*I received a copy of this book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review.*

There was darkness in this story, as you would expect with post-apoc, but there was also light and fun. I even laughed out loud a few times!

The characters were lovable and relatable. Especially Zach. I often found myself smiling at his thoughts because I think the same kinds of things or just because they were funny. But I liked Aiden too, even if he had a bit of a harder shell to get through. Both boys had trauma and had been through some awful stuff. I felt for them and was happy for them when they got their cute romance.

I also appreciated that the characters were sensible and made smart decisions about surviving the apocalypse, but they weren’t super experts. Sure, Zach knew a lot about electrical and mechanical stuff and could even hotwire cars, but he also got ideas for what to do when someone showed up at his base from movies he’d seen. Which, yeah, I think most of us in a post-apoc situation probably would get a lot of our ideas from movies.

I feel like the virus/danger/conspiracy part of the story could’ve been stronger. In the sense that some things broke my suspension of disbelief or were glossed over when they could’ve had more depth or it would’ve made more sense for the characters to question things. The idea was good, the bones of it were good, it just could’ve used more fleshing out.

Speaking of the virus, there were a few zombie-like infected people, but that’s really not what the book is about. There was more danger from non-infected people, and the focus was on Aiden’s mission to get some vials to some scientists and the feelings between the two MCs.

Overall, this was an enjoyable queer YA book that nicely blended the darkness of the apocalypse with fun characters and sweet teen romance!

*Rating: 4 Stars // Read Date: 2024 // Format: Ebook via TTS / Paperback*