Beautiful.
Have tissues nearby if you read this. ( )

"Aren't we the lucky ones?"

So many things to do in nine days. So many things that can change, that one can discover about oneself.

The base of the story, in coming apocalypse is by no means a new idea and yet St. Jude manages to put a completely new spin on it. The execution is amazing. The sadness and the hope, the desperate want to be alive and the emptiness of not knowing how to do so. Loving each other in so many different ways. Loving each other as siblings and as parent and child, as lovers and as friends. So many ways that we can find it. That quiet thing. Love.

Amazing story, I'd recommend to everyone ^^ ( )

Recommended by Dawn at Munson

On Avery's 19th birthday, she plans to die by suicide. But moments before she steps into freezing water to drown, alarms blare across the Eaton [think Dartmouth] campus, and her phone lights up with a call from her lifelong best friend Cass in New York: an asteroid is heading for Earth, expected impact in nine days, and it is going to be world-ending, on par with the asteroid that led to the extinction of all non-flying dinosaurs. Suddenly, everyone in the world is trying desperately to reach their family and friends, and Avery is caught up in the rush: she needs to get to Cass, and she needs to get home to her parents, her older brother Peter and his wife Georgia and their son Teddy. Over the next nine days, Avery finds things to live for, and patches things up with Cass, who she realizes she's been in love with for some time (Cass has been out and proud as long as Avery has known her). Secondary characters are well developed, including Avery's religious parents, Peter and artistic Georgia, Avery's roommate Aisha (from Nigeria), and one of her professors.

Quotes

Everything looked so beautiful, but I didn't know how to feel it. (2, 303)

I'd forgotten how much it hurt to want things. (40)

She was still helping people. People were still helping people. Couldn't I? (45)

And I thought, No other heaven could ever compare to this one. It doesn't want us to grovel. It doesn't need us to change. (56)

"I know it's painful to feel hopeful, but maybe we should," Cass said. "Who does it hurt?"
But I knew hope wasn't a choice. (93)

"We are people pleasers and perfectionists, and it is a bad combination." (Aisha to Avery, 248)

[Depression] was in the soil of who I was as a person. It wasn't something that had roots and therefore a way to weed it out. (310)

"Oceans, rivers, they're like hope for what's beyond us. But lakes remind me there's beauty where we are." (Cass to Avery, 396) ( )

On the day that Avery Byrne plans to commit suicide by drowning (like her aunt Devin) the world is warned that an asteroid is heading straight for it. It was crash land in 9 days and the effect will be catastrophic. Avery's depression got the better of her. Her college roommate, Aisha, finds her by the river where she intends to jump in the icy waters and her best friend Cass calls her. Cass makes her promise to meet her as she makes her way from Manhattan to New Hampsire.

If Tomorrow Doesn't come tracks Avery's life from 6 years prior to impact alternating with days prior to impact, as Avery deals with her life. It tracks the course of her depression, the course of her friendship with Cass and her family life.

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a book of hope and friendship and love. Well worth the read. ( )

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: If Tomorrow Doesn't Come

Poised on the edge of a dock, on a cold February morning, Avery is ready to die. College was supposed to be the restart she needed. The place where she could finally be herself, but nothing has worked out the way she thought it would. Then she learns an asteroid is heading for Earth and there are only nine days left to live. Avery chooses to step back from the water and be with her loved ones for the end of the world. After all, it’s nine more days. Yet as time runs out, Avery will discover what it means to live once more.

Jen St. Jude tells Avery’s story through a combination of past and present, showing Avery’s path to discovering who she is and how depression began to take hold. The writing does a wonderful job of bringing to light tough subjects such as mental health, sexuality, and homophobia. All of which Avery faces throughout the course of the novel. And Jen St. Jude does this with such care, outlining Avery’s struggles to readers in a way that allows them to understand her and see where Avery is coming from.

There are many moments in this book where the reader will feel uncomfortable and displaced alongside Avery. From offhanded comments to religious undertones of worthiness, Avery’s struggle is brought to life in startling clarity. But there is also a thread of hope woven into the story. When the asteroid forces Avery to change her decision, she will take her first few steps toward a new reality. One that may end in nine days, but will show her the beauty of what life can be and how to enjoy her remaining time alongside loved ones.

If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come is a truly powerful novel. The characters leap from the page and lodge themselves firmly in the reader’s hearts. Avery’s struggle to be herself and be accepted is heartbreaking. From trying to feel at home in her own body, to searching for acceptance for who she is, Avery's journey will be sure to touch the hearts of readers. ( )