e-Audio, 09:48:58
Narrated by: Georgina Sadler
Release Date: May 9, 2023
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing (US)
Read from: May 18-21, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Gun violence, Suicide ideation, Depression spirals, World ending threat, Toxic Christianity, Racism, Misogyny
For fans of: LGBTQ+, Tear jerkers, Mental Health, Romance, YA, Sci FiWe Are Okay meets They Both Die at the End in this YA debut about queer first love and mental health at the end of the world-and the importance of saving yourself, no matter what tomorrow may hold.
Avery Byrne has secrets. She’s queer; she’s in love with her best friend, Cass; and she’s suffering from undiagnosed clinical depression. But on the morning Avery plans to jump into the river near her college campus, the world discovers there are only nine days left to an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it.
Trying to spare her family and Cass additional pain, Avery does her best to make it through just nine more days. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery would do anything to save the ones she loves. But most importantly, she learns to save herself. Speak her truth. Seek the support she needs. Find hope again in the tomorrows she has left.
If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come is a celebration of queer love, a gripping speculative narrative, and an urgent, conversation-starting book about depression, mental health, and shame.
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I tell you I wasn’t expecting this book to hit me as hard as it did! Lordt I wasn’t ready! I always say after books like this I’m going to stop going into books blind, because something like this book happens and I’m never ready for it.
The thing that sticks out the most to me is actually very different than most other books I read tho. For this book I was more interested in the premise. I couldn’t imagine hearing that an asteroid that was big enough to end life on Earth was headed our way. It was pretty scary to even just think about. And then what the main character is considering when the book opens would definitely make anyone think. It really made me think. I thought it did a great job of showing depression, but that’s coming from an outsider. I’ve never been diagnosed with it, but others around me have and I recognized so many of the same characteristics that I saw in Avery.
The other type of representation in this is LGBTQ+. I’m just an ally, but this is an Own Voices book, so I would say it’s a great representation of what it was like grappling with the feelings of falling for someone that you’ve been told by everyone you’re close to was immoral or bad. Avery’s journey was so hard I remember crying at so many parts of it. I hated that she had to figure out those things and I hated the way she went about it and the people she encountered. Like that one girl on the soccer team?! I have never wanted to fight a character more.
The second thing that stuck out to me was the characters. Watching Avery and her progress was incredible. I loved watching her come into herself and show herself and the world she was worthy of that happiness. I remember celebrating each of her revelations. This is the type of character arc that I enjoy. I also really enjoyed meeting all her family members and the rando professor that wanted to hang around. (I’m sorry, but that still creeps me out. Like why? Why did you trust this person that you failed to help you survive? lol) I do think the roommate was weird tho. She wasn’t there to help anyone but herself. And just like the professor she didn’t like Avery either, so why did she trust her with her literal life? It just seemed weird.
The writing style was great tho. It’s just something about a non-linear timeline that does it for me. This one starts at the end. Or what Avery thinks is her end. Throughout the rest of the book it goes through however many days until “the impact.” It starts far from the impact when her and her brother were kids. I loved it. Idk why but I find that so intriguing. It was enough for me to want to binge read it. The only reason I didn’t give this a perfect rating was the ending. I HATE not knowing exactly what happens to the characters. Especially when they’ve done all these things to prep for it and when they’ve finally got their lives together and have finally found each other. I get why it works here, but I would at least have liked to get a glimpse of the what happened. Even if she described the impact and then what it did to the environment and then nothing else.
I really enjoyed this. I cried, I wanted to hug her, and I wanted to throttle everyone else that was around and not SEEING her. No one was there when she needed them, but she kept herself from everyone as well. I cycled through all my emotions with this one and I really hope y’all love it as much as I do.
Overall, I give this
