4.5 stars! Hazel's a teenager with terminal cancer. She expects her life to keep going on its prescribed course, right until the end, which she knows is coming. She doesn't see Augustus Waters coming, however. This is a book about tragic illnesses in young adults, about those young adults falling in love, mixed in with a side plot about Hazel's favorite author. 
 Hazel's voice fits her character and the theme perfectly. She has plenty of ups and downs, though she never wallows in the bad things. I never liked Katniss' voice from The Hunger Games (and the entire trilogy, for that matter). Katniss felt whiny, self-absorbed, and completely annoying to me. Hazel never bugged me, when she had far more reason to go the whiny and self-absorbed route. Hazel felt real, and so in turn I felt for her. 
 I adored Augustus, and his wonderful, tender spirit. The part about the author fit in very well, and indeed helped bind certain things together. And oh, how I cried. That's a mark of a good book to me. Did I bawl? And how much? Now I learn that this will be a movie. I'm so pleased, and hope they do the book justice.