As the World Falls Down By Katy Nicholas

Halley was living with her Aunt Rebecca at her farm when we first meet her. This is partially because of her mother’s passing. There has been a flu-like virus, so things have gotten apocalyptic. Most of the people on earth have died in 4 months’ time. There is very little canned food left and fresh food is nearly a thing of the past, except for the lucky few like Halley and Rebecca, who have access to a farm and have learned how to tend it. Global Warming has made it even more difficult by changing the climate. Halley gets fed up with Rebecca, who refuses to leave the farm and go look for survivors, so she sets out on her own. She travels for a while, then finds someone near death in their home. That someone turns out to be Nate, who she feels an instant connection to but because of an assault by her stepfather, she is not sure that she will trust him. With time, she gets to learn about his life while helping with his farm, such as the fact that he was a doctor before the apocalypse and had been around a lot of death and dying when it started. He is an orphan. Both of his parents died of the virus and the farm was theirs. The more she learns, the more she trusts him. Eventually they need supply, they set off to gather them and come across a group of people who show them that things are even more complicated and uncertain than they thought as they struggle to make sense of things and make it to Rebecca’s to check on her and hopefully get her to go with them. The twist near the end is amazing. I didn’t see it coming. Great debut novel. I can’t wait to read more from the author.