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You and Me at the End of the World - Brianna Bourne

 


Genre: Young Adult | Romance | Contemporary 

Release Date: 20th July 2021

Publisher: Scholastic Press 


This is no ordinary apocalypse. 

Five days ago, it went quiet. Hannah is totally alone in her once bustling city and she has no idea why or how everyone disappeared. Then she finds Leo; the most beautiful boy in the world, and not only because he might very well be the only boy in the world.

They don't know why the world has stopped around them, or why they're still there. But now there's nobody else to watch over them, who are they in the silence? 

Maybe they'll finally figure it out as they explore their silent, empty world together … if they can survive the strange and unusual new world unfolding around them. 

"So, now that we've established our mutual existence, please tell me you know what's going on. Do you know where everyone else went?"

Honestly, I saw this book and had to buy it because it's just so beautiful. And thankfully, the story inside was too. 

I fell in love with Hannah within the first few lines - the kind of girl who apologises to inanimate objects and still won't park in 'no parking bays' at the end of the world. She's quiet, but has a boldness, a strength that shines through. At the beginning I thought Hannah and Leo were going to be typical cliché characters; the quiet ballet girl and rockstar wannabe player with their standard teenager drama - but they evolved slowly, apart and together in a beautiful and natural way. 

Moving at a breakneck pace, the world quickly stars crumbling and falling apart around them, with a unique and unfamiliar disaster unfolding that keeps the reader holding their breath, waiting for the next strike from a cruel world. 

Now, I'm conflicted about the last quarter or so of this book - it's beautifully written and emotional, but for me it's not the ending I was waiting and hoping for, it kind of snapped me away from the trance the rest of the book had me suspended in.

This is a story now just about the end of the world, but the start of it too.


⭐⭐⭐


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