I simply didn’t like her. I know… I know… we’re talking about a kid that was dealt the c-card so an automatic sympathy pass should be granted. Well that just didn’t happen. This kid was downright callous, selfish and mean! It confuses me why an author would develop a character in such a way. At first I felt like I was missing something, but no… Just about every character in the novel validated my feelings. One when so far as to say, “The cancer might be gone, but the bitch isn’t.” Mean words, but I tell you she deserved them. Such a tough book to enjoy when you don’t like the narrator.

Thankfully for this book, there was another side to this story that was told from Harvey’s point of view. I loved this character and he was one of the reasons I saw this through the end. Harvey was kind, unassuming and aware. He knew he was being used by Alice and finally towards the end of the novel he makes some tough decisions that forces Alice to re-think who and what she is and how she treats people. Great balance in the story!

Overall, I struggled completely with Side Effects May Vary. Not one I feel comfortable recommending.

Waves of Fiction 2015 Reading Challenge
- Read a book that is a stand alone title. ...more

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Jul 23, 2013 Whitney Atkinson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2014, unhauled

It literally took me like 3 minutes to snap out of this book's setting once i finished it

*feels*
*hand gestures*
*lays down*

---
(old)
I met the author at a book signing and she was completely awesome- I can't wait until this comes out!

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Jan 09, 2014 Ashley rated it liked it

Shelves: e-arc, arc

Nose Graze — Book reviews & blogging tips

2.5 Stars

=== My review may contain some MINOR spoilers. They're super minor and vague though and won't ruin the book for you. I just vaguely highlight how long the MC is a bitch for and at what percentage she starts trying to not be a bitch. ===

I was disappointed in Side Effects May Vary :( There were two main problems for me: I didn't like the "then" and "now" style of narration (I don't think it worked well here), and the main character quickly beca ...more

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Jan 12, 2014 Alyssa rated it it was ok

Where I expected a deep and meaningful plot there was a bland storyline mostly based on the petty revenge of a young girl. Where I expected a mature, old-soul type main character there was a shallow teen who recovered from cancer and hates the world for it.

Characters in a Gif: Alice

I’m going to get right into this with Alice. This girl. This girl literally has a personal grudge against what seems like everyone on Earth. She’s a total bitch to her best friend Harvey, who has done nothing but ...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Jeramey Kraatz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Beautiful. Really, just beautiful.

Side Effects May Vary is witty and raw and heartfelt, and above all, brutally, wonderfully honest. It's one of those books that creates a world and characters so engrossing that you feel like they become a part of you, and that you have a vested interest in their lives. You fall into the world of Alice and Harvey so completely that when you come up for air you realize it's 3am and you only meant to read a chapter or two before going to sleep. It'll leave you th ...more

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Aug 05, 2015 Elesia rated it it was ok · review of another edition

First things first, I want to say that this book was very honest and real. It's very raw and very real, it doesn't gloss over anything or romanticize cancer or it's side effects. That being said, while I can appreciate that about the book, I did not like this book.

My main problem with this book was the main character Alice. I did not like her at all. She's so mean, such a bully and so manipulative. She was just cold and heartless, not to mention so freakin' moody. With Harvey, she'd be clinging ...more

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Jan 27, 2018 Brooke — brooklynnnnereads rated it liked it

I don't know how I feel about this one. You can definitely tell it's a debut so I do want to put a disclaimer out there. If this is your first Julie Murphy novel, read more. I personally feel Julie Murphy is an amazing author and you can see her development and progression as a writer in her subsequent novels (Dumplin' and Ramona Blue). I am not saying this is a terrible novel but everything about her as an author gets better in the following novels.

The story actually is a unique and admittedly ...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Jessica Taylor rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite

I was lucky enough to read Side Effects early on and watch it grow, evolve, and basically burrow itself inside my heart.

With subtle yet haunting prose, Julie Murphy weaves a non-linear tale about a dying girl named Alice and her childhood friend, Harvey, who can’t seem to let her go.

Alice is the unlikable girl you can’t help but love. When Alice learns she has a second chance at life, she must confront those she wronged when it seemed her days were running out. As the novel progresses, we slowl ...more

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Mar 30, 2018 Kristen rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf, young-adult, contemporary

Well, this sucked. Ended up having to skim to the end because I hated the main characters with a passion and couldn't take their BS any longer. The story itself wasn't really worth putting up with these turds.

Alice is a demon spawn. Harvey is a limp noodle. I am not amused.

This didn't even feel like Julie Murphy wrote it. ...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Britney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, signed, young-adult, own-read, arc, friends-books, 2013-reading-list

Absolutely loved this! Harvey is the best book boyfriend I have read this year. Alice rips my heart out just as she ripped Harvey's to shreds. Beautiful writing (I seriously wanted to quote a line from every other page) with characters that jump off the page. A must read!

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Jun 19, 2018 Jay G rated it liked it · review of another edition

Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfer...

When 16 year old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she devises a plan to complete a list of things before she dies. Not thinking of the consequences of her actions, she enlists the help of her friend Harvey, in order to complete the list. After the list is complete, Alice is ready to let go, but then she is given the news that she is in remission and must now deal with the consequences ...more

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Jan 06, 2014 Ashleigh rated it it was amazing

Read as digital ARC.

This book, man...You're going to have to surrender a small chunk of your life to reading it and then another chunk of your life to sorting out your feelings about it. Julie's captured something really authentic here, and it might rip you apart a little bit. Basically, Alice doesn't know what she's doing, and I think that's something all of us can relate to. Sometimes she makes bad decisions, and you'll want to grab her by the shoulders and give her a shake. Sometimes she's s ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Adam Silvera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, almost-cried-manly-dude-tears, luckily-read-in-2013

CONGRATS on your super awesome deal, Julie! The book sounds GREAT.

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Jan 26, 2013 Jen Bigheart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

MYEYEBALLSAREBROKEN! Are there more than 5 stars to give? Loved loved loved.

(more thoughtful review with proper vocab tk)

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Mar 25, 2014 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! I'm even more excited for Dumplin' after reading this. Weeeeee!

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Feb 10, 2018 Alaina rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, young-adult, fiction, february-challenge-2018, contemporary

This book kind of reminded me of other books like: Fault In Our Stars and A Walk To Remember.

However, it just wasn't good enough to compare it to the other books.

I don't really know why but it probably has to deal with the MC, Alice, and how I just didn't like her. It's like she was okay with dying but not happy that she was in remission BECAUSE she just had to be with the guy who was falling for her. Like really? Uh sorry back up. Because in A Walk To Remember we all know she wanted to end up ...more

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Jun 16, 2014 Drew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult

This goes to show that authors can really surprise you.

I read that Side Effects May Vary was about cancer, romance, and revenge, and grabbed it as quickly as I could off the library shelf. Then I saw the author's name on the cover and thought, "Oh great." The only other book I've read by Julie Murphy was Dumplin', which was one of my least favorite reads of 2015. But holy guacamole - I'm so glad I gave this a try.

There's something I think people need to know about this book: it has an extremely ...more

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Jan 12, 2014 Aimee ♥ | Aimee, Always rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: fans of John Green or A.S. King

Shelves: light-and-cute, love-triangles, holy-shit-that-ending, unpopular-opinion, oh-the-fluff, let-me-gouge-your-eyeballs-out, swoony-book-boys, i-cried, no-chemistry

Upon coming across the summary of Side Effects May Vary, I was immediately hooked. I mean, fine, it sounded a little cliched, but the synopsis made Alice sound like a sweet, charming girl who was about to fall for her adorable best friend. I guess I was wrong.

Alice was one of the worst heroines I have ever come across. She's not horrible in the way that others are (which is usually because they're too weak, clingy or just plain annoying), but because she was such a bitch to everyone and used ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Zemira (Kylo Ren fangirl) Warner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: edelweiss, i-own, won, contemporary

Alice, Alice, Alice... You stubborn, cold girl! I admire you. I really do. And I admire Julie Murphy for taking the biggest leap with Alice being Alice. You see, Alice is horrible to everyone and she has cancer. She uses her parents and her best friend, Harvey whenever she can, because she can. No one's going to say no to a dying girl, right?

Then something happens-her cancer's gone and now it's time to go back to school and start living. She left a trail of enemies in school and Harvey has expe Alice, Alice, Alice... You stubborn, cold girl! I admire you. I really do. And I admire Julie Murphy for taking the biggest leap with Alice being Alice. You see, Alice is horrible to everyone and she has cancer. She uses her parents and her best friend, Harvey whenever she can, because she can. No one's going to say no to a dying girl, right?

Then something happens-her cancer's gone and now it's time to go back to school and start living. She left a trail of enemies in school and Harvey has expectations about their relationship that blossomed while Alice was sick.

Harvey reminded me of Kent from Before I Fall which for so many reasons but the main is the bitchy MC. Harvey stands by Alice even when she abandons him for a year or two. He starts taking care of her when she's sick and helps her pool pranks on other students. He loved her ever since they were kids. But Alice pushes him again, after she enters remission. He still wants to be around her. He's a good guy. A bit of a pushover but it's why I like him. He cares about Alice and he would do anything for her. He does grow a backbone towards the end. Just so Alice could see they should be equal partners.

I mentioned this in one of my previous reviews-if I connect with the main character, not a lot of things can go wrong after that. I just follow the character and their problems which makes me understand them and even feel protective like in cases when people start talking smack about them. Yes! I am ready to fight and defend them. Why do we need to read about the same old, boring, nice characters when there's someone like Alice around? Why not read about a bitchy character? Sure, we probably wouldn't want to hang out with Alice in real life but this is a book we're talking about. Take a risk, people!

So many people didn't like this book and gave mediocre ratings. It just makes me so mad they didn't see what I did while I was reading Side Effects May Vary. This book is for those who are willing to take risks and plunge into the unknown with a 'horrible' heroine. Are you willing to gamble?

...more

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Mar 16, 2014 Kassidy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014-release, ebooks

*3.5*

This is a book about cancer, but it's about a girl who goes into remission. She is so used to the idea of dying that she does not know how to deal with living.
This is a very raw and real book.
The main character, Alice, is so annoying, mean, and manipulative. I got very aggravated with her many times. She is such a flawed character, but it made this a very real story.
The other main character, Harvey, was annoying as well because he let Alice stomp all over him.
However, by the end the chara ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Snotchocheez rated it really liked it

3.5 stars

For those of you that weren't exactly bowled over by John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (or if you were like me and enjoyed it but thought the dialogue was way too precious and unconvincingly age-appropriate), Julie Murphy's debut effort Side Effects May Vary just might provide a refreshing alternative.

Yeah, it's another YA cancer story; the afflictee in question, Alice, a sophomore at Hughley High, was for a time an aspiring ballet dancer before she got sick with leukemia. Her lovin ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Lindsay Smith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-ya, 2013

This broke my heart in all the right places. Here are three reasons why you NEED this book to break yours, too:

1. Side Effects May Vary is the morning after the storm. The sun is shining and the birds are singing, but Alice and Harvey are left standing in the doorway of a house that no longer exists, and they have to pick up the wreckage. Yeah. It's that kind of grueling.

2. Alice shoves your other cancer books' faces into the mashed potatoes and steals their lunch money. She is raw and brutal an ...more

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YA Buddy Readers'...: Side Effects May Vary, by Julie Murphy-- Restarting May 27th 2016	13	47	Jun 01, 2016 01:11AM
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About Julie Murphy

Julie Murphy

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Julie lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cat who tolerates her. When she's not writing or trying to catch stray cats, she works at an academic library. Side Effects May Vary is Julie's debut novel.