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A review by cafeyre
Things to Do Before the End of the World by Emily Barr
3.0
What would you do if one day you discover that you have nine months left? Not because of a disease, but because all humankind and other species will extinct. When news breaks that humans have done such damage to the earth and that it’s too late to repair it Olivia discovers that it is the time for her to start living her life. She was always a shy person who preferred to stay at home than socialize with people. Her social anxiety was always standing in her way to make new friends or tell the girls she loves about her feelings. Now she needs to decide if she will spend her last months living in a way she did before or be brave and live her life as fully as she can. However, it’s not as easy as it’s said.
Out of blue, she discovers that she has a long-lost cousin that she didn’t even know existed. She decides to contact her, and their relations get closer each day. Natasha is everything Olivia always wanted to be. Her ease and self-confidence affect Libby, that she trusts everything she says. She convinces her that she is the only person that can help her to make her life better. However, when she joins Olivia and her family on the family trip, she realizes that Natasha isn’t everything she first appears to be.
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a little bit hard for me to review this book since I was prepared for a completely different story than that. I thought it will be written more in a dystopian way, however, it was a more teen contemporary novel. As much as I enjoyed this book, I was also a little bit disappointed.
I think the story overall is very well written, the plot interesting and the mystery very well structured. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I will like the main character Olivia, however, it’s only because I didn’t see all the qualities that we can learn about her throughout the book. I loved to watch her open and grow up. She changed a lot thanks to Natasha, and as much as she hurt her at the end I think it was kind of worth it. She broke the limits and finally started living. She spent her summer abroad learning how to forget about her fear. I really enjoyed her and Natasha running through Madrid and Paris and showing the magic tricks to people. Honestly, I would like to do it myself. Just run away to a nice city and perform to make money for hotels and food.
Well, as good as it sounds, I knew from the start that there was something wrong with Natasha. There were a lot of signs on the way that were screaming at Libby “Run”. I was so surprised that her parents let her go with her to Madrid and then Paris when they knew that there was something wrong. I think this was one of these moments in the book that I could not understand, it was just so stupid. Besides, Natasha was a very sneaky person that knows how to sell her lies. On one side I dislike her for what she did to Libby for the faults of Natasha’s father. I could feel the anxiety coming from Olivia after what Natasha did to her. If I would be in her place, I would die from a heart attack. It would be so terrifying. However, there was this one side that even I wanted to believe that she is there with Olivia just because she wants to get to know her better. I wanted her to be like a sister to her because Libby deserves to have more people that love her in her life.
The aspect of the end of the world situation was shown in this book from the perspective of “how people would behave if they know that they have only nine months left. I think that even if the chaos I expected to find in this book wasn’t there, the whole situation hit me hard. Especially in the situations when many species just started dying. This kind of situation opens your eyes because you can clearly see that there’s no coming back, no solution that will help you to survive. It was a very interesting background to show the change in the person. However, it’s very upsetting that when Olivia finally gets to the point she wants to live, she loses her time for a person that only wants to trick her, instead of with people that she loves.
I would like to thank TheWriteReads, Emily Barr, and Penguin for inviting me to join this tour. I was enjoying reading this book a lot and I was happy to review it. I hope you guys enjoyed my review and will read this book yourself soon.
Out of blue, she discovers that she has a long-lost cousin that she didn’t even know existed. She decides to contact her, and their relations get closer each day. Natasha is everything Olivia always wanted to be. Her ease and self-confidence affect Libby, that she trusts everything she says. She convinces her that she is the only person that can help her to make her life better. However, when she joins Olivia and her family on the family trip, she realizes that Natasha isn’t everything she first appears to be.
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a little bit hard for me to review this book since I was prepared for a completely different story than that. I thought it will be written more in a dystopian way, however, it was a more teen contemporary novel. As much as I enjoyed this book, I was also a little bit disappointed.
I think the story overall is very well written, the plot interesting and the mystery very well structured. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I will like the main character Olivia, however, it’s only because I didn’t see all the qualities that we can learn about her throughout the book. I loved to watch her open and grow up. She changed a lot thanks to Natasha, and as much as she hurt her at the end I think it was kind of worth it. She broke the limits and finally started living. She spent her summer abroad learning how to forget about her fear. I really enjoyed her and Natasha running through Madrid and Paris and showing the magic tricks to people. Honestly, I would like to do it myself. Just run away to a nice city and perform to make money for hotels and food.
Well, as good as it sounds, I knew from the start that there was something wrong with Natasha. There were a lot of signs on the way that were screaming at Libby “Run”. I was so surprised that her parents let her go with her to Madrid and then Paris when they knew that there was something wrong. I think this was one of these moments in the book that I could not understand, it was just so stupid. Besides, Natasha was a very sneaky person that knows how to sell her lies. On one side I dislike her for what she did to Libby for the faults of Natasha’s father. I could feel the anxiety coming from Olivia after what Natasha did to her. If I would be in her place, I would die from a heart attack. It would be so terrifying. However, there was this one side that even I wanted to believe that she is there with Olivia just because she wants to get to know her better. I wanted her to be like a sister to her because Libby deserves to have more people that love her in her life.
The aspect of the end of the world situation was shown in this book from the perspective of “how people would behave if they know that they have only nine months left. I think that even if the chaos I expected to find in this book wasn’t there, the whole situation hit me hard. Especially in the situations when many species just started dying. This kind of situation opens your eyes because you can clearly see that there’s no coming back, no solution that will help you to survive. It was a very interesting background to show the change in the person. However, it’s very upsetting that when Olivia finally gets to the point she wants to live, she loses her time for a person that only wants to trick her, instead of with people that she loves.
I would like to thank TheWriteReads, Emily Barr, and Penguin for inviting me to join this tour. I was enjoying reading this book a lot and I was happy to review it. I hope you guys enjoyed my review and will read this book yourself soon.