Being a teen is filled with enough angst as it is. Throw cancer and true love into the mix and you’ve got a book plot that has sent teens running to the nearest bookstore.

The Fault in Our Stars by award-winning author John Green is about one teen, Hazel, as she faces continuous struggles ranging from failing organs to just wanting to be an average teenage girl. Fighting thyroid cancer since she was 13, Hazel’s days appear to be numbered. The only reason she is still alive is because of an experimental drug. Thinking her life is coming to an end, she joins a support group for kids with cancer… and her fairytale love story begins.

Augustus Waters is almost too good to be true. He’s good-looking, sweet and a former basketball player who has lost his leg to osteosarcoma. The two have an instantaneous connection, and soon fall in love. In books, love at first sight isn’t exactly rare, but what Augustus and Hazel have is truly special.  Not everyone can understand what it’s like to be a kid battling cancer, so it seems like fate when they meet.

The teens go on many adventures, with Hazel’s oxygen tank in tow, trying to make the most of the time they have left together, including a trip across the world. Augustus wants to give Hazel everything she’s ever wanted, until a twist of fate comes their way, leaving their world of love and happiness turned upside down. 

Green does an amazing job narrating the ups and downs of both the teen years, and being a kid with cancer. He will leave you in tears at times from some events, but also in uncontrollable laughter at others from the way he portrays the characters’ subtle humor.  Hazel and Augustus’ biggest struggles are not their cancer diagnoses, but how they will allow their stories to be laid out, and who will be in their stories. As Augustus puts it, “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world… but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”

The Fault in Our Stars reached the New York Times best-seller list, and has incredible ratings. A movie version with Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as Hazel and Augustus will be released in theaters June 6. So if you’re looking for a night off from homework, grab a copy of the book and a pack of tissues, and prepare to be amazed.