Althea & Oliver was a book I had never heard of when it was first mentioned to me. I had no idea what it was about and when I looked it up I was immediately intrigued. I'm a sucker for best friend kind of love stories. It honestly is one of my favorite book plots. But upon reading Althea & Oliver I quickly learned it was nothing like your typical best friend love story. It was a book in an entirely different class all together and I really enjoyed it. 
 Althea & Oliver is about two best friends that have been each other's other half for 10 years. They have done everything together, been the best of friends, until things start to change. Althea finds herself wanting more from Oliver and Oliver just wants things to stay the same. But when Oliver is stricken with a health problem and Althea does something that she deems unforgivable they both end up on paths they never expected and a journey they will never forget. 
 Truthfully I didn't expect this book to be so gritty. When I read the description I got an entirely different picture in my head. I expected it to be a lighter story, a book with two POVs about two friends trying to figure their feelings out. But Althea & Oliver was more than that. The book was about taking a chance and figuring yourself out. It was about the changes that can occur in friendships and as you grow up and how it is okay to grow apart. Each character is on their own journey and although I enjoyed Oliver's path, I really felt more for Althea. She really was trying to figure out who she was and what her life should be like. She had this all-consuming crush on Oliver and had to figure out how to be without him. She didn't think very highly of herself and when she hit rock bottom my heart just broke. She was probably my favorite part of the book. 
 Why did I not give this book a higher rating? I had a couple of issues with some of the real life aspects that I just couldn't get past. Oliver has this health crisis and it is bizarre, I mean unheard of bizarre, and no one seems to be scared by this. It is almost an afterthought and that really bugged me. It was not something that would happen. A parent is going to be freaked out right from the start and not stop until they have answers. It just didn't make sense to me. I also had a problem with Althea's father toward the end. I just didn't understand his approach to something Althea did. It didn't seem to fit with a parent, even a lax one. 
 But even with those two incidents I really enjoyed this book and the emotions it brought on. It isn't your run of the mill YA friendship turned to love book. There is really a lot more to the story. And the end really was kind of amazing in its own special way. I think this is a book that a lot of people will like and should read. I'm glad it was mentioned to me and that I was able to read it.