A review by bryonyindecisivereader
If Tomorrow Doesn't Come by Jen St. Jude

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“I thought, I would hold your hand through anything. Even the dangerous things. Even the hard things. I always want to be your best friend. For the rest of the summer. For the rest of my life.”

CONTENT NOTICE: This book contains discussions of suicide, mental health and homophobia. There are no graphic scenes of this content actually happening, just awareness of and conversations about it. A central character deals with undiagnosed clinical depression.

I was so tense reading this book. There’s a countdown to the end of the world and the characters are trying to find a way to survive, whilst also trying to live what they have left. It was a very strange feeling to be so tense and happy and sad and hopeful all at once, so props to the author for achieving it. 
Avery is a sad character. She’s depressed and lonely and doesn’t know how to ask for help. She’s spent her whole life being bright and brilliant and the best and, when finally left on her own, she doesn’t know how to cope. She doesn’t want to disappoint anyone so she bottles it up and makes it worse. I wanted to give her a hug, but I don’t think she’d take it. She just needed to learn to be loved by those who already love her. 
I think the author really carefully created this sense of impending doom. I kind of didn’t want to read on, knowing it was all about to come crumbling down. (I did start reading it on holiday but had to put it down because I was a plane flight away from Sam and then I got really stressed about what I would do if I suddenly couldn’t get home to him because the world was ending.) It was hard to feel any hope at the start, I guess because Avery doesn’t feel it, but you start to feel it at the end. 
I loved the family the author created and this overwhelming sense of love that Avery gets surrounded by. Each character was important to her and you came to love them too. However, with the inclusions of flashbacks (still counting down) you had another sense of tension, knowing that Avery couldn’t always feel comfortable in her family. 
I was really sad towards the end, but I did really enjoy it. I think the ending was perfect, ambiguous and hopeful and peaceful. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings