Kaitlin Ward

Now that it's over, it seems strange to me how much I loved this book, but I really, really did! I'm usually not a fan of sci-fi or fantasy, and this book had a touch of both, but I didn't care. I was emotionally invested in the main character and her plight for survival. The suspense and stakes kept me riveted to the page, and the tension kept me reading well into the night. I'll definitely be looking for more from this author!

This book has an interesting premise but fell short of being really good. Some plot elements were never resolved and some of the twists the story takes are just plain confusing. There are also inconsistencies throughout the story.

Eliza loves geology and wants to become a geologist after high school. However, when her friends talk her into going into a swamp with known sinkholes things quickly change for her. Eliza falls into a sinkhole and she soon finds herself in a large cave with a group show more of other survivors. Survivors that have been living here for years and tell her there is no way out. Now Eliza has to solve the mystery behind this cave and the people here in order to make her way back home.

Some things about this book were pretty neat; I loved the creatures underground and enjoyed the geology that was discussed.

However, a lot of the character interactions were odd and not resolved well. For example one of the characters named Glenn seems out to get everyone but in the end he seems more helpful than harmful; I didn’t understand what was going on here and was a bit confused. There were a number of issues like this throughout the book...where things just didn’t quite make sense.

The story wraps up really quickly at the end and seemed very rushed. It was pretty unsatisfying and left me feeling a bit cheated.

Overall this was an okay read but not great. The premise was cool but the execution was uneven and a bit confusing. I don’t plan on reading more books by this author. show less

What a strange book. Not bad, not the best I have ever read. It kept me turning the pages because it was such a weird premise that I wanted to know what happened next. That all being said there are some serious flaws, but the oddity of it all kept me going. The earth is bleeding? It is growing hair and bones? Whyyyyy, tell me why! So...needless to say I ended up staying up way too late to finish this book.

The main character is absolutely the kind of person that would be the first to die in a show more real apocalypse. She is so very immature and concerned about all the wrong things during a very grisly worldwide crisis. There were of course moments of realism. For instance, when the main character unthinkingly gave a glass of water to her best friend and her mother rightfully lost her everloving mind over it. And when the main character encountered her gruesomely murdered best friend family and was at a loss on how to cope in any way other than to keep going.

But so many times I wanted to reach out and slap her over her misdirected attentions during a time of crisis. Of course you want to know that the people you love are okay but you don't go to a kegger in the middle of the bloodsoaked woods and even entertain the idea of drinking said blood from a straw when you know its dangerous; nor do you dare someone else to do it?! For the love of god, Darwinism in action. Honest to goodness I understand why her mother probably lost her mind trying to cope with her daughter being a brat and the dad being super secret about setting up a safe base and just leaving the pair of them completely in the dark (literally after they boarded up the house) and tried to kill the pair of them.

Just...fault after fault was to be found in the book. But I also couldn't put it down. I'm low-key mad they never really explained why in the world it all happened) but hey, what can you do?

Read it for a quick and bizarre trip through a bloodsoaked landscape with a whiny teenager while pondering why the hell this is all happening and what would you do. But don't expect to be overly fond of the characters. The writing itself was nice, easy to read. show less

The premise sounded intriguing enough - the world starts bleeding, sprouting hair and bones, and our narrator is not only a teenage girl, but one who identifies with the LGBT community.

Apocalyptic AND diverse - score!

But that's basically where the fun ended for me. As the world becomes more and more disgusting, the narrator becomes more and more irritating. What began as an intriguing, new premise became old fast as the same bits of description are worn out over and over again (yes we get it show more - the world is bleeding and has hair and bones and it SMELLS). It almost felt like the author came up with the idea, began writing, and then couldn't figure out how to develop the plot.

Even as I held out hope for something to develop plot-wise, I became too distracted by the increasingly whiny and self-centered inner dialogue of the narrator, Lea. While she had the potential to be an interesting, multi-dimensional character, it turns out that Lea doesn't care about much except being with her girlfriend, Aracely, despite having other things to clearly worry about (dehydration, blood poisoning, starvation, the health and well-being of her parents and friends, and not drowning in blood or being trapped in her house forever just to name a few).

The fact that the narrator identifies as a lesbian was definitely something that seemed meant to pull readers into the story (diversity in literature is clearly an ongoing fight and YA literature that features LGBT characters is often hard to find). Unfortunately, I found the relationship between Lea and Aracely to be extremely forced. The reader is continually reminded that Lea is fairly "out and proud" while Aracely won't even been seen in public with Lea and this aspect of the relationship is never truly developed. And while love scenes between teenagers is never anything short of awkward, I found the placement of these moments to not only feel fake (the line "brushes of skin and fingertips and mouths" was definitely used more than once throughout the book), but holy hell were they at inappropriate times in the story line! Who has time for make out sessions after you've just found someone brutally murdered?! Even teenagers must have more feelings than that.

Also, this:

She laughs, and it vibrates against my skin. Her fingertips trail down my arms, and we're kissing again, and this is so much better than talking about the people we've murdered.

I'm anxiously awaiting [a:Adam Silvera|7577278|Adam Silvera|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1414725025p2/7577278.jpg]'s new book just to remind myself that there is amazing YA LGBT fiction out there. In the meantime, someone please help me restore my faith in YA fiction that includes some LGBT female characters please! show less