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spaghettii's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Incredibly well written. One of few books that has made me cry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Chronic illness, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Death, and Suicide attempt
saskiajva's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
At it’s heart, this is a beautiful and poignant story of a girl struggling with depression and suicidal ideation, finding her way back to herself. Finding ways to feel the love and beauty she’s already surrounded with that she has not been able to feel for so long, accepting herself, finding how to finally live for yourself and no one else. Finding hope amidst despair, and learning how to let others in. It’s about a love story for the ages, one that feels like it might just withstand the end of the world.
I originally picked it up after having it recommended on Facebook as “a book that will rip your heart out and have you sobbing”. And while it is want nearly as devastating as i had expected and hoped, i think it will be heartbreakingly beautiful and hopeful for people who resonate with the main character more. This book is for people who feel an unending abyss of pain, one that feels like it has no beginning or end, no rhyme or reason, no way out. For the people that don’t know how to love themselves, who feel shunned by their families, their communities, and their religion. The ending was not what i expected, and while i originally felt like it wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, i think the author did an amazing job staying true to her characters and was so thoughtful and careful about the messages she wanted to send about depression and suicide. About needing yourself just as much as you need others.
I loved every character in this book, and each story has so much to say about love, family (found and born), and happiness.
I originally picked it up after having it recommended on Facebook as “a book that will rip your heart out and have you sobbing”. And while it is want nearly as devastating as i had expected and hoped, i think it will be heartbreakingly beautiful and hopeful for people who resonate with the main character more. This book is for people who feel an unending abyss of pain, one that feels like it has no beginning or end, no rhyme or reason, no way out. For the people that don’t know how to love themselves, who feel shunned by their families, their communities, and their religion. The ending was not what i expected, and while i originally felt like it wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, i think the author did an amazing job staying true to her characters and was so thoughtful and careful about the messages she wanted to send about depression and suicide. About needing yourself just as much as you need others.
I loved every character in this book, and each story has so much to say about love, family (found and born), and happiness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Alcohol and Death
adrianas65's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Bullying, Religious bigotry, and Medical content
teawitchontravel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Outing, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death and Suicide
Be warned, this book will probably make you cry more then once. It is a beautiful story about pain, hope and love, not only others but also self love. It's a story about the light in our darkest moments. I personally really enjoy the writing style and use of flashbacks to give even more insights on the character's relationships and past. Those were the perfect addition to the story and as interesting as the main part of it, neither their content nor how much they appeared distracted from the main story or was boring. While I was reading the novel I felt like I was there with them and it definitely pulled me in. The diverse cast made me personally really happy and I think shows a beautiful represantation for the LGBTQIA+ community. I loved everything about it and can't wait for more books from this author.daffodildyke's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
“Good luck, brave and beautiful strangers. Aren't we the lucky ones walking into the night, all eyes on the same star? Aren't we the lucky ones? We were here for a time to dream.
We still are.”
cw : suicide; religious trauma
i read this from cover to cover in one night, and it has taken me far longer to write a review than it should have… because i couldn’t find the words. quoting sections is the best i can do to summarise my feelings.
a complicated, honest and nuanced approach to the apocalypse that i didn’t realise i needed as much as i did.
“They thought I was thriving. I liked that they thought that about me. I needed them to think that about me.
But it wasn't real. I had a lot to fake.”
Avery is a suicidal college student with plans to end her life, but that morning they find out a meteorite is heading to earth and the world is probably going to end. the story charts the 9 “remaining” days of the world.
Having chronic depression since childhood and my fair experience of suicidal ideation, i am always baffled by the people who fight tooth and nail to survive in apocalyptic situations. Avery feels so close to home in this - to be actively on the verge of going through with plans and to find out the whole world might be ending and have to process you didn’t want to live to begin with feels so intense.
There is a danger with this that Avery could have felt unrealistic, but the process of her processing how the end of the world forced her to want to live life to the fullest feels so very real, so well mapped. Throughout the entire story you can feel the emotional conflict, the fear and the confusion, the betrayal of her own plans, the betrayal of trust in others. The feeling of everything going “right” but still feeling so empty and numb, only being changed by everything going “wrong”.
“I wondered, as I buckled myself back into my car, if I should give it all up and become a nun. Want for nothing. Serve something I no longer believed in. Turn my brain off, turn my heart off, die in a million little ways.”
The complicated approach to religion and the impact of religion, especially at the end of the world is so profound. In so many ways, Avery and Cass are not tied into faith or religion, the people in their lives do not condemn them for who they are, and that feels familiar - it’s more subtle, more insidious - the ways religion impacts their thoughts and feelings about themselves and others, the way that they are told they are love despite their queerness or that her depression and suicidal thoughts are sinful. The pure power of this quote later on in the book speaks to my inner child, to the characters inner child and to so many people who have been made to feel less for who they are or how they feel!
"No," I said. “If there's a God or Gods, they'll forgive me or they won't. I came here to tell you that you shouldn't ever, ever tell a child or anyone they're wrong or sinful or blasphemous for being who they are. You shouldn't ever tell anyone they're damned for being sad, for struggling.”
Another reason to love this book is that amidst all of this depth and complexity, there is so many playful moments. The humour and warmth spread by so many of the characters will stay with me long after finishing this.
The way we are left with an ending that is not The End is so important and so improbable, and it doesn’t matter, maybe Cass and Avery survive, maybe they don’t, maybe the world doesn’t end but maybe it does… the main thing is that they got to feel like they lived in those last days, if they were the last days they had. I don’t like not knowing what happens, but i think for this story this was the most important thing.
And maybe none of it was ever real, maybe Avery wades into the water at the beginning and everything is actually happening in her head; a way of showing her what was always there if she had been able to see through the fog of depression. Maybe the end of the world is her purgatory, maybe it’s her heaven… maybe it doesn’t matter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Death
Minor: Religious bigotry
soapyhopey's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really thought I wouldn’t like this book. From the cover and the blurb it sounded like it would be a YA romance. It was that sort of but much more existential than I would have thought.
I think this book does a great job of showing what it’s like to be depressed and suicidal. The author does a good job of show those thoughts and feelings even to the point where you can question how reliable of a narrator is Avery being. I like that the chapters alternate times before the asteroid and what’s happening currently. I feel like Cass is really flat and the way they handle talking about Avery’s suicide attempt as very flippant which was really disappointing. Overall it was a book that was way better than I expected.
I think this book does a great job of showing what it’s like to be depressed and suicidal. The author does a good job of show those thoughts and feelings even to the point where you can question how reliable of a narrator is Avery being. I like that the chapters alternate times before the asteroid and what’s happening currently. I feel like Cass is really flat and the way they handle talking about Avery’s suicide attempt as very flippant which was really disappointing. Overall it was a book that was way better than I expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
professor_jango's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Death, Grief, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
beaky's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this book is heartbreaking in the best possible way. Please read it, although be very careful of the trigger warnings and stay away if the topic of suicide would be triggering for you! Avery is so much and all her family and friends are the most wonderful people! The book’s emotive and metaphorical language was so beautiful and well done! FIVE F*CKING STARS!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Abortion
mikaylaslibrary's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I’m surprised at how much I loved If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come. The first chapter is a really attention grabbing one (I mean, it has to be when a meteor is headed to Earth), and I was a bit unsure if it would work, but I can confidently say that it does.
Firstly the characters. Avery is such a strong main character, and she really pushes the story along. She and Cass work very well together, and I loved how the romance panned out for them. Peter is everything that I would want in a brother, and he really takes the award for the best fictional character.
The writing is also amazing. The dual timeline chapters made this a very interesting read, by showing who Avery was and is, and how they are similar and yet contradicting. I don’t think that the story dragged on, or went too fast either, which is often the case with other novels that have the same quick introduction.
This does have a heavy underlying struggle of depression, but it was handled very well, and very realistically, but please do not read if you are not in the right headspace for this novel.
Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury YA and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts
deadgirlwalking23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Cursing
Minor: Sexual harassment and Gun violence