Loved the found family dynamic in this book. The diverse cast was also great. I will definitely recommend this book!

I was unable to get into this book and DNF'ed it at 25 percent unfortunately. It just was not able to hold my attention.

If you enjoy reading about a zombie apocalypse, this book will not disappoint.
If you are looking for a book that has lesbian romance, this book does not have it. It does have 2 characters that are LGBT however.
This book starts as there is a virus spreading throughout London. In all, 7 strangers (and a dog) from the train to trying to find safety get together and try to survive.
These zombies are not your typical zombies. These zombies are infected with a type of Ophiocordyceps (aka Cordyceps). These zombies have these things growing out of them that have spores that are released into the air. Not only do you have to avoid being bitten, you also have to avoid inhaling the spores! Very unusual twist.

This is unlike any zombie book I have every read and I am thrilled this is only Book 1 of a series!

I would highly recommend this.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This was a refreshingly different take on the zompoc. The types of infected, mutations, and the spread of the virus was so different than what we usually see.

The story kept my attention, and though there were many characters, it didn't make they story confusing or hard to keep track of who was who. The characters were very likable, even the ones you love to hate. There were a few parts that dragged for me, but I don't think it took away from the story, and it didn't make me what to put the book down.

The diversity and representation were well done. Just about anyone who reads this can relate to one of the characters. It was easy to get attached to the characters, especially as you learned more of their backstories.

All-in-all, this was a good read, and I hope the sequel doesn't take too long. I need closure!

An exciting new entry in the zombie apocalypse genre, <em>How We End</em> is a remix on the old dystopian setting, combined with the familiar fantasy tropes of found family, acceptance, overcoming trauma and past struggles, and more. The characters are the shining features of this story. While I appreciated the characters and their gradually growing relationships (if you enjoy slow-burn, keep this one on your radar), I found the plot and pacing somewhat lacking. That may be due to the fact that it is the first entry in a series, so a lot of it necessarily sets up the background for what is to come.

The main characters are Jake and Liv, and we get alternating perspectives. This is one of my least favorite things about the book. First, multiple perspectives, especially ones that switch every chapter—when each chapter is a handful of pages—can become headache-y for me. Second, Jake’s POV was in first-person while Liv’s was third-person limited. So, as a reader, the effect this gave me was… whiplash. First-person POV is not my favorite in the best of circumstances, but here it truly took me away from the story every time I had to ‘reset’ my brain to the current chapter’s style. Anyway, perspective issues aside, the characters were engaging and won my hard-earned sympathy by the end of the novel. I did find some issues and attitudes expressed by a certain character to be somewhat… repetitive and nearly too self-pitying for my liking, but the development of that character was making some headway by the end of this first volume.

The plot, while not mind blowing or completely reinventing the wheel, plays with the dystopian setting and themes, and that was a pleasant journey. We get a zombie apocalypse in the middle of London—an unusual setting, at least from an American perspective. There are some hilarious remarks about being surprised at (not using) guns. Perhaps most intriguingly, the author rehashes the zombie ‘virus’ stereotype, and while I won’t get into spoilers here, I think it is worth exploring this novel if you enjoyed reiterations on typical zombie worldbuilding, like <em>The Girl with All the Gifts</em> by M.R. Carey. Juniper certainly has a vivid writing style, which is not to say it is overly verbose or purple—rather, it is quite blunt with its descriptions, which can add to the grossness factor when we get into zombie and gore territory. Horror fans won’t be disappointed here.

Still, one area I wished saw some more editing or improvement was the pacing. The beginning of the novel lands us right in the middle of the action, but the middle portions of the book dragged for me. We get many scenes of the characters just talking or relaxing—and while there isn’t much to do in a zombie apocalypse, some of these discussions or scenes seemed awfully too convenient to happen in the midst of a pandemic. I don’t doubt the author did their research, far from it; and I know that even in an apocalypse, people need their rest and moments of reflection. I just expected them to be interspersed with some more action and scenes that felt like the characters were actually doing things, or making progress. The ending, the last 20% or so of the book, ramps up the action quite intensely. It was enjoyable, but the reading to get to that point had a lot of starting and stopping for me. I also did not care for the romance, but that’s just me.

All in all, this was a decently enjoyable read, and I was quite surprised to the degree to which I came to care about these characters. The worldbuilding is also fascinating enough to keep my interest for the sequel. If you want an enjoyable zombie apocalypse story with a turn on the old stereotypes of the genre, with a heaping dose of the lighthearted (and dark) tropes mentioned above, then this is definitely a book worth checking out—especially since it’s free on Kindle Unlimited.

Definitely one of my top favorite apocalypse books of the year! You really learn a lot about the different characters which helps you connect with them as they go along their way. There was enough action and adventure mixed in with calm that it didn't set my anxiety on edge through the whole book but yet not so much calm as to not keep me engaged. I could just enjoy their stories while they were in the house and worry along with them while they were out.

I enjoyed the two main characters in this book so much that I kept reading it even though the cause of the apocalypse really creeped me out. It took me almost a week to finish this book. I loved sections of this book. I would speed through them. And then have to put the book down because the type of zombie is a straight up no for me. They made my skin crawl. No. Just no.

I'm glad to read about Jake and Liv. I not sure if I will be reading the rest of the series because the whole fungus mutation thing has too high of an ice factor for me. It’d not the type of sci-fi I enjoy. But if that doesn’t creep you out, I would this book.

I received an ARC for an honest review of the book.

This is a new and interesting addition to the zombie genre.

I'm a big, big fan of zombie novels. Once you suspend your disbelief about the, well, zombies, these stories can be excellent reflections on how individuals survive when their world falls apart and when fear is a constant companion. They are at heart novels about dealing with chronic PTSD and on-going trauma, and about 'big' topics like resilience, kindness, selfishness, fear and what it means to be human. And at the same time they are profoundly mundane, dealing with day-to-day practicalities.

Although essentially a fairly light, typical zombie novel, How We End is comparatively good, and very readable, with a few interesting twists on the standard zombie tropes. On top of that, it's set in the UK, so there's none of the gunslinging bravado that plagues (pun intended) many US-based zombie books. So in terms of basics, it's original enough to keep it interesting and to make it stand out as something new in its category.

As usual, it's about a group of strangers who come together and become a band, or family, fighting to survive together. Again, it's a bit different, with an interesting range of characters.

The worldbuilding is confident and the writing is overall quite good. My only niggle is that the dialogue is a bit tiresome in parts, where it descends a bit into childish ragging or teasing, At times I was unsure if this was targetting an adult or YA audience.

That said, I was gripped from the start and it held my interest right to the last page, leaving me hungry for more. It's exciting, emotional, and one of the scenes towards the end comes as a real surprise.

After the deluge of zombie novels published some years ago, there's been rather a dry season for the past few years, so it's nice that publishers haven't completely given up on them. There’s life in the old zombie yet.

My thanks to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing an ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.

Fun, light read about people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.

How We End by L. M. Juniper is an apocalyptic book about 7 survivors trying to escape London while in the middle of zombie pandemic. Ordinary people, with ordinary jobs and every day problems, are battling their way through London and racing with time and virus itself. Who will survive and who will die? Will life ever be normal again?

We follow two main characters who meet by chance, Jake and Liv. Jake is a guy who works in the underground and has to fight his way up in order to survive while saving people along the way. Liv is a broken woman, who doesn't have any spark left in her life and has nothing to loose. This story is as much about people's internal struggles and battles, as well about zombies trying to take a bite out of them.

I would like to start by mentioning what I enjoyed in this book. I guess, my favourite part was how I got to read through the start of this apocalypse. Government and news broadcasts were definitely my favourite parts, though I wish there were more of it. I really enjoyed zombies and their evolution, but I will not say more about, for the sake of spoilers. Let's just say that zombies on "How We End" are not that slow.

Characters were well enough written and you can definitely get attached to them, but the book felt too repetitive at times, too much dwelling into people inner demons and break-hearts, and believe when I say it that there are a lot of talking about feelings, because every single character in there is broken on a certain level.

There were parts in a book that I felt were left out and I would have loved to know what happened, but it felt like author just skipped it altogether and went on concentrating how broken these people are on and on. I was bothered by a lot of choices made by characters in this book, but I don't want to be too specific, because I want my review to be spoiler free.

Overall, story reminded me a lot of a video game that I used to play 'State of decay 2" and it didn't felt original, in my point of view. But I guess, since zombie topic is so much exploited, it's hard to come up with something new these days..

I wish story was better polished and some of mistakes were fixed. It had great potential, but it feels like it needed more work on it. I don't mean to be a rude person and there will be people who will enjoy and are enjoying this book, but unfortunately, it was not for me.
And so my rating is 2.5 stars.

This has been a good year for post-apocalyptic books and this is another excellent one to add to the pile. i loved the world building, the steady connection between the characters, and the sparking romance. I will always take time for a good zombie book, and this is one of the best I've read in a while.

This book is a fantastic zombie apocalypse read that felt so surreal reading, the book is based in London and then further parts of the UK making it very easy to keep up with the books
locations and made visualising the end of the world very easy.

“if its one thing we Londoners dislike more than tourists, its people in our personal space”

The writing is fantastic, and the book is a complete page turner, entertaining, emotional and engrossing, How We End is told from the perspective of two MC’s – Jake and Liv - who meet a third of the way through the book, this really helped add to the plot, character and relationships development, there were particular characters who were so well written, that you just felt so close to them, you felt like this was a group you would have no problem being is a dystopian world with, but there are some who still feel a little untrustworthy – I am looking at you Noah and Keith

The squad goals are next to none, and it really felt quite heart-warming that this group of unlikely friends find each other and began to care and support one another “I smile at the sight of the ragtag group of strangers who have become family. People I couldn’t make it without.” The character diversity is fantastic, I really like how there wasn’t much time spent on their characteristics, they were just very well-developed personalities/characters who happened to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, it was not put in the book to be the main characteristic of those characters which really helped to make the book feel more realistic, as
not everyone in that community is defined by their sexuality.

The ending of the book really got me though, and there were a number of scenes that threw me, such as Claire and Francis and Jake’s mum, there were times I laughed and chuckled, and
others that I was ugly crying at the trauma, and major changes in the book, the plot twists are fantastic and completely unexpected, either way this book feels like the love child of 28 days
later and the Walking Dead, and it’s an absolute pleasure to read, I honestly cannot wait to read How We Survive

There is a glossary at the end of the book which really helped to provide descriptions for particular language and words used throughout the book in regards to the infected.

You know that feeling when you expect one thing from a book, but it completely blows you away? That’s how I felt after reading How We End by L.M Juniper. When I picked it up, I thought it was a fantasy novel that would spout theories about a zombie apocalypse. It turned out to be a realistic and scary story of a world overrun by a deadly fungus. How We End is the main novel in a series of stories about how a group of people survive when the world ends.
If you’re triggered by homophobia, profanity, murder, child abuse, or mentions of drug addiction or gore, please tread carefully. The characters central to the novel are transgender people, homosexuals, blacks or other people of colour. As essential as these factors are, the book's central theme is the essence of humanity and how it brings all of us together despite our differences.
This dystopian book was a gripping read for me as it focused on subjects like found family, desperation, friendship, survival instincts, regrets and courage. Set in the United Kingdom, the whole world is in ruins, and people are biting and eating each other. The seven main characters find themselves fighting for their lives even as they face the reality of personal struggles. Nothing about this book was unbelievable, as the author used real locations and hypothetical situations that could happen. The research, attention to detail, and empathetic character-building brought this novel together and made it beautiful.
Compared to other fantasy and dystopian novels, I would say How We End is up there. Juniper brings an exciting and scary perspective to the genre I rarely see, and their book exceeded my expectations. As I mentioned earlier, the characterisation is solid and diverse. Due to their diversity, the survivors make a strong team and manage to keep going even as the fungi situation worsens. It was easy to hate some characters at first, but all of them experienced immense growth, making it easy to root for them. We see characters who have heartbreaking backstories and find it hard to trust. We also see characters who have calm exteriors but are breaking inside from all the pain they went through in their past.
I enjoyed the way there was more focus on the theme of finding a family rather than the typical route of romance that most fantasy books have. However, there is no way to know if the characters will survive, which I guess will be known in the sequels. Apart from that, the ending was satisfying but heart-wrenching at the same time, as the characters were left in a world that’s almost impossible to survive in. The only inconsistency I noticed was a character’s name being misspelt in the middle of the book.
I felt the book could have maintained its fast-paced movement when it slowed down towards the last few chapters. Nonetheless, I don’t believe it affected its quality or message. The writer uses casual British English and relatable expressions, making the book really engaging. By the time I finished, it felt bittersweet to let the survivors go, and I was also happy that they had gotten that far in the most extreme of situations. Frankly, the novel is right back on my To-Be-Read [TBR] list again.
I recommend How We End to dystopian fantasy readers, people who like adrenaline-filled books or a reader who wants to feel connected to humanity when reading. If you’re in one of these categories, you can never go wrong with this book. It’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, make you question a lot of things or just see human nature for what it really is.

Absolutely loved this book. It’s like walking dead and the last of us meet up. Highly recommend if you like zombies, apocalyptic, survival reads. Easy to read and follow. It’s like you are a part of the story. Excellent!!

https://www.amazon.com/How-We-End-Survive-Book-ebook/dp/B0BFNHMTXJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14HYZB4AU44U6&keywords=How+we+end&qid=1666542293&sprefix=how+we+end%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1#customerReviews

I found this book very intriguing really enjoyed that the narrative began in first person and then switch to third person for the second major character. The book starts on a tube train stuck in a tunnel , Jake our first major protagonist is a train driver on his way to meet his girlfriend, we are led to believe they are about to break up. During this we are introduced to a few other characters some pleasant, some not so. The book then switches to third person and we meet Liv in a different part of London. Things start to escalate quickly and we realise we are at the beginning of a “Zombie” apocalypse. So far so expected. The thing about this book is the way the characters come together and you start to really care about them . There is a slow romance that I really rooted to for and characters that I really didn’t want to lose. There is another volume coming. I can’t wait.

How We End by LM Juniper.
How We Survive Book 1.
A deadly infection. Seven Strangers. The fight for survival begins...
Jake didn’t think his night could get worse. Being dumped by his fiancée is bad enough, but when his train stops deep underground and zombies attack, things go from worst-day-ever to run-for-your-life terror.
I really enjoyed this book. Good pace. Great story. 5*.

I thought this was an enjoyable read; it did take me a few sittings to complete because it did start off a bit slow in my opinion, but once the story actually got going, the plot and characters were interesting enough to eventually get me invested.

Nevertheless, one big problem I had with this, is even though it did have its moments, is that I feel like I read this book hundreds of times before, not claiming that will be an issue for everybody because I went through a phase I was obsessed with novels like this, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it affected my personal enjoyment.

With that said overall, this was a good read, with interesting characters and a captivating plot that I recommend if you’re interested in this genre.

This long book feels much too short, the short chapters certainly helped but it was the characters that really pulled you in. I was happily surprised at the trans representation and the way it was handled and taken seriously even during the beginning of the end. The characters were well developed and each interesting on their own and electric together. The backstories and complex lives give more than just history and further the plot. The science is unlike I’ve ever seen before and gives a new and more complicated view towards zombies, how they began and how they can be destroyed

Really enjoyed 'How We End', there was the perfect mixture between action/adventure and calmness where you really got to learn more about the different characters in the book, and enjoy these moments in the house without constantly worrying about what danger lurked outside

That said towards the end it did lull me into a false sense of security and I wont spoil it but my reaction was just 'what the actual fuck????!!!!!!!'

Feel like this book wrapped up nicely with no major cliff-hanger but still left a lot of questions so I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series to see what happens

- post apocalytic
- trans mmc & other lgbt+ characters
- found family (?)

How We End is one of the best post-apocalyptic - zombie - virus-taking-over-the-world books I've read in a while. I missed this genre, this theme. I was intrigued by the description of the book, and of course, it has an awesome cover.

You grow to love each character, and are there with them every step of their survival in a new world. A world where there are infected walking the streets. You follow a group of survivors, each struggling with loss and pain in this infected reality.

The author does a great job with character development and world building. The characters begin to unfold and grow through the story, and then you begin to attach yourself to them emotionally, almost forgetting that this is a book about the end of the world.

The world itself, more specifically the virus, the type of infected, how it works, how the world falls apart around them,... it's all very well done.

I really enjoyed this book and wish to read more from the author in this genre.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy reading post-apocalyptic, zombie virus survival books.

There where several things that I loved about this book and others that I didn’t specially like, I did like the characters, the points of view of Jake and Liv that brought the story to life, the details of the story of the characters that helped give life to them to make them special, and relatable, the fact that it started inside of London, their trip out of London and you could say, out of the frying pan into the fire, but that I will leave for people to dive in and understand what happened in their story, what was found and what was lost.

What I didn’t really like was how the characters where still being described more than halfway through the book, if it is important you’ll give the description when we first meet the character, not really after we have this character in our mind, and I don’t mean coming out, I mean their physical appearance, but this maybe its only my OCD acting on this, hmm other thing that kind of let me down is the exploding “zombies” when in London a couple of zombies died near our MCs and they didn’t explode but after they got out of London they started exploding spores, but again, not all exploded... I know that the author got inspiration in the last of us zombies, but it took to them (the last of us game) many years after the outbreak for them to have so many different kinds…

Yes it is close to the until the end of the world story, but at the same time quite different. When the action is fast the story moves really fast, when the story drags, it goes much more slower than you would expect it to go… Its really easy to get lost in the time frame of the book, from start to end, maybe more than the 2 – 3 months.

Its a good story, but feels rushed in some parts, I will still recommend this book when someone asks for a different take on a zombie story.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.