Blog Tour – Book Review | If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come by Jen St. Jude – a unique sapphic dystopian YA…

Hello my bookish friends. I am really excited to be part of the Ultimate Blog Tour with The Write Reads for debut novel, If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come by Jen St. Jude. Sadly life got in the way, so here is my delayed review. It’s the start of Pride Month and I have the perfect YA Dystopian recommendation for your to add to your TBR piles.

SOMETIMES, LOVE IS AN APOCALYPSE . . .

They Both Die at the End
meets All That's Left in the World - a heartbreaking and gripping first love story about courage, hope and holding onto love. Perfect for anyone looking for a big emotional romance of a read.
On the morning Avery Byrne plans to end her life, the world discovers there are only nine days left to live: an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it.
As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery fights her way home to save the girl she has been in love with her whole life. But can Avery also learn to save herself and find hope again in the tomorrows she has left?

Whilst I have put a content warning above, the first few pages is about the main character, Avery about to take her own life. There is a lot of reference to it throughout the book.

I love when a book takes me completely by surprise. Another book I didn’t know what to expect but the opening pages were so powerful, that will instantly tug at the heartstrings in all possible ways. You are so emotionally invested you can’t help but keep turning the page.

It takes the end of the world to save Avery’s life forever. A cataclysmic asteroid is about to hit the Earth and they only have nine days to live. When Avery gets a call from her best friend and love of her life that she’s coming home, she drops everything to meet her and takes a gruelling, emotional return back to her family.

The book is split by alternating time periods, set in the past we see Avery’s journey of her coming to terms with her identity, trying to fit in, understanding who she is and falling in love with her best friend and spiralling into this emptiness within herself. Then suddenly you’re taken back to the present as the book countdown to the end of the world, learning to be with each other again, coming to terms with the rough patches of their friendships and finally realising the reality of the world ending and being with the people you love. The apocalyptic world building felt very much like The Last of Us.

This book is the epitome of a hopeful, heart-wrenching, shattering romance. I love the build up of the friendship between Avery and Cast. Not only the romance between them but also their mental health especially Avery’s in the moments leading up to present. Everything in that moment, in the chapter feels raw, and honest and all-consuming, which really resonated with me as a reader.

If you loved They Both Die at the End and The Last of Us and you want a deep, meaningful sapphic romance with the world coming to the end. Then this is the book for you. If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come is a unique dystopian LGBTQ+ that will stay with you for a long time.

Thank you to Penguin Platform and The Write Reads for my copy in exchange for a review.