{"id":43095,"date":"2025-06-09T22:30:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T02:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=43095"},"modified":"2025-06-09T22:30:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T02:30:37","slug":"review-of-if-tomorrow-doesnt-come-by-jen-st-jude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=43095","title":{"rendered":"Review of If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come, by Jen St. Jude"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If Tomorrow Doesn\u2019t Come<\/em><\/p>\n

by Jen St. Jude<\/p>\n

Bloomsbury, 2023. 406 pages.
\nReview written May 29, 2023, from my own copy, sent by the publisher.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

If Tomorrow Doesn\u2019t Come<\/em> begins on Avery Byrne\u2019s nineteenth birthday morning. She\u2019s walking to the river on campus, where she plans to drown herself. She\u2019s written good-by letters and is ready to go.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s interrupted by the news that a giant asteroid is going to strike the earth in nine days. It\u2019s looking likely that not just Avery, but everyone she loves is about to die. That wasn\u2019t how it was supposed to work.<\/p>\n

Avery\u2019s at an ivy-league university in New Hampshire, but she gets a call from her best friend Cass \u2013 at Pratt Institute in New York City \u2013 to meet in Boston. And Avery can\u2019t help but promise to be there. She ends up traveling in a van with her roommate, Nigerian-born Aisha, and the professor who failed her first semester, along with his dog.<\/p>\n

After some adventures meeting up with Cass in Boston, most of the book is set in Avery\u2019s home town of Kilkenny, where her parents think they can make a bunker in the basement and survive the catastrophe. The asteroid is going to hit in Arizona, so it\u2019s possible they might make it, if they can stockpile enough supplies.<\/p>\n

The story plays out in the days leading up to the asteroid strike. And no, we don\u2019t find out if they survive \u2013 not knowing and how you would live not knowing is what the book is about. The stories of the present are interwoven with stories of the past and what led to Avery\u2019s deep depression.<\/p>\n

Part of that is she\u2019s long been in love with Cass, but wasn\u2019t able to come out to herself as lesbian, let alone her family and friends. When the future is uncertain, somehow that seems more important.<\/p>\n

The characters are nineteen, and there\u2019s a somewhat detailed lesbian sex scene, so this isn\u2019t necessarily for younger teens. This book is primarily about depression and seeing all you have to live for, as well as the importance of living for yourself, and not simply for others.<\/p>\n

There are no pat answers in this book, but it\u2019s beautifully expressed. I have to say that the writer shows Avery\u2019s emotions so effectively, the book was a little sad to read. But it also realistically showed Avery coming to terms with her own attitudes that helped lead to her depression. And we believe in her plans to get a therapist and maybe take medication \u2013 if they all survive.<\/p>\n

But I can\u2019t express how beautiful and uplifting this book is despite all that. Avery does find joy and reasons to live. I was reading this book for the Morris Award, but my first time through, was so immersed in the book, I didn\u2019t take much time to think critically about it. Whatever our committee ends up deciding, I highly recommend this book.<\/p>\n

jenstjude.com<\/a>
\nBloomsbury.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/if_tomorrow_doesnt_come.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Tomorrow Doesn\u2019t Come by Jen St. Jude Bloomsbury, 2023. 406 pages. Review written May 29, 2023, from my own copy, sent by the publisher. Starred Review If Tomorrow Doesn\u2019t Come begins on Avery Byrne\u2019s nineteenth birthday morning. She\u2019s walking to the river on campus, where she plans to drown herself. She\u2019s written good-by letters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,42,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-fiction","category-starred-review","category-teen-fiction-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43095"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45322,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43095\/revisions\/45322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}