Ella and Theo's relationship is young and evolving and so are they. Their lives are going mostly to plan until a sudden cancer diagnosis changes everything. Nerves about meeting each other's parents and living together turn to anxieties about survival. Easy becomes hard. Hard becomes impossible. Their lives cannot remain the same and now every moment is coloured by illness and the challenges that come with it.

This Is Us Now is the story of two young people navigating a relationship in the most extraordinary circumstances. They're faced with the hardest decision: when you feel like you are losing someone you love, do you hold on or do you let go forever?

"He used to smell like laundry detergent and ink. Even with cologne, you could smell him underneath. I would nuzzle my face into his chest and breathe it in. They didn't tell me his smell would change."

Jacinta Dietrich is a writer and editor with a passion for sharing authentic stories. She holds a Master of Creative Writing Publishing and Editing from the University of Melbourne, Australia. This is Us Now is her first published book. She lives in Melbourne, and is currently working on a middle-grade novel about a circus and siblings, and a YA novel about alchemy and family.