Cover Design & Art: Rebecca Syracuse
Genre: YA Fiction, Romance
For fans of Jeff Zentner and Katie Henry comes a thrilling and funny debut about a teen raised in a doomsday community who plots her escape with the boy from the bunker next door.
Always be ready for the worst day of your life.
This is the mantra that Becca Aldaine has grown up with. Her family is part of a community of doomsday preppers, a neighborhood that prioritizes survivalist training over class trips or senior prom. They’re even arranging Becca’s marriage with Roy Kang, the only eligible boy in their community. Roy is a nice guy, but he’s so enthusiastic about prepping that Becca doesn’t have the heart to tell him she’s planning to leave as soon as she can earn a full ride to a college far, far away.
Then a devastating accident rocks Becca’s family and pushes the entire community, including Becca’s usually cynical little sister, deeper into the doomsday ideology. With her getaway plans thrown into jeopardy, the only person Becca can turn to is Roy, who reveals that he’s not nearly as clueless as he’s been pretending to be.
When Roy proposes they run away together, Becca will have to risk everything—including her heart—for a chance to hope for the best instead of planning for the worst.
So I originally picked up this book for its cover (I’m a sucker for minimalist // retro illustrations), but stayed for the unusual plot. This novel was at times hard to read as Becca goes through so much emotional, internal, and physical hardship. However, the overall novel shares an important message of finding the strength to break away from a familiar, but harmful reality in order to pursue one’s dreams. The one thing I didn’t like was the character development for Roy who was such an important part of the story. It was difficult to connect with him and we only got to know him through his interactions with Becca. I would’ve loved to see things from his perspective. A novel with similar themes, but targeting a different issue is A Shot at Normal by Marisa Reichardt.