Rating: 3/5
Timely and powerful; the new coming-of-age thriller from the bestselling author of The One Memory of Flora Banks.
1. Live your best life.
2. Uncover family secrets.
3. Trust no one
What would you do when you hear the news that humans have done such damage to the earth that there might only be a limited amount of safe air left – a year’s worth at most?
You’d work through your bucket list, heal rifts, do everything you’ve never been brave enough to do before?
Olivia is struggling to do any of this. What it is she truly wants to do? Who do she wants to be?
Then out of the blue comes contact from a long-lost cousin Olivia didn’t even know existed. Natasha is everything Olivia wants to be and more.
And as the girls meet up for a long, hot last summer, Olivia finds Natasha’s ease and self-confidence having an effect on her.
But Natasha definitely isn’t everything she first appears to be …
This book is marketed as a “coming-of-age thriller” and I will say that this book appears to disregard every and all sub-genre out there. It is coming-of-age, but also discusses climate change and a very real possibility for the future, whilst also being dystopian and contemporary. This book really does find a way to incorporate multiple themes and discussion topics, in a way that still remains fast-paced and easy to read and get into.
Libby’s self-discovery almost comes at the worst possible moment, when the world’s end is imminent, but there is something so heartwarming and captivating about Libby’s character growth, amidst her cousin Natasha’s visit, and Libby’s own escaping from her self-imposed shell. The plot helps to keep up the intrigue, crossing into an almost YA thriller, with questions being raised about Libby’s mother, the family feud between her father and uncle, as well as about Natasha herself. Is she really who she says she is?
For me, I wish there was more emphasis on the “end of the world”. We are fed titbits of information when the world’s end is told to the population, and we do see the results through various means, but I just would have liked to have seen a more realistic reaction to finding out that life would cease to exist on a particular day. There were more rational characters that were shown to the reader, and I would have loved to have seen the flip side of this, which is touched on but never fully explored.
However, despite this, this book was an enjoyable read, and as a Brit, I love to read books set in my own country! A light-hearted, relatable, yet YA thrilleresque and suspense filled book that is one to check out!
Author Information:
I started out working as a journalist in London, but always hankered after a quiet room and a book to write. I managed, somehow, to get commissioned to go travelling for a year, and came home with the beginnings of a novel set in the world of backpackers in Asia. This became Backpack, a thriller which won the WH Smith New Talent Award, and I have since written eleven more novels for adults, one novella, and three book for Young Adults, published in the UK and around the world. I live in Cornwall with my husband Craig and our children.
Website: https://www.emilybarr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emily_barr
What was your first read of May? Let me know in the comments below!
Charlotte x
The Pen Not The Sword 
Great review!
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Thank you!
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