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Don’t Die My Love by Lurlene Mc Daniel, reviewed by Susan K.

Don’t Die My Love by Lurlene Mc Daniel is a tragic love story. It’s about a young girl in love with another young boy who’s diagnosed with a chronic illness known as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. All of Lurlene Mc Daniel’s books are sad and dramatic stories, and they show how valuable life is. It helps people to overcome troubles and gives hope to make the best of what they have. Lurlene Mc Daniel started to write these sad and dramatic stories when her son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the early age of three. It affected the lives of her entire family, and was therapeutic for her. So far, she has written over forty different novels about young children facing life-threatening diseases.

The book was about a seventeen-year-old girl named Julie Ellis and her boyfriend, Luke Muldenhower. They have been in love since fifth grade and are both seniors in high school planning to attend the same college. Luke Muldenhower is a very successful football player and whichever school he gets picked up from, Julie Ellis can get into because of her grades. They have their whole future planned out but suddenly Luke is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Julie is determined to help him get through chemotherapy and other treatments and to get their lives back to normal. However, what they hope and expect doesn’t happen. The power of love is clearly shown throughout the novel.

This book was very appealing because the author made this book very realistic. The book dealt with many issues that anyone can relate to in their own lives such as death, love, marriage, sickness and other important decisions. The feelings of how a person would react in certain circumstances are precise, and Lurlene Mc Daniel did scientific research to make sure her medical relations were accurate. The love and care the two characters have for each other is so deep and touching that the reader has to struggle in order to keep emotional tears from streaming down the face. The book is so hard to put down once started.

Don’t Die My Love had no weaknesses. However, a problem with it was that after the book ended, the reader is left with this empty feeling of sincere sorrow along with a stuffy nose and red eyes. The reader is sad that the ending is so tragic, yet loving the book because it ended so emotionally and amazingly.

My overall rating is a three out of five. Although I enjoyed reading the book, I’ve read several of Lurlene Mc Daniel’s books and they all seem similar. I cried the most in this book than any other, but I’m used to this style of writing. Since all the plots are basically along the same lines, the book seemed no different than the others. I knew what to expect of Lurlene Mc Daniel’s books. If this book was the first one out of her novels, I’m sure it would’ve definitely been one of my favorites.