If Tomorrow Doesn't Come, Jen St. Jude

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This post is part of the WriteReads blog tour for the novel. Thank you to The WriteReads and Penguin for providing me with a review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

It’s Avery Byrne’s nineteenth birthday, and she is not intending to survive it. Her plans are disrupted when she receives a call from her best friend Cass telling her an asteroid is headed to Earth and they all only have nine days left to live. She soon finds herself battling to get to Cass and get them both back home in Kilkenny, her roommate Aisha and lecturer Dr. Talley in tow. Their presence acts as a point of anxiety for Avery as they both know dark secrets that she desperately wants to hide from her family.

The narrative bounces between the countdown to the end of the world and the history of Avery, revealing her challenges with her sexuality, strictly religious parents, mental health, and keeping up with her classes and sport. In high school she had been a star on the soccer team and a straight A student, but when she arrives at Eaton she struggles to thrive while her mental health makes her very existence unbearable. Her struggles with depression are painfully realistic and it’s heartbreaking to see how little of her light she sees. Convinced her loved ones would be better off without her, and certain there will come a time when she is no longer around, she keeps herself from getting too close to her nephew, not wanting him to become attached to her. The day Avery was born her aunt Devin killed herself, and she sees it almost as an inevitability that she will do the same. She has been told how much she looks like Devin which only reinforces the idea that they have a connection, a shared destiny.

The thought of being stuck in a bunker with her family fills her with dread because she isn’t sure she’d be able to keep the carefully constructed mask in place, that they’d see her completely. Can the last few days before the collision make her want to keep living, make her feel worth the affection of those around her?

If there’s one person who can help her turn things around, it’s Cass. They have been best friends for years but Avery’s secret feelings for her add tension. The last time she saw Cass she told her she hated her, but when it comes to it, there’s nobody either of them would rather be with. Cass has been openly gay for years, she is vibrant, beautiful, and fun, and Avery feels herself pale beside her. You root for them to be together but the flashbacks show how often they’ve miscommunicated their feelings and hurt each other. This isn’t an idealised relationship, it’s very relatable and it has the potential to help Avery feel at home in the world.

The apocalyptic world they are living in is intense. Cities are dangerous, planes are grounded, and suburbs are abandoned. Her brother and sister-in-law, neighbours to her parents, fall apart under the pressure of trying to protect their son from the reality of what is happening. An apocalypse party brings Avery and Cass face-to-face with a spurned classmate who is looking for revenge, and all the normal rules that guide life are broken in this terrifying new world.

This is a deeply emotional read. It is written absorbingly and the characters all feel believable. The emotions and challenges of first love will be relatable both to those reading in the throes of adolescence and those reading with the advantage of age. A compelling read, and one that you might want to keep a box of tissues to hand for. 

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Bad Habits, Flynn Meaney

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This post is part of the blog tour for the novel. Thanks to The Write Reads and Penguin for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Alex Heck is embarking on her junior year at St. Mary’s Catholic School, a boarding school hundreds of miles from home with some very conservative values. There’s nothing she’d like more than to get herself expelled, her file of misdemeanours already overflowing with reports. Unfortunately for her, her dad is determined she should complete her time there and so she tries to come up with an idea so outrageous they’ll have no choice but to expel her. Putting on a production of The Vagina Monologues with the five other members of The Feminist Club seems like just the ticket, but she will, naturally, come up against a lot of resistance.

Her attempt to put on the play does run throughout the novel but isn’t really the main focus, rather a vehicle to discuss the problems that arise from living such a repressed life. It becomes clear that their sex education is severely lacking, and her sweet roommate Mary Kate can’t bring herself to say the word vagina or buy tampons (her mum posts her a supply). Alex has become the unofficial counsellor to her peers, being the person everyone goes to when they have a problem they can’t discuss with the nuns that watch over them. She may come off as brash and self-centred at times, but the messages about not being ashamed of the female body, and the right to have autonomy over what happens to it are important, and relevant to readers of any age.

Alex starts the novel very deliberately acting out and blowing situations out of proportion to make a point. Her quest for inequality does’t feel genuine but more an excuse to stand out and ruffle some feathers. Her outright dismissal of those who don’t hold the same views as her or who conduct themselves differently can make it harder to like her and undermines her pro-choice stance. However, as the novel progresses and she spends more time around groups she would usually avoid, it becomes clear that the stereotyped view she’s taken of them is often inaccurate. We begin to see the events that lead them to form the opinions they have, and although Alex is reluctant to admit she was wrong, there is some slight concession that other people can have a valuable input in the conversation, even if she still thinks her views are superior.

The boarding school setting is an ever-popular sub-genre of children’s and YA books, and Bad Habits gives it new life. It’s not all midnight feasts and hockey sticks at dawn, Meaney explores the struggle that Alex and some of her peers experience in trying to make sense of why their parents have sent them away. We see in the opening chapters how distant her own parents are and her dad, a St. Mary’s alumnus, refuses to admit what was right for him might not be for his daughter. Later in the book, when her mindset is beginning to shift, we see also how she has struggled splitting her life between California and school, completely separate from her ‘real’ life. The struggle to maintain friendships amid the disorientation of everything that’s changed while she’s been away during term time will be a familiar feeling for anyone who’s ever had to move away from their main support network.

This is an enjoyable read with a serious message amid the madcap schemes of rebellious teenagers and strict school rules. It’s written in such a way that we get Alex’s impressions of the other characters but can also see things that she is blinded to, offering us the opportunity to form our own opinions. The action takes place over only a few months but we see huge growth in many of the characters. That the side characters are also afforded the space to develop makes this a well-rounded read. 

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The Cousins, Karen M. McManus

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The Story family is infamous. Wealthy and fractured, the four children of Mildred Story were disinherited with no explanation beyond a note that read ‘you know what you did.’ Except, they don’t, and have each become closed off in their other relationships as well as to each other. Over two decades later and the next generation is invited to Gull Cove Island for the summer. Their parents are not going to let the opportunity pass them by and soon cousins Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah are reluctantly on their way to the island for a summer they’ll never forget.

The cousins take it in turn to narrate the chapters, and Allison, Milly’s mother, also has some sections detailing the events of the year before her family were cut off. McManus sets the tone straight away, giving us a taste of each teenager’s personality, family relationships, and priorities. They each have their own secrets and varied thoughts on the Story family saga. The narrative style is chatty and believably youthful, although the voices lose some of their distinctiveness as the novel progresses.

There are a lot of twists and turns along the way as the cousins size each other up and wonder why their grandmother invited them to the island only to completely ignore them once they’ve arrived. Mildred herself is a bit of an enigma, largely absent but commanding a lot of attention. She has loyal advisers and you begin to wonder if she is being manipulated. The flashback sections show her struggling to keep up appearances after the death of her husband. Being in possession of a huge fortune, it’s not hard to imagine the vultures circling. 

For the cousins, who have had very little interaction with their aunts and uncles, it’s disorienting being on the island, where the locals seem to know more about their family history than they do. Could it be that one of them holds the key to unlocking the Story mystery?

An enjoyable read that will keep you guessing throughout. All the smaller reveals help build suspense and ensure you’re never quite certain that all is as it seems. You see the cousins grow closer and support each other yet also lash out and accuse when their reality is thrown off kilter. The Story siblings may not come off as all that likeable but their offspring have fortunately avoided some of the less desirable family traits. Love, mystery, and murder collide in this YA thriller whose conclusion is more heart wrenching than I could have imagined. 

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The Inheritance Games, Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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This post is part of the Ultimate Blog Tour for the novel. Thank you to Penguin and The Write Reads for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Avery Grambs has her life turned upside down when multi-billionaire Tobias Hawthorne, who she has no recollection of ever having met, leaves her his fortune. The inheritance comes with one condition - she has to live at Hawthorne House with his family for one year. This might sound like a simple enough task, but she is less than welcome as the usurper of their inheritance. What follows is a race to discover why Tobias chose Avery as his heir, with plenty of twists, turns, and assassination attempts along the way.

Avery is depicted as intelligent and kind from the start. Life hasn’t dealt her the easiest of hands but she works hard and looks out for those less fortunate than herself. The Hawthornes, by contrast, have become accustomed to a life of luxury and have their share of dark secrets haunting them. Tobias’ four grandsons are exceptional, quirky, and irresistibly attractive. They come across as confident and self-assured, but there are weaknesses in their shining veneer. Avery soon comes to realise that the upbringing that made them excel at so many things also put untold pressure on them and made them ruthlessly competitive. They see Avery as their grandfather’s final puzzle for them and and she fights to be seen as a player, a person, rather than just a clue, a mystery to be solved.

She is warned that the brothers are dangerous and that she shouldn’t get too close. The mystery of Emily, their last infatuation, who passed away after spending too much time at the house, haunts them all. This strain of the novel is reminiscent of du Maurier’s Rebecca - an enigmatic former lover that continues to obsess those left behind. Never is the comparison as apparent as during Avery’s first ball when her outfit is remarkably familiar to the Hawthornes.

Hawthorne House is the mystifying heart of the novel. The sprawling estate contains not only theatres, bowling alleys, and numerous libraries, but also a plethora of hidden passageways and secret compartments. Tobias would add a new room or wing every year, resulting in an eclectic compendium of every kind of room imaginable. It simultaneously makes you want to step into the book and explore its secrets yet knowing it would keep you constantly on edge, never knowing if you were truly alone. 

An enjoyable read that will keep you guessing. The characters are interesting but their inner lives are second to the mystery. A far-fetched tale but one you can’t help but find yourself involved in, wondering who Avery can trust, and as eager for answers as the Hawthornes.

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Looking for Alaska, John Green

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The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, Philip Pullman

Pullman’s greatly anticipated return to the world of His Dark Materials hit shelves late last year. The story is set a decade before Northern Lights and focuses on Malcolm Polstead, an intelligent and inquisitive child. He lives and works in his parents’ inn, the Trout, and is friendly with the nuns at Godstow Priory, just across the water. The nuns take in a baby named Lyra under a certain amount of secrecy and Malcolm soon finds himself attached to his young neighbour. His innocent life is shaken up when he sees a stranger lose an acorn and then be confronted by a group of threatening looking men. This leads our young protagonist into a world of intrigue, spies, and alethiometers.

There’s also the problem of Gerard Bonneville, a seemingly friendly man whose three-legged hyena daemon shows his true, dark nature. A scientist and pedophile, he is even witnessed attacking his own daemon, an action that is practically unheard of. When the flood comes and the Priory is badly damaged, Malcolm attempts to take Lyra to safety on his trusty canoe, La Belle Sauvage, with the help of Alice – a churlish employee of the Trout. In their attempt to return Lyra to her father in London they are hounded ruthlessly by Bonneville who wants her for far more sinister purposes. They also have to try to avoid the Consistorial Court of Discipline, but it is Bonneville who is relentless in following them. He becomes an eerie, much-feared figure who the reader will feel great distaste for.

There is a real sense of claustrophobia and distrust in the early parts of the novel with the League of St Alexander giving children power over their elders by reporting them for not toeing the line. As Malcolm comes to understand the complexity of the world around him you feel all the uncertainty with him, never quite sure of whose intentions are honourable. During the flood, although some of the situations occasionally feel a tad far-fetched, the desperation and suffering is vividly written, bringing the struggles that the children face to life. It is all too easy to forget how young they are.

With Pullman’s latest offering you feel you are in safe hands with this experienced and masterful storyteller. Whether you’re a Dark Materials superfan, a general reader, or new to this fictional world, you’re bound to enjoy this thrilling adventure tale with the bigger philosophical and theological preoccupations woven throughout.

Delirium, Lauren Oliver

Delirium is set in a dystopian world in which love is considered a disease, conversations are monitored, and the only music available is that approved by the authorities. Our narrator, Lena, is a few months off her eighteenth birthday and having the procedure that will ‘cure’ her from ever feeling love. If the reader wasn’t already feeling distinctly uncomfortable with this world it is worsened when she goes for her evaluation where she must stand, essentially naked, in front of a group of assessors, answering questions that will ultimately decide her future – who she will marry and what social class she will be. She knows that her best friend Hana will be given higher status and they will inevitably grow apart  but is reassured that after the cure the memories will fade and she will not miss her. The cure does not only kill romantic love but familial love and passion for hobbies, it turns your life into a dull yet contented existence devoid of any real emotion.

Lena is horrified when she realises Hana is becoming rebellious – listening to illegal music and attending underground raves. Lena has always been so worried of falling into the same traps as her mum, who she is told committed suicide because of love. The flashbacks we witness reveal a happy childhood with a parent who secretly played them music and danced with her children – one perfectly normal to readers but dangerous in their world. Everything changes when Lena predictably falls in love and even braves a trip to the Wilds – the land beyond the border where the uncured and Sympathisers live. She gradually begins to realise the joy of beauty in the world, of feeling deeply, and her eyes are opened to the lies she has been fed for so many years.

We watch as she struggles with these revelations and begins to dread her fast approaching procedure, a day she has long looked forward to. As she falls deeper in love with Alex she becomes desperate to find a way for them to remain together, taking more and more risks, the authorities closing in on them, their world seeming increasingly hostile.

It took me a little while to adjust to the writing style as it’s been some time since my last YA reading, but it is a well-constructed book, the reader finding out more about the world with Lena. Each chapter is headed with propaganda, some even manipulating the Bible to fit the beliefs of the authorities. It is hard to watch as Lena comes to realise how thoroughly she is trapped in this dystopian world. The love story is sweet enough, and believable, and it is moving to read Alex wrestling with the decision to tell Lena information that will shatter the world that she thinks she knows. There is enough in here that you care for the characters and root for their success. I won’t be reading the rest of the series, but that probably says more about my reading habits than the quality of the book.