e-ARC, 390 pages
Release Date: October 2, 2018Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Read from: October 17-21,2018Stand-AloneSource: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: N/A
For fans of: Dystopias, Science Fiction, Survival, YA, Action, Little to no Romance, Contemporary, Diverse Characters, Stand-alones, Thriller, Multiple POVsThe drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.
Until the taps run dry.
Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Right before I started this book it had been raining non-stop where I live and I’d been so angry about it. But once I started this book, all that dried up really quickly. (See what I did there? lol) This wasn’t anything I had been expecting, but it definitely changed my mind about the rain that we’d been getting.
“You know how sometimes you don’t realize how thirsty you are until you take that first sip? Well suddenly, I get that feeling just by looking in the refrigerator.“pg. 6
Life for Alyssa was very normal up until the Tap Out. The water was scarce to begin with, but then it just was gone completely. And suddenly, things begin changing. Alyssa’s street becomes a place crazed for water or anything to help with their thirst. It doesn’t help that her parents have gone missing either. Now she is stuck making decisions for herself and her little brother. Decisions that could mean life or death.
“…Because if there’s one thing I know about the news, its that it decides for most people- including the federal government- what is and what isn’t important.“pg. 23
If you had asked me at the beginning if I was enjoying this, I would have said yeah. If you asked me towards the middle I would have said ehhhh. If you had asked me towards the end I wouldn’t have answered you because I was immersed in the book and didn’t pay attention to anyone or anything else until I finished. It kind of dragged for me towards the middle, but that’s the only complaint I have. There were a couple of times where I had to take breaks so I wouldn’t quit reading it. I wish it would’ve kept the same momentum the entire book.
“…calm people quietly dying is alot easier to deal with than angry people fighting for their lives.“pg. 89
As for the characters, I can’t say I loved them all, but they were all so well developed and they all felt like they were there for a reason. I loved that they went through everyone’s POV as well. This is such a bad situation and with some of the things they went through, it was good to see how a different character was handling it.
“…sometimes doing the right thing means doing the wrong thing first.pg. 153
There’s not very many books anymore that can surprise me (which is pretty sad lol) but this one did on many occasions. There were times when I had to say out-loud “OMG OMG OMG OMG” or “DAMN” because I wasn’t expecting what happened to happen. I haven’t been THAT surprised in a long time.
“Doomsday scenarios are only fun when doomsday is just a hypothetical.“pg. 163
For someone who doesn’t like dystopians, this was not something I expected to like.They make me paranoid and I start thinking of how I could have survived in that type of situation and how I should be preparing. This one was no different. It made me realize how much water we take for granted. So of course, I had to go and check that everything we had drink wise was still in the fridge. And I had to get some water while there. And anything that can make me feel something like THAT, I know it was a definite winner for me. I also liked the fact that it was a science fiction novel but it never went too deep into the sciencey part of it. As someone who doesn’t really care for science and math, that would have thrown me off, but this one never makes it too teachy and for that I was grateful.
“I could fall in love with a glass of water much more than a human being right now.“pg. 334
This read was out of my comfort zone, but it definitely proved that sometimes reading something that’s different than your norm is a good thing. It wasn’t perfect, but it made my heart race and it made me get up several times to get something to drink when we’ve been nowhere close to a drought for weeks where I am. This surprising read will make you check your fridge and start preparing now, just like I had to.
Overall, I give this
This book has been getting such good reviews! I’m glad you liked it. I love dystopias and the author’s other books, so I’m excited to read it.
Aj @ Read All The Things!