A Novel by Jenny Downham

Sixteen-year-old Tessa is dying from cancer. After fighting the disease for years, she has been told that she only has a few months left. As her time runs out, Tessa constructs a list of 10 things she wants to do before she dies. At the top of the list is sex, but she also wants to fall in love, experiment with drugs, and break the law. It's a premise that, tackled by a less skilled and sensitive author, could have easily become gimmicky... Thankfully, this book is anything but formulaic. Downham has created a truly believable character. Tessa experiences a full range of emotions - fear, frustration, love, lust, envy, denial - in a way that teen and adult readers alike would be hard pressed not to relate to. This is a straightforward, unsweetened confrontation with death, but it is also an uplifting story of love, family and the importance of living each day like it's your last.