Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for this ARC. "The Way We Fall" is a modern day nightmare because it could very easily happen. As I was reading, I thought back to the swine flu epidemic that broke out just a couple years ago and the panic that virus caused.
How do you hold onto to hope when all that you love is gone and a deadly virus threatens to take away what little remains? What do you when your part of the world is spiraling out of control, those left behind doing whatever they can to survive with no help in sight? Well...you write everything down - every detail so that once you're gone someone, someplace will know exactly what happened.
There's a strange virus attacking the small Canadian island that Kaelyn lives on. It starts off like any normal illness that lasts only a few days but there's a catch. After you get the itch that won't stop, a cough that won't go away, the fever that never breaks, you begin to speak your mind (with brutal honesty) and act in ways that would otherwise mortify you and then...you die.
It sweeps through the island community rapidly, claiming the lives of many of her schoolmates and neighbors while leaving the doctors and local government clueless about how to contain it. Fear of a full blown epidemic is rumored and when all communication to the outside world is cutoff, desperation sets in and the remaining island residents take matters into their own hands. The lines between right and wrong begin to blur as the fight to survive becomes crucial. Kaelyn will have to decide whether to give in to the hopelessness or join forces with the enemy.
As the days turn into weeks and more people are lost to the virus, Kaelyn comes to expect the pain and loss but what she doesn't expect to find in this whole nightmare is love and friendship. She finds both in the most unlikely places and under an odd set of circumstances but that's what brings warmth and humanity to this story. At one of her lowest points she realizes that regardless of all she's lost, she's right where she needs to be with the people she needs to be with even if they aren't the ones she would've chosen to be with when the virus first hit.
"But I've got people. People who care, who I care about. Maybe they're not who I'd have picked to be with if I'd been given the choice four months ago. But that doesn't mean they're not exactly who I need." ~ Kaelyn
Kaelyn's story is one of love, loss, bravery and perseverance. It has the capacity to both break your heart and give you hope in the human spirit as you witness her unwillingness to give up even when everything seems forgone .
This was a difficult story to read because of it's "realness". I wasn't a huge fan of the journal format but I know that there are plenty of readers who will enjoy it. The ending left me frustrated because I felt like there wasn't a real resolution to the virus plus, I wanted to meet Leo. However, I wasn't aware that this was going to be a series until after I'd finished the book and not meeting Leo yet made more sense as did leaving the virus situation unresolved.
Thanks goodness it is a series because I hate when things are unresolved. I have this one already on my TBR list. This sounds really scary and depressing. I hope Kaelyn doesn't have too much heartbreak because I cry easily.
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