I had mixed feelings about this book, but overall, it was still worth reading. The title was actually what first attracted me to this book and when I read the premise I knew I had to read it. I loved Waverly, she was a unique and relatable protagonist, and really enjoyed following her journey. I also liked the diversity of the other characters. My issue was with the pacing. At the start it was slow and I struggled to engage, and although the second half did pick up, it felt rushed and left me feeling confused.

As soon as I saw fans of The Hazel Wood and One Of Us Is Lying invite me to read this book I knew I would love it and I did, Dark Academia is one of my favourite genres and this book did the genre so well with a fresh new take. I loved it

When I first saw both the title and cover for this book, I was intrigued. Even without having read the blurb, I requested the book on NetGalley and was thrilled to be accepted.

This book didn't disappoint.

Waverly, the main character, is a queer, autistic, scholarship student who gets the chance to attend her private school's luxury masquerade ball - all while masquerading as the most popular girl in school. But of course, things take a turn for the worse when a nationwide blackout happens and Waverly witnesses a murder.

I really liked the diversity and representation within this book and thought the author handled them well. The side characters were interesting and the plot, although a little flawed at times, was enough to keep me going.
Once I passed the one hundred page mark, I didn't put this book down and read it within an evening as the pace kept me hooked.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for my eARC. All opinions are my own.

This was such a fun ride with so many unexpected twists and turns. I loved the characters and the setting. One thing I wish the book had was a more in-depth exploration of the villains' dream future; the book definitely felt a little short.

I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow this book is a RIDE. I did start out wondering where it was going, and the answer is only sort of hinted at in the blurb so I won’t spoil it too much, but suffice to say that it is wildly improbable but also a highly octane, suspense filled rollercoaster that I thoroughly enjoyed!

I loved Waverley so much, and her autism seemed really well written - I hope own voices reviews let me know if I’m right on that :) I really enjoyed her friendship with Pari and Caroline, and the flashbacks we see into her relationship with Ash. There is a friendship I wanted to see more of and that I think should have worked out better, but I think it got sacrificed to the overall plot so hard to argue with that!

You can’t write this sort of book without it being a little ridiculous in places, but I think this does it perfectly, it leans into the right stereotypes and has a lot of fun. I would have liked to see what happened next but I completely understood why the book stops where it does, you can’t write more without going on forever.

All in all, a little silly and a lot of fun, this thriller is definitely one I recommend. 4 stars.

I appreciated the representation, covering visible disability, autism, as well as LGBTQ+ representation! The story itself was fairly fast paced, even if some plot points got lost because of this. Overall, I’m a sucker for a dystopian story line, which was a big thing towards my request to read it, and safe to say it was a book I don’t regret reading!

I really enjoyed this book. I really love Karen McManus' work and this was in a very similar context. Loved the storyline and the different representations. Would recommend.

I knew I had to read this when it was described as dark academia mixed with a romantic thriller - yes please!
I loved the cover and the premise especially anything with a masquerade ball included, they intrigue me so much and this book did not disappoint. It really grabs hold of your attention and doesn’t let you slip for one minute, it gives you thriller anxiety which I love and feel like that’s a good sign in a book but also the female power coming across and the coming together of those characters was amazing! Loved it

A dark and twisted story of class wars in the education system and the fallouts of the hierarchy. I’ve got a huge number of older teen fiction fans that will absolutely devour this in one sitting!

I have to admit that I was really excited to read this book as the genre appealed to me and my students love Karen McManus, Holly Jackson, etc.

However, I struggled with this book. I couldn’t get into it and the plot seemed really far fetched. I love fiction but a certain amount of it has to be believable and unfortunately I didn’t feel this was.

Having said that, the book was written in a way that I think junior school children may appreciate and was extremely inclusive with gay, autistic and many other characters represented. Wasn’t a bad book just wasn’t for me I’m afraid!

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

Sadly I couldn't get into this one, but I firmly believe that's just me and other readers will love it.

Waverly is a scholarship student in a renowned private and she's extremely grateful to his founder who even employed her parents to help them. There's a big masquerade party coming up and Waverly is not supposed to go but she gets the opportunity to go in someone's else place and she can't refuse since it means she might have a chance to see her ex who left almost a year ago and went no contact. She can't let that opportunity pass her by. But, once she gets there, having to keep up apparences is harder than one might think and then things get even more complicated.

This was weird... And not what I expected at all, it really went somewhere I didn't see coming. The whole setting was very interesting and I really liked the cast of characters, especially Waverly and Pari. They were truly layered and flawed and I loved loved them. The plot really kept me guessing from beginning to end, I could not stop reading. It was also a very short read and I always appreciate that. I do feel like the ending could have been a bit longer but I didn't mind too much. Overall, this was a very interesting read with captivating characters and a good social commentary. And it made me want to read more books by Jen Wilde.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK, Atom in exchange for an honest review.

This book is not what I expected.

This is the Way the World Ends bills itself as a YA thriller of sorts, at least from the vague description, but it is more of a dystopian than I was expecting. When Waverly gets the chance to attend an exclusive party she could never afford, she jumps at going. Unfortunately while she is there, the world literally starts to end and she discovers there has been an evil plot by the elite and wealthy to make sure only the 'appropriate' kind of people survive.

I must confess, my favourite part of this book was before any of the party stuff happened. I was enjoying reading about Waverly and her friends, and I found the reveal that the world was literally ending to be jarring and not what I wanted. Yes, it's there in the title but so many titles like this are metaphorical, especially in YA. It seems to be trying to come across as much more of a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars vibe from the blurb, and this is not accurate at all.

Putting that aside however, this book was fine. I think it skews close to the unbearable in terms of the 'wokeness' for me, and I say that as someone who adores representation in books. The rep was just a bit too deliberate and obvious in a clumsy way, with it being brought up almost constantly in ways which were unrealistic and didn't make sense. This is compounded by the villains, a bunch of old, white rich men. I hate people like that as much as the next feminist, but it was lacking the depth and realism to stop it being cartoonish. I support the intention, I just think the execution wasn't the best. This is especially clear when it comes to Freddie, the nice guy best friend who is just genuinely a nice guy for the most part, but gets punished by the narrative for...being male?

It also ends on a cliffhanger/sequel hook and that was a real pet peeve for me. The pacing felt a bit odd while I was reading it, and it was painfully clear by the end that it was purely to leave material for the next book. It didn't feel like a complete story by itself and that is always disappointing.

Overall, this book is a ton of fun in parts and it was nice to see such a wide range of representation. I just wish it had all been executed a bit better, and also that the blurb of the book told me more what kind of genre/experience to expect

Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Waverly is a scholarship student at an elite school because it is the only way for her to get to an Ivy league college in order to enter the medical field. When one of her elite friends, Caroline, suggests to Waverly that she should take on her identity for the exclusive, annual school mascerade ball she accepts, but only because she finds out that her ex-girlfriend, Ash, who mysteriously ghosted her is going to be there.
When the night takes an apocalyptic turn she has to learn that she can't trust everyone she thought she could while having to find a way to escape the hellscape she somehow got herself into.

First of all: WOW!
That was basically the only thing I could think of when I finished this book. I mostly forgot the synopsis which meant I went into it almost blindly and definitely didnt expect it to take a kind of pre-dystopian, sci-fi turn.

When I first heard about this book I was like "Autistic lesbians, dark academia and murder? Sign me up!"

The different kinds of representation in this book were amazing and were honestly my favourite part about it. There's queer rep, chronic illnesses, POC rep and at the forefront an autistic MC.
The autism representation was so well done. The author perfectly captures what masking feels like, the constant fear of judgement, meltdowns, sensory overload...
While this book deals with a lot of sensitive topics there's also lots of humor, banter and wit scattered throughout.

I did really enjoy the writing and it conveyed the main characters thoughts and feelings and the situations she found herself in extremely well.
Throughout I was constantly surprised, shocked and kept totally hooked.

While I really enjoy books with this length I feel like because there was so much happening in this it definitely couldve been longer. At the end it felt like there was still so much left unexplained. The pacing also changed quite a bit as it went on. It started a bit slower and took a while to really set up the story but felt like everything was happening fairly quickly later on.
At times it felt a bit unrealistic, a bit much but at the same time there are definitely some people in the real world that would probably try to pull something like this off in the case of something similar happening.

Overall I'd say this is definitely a good book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. But it would probably less appealing to someone looking for a typical survive the night, YA thriller and better suited for someone interested in dystopian and sci-fi mixed with a little bit of thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for providing me with an arc of this book.

I should have paid a little more attention to the title, but this was a book that couldn’t seem to make its mind up about what it was.
Our main character, Waverly, is a scholarship student at an elite school. She is gay and autistic, and she has wanted - more than anything - to feel a part of this world. She gets her chance when Caroline, one of the girls she tutors, asks her to stand in for her to attend the prestigious annual ball. Seeing this as her opportunity to try and talk to Ash - the Dean’s daughter who she was secretively seeing but who has ghosted her recently - Waverly goes…and gets caught up in a most unexpected turn of events.
The first half of the book focuses on the set up and ball. It drags, seemingly going nowhere. Suddenly Waverly finds herself in a mysterious room with some very important people. She witnesses a murder. Then it’s safe to say the pace becomes frenetic, with secrets being spilled left, right and centre and Waverly fighting to stay alive.
The story behind the murder is bizarre. It’s not implausible, but for something that was so long in the planning it seems odd that things unravel at that specific moment. It all felt rushed as we drew to the conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this before publication.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

The premise sounded intriguing and potentially sci-fi-esque, except the story soon took a really bizarre, far-fetched turn (or more than one), and I ended up skimming the last 3/5 of it just to get some answers (which didn't anything to reverse my judgement). Despite the amount of intersectional representation (including autism, disability, racial diversity and queerness in different forms and combinations), most of it is more "tell" than "show" - while the bad guys (and the entitled ones) are unbelievably over-the-top or cartoonish at best. The general idea reminded me of The Getaway by Lamar Giles, except that one had solid world-building, strong(er) social commentary and characters that actually felt real. I will admit that there's a lot of action in this one (though some of the scenes are self-serving, like the one in the mannequin storage room - what does such a place have to do with anything?), but that and the rep alone couldn't save the book for me.

This was a fun, riveting read. It's equal parts thriller and dystopia, with some good twists and turns. I really liked getting to know Waverley, and (caveat, as someone who is not autistic) it was really interesting to see how an autistic character might cope with... well, the end of the world, murder, and a sprinkle of conspiracy. I did find the beginning a bit intense, I'm all for representation and diverse casts, but the way this book presented it did feel like a shopping list of characteristics more than anything else. As well, towards the end it became pretty far-fetched: I definitely found myself thinking 'so what' at some points. It definitely kept me gripped though, and was an easy and fast book to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I started this book at around 7 am this morning because I couldn't sleep and ended up reading it until 9 am where I finished it in one sitting. It has been so long since a book fully grasped my attention that I had to read until the end. It was such an easy read that kept me interested and eager to read more.

With a cast of queer and diverse characters, and a deeper look into the privileges of rich, white a**holes and their powerful influence compared to the rest of the world, this is definitely a must-read!

Our main character, Waverly, is Autistic and a lesbian, who attends Webber Academy on a scholarship where the differences between her and the rich kids are nothing more than obvious. With her friends Frank and Pari, her life at school has been manageable, but for one night, she would love to be seen as anyone other than herself.

And then comes Caroline.

Caroline is one of the rich students who Waverly tutors but ends up becoming friends with. And Caroline can make Waverly's wish come true. The school's annual fundraiser is always a privileged party filled with the rich kids and their parents, but the ticket prices at 10k were too much for Waverly to ever consider. But Caroline just wants one night where she is not the centre of attention, and so, she proposes that Waverly goes in her place.

Waverly almost refuses, until she finds out her ex-girlfriend will be there. The same ex who just upped and left her one day with no warning. Waverly wants answers and to see Ash at least one more time, and so, she agrees.

Dressed in a lavish gown that cost a fortune and surrounded by the richest people of NYC, Waverly is finally going to experience her one night as one of them. That is... until a blackout hits the city and this elite party seems to be more than what it is supposed to be.

But will Waverly and her friends be able to figure out what is really going on before it is too late?

When reading this all I could think about was the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service ( a favourite of mine) because of some similarities (without the secret spies and shit). I know some people didn't like how the disabilities and such were described in the book, but I genuinely think it was a good call by the author. The descriptions just mention the basics of the disabilities mentioned such as her mother's flare-ups and Pari's hypermobility ED. Even mentioning meltdowns and Waverly stemming just felt so casual and it was honestly just nice to see the representation be put to page.

Overall, this book was fast-paced and full of some twists that were not too expected (I wasn't too surprised but it didn't interfere with my enjoyment when reading). The characters were all unique and a joy to learn more about, especially as the story when on. I loved Pari so much and that she was so funny and refused to take anyone's bullshit.

I definitely recommend this book and suggest you preorder it before it comes out on May 9th! (Or even see if you can get it preordered for your library!)

I'm on the fence here. While I came for a dystopia, I actually enjoyed the first part most. But I guess my main problem is that the book reads like two different books. For the first 40% we get a YA about an autistic working class lesbian trying to fit in a very posh prep school. There is this mildly unsettling atmosphere and you know that something bad is going to happen. And then, around 40%, the dystopian plot starts. Which feels really late in a game, especially for a literal end of the world, especially in such a short book? If the book was twice longer, I wouldn't worry about the long introduction but because of its length, the dystopian plot felt rushed and I almost wished it didn't happen.

There are some great characters but we're talking about Jen Wilde's book, of course there are great characters. Their relations and dialogues were the best part of the book. I also loved the discussions about disability and race and how only a very certain demographic is always "randomly chosen" (or worse, actively selected) in a dystopic scenario (white, rich, cishet, able-bodied, neurotypical... you get the drill).