Katie Coyle

In this version of the United States, the evangelical Church of America and its leader, Beaton Frick, have become enormously popular. This book begins just before the date when Frick said the Rapture was supposed to happen.

Vivian Apple isn't a Believer the way her parents are, but she doesn't know what to think when she gets home after a Rapture party and discovers both of her parents gone, with two holes in the roof above their bed. Her parents aren't the only ones who've disappeared - show more other Believers are gone as well. But only a small number of them, maybe 3000, leading to confusion, panic, and fear.

At first, Vivian strives for some kind of normalcy. However, "normal" is never going to be the way it once was. The remaining Believers cling to the hope offered by Frick's prediction of a second Rapture, and there's still the issue of the end of the world, which Frick predicted would come several months after the first Rapture. With everything in chaos, Vivian teams up with her friend Harp and Peter, a guy she recently met who has connections to the Church of America, in an effort to find out the truth and hopefully reunite with her parents.

My copy of this is a 2015 ARC I picked up at a library conference years ago. Yes, shame on me for not getting around to it until now.

I finished this a couple days ago and am still not really sure how I feel about it. I will say this: wow, did the adults feel real to my adult reader self. Not really in a good way. When you're younger you often picture adults as being the ones who know what to do when things fall apart and you, personally, are terrified. The adults in this, though, were like a lot of the adults I know, doing their best to keep it together while probably hoping for an adultier adult to take over.

For folks like Vivian's parents, the "adultier adult" was Beaton Frick. Vivian's dad had lost his job, and during these tough times, Frick was a guy who seemed to have answers. The thing that Vivian couldn't get past was that the answers her parents were looking for didn't need to include her. When she didn't become a Believer the way they did, they left her behind emotionally...and eventually physically as well, after the Rapture. Vivian, Harp, and Peter were all teens who'd been failed by the adults in their lives - it just took Vivian longer to figure that out than it did Harp and Peter.

The whole road trip, Vivian's quest to find out what really happened during the Rapture and whether her parents were still alive - I was interested in all of that, and tense during times when Vivian, Harp, and Peter had to stop for food or gas. Most of the post-apocalyptic stories I've read have zombies or disease actively threatening the characters. Here, there were occasional disasters, but they generally weren't as direct a threat to the main characters as other people were.

This was largely a gripping read that fell apart a bit at the end. Several of the revelations strained my suspension of disbelief. It's funny, because I'd probably have been willing to roll with something more supernatural.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

I started this book pretty annoyed, expecting a YA Left Behinds (Tim Lahaye) knock-off; non-believer survives the rapture only to find the light of god, yadda-yadda-yadda. I humbly apologize and admit this was so much more than that. In essence, despite its science-fiction, survivalist backdrop, it is at heart a coming of age story about a girl trying to discover herself - and the meaning of "family" - before her death. The subliminal and superliminal commentary on mass-commercialism and Big show more Business was all too real and close to home. show less

We've reached the end of the Church of America story, I guess, but I want to see the fallout. When you have an organization this large and powerful, with tentacles in every aspect of society and government and it takes a fall, there are bound to be serious repercussions and that's a story I want to read. Do people embrace Edie to fill the hole left by Frick? Do the high-ranking members of the Church seek retribution? Does Goliath go completely around the bend and start hunting down those who show more "abandoned" him? What's up with all the natural disasters? Is the end of the world really nigh? This is my chief frustration with dystopian/post-apocalyptic YA (which this isn't, really, but employs a lot of the same tropes): Once the Evil Overlord/Corrupt Government/Fascistic Society/other Big Bad is toppled, nobody shows the fallout. Are we supposed to believe that our heroes go riding off into the sunset on unicorns and all is rainbows and kittens and hearts and flowers forevermore? No. I'm sorry, that's just not realistic. There should be consequences. SHOW ME THE CONSEQUENCES.

Sorry. That just turned into a general rant, rather than a criticism of this book in particular. It certainly applies here, but this is far from the first and is not likely to be the last book that has this problem. I guess this duology just had the misfortune of being the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I really liked it--I liked the story and the characters and that it didn't shy away from the ugly reality of trying to fight "The Man"--but, in the end, too much was left unanswered and it left me frustrated. show less

“The Rapture has been foretold for March 24th of three years hence.”

You know when you finish a really good book and you’re left speechless? You know, when you just want to hug the book and never let it go? That’s how I felt about this book.

I didn’t expect much when starting it, other than a light fluffy read. But it’s so much more than that.

From the very beginning, Vivian Apple is a very interesting heroine. She’s thrust into a situation that is completely unimaginable; the show more Rapture happened, and she, along with several other thousand people got left behind. How does she handle this? She’s so levelheaded even in the most difficult situation. Vivian always went into a situation thinking through her options. She is not a reckless and impulsive character. She’s strong when she needs to be, speaks her mind, and her whole journey is driven by her need to find answers. Vivian’s character solely evolved thanks to the Rapture, which is really interesting seeing how she changes subtly into her own.

I also love the fact that this book isn’t riddled with any of the typical YA tropes. No insta-love, no slut shaming, no Mary Sues. Instead it features a really strong female friendship between Vivian and Harper (which I’d like to add are two completely different people and still get along tremendously), a sweet, budding romance, and a lesson as to why family is so important.

There’s a sort of religious undertone to the book that really makes it better. It’s kind of a parody/comic depiction of religious obsession. It explains how the Rapture in the book came to place, and makes us all question ourselves.

Truly, this book has become one of my favorites merely because it was completely refreshing. I loved every second of reading it, and I can’t help but keep asking myself: “if the world ended, would I take it on as easily as Vivian did?” Highly recommend. show less