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**“Chemo, radiation, a zillion surgeries, watching my mom age twenty years in twenty months . . . if that’s part of the Big Dude’s**** *plan, *then it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Enough said.”** Smart-mouthed and funny, sometimes raunchy, Richard Casey is in most ways a typical seventeen-year-old boy. Except Richie has cancer, and he's spending his final days in a hospice unit. In this place where people go to die, Richie has plans to make the most of the life he has left. Sylvie, the only other hospice inmate under sixty, has a few plans of her own for Richie. What begins as camaraderie quickly blossoms into real love, and this star-crossed pair is determined to live on their own terms, in whatever time remains. ** ### From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-Being 17 years old is hard enough, but being 17 with cancer can be downright depressing. It's a good thing Richard Casey has found a partner in crime in the mischievous Sylvie Calderone, the 15-year-old girl down the hall in their hospice ward. Staging a Halloween prank together helps take their minds off the harsh reality of their situation: both teenagers have been given less than a month to live. When Richie's mother falls ill with the flu, he finally gets the space he so desperately wants to act like every other teenage boy. Sprung from the hospital by his wacky Uncle Phil, the pair engage in a memorable night of All Hallows' Eve debauchery in the neighboring town of Hudson in upstate New York. Richie runs afoul of Sylvie's drunken father, however, with whom he's had earlier altercations. Things escalate when, back in the hospice unit, Sylvie announces to Richie her plans to lose her virginity with him. The hospital staff, charmed by the pair's romance, turn a blind eye as the two grow closer. The same cannot be said for Sylvie's father, who becomes increasingly unstable as his daughter deteriorates. This heartfelt novel turns out to be much more hopeful than macabre, despite the teens' terminal diagnoses. The language is raw and even profane at times, but hardly inappropriate given the circumstances. Richie can be a little corny, and his uncle is definitely over-the-top, but the book is mostly strengthened by its memorable supporting characters. This novel is respectful of its serious subject matter, yet is an entertaining and heartening read.-Ryan P. Donovan, New York Public Libraryα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. ### From Booklist Seventeen-year-old Richard, who calls himself The Incredible Dying Boy, is a kid with cancer who is a patient on a hospice ward, with, perhaps, a month to live. But, he muses, life is all about surprises, the whole you-never-know thing. In the meantime, whenever anyone asks what ails him, his answer is a breezy I have SUTHY syndrome. It’s an acronym, he explains: I’ve got Somebody Up There Hates You syndrome. Yes, the voice with which Richard tells his story is wry, darkly humorous, and sometimes acerbic, but whenever he thinks of Sylvie, the 15-year-old girl down the hall, it is also loving and hopeful. Despite their illnesses, the two teens have fallen deeply for each other. Every story has a villain, though, and Richard’s is Sylvie’s fire-breathing father. No wonder the boy thinks of the man as a dragon, and who knows what will happen when the father ultimately erupts. Seamon’s first young-adult novel is a tender, insightful, and unsentimental look at teens in extremis. It brings light to a very dark place, and in so doing, does its readers a generous service. Grades 9-12. --Michael Cart