My Review:
I promise you this review has no spoilers at all. You are safe to read it.
I thought maybe I could write this review without tears but as I sit here thinking about what I want to say I can feel them building in my eyes. Let me start by saying if you are going to read one book this year, this is the book you should read. I wont lie, I wasn't sure about the beginning of this book and I started to get worried that I might not be connecting with the characters and honestly I didn't connect with all of them but that didn't stop me from worrying about them regardless. The story is told in 4 POV's ~ Autumn, Sylvia, Tomas and Claire, all of them had their share of issues in their lives like normal teens and some not so normal teen drama. I felt at the beginning that everything was a bit thrown at you but I get it, you need to know these characters to experience what they felt, the fear, the pain and heartbreak of the next 54 minutes. Yes, in this book everything happens within a 54 minute time frame. The secondary characters become people you know even with just a short intro to them you know these people and are going through what the 4 main characters are seeing and hearing. With Twitter posts, Messages and Blog post you are experiencing it with them and around them. I wasn't that big of a fan of the back stories, I thought it might have had to many, I already was understand these characters and almost felt I didn't really need all of them.
This book lets you glimpse at what it would be like to experience the pain of watching friends and people you know die all because one person can't handle their life and needed to take it out on a bunch of other people, bringing a gun to school and just picking off everyone that wronged you. He was a lunatic, a madman or was he someone in so much pain that he didn't see things how others normally do. He killed people and had no remorse, no worries and felt no consequence for what he was or about to do. I didn't like him, I didn't feel for him, I only felt for those 4 kids and the people around them, brothers, sisters and friends.
I sit and think now about what happened and I cry even though I know this is just a book but for 4 hours reading this I was a part of that school, I knew those people and I watched it all happen not being able to do a single thing. My heart hurts and I am not sure if I will ever stop crying when I think of this book. Now ask me why I think you should read this...You must, even if you cry for days, weeks, years, you must read this. You must understand that what happened is beyond words and is a real as it gets.
I can't recommend this book enough, I wasn't kidding when I said If you read only one book this year, please make it this one. Please.
Thank you so much for stopping by to check out my review
Hope you have a great day and Happy Reading!