Why did he have to say hello, when she could only say goodbye?
Everybody likes Nathan Hawthorne. But he’s looking for more. More life, more love, more reasons to live. After the sudden death of his brother, Nate moves to New Orleans, hoping a fresh start will bring him clarity. His easy smile and California charm wins him the attention of every girl at his new school. Too bad he only has eyes for Camille.
Camille LaRue is a nobody, and she likes it that way. Her life has always been predictable. She has cancer. She’s terminal. She’s going to die. Cami can’t change her fate. The only thing she can control is how she’ll say goodbye. And that’s why she doesn’t have time for Nate, no matter how much her heart tells her otherwise.
When Nate says “Hello” to Camille, everything changes with one simple word. But how can she risk her heart when she only has a few measured heartbeats left? Luckily for Camille, Nate knows the best things in life are worth fighting for. He brings chaos into her orderly life, showing her just how much life she still has left to live.
A stand-alone love story about a boy who learns to live, from a girl who wants to die.
Award-Winning author, Christina Benjamin, lives in Florida with her husband, and character inspiring pets, where she spends her free time working on her books and speaking to inspire fellow writers.
Christina is best known for her wildly popular Young Adult romance novels, The Boyfriend series.
The Boyfriend series proves that book boyfriends are like Chocolate… you can never have enough. Check out the Boyfriend series for fast, fun, YA romance reads. These destination novels let you fall in love in a new city with new character every time.
Christina loves to read and write across genres. YA is her favorite but she's a sucker for a good love story. Don't miss her YA Fantasy, The Geneva Sommers series under her pen name CJ Benjamin as well as the multiple anthologies she's been a part of.
This book... Where do I start? I read the first two books in the 'Boyfriend' series by Christian Benjamin and really enjoyed them. Of course, I'm going to read the third book. Right? Without really reading the blurb, I got right into it. All I have to say is that I had to stop reading several times because of the tears. To make it even worse, I'm a teenage cancer survivor, myself, who started dating my boyfriend, now husband, right before my diagnosis. Wow. What a trip to the past. I'm not going to spoil anything but, if you're planning to read this book and have looked over the reviews, you probably already have an idea of what happens.
Do not let that stop you from reading it!
It's a beautifully written story that reminds the reader how short life is and that none of us know when it's our time. Enjoy life, no matter what your circumstances, and cherish every day with the people you love. Along with this heartfelt message is lots of humor and cuddly moments. You will absolutely love the main male character, Nate. He is the ideal of 'book boyfriends'. Handsome, hunky, funny, adorable, charming, etc.... etc... I think even the coldest reader would fall in love with him. And the main female character? She's the tragic heroine, Camille. She's so closed off and independent at first but her inner strength will humble you, and she's adorable, in her own right.
If you can handle some tears, and I mean make sure you have a new box of tissues, you love young adult romance, and a tragic but beautiful love story melts your heart, give this book a go. I don't think you'll regret it.
P.S. This book does have a (kinda') happy ending and I loved that about it. You can make me cry but give me something to smile about, especially at the end, as well. Love, love, loved it!
Hello. One little word. One word with power to change a mind, a life, the world. This book is one of the most moving books I have read in a while. I had a hard time reading at points because of tears in my eyes; tears of joy, tears of anger, tears of relief, tears of sadness. I was truly overwhelmed with emotions at times. Camille has made up her mind, she has a "plan for dying"; she's going to finish her bucket list, graduate high school, say goodbye, and that's the end. Period. She has her reasons, she has her plan. Then Nathan Hawthorne enters her life bringing chaos and sunshine. He scares her to death, he makes her feel things it's too late to feel, he makes her want what she can't have. This isn't a book about dying; it's one about living.
Camille is a heartbreaking character. I can't imagine her life, her pain, her strength. She was so strong in many ways, so scared in others. She was fragile, but above all she was lovable. Nate was a character. Having suffered loss, his determination to live every moment was beautiful. He was beautiful. His romantic side, his ability to love fully, his incredible thoughtfulness, his caring heart, and his bravery made him ideal for Camille. These two together were perfection. Both sets of parents played an important role in this story. Each set showed how much pain a parent can cause a child while still loving them. Parents are human too; they make decisions out of fear or pain that they believe is in the child's best interest, that actually isn't or they emotionally remove themselves from their child unknowingly. Just because humans grow older doesn't mean that we stop making mistakes. The love and mistakes from their parents all played their parts with Camille and Nathan's story. Ultimately love won. And I must mention two other characters; Poo LaRue and Ronnie. Both lightened the mood at times and were important in Camille's life. For all of Ronnie's craziness, the man had wisdom. He was a remarkable addition to the cast; a saint disguised in sugar and glitter!
I am not going to go into ANY detail about this book. This book shouldn't be spoiled for anyone. It's incredible. There are so many scenes, so many conversations that will linger with you. It's very special book. Camille and Nate are precious, their love story is not your typical high school one. This book will destroy you at times (in the best way). It will make you appreciate simple pleasures in your own life. It will fill your heart. It may make you want to make your own wall. At first, I wasn't sure I liked the last two paragraphs of the book, but after thinking about it, possibly obsessing about it, I decided that it was perfect, considering everything. Please read the Author's Note and the Acknowledgements.
*Note to the author: Christina Benjamin well done! Thank you for this book. It touched me more than you can imagine, My own note to add to your Hello to Dalton. Jacob, you are always loved, you are always missed. Until our next hello.
I think that this book was the funniest and the saddest. Because for one, Cami knew that she was going to die. Even Nathan knew she was going to die in the end. That what made everything sad.
But what I liked was how Cami met him in her last year of high school. He made her feel a lot of things that I was glad of because I felt like she shouldn't want to kill herself because she didn't want to live with cancer anymore.
The sad thing was she died from a heart attack. I knew when I read the end of that section in that chapter when Nate left her house to pick up his mom that she was going to die in her sleep. I felt it because of the way her heart was doing; the good thing is, at least she died happy and not sad. The sad thing is Nathan lost his true love.
But I think he's going to find love again as I said that he was reading Cami letters. I was glad she told him to continue to live, be happy, and find love again. Towards the end well at the end. He met Zoe, and I hope that who he finds it in since she likes that same candy that Cami likes. I felt that Cami brought Zoe into Nathan's life.
What I felt would've been nice was Nathan would've gotten a story with Zoe. At least.
Prickly girl (with good reason), boy fighting loss and sadness. Their meeting rocks each other's world in powerful ways. Cami accepted her unkind fate at a much too young age and sealed off most of the world as a result. Nate thought New Orleans might help the overwhelming pain caused by losing his older brother. Neither expected the giant spark their meeting would ignite. You know early on what the end will be, but probably won't care because getting there is akin to falling a long way at night. You don't know much more than the fact that the landing will hurt a lot, but the stars above you are so mesmerizing. The ending is sad, beautiful, amazing and still hopeful. All in all, one great read.
This is the best book I have this year. I cried at some parts of the story. It is a moving story. Voluntarily reviewed this book. Read it! It is worth the time.
W.O.W. I don’t normally take the time to write long reviews but this book deserves paragraphs and paragraphs of love and admiration. I certainly didn’t go into the book expecting everything that I got from it. This love story was truly something extraordinary and beautiful and much better than any other love story I’ve read. You can literally tell the author put her heart and soul into every word upon the page and after reading her authors note I applaud her for doing so. She’s created a masterpiece and I will forever have Camille and Nate in my heart.
Eyes hurt from crying so much. This book was so emotional and overwhelmingly beautiful. Every page, every part of the story just tore my emotions out even more. Cami and Nathan are one of the most amazing characters that I have read in a very long time. I love this series but this is by far my favorite. Such an amazing and a must read. Thank you for allowing me to read this book and write about it honestly.
I knew this was going to be a book that broke my heart and was probably going to make me cry. I wasn't wrong. Cami and Nate were so adorable in this sad story. Nate was the sweetest guy ever, I don't think a guy that sweet actually exists. He's a lot like me when it comes to loving sweets I have donuts in my kitchen right now, in fact.
This is a book that deals with some heavy issues, like childhood cancer. Cami is by far the strongest character in existence. She fully accepted everything whether she liked it or not. It sucks that it took Nate to bring out her friendlier side but at least she opened up to her classmates.
I'm not going to talk about the ending because I knew it was going to happen. When you go into a book like this it's easy to hope for a happy ending but that's not how life works so I'm kind of glad it had a realistic ending. As sad as it was. I can only hope Nate is in another book because I'm not ready for that sweet boy's story to be over yet.
I received a free copy of this book via BookSprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
How many HS seniors do you know that have a bucket list? Well meet Camille, Cami, she's a HS senior who has been fighting cancer since she was 9 years old. She is a girl with a plan on a mission. Now meet Nathan, Nate, who just moved to New Orleans from California and is dealing with his own struggles. He lost his brother just 3 years ago, a loss that he is steal dealing with. Nate immediately likes Cami. She doesn't want to like him but he doesn't give up and wears her down. She likes the fact that he treats her like a regular girl. She decides that she likes it so much that she keeps her cancer diagnosis from him. They help each other deal with their problems.
This is a wonderful heartwarming story. I just love this author and I have loved all of the boyfriend books. This one is a must read
I won’t remember this book forever. I won’t even remember the characters names this afternoon. But this was an enjoyable enough read for a rainy week (I have classes and homework, I wish I could read this in only an afternoon) or rather three days. I also think it touches some very we-need-to-talk-about subjects, even if not in the best way. What I really like about this book is the fact that parents are involved in their children lives, even if they’re not the best parent of the year. I also really like that the dog was it’s own character and not just a device to make the main character likable - which happens too many times and never works for me (saying I’m not a fan of dogs is an understatement).
Heads up - even though it’s not graphic, this book has sex scenes between teenagers who obviously are not married, if someone wanted to know.
I just started “The Boyfriend” series by Christina Benjamin a couple days ago and I am already finished the third book! This series has proved to be excellent so far and I wanted to share a bit of what I thought on this book, considering that it was quite a bit different than the previous two books (they’re all good books though!)
The relationship between Camille and Nate is nothing short of sweet, fun, and heartfelt. Camille discovers that in order to have found herself she had to find Nate. They both bring out the best in each other and for that, they fall in love. This book varies in emotions going from light and fun to engaging yet sad. I’ll admit that by the end I had a few tears rolling down my cheeks but even I, someone who usually avoids sad parts in books, loved this book. I don’t regret any of the time I spent reading it and I hope that you will give this book a try!
WHYYYYYYY?!?!?! I knew it was coming but I desperately hoped it wasn’t going to happen 😭😭😭 And Nathan’s mother never got to meet her!!!!!😫😫😭😭 The fact that this stuff happens in real life breaks my heart. 💔💔💔 I love the messages of living life in this book and I love Nathan’s positive attitude even after all of the death he’s experienced. I feel so bad for him. But I almost hope we get a book of him and Zoe? I don’t know. I feel like Cami was his soulmate though and no one else will ever compare to her. I recommend if you would like to sob your eyes out as long as your 14+. I’ll be wrecked for at least a week now okay bye. Or should I say hello? 😭 This book reminded me of A Thousand Boy Kisses just not *quite* as sad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I personally absolutely loved this book. It’s the kind of book you finish so quickly because you want to know what happens. I finished it in 2 days aka last night It made me so emotional I was crying in bed on the last 2 chapters.. I hate sad stories but this one was different I think it was really well written and most books you can guess the end but I didn’t find that I could and I only knew the end by reading it. I absolutely recommend this book and I congratulate the author 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A touching read. I cried multiple times. This is the best book in the collection. The characters were wonderfully developed with multiple layers of depth. I was amused by the Ashley’s and I wonder if the author watched Recess. The plot is phenomenal and the way the characters interact is natural. I can’t wait to read more from her.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
It's much better than the other two in the series. The characters are more relatable, their lives and trials are touching, and they don't act out in horrible evil ways. I found myself tearing up at some parts and just wish that the characters acted a bit older/the age they should be. But that's my main nitpick for this story.
The title of this book says so much. But you HAVE to read this book to feel and understand, not just the message from the author, but the fundamentals of life. Life. Live. Love. It’s so simple yet we let our fears and “plans” get in the way. This book is excruciatingly beautiful. It’s poignant. It’s sweet. It’s not just for the YA, it’s for everyone. Could not put it down. I received this book from Booksprout for a voluntary, completely honest and non incentivized review.
This book was hard to read. I'm so glad that Nate came into Cami's life. With Nate around Cami came alive, and learned to live. After Cami decided to try and find a treatment I thought that maybe Cami and Nate would make it to Paris together, but sadly I was wrong. When I read chapter 45 (the chapter where Cami died) it was heartbreaking. I felt Nate's pain through every word I read. I was really happy that Cami and Nate had some time together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. A Heart Wrenching Beautiful story! Tissues are a must! You will be in pieces! Makes you want to hold on to the beautiful things in your life and not let go. This story will stick with you! An absolute incredible Must Read! Awesome job writing this book , the characters were so real to me.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. Tears!!! The characters are extremely relatable. This is such a beautiful story even if I am dehydrated by the end. I highly recommend the book if you are able to handle the emotions this book leads you to have. Beautiful story.
This story left me a blubbering mess. I knew how it would end but I wasn't ready. I don't think you can ever prepare yourself to lose someone even when you know their time is limited. You can only grab as much time as you can. I just love the characters so much and would highly recommend this book to everyone.
This is the best book Christina has ever written. I'm in tears as I type this. If you or someone you know is struggling to find hope in life, or are dealing with the loss of a loved one, please read this book. It is inspiring and touching and will leave you wondering if you've truly been living your life.
The first two books in this series are nothing compared to The Goodbye Boyfriend. This book was a mix of Five Feet Apart and The Sky Is Everywhere and I absolutely fell in love with Cami and Nate, oh and we can not forget about Ronnie. This book had me laughing and crying with the characters. I loved every moment of this book and ate it up in two days. 💕
This book was too much for me. I was hesitant to even pick it up but I had read the other ones in the series so I figured I would give it a try but the heroine’s story is too sad for me, and the hero was immature and unlikable. So I had to DNF, but I will still continue the rest of the series.
Wow! I am sad that the book is over. I could've read this story forever. The characters were wonderful and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was for the author to stop. I'm adding this to my collection because I will never have enough time to enjoy Nathan's amazing spirit and swoon worthy antics. SIGH.....
This story will delight, mesmerize, enrapture, and decimate your heart.
A beautifully written novel about perseverance, finding hope when it feels futile, and the bittersweet joy of moving forward when everything seems lost.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. It was a good book with a good story line with awesome characters who had amazing chemistry together. I loved it so much I didn't want it to end.
Another amazing read. Emotionally sweet, entertaining and captivating book. I want to read more from this author. Wonderfully written with great plot and strong sexy characters. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.