If There's No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout Published by Harlequin Teen on September 5 2017
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 384
Source: ALA
My content rating: YA (Characters have sex, Themes of death and dying, Teenage partying)
My rating:
Lena Wise is always looking forward to tomorrow, especially at the start of her senior year. She's ready to pack in as much friend time as possible, to finish college applications, and to maybe let her childhood best friend Sebastian know how she really feels about him. For Lena, the upcoming year is going to be epic--one of opportunities and chances.
Until one choice, one moment, destroys everything.
Now Lena isn't looking forward to tomorrow. Not when friend time may never be the same. Not when college applications feel all but impossible. Not when Sebastian might never forgive her for what happened.
For what she let happen.
With the guilt growing each day, Lena knows that her only hope is to move on. But how can she move on when she and her friends' entire existences have been redefined? How can she move on when tomorrow isn't even guaranteed?
I’ve loved many of JLA’s paranormal books, but I never really delved into her contemporaries until last year—not because I didn’t think they’d be good, but just because they didn’t stand out to me and make a huge impression. That all changed with The Problem with Forever. That book not only caught my interest enough to force me to read it, it wrecked me in all the best ways—I LOVED it! So, when If There’s No Tomorrow came out I was eager for more! And this book did not disappoint—JLA delivered on all the feels and true-to-life pain that resonated with me, and I think will resonate with almost all YA readers.
What Fed My Addiction:
- Peer pressure. How many times have you found yourself in a situation where you knew you should react in a certain way, but you didn’t want to rock the boat? Even as adults, I think we still find ourselves in these situations occasionally—as teens? Definitely. Lena is a smart girl. A good kid. And she makes a mistake—does something that she knew she shouldn’t do, but it would have felt awkward and pushy to do the right thing. And she has to live with the consequences of her bad decision. She has to live with the guilt that comes from knowing she should have done it differently. I think that this concept is pretty much universally relatable, which makes the story that much more powerful.
- A full cast of characters you can’t help but love. Every character in this book felt real to me. Lena’s friends, her family, the boy she loves… they all feel like people I could have known in high school. All wonderfully, perfectly flawed but there for Lena—or at least trying to be. (Okay, there are a couple of people who aren’t so good at being there for Lena, but part of the book is about repairing those relationships.) I loved the portrayal of realistic, messy relationships and how Lena’s personal issues get in the way.
- All the feels. I felt everything when reading this book, and I couldn’t put it down!! I read the whole thing in two sittings (it would have been one if I hadn’t forced myself to put the book down and go to sleep at one point) and I enjoyed every single minute!
What Left Me Hungry for More:
- Not much. Sure, there were times when I wanted Lena to stop beating herself up and let people in, but that was sort of the point of the book, so I don’t know how I can hold that against it. This is JLA at her best and I loved it!
This book reminds us that every choice we make has consequences, but we don’t have to be defined by our mistakes. It’s about the miracle of love and life and second-chances.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via ALA Annual in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
About the Author
# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become a passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was an Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that feature over a hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more. She is also the creator and sole financier of the annual Write Your Way To RT Book Convention, a contest that gives aspiring authors a chance to win a fully-paid trip to RT Book Reviews.
I am *beyond* excited to see such a positive review for this one! JLA is one of my auto-buy authors (one of the very few) and I think she has such a gift for story telling. It’s heartbreaking that one bad decision can have such catastrophic and permanent consequences – but it happens all the time. I can’t wait to experience this one for myself. Great review, Nicole!
I hope you love it!
omg you make this one sound so good. I had promise to move to darker stuff in the fall [dark fantasy and horror] but can I pas on this??? you also made me curious about The Problem with Forever! You had me at “wrecked me in all the best ways” LOL
I LOVE books like this that wreck me! I say, if you feel like reading darker, read darker, but don’t feel like you HAVE to.
I really want to read this one and still need to read The Problem with Forever. Glad you loved both. Great review!
You should definitely read them both! (I know—too many good books in the world.)
Looks like still another author I need to familiarize myself with!!
You definitely should!
I always dither with Armentrout books. They’re strangely addictive but too frequently I find small things frustrating me with her books. I will definitely be reading this because I do love Armentrout’s books and how they hook me in and it does seem like it’s a good read. Her contemporaries tend to be far easier reading than her paranormal reads.
It took me a little while to warm up to the Lux series, but I’ve really loved these last two contemps!