Instructions for the End of the World

by Jamie Kain

He prepared their family for every natural disaster known to man—except for the one that struck.

When Nicole Reed’s father forces her family to move to a remote area of the Sierra Foothills, one without any modern conveniences, her life is completely turned upside down.

It’s not that Nicole isn’t tough. She’s learned how to hunt, and she knows how to build things—she’s been preparing for the worst-case scenario for what seems like forever.

But when she and her sister, Izzy, are left alone in this remote landscape to fend for themselves, her skills are put to the ultimate test. She’s fine for a while, but then food begins to run out, the pipes begin to crack, and forest fires start to inch closer every day.

When Wolf, a handsome boy from the neighboring community, offers to help, Nicole feels conflicted. She can take care of herself. But things have begun to get desperate, and there’s something about this boy she can’t shake.

As feelings develop between these two—feelings Nicole knows her father would never allow once he returns—she must make a decision. With her family falling apart, will she choose to continue preparing for tomorrow’s disasters, or will she take a chance and start living for today?

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Survival, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Adventure

214 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 2015

About the author

Jamie Kain grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and has since lived in too many places to count. She now calls Sacramento, California home, where she lives with her husband and three children.

The Good Sister is her debut young adult novel, and it was what you might call a labor of love, which is just a fancy way of saying it took a really long time to write and became something she was pretty obsessed with for a while. Stay tuned for details about her next young adult novel coming in 2015, Instructions for the End of the World.

Reviews

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoiler alert: This book is not about the end of the world.

Nicole's dad tries to be ready for the end of the world though. He has tried to bring his family to the point of surviving anything. He has taught them prepper skills, told them to stay away from evil boys, and moved them to a broken down house in the middle of nowhere.
Once they get to the middle of nowhere their mom decides she has had enough. She takes off in the car and what does dad do? He tells Nicole to take care of her sister, that they should have enough food and leaves to go find their mom. He doesn't believe in cell phones because the government might be using them to track him. So the girls have no way of contacting either parent.

These people should be up for parents of the year.


Then the girls realize that next door is a "hippie" place that a group of people are using to find their inner peace. Dad probably should have spent some time there. I think smoking some of that stuff might have made his ass a tad bit more like-able.


Enter the boy in the story...Wolf.


Wolf's character actually is not a bad one. I kinda even liked him. He is more adult than the two losers that the sisters have as parents, and I thought the story would head towards insta-love-ville and it kept from it. Yay!

The story is told from multiple viewpoints, and sometimes it worked.
Nicole: Her father's child, she learned to hunt for food, and basic survival skills. She takes the world on her shoulders even when she knows she should stay away from that boy and just do the endless chore list that her dad left her with.
Izzy: The younger sister. Izzy needs some shit smacking on her attitude.

Wolf: who is dealing with the new neighbors and his addict mom who has came back "clean and sober" and wanting to make amends.
Then there is a point of view from a girl from the Hippie place (I already forgot her name): Why the heck she was in the story is beyond me. I couldn't figure out if she wanted to sleep with Wolf or his mom. Her parts were just random.

This book kinda went no where. It really didn't have much of a plot and honestly a good editor would have been a good buy. (I did read the arc copy-so hopefully one will come in)
There was a chapter from Nicole's point of view that in which she was referring to her sister Izzy and she called her Nicole.


But then the author's writing is actually not bad. I did enjoy reading the book and never did want to throw it across the room. I would love to see something else from this author after she evolves a bit. I think she was going for a coming of age book and it made it halfway. At least for me.

Now that I've completely confused you as to whether you should read this book or not, I will just drop a quote from it and run.

Whenever I hear the old REM song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)," the lyrics get stuck in my head and won't leave me alone. When I was younger, I'd hear it come on the oldies station my mom liked to listen to when we were in the car, and I'd think of Dad, always talking about how we had to get ready for the end of the world as we knew it, how only the smartest and most prepared would survive. I would think, why do the the guys singing feel fine about the world as they knew it ending? Wasn't it scary?
Now the lyrics, forever burned into my memory through repetition, make perfect sense to me. The world as I know it isn't the kind of place I could ever feel safe in.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.




Upon looking through the reviews for this book I picked a favorite that to me sums up this book perfectly Shannon (It starts at Midnight)'s review found here.

[Shannon Miz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight


So, I don't think I completely understood what this book would be. This quote in the synopsis seems to imply that this will also be a natural disaster, so I just kind of assumed that there was something "big" happening.

He prepared their family for every natural disaster known to man—except for the one that struck.

You see? It seems like maybe there was a huge flood, and Mom fled or... something. But that isn't what happened. So many things just made me mad at these parents. It's the epitome of "Parent-in-YA Syndrome" since Mom took off and Dad went to find her.  There wasn't any particularly stunning revelation that made Mom leave home, she just was sick of the dad being an ass and also didn't want to live in some freaking shack in the woods. Speaking of, as I made notes on my Kindle, I called the dad "Daddy Douchecanoe" because that is what he was, and it was fun to find them while writing my review. Some examples? Sure!

Izzy, the younger sister, provides this gem:

"He also forbids us from doing all the things normal girls are supposed to do to better themselves, like getting our ears or anything else pierced, getting highlights, wearing cute clothes, or wearing shoes with any kind of heel."

Umm. WHAT? I don't know what it more rage-inducing- the fact that the dad is that controlling, or the fact that Izzy thinks that a bellybutton piercing is "bettering" herself. More on her later.

But really, Wolf, the random dude who lives in a tree, summed it up best while talking about Nicole:

"Her carefully planned and executed life thus far has only included the elements her father deemed appropriate, as far as I can tell."

The dad really needed a jar.

The mom leaving also didn't make sense to me. She leaves the girls this "Dear John" letter and peaces out, but what kind of mother would leave her children behind with a man who is clearly unhinged? Especially when the mom has to know that he is so messed up because she is leaving him herself.

Let's discuss the other characters, the ones that are actually in most of the book.

Nicole. She is the older sister in this dysfunction-fest of a family. She listens to everything her dad has ever said, even though she kind of knows he is ridiculous and a huge jerk. She steps up to take care of Izzy when the parents decide that parenting is totally optional. She is the least infuriating character, basically. She discovers Wolf in the tree, and they start talking and junk. Nicole does develop as a character quite a bit throughout the book, which is nice.

Izzy. It's wrong to hate children, right? Whatever, I hate Izzy. She is awful. First, she complains about every actual thing. Now, I understand the complaints about being abandoned by your parents in a shack in the woods with no running water. Please, complain away! But she complains about that, and so much more. And yes, she is supposed to be the younger sibling, but her ignorance is astounding. She uses the word "retarded" on the regular, which infuriated me, and she pops in with some fun little bits like this:"I know if I call CPS I will end up having to live in some gross home for teens or a foster home or something, and I'll probably get sexually abused, because that kind of thing always happens in those kind of places."

Now, good news is, Izzy grows a bit too. Not enough, because how could she even, but she does grow.

Wolf. Ah, Wolf. He has been in these woods for a long time, with his drug addict mom in some "spiritual community" or something. But he prefers building treehouses in the woods. For reasons. He hates his mom a lot, on account of the drug addiction and general shittiness at parenting. But he can't just calm down about it. He pretends he doesn't care, but then gets all fired up every time someone mentions her. Of course, the romance he has started with Nicole gives him a lot to think about too. Especially drama-filled lines like this:

"I want to know her in ways I cannot fathom, and it's an urge so powerful, I feel as if the energy of all humanity past and present is pushing me toward it."

So yeah. These three all had POVs, as did a much more minor character, Laurel. She was a friend of Wolf's, but I think she kind of wanted to date his mom? I don't know. She didn't even need to be in the book, let alone have a POV. Also, this will probably be fixed in the finished copy, but the names of Nicole and Izzy were switched quite a few times, and it really took me out of the story, because I had to keep checking to make sure I was not losing my mind.

And the ending, well, you know I don't like to say anything about it that isn't in spoiler tags so here you go: I actually wrote a note at the end that said "That's it? That was sure anticlimactic." In truth, I am not completely sure what the point of the book even was.

So, the positives? Yes, there were some! I liked that the girls especially underwent quite a bit of character development during the course of the book. I thought that the budding romance was cute, other than the few times I wanted to gag over Wolf's nonsense. And I was interested enough to see how things would turn out, especially since it is a quick read.

Bottom Line: The negatives did outweigh the positives, sadly. There were just too many things that left me scratching my head, and too many aspects of the story that I found downright unlikable. But the plot was quick and entertaining, so there's that.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this book. I was a big fan of the writing, but I have to admit that nothing really happened in this. I thought that the narratives rang true, and overall this book (mostly)kept my interest, but there just wasn't enough plot development for me.

Buy, Borrow or Bin Verdict: Borrow


Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish that I could give “Instructions for the End of the World” a better review. It was a book with so much potential that went flat in the early chapters. It seems as though the author tried to take on too many plots, and that caused a neglect of the main one. It tried to be many things and did not succeed in any of them.

There is one good thing that I can say about the book, and that is that the central characters were extremely well-developed. There is quite a bit of back-story combined with the details of their current circumstances. Had it been limited to the three of them, the book may have turned out very differently. Unfortunately, there were way too many minor characters. Only a few could have been briefly mentioned and it not changed the story at all. It is told through four alternating points of view, and one of them is completely unnecessary to anything. It was an annoyance to even waste time with her sections.

The main storyline was a good idea in theory, but there were at least three other subplots that made the flow virtually non-existent. While I understand that not every story can have a resolution, some of these were completely dropped or finished in a rush. Some of them contained important and heavy themes, so it seems all the more important to either give them the respect and time they deserve or just leave them out completely.

I can’t recommend “Instructions for the End of the World” to anyone. It was too frustrating and disjointed to be enjoyable. The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is for character development.

This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Jessica]

Teens in the woods!

There were some naked people and there were some afraid people, but I don't think there were any Naked and Afraid people. In the classic sense of the term.

This has been "You Call That a Book Review??!" with your host, Jessica.

[Sassy Sarah Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instructions for the End of the World by Jamie Kain

2.75 stars

Nicole’s father has lost his marbles. Nicole and her sister Isabel find themselves forced to move to a cabin in the remote woods that once belonged to her grandfather. Her father is a firm believer in the end of the world and this move is preparation for it, but their mother isn’t happy and leaves. Nicole and Isabel suddenly find themselves alone in the woods with no parental supervision in a quickly deteriorating house. On the other sides of the woods lies a religious/spiritual commune where Wolf has lived all his life. Wolf wants to be one with nature and now that his drug addict mother is back he prefers the solitude of the woods. Laurel is Wolf’s best friend and she claims that she doesn’t like Wolf, but she can’t help being jealous of the outsider, Nicole, who has become close to Wolf. This is the premise of this book and don’t go into this book thinking for some harrowing tale about family, redemption, the end of the world, and saving yourself because that’s not what this book is about. In fact, this book isn’t about much more than 224 pages of exposition and buildup that doesn’t really buildup to anything climatic. There’s a point when shit hits the fan, but none of it was necessary or fleshing out for the potential of this story. This story doesn’t have any concrete message that I can get behind because it doesn’t feel concrete. There doesn’t seem to be any end goal in this novel, which sometimes works, but in this novel’s case it doesn’t help.

“I am often hovering in between, unclear about my destination.”
(Which pertains to the story surrounding this book; there is no clear destination of what it wants to say.)

This novel is set in the year prior to 9/11, which is really fascinating. I feel like it’s a good place to start concerning novels where families don’t feel safe and the prospect of protecting their family from destruction, whether it’s natural or man-made, was very rampant at this time. It makes since that Nicole and Isabel’s father feels this way, but it wasn’t expanded on for this being his reasoning. Nicole just followed him around and nodded her head while Isabel called him crazy, but not once did they ask why their father was moving them into the middle of the woods. If they would’ve asked this question I wouldn’t have to have read endless pages of nothing for this “BIG REVEAL” as to why their father has uprooted their family.

"The older I get, the more I feel as if I am some lone explorer in a strange new world, where I understand few of the rules and am not sure I have the right equipment to survive.”

There are some discrepancies with the writing and while I was reading from an ARC copy, I don’t see how an author can forget which POV they are writing from at the present time. If you are writing from a character’s POV, KNOW your character because otherwise you’ve convinced me and along with other readers that your POVs all sound the same even to yourself. While there are some great lines in here, I don’t read literature just to quote it. I want those great lines to have a profound meaning and connection to the story, not for the sake of being a great line. It takes away from the overall picture and doesn’t feel like there is much of a story if you have to throw in lines for the sake of it.

Whimsical Writing Scale: 2.75

As I’ve briefly mentioned there are multiple POVs-Nicole, Isabel, Wolf, and Laurel. Out of these four Nicole and Wolf’s are the most prominent in the story.

Nicole is the most interesting character of the story because she is relatable. Her story isn’t farfetched for the sake of entertainment or drama. She’s a realistic character who takes control of the situation. As the big sister she realizes that she has to protect Isabel, hunt for food, and keep the shitty cabin afloat while they are abandoned by their parents. She’s level-headed, a quick thinker, rational, and a realist. While these are not traits that usually make an outstanding character, they are a trait that are human and that’s what makes Nicole stand out in her POV. She’s HUMAN and that’s a good thing when it comes to contemporary novels because that’s what sales the character to me.

Isabel is Nicole’s baby sister and she definitely puts baby in that title. Isabel reminds me a lot of my sister in the ways that she wants to be older than she actually is and is forced to face consequences in rocky situations where she needs Nicole to save or comfort her in. Isabel’s voice is judgmental and bratty- she sounds like an airhead to me. There’s no nicer way of putting it, but as the story progressed Isabel’s character became more fleshed out, but not for the right reasons. My biggest problem with Isabel is that she is used a plot device for, what I’m considering to be, rape. It’s important to know that Isabel is only fourteen-years-old and in my opinion, nowhere near old enough to make the decision of having sex. During this scene she specifically says, “I know there’s something I should say about condoms or slowing down or birth control or I don’t want to do this, but no words come out, because part of me does want to do this.” I’m sure it can be argued that Isabel’s mind is developed enough to know the choice she has made, but this scene just proves right there to me that she doesn’t understand what sex, especially unprotected underage sex, entails in its secret guidelines. I feel like the author uses Isabel in a way to say, “LOOK SOMETHING CONTROVERSIAL HAPPENED! NOW LET THE DRAMA BETWEEN WOLF AND NICOLE ENSUE!” Which is totally horrible that this girl barely old enough to understand the meaning of consensual sex is used a plot device for romantic relationship drama.

Laurel is Wolf’s friend and considered sister from the commune. She’s the epitome of a pointless POV. Her character serves NO purpose for this story. She doesn’t add depth or enhance the reading experience. In fact, you could probably skip reading her POV and not miss anything pertaining to the story. She is also unlikable. I didn’t connect to her outside or inside of her head and I felt nothing when it came to her.

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: Nicole- 3.5 Isabel- 2.5 Laurel- 1

Wolf has this weird Thoreau inspired POV and it is heavily influenced with nature ideas and spiritual musings. My problem with Wolf is that is far too philosophical for a teenage boy. His thought process is far too profound and above what any sixteen/seventeen year old thinks about when musing upon life. It’s pretty unbelievable. I’m not sure if I like Wolf as a character or not because he’s hard to connect to and he doesn’t feel completely real. Here’s an example:
“I don’t begin to understand why life, so excruciatingly fragile, so breathtaking in its delicate beauty, can be destroyed with such ease.”
Which is a beautiful quote, but I can’t see any of the boys in my high school thinking about life like this.

Swoon Worthy Scale: 2.5

Nicole and Isabel’s mom and dad are present in this story without being present. In YAs when the parent is absent it’s far from being on the forefront of the character’s minds, but in this novel it is like a constant heavy ball weighing on the minds of both girls.
“He has a way of being silent that is louder than any voice.”
When it comes to girls’ father, he is extremely unlikable and he has no redeeming qualities which I find extremely unrealistic. He’s a jerk and he made a lot of bad choices, but that doesn’t make him completely horrible. Likewise, their mom isn’t a great person, she left her children with no intention of coming back with a man who is off kilter in sanity, and she isn’t painted out for being wrong or horrible in this aspect. I think that’s a very unfair portrayal on both accounts of the parents.
“I don’t know how we are supposed to recover from crazy.”

Character Scale: 3

The romance between Wolf and Nicole is obviously a big part of this novel because 1) it is contemporary and 2) if there is a boy and a girl then that must mean love story. I’m not a big fan of their relationship, but I’m not against. I have a lukewarm feeling to it and their sparks aren’t enough to light a small kindling for me.
“I want to know her in ways I cannot fathom, and it’s an urge so powerful, I feel the energy of all humanity past and present is pushing me toward it.”
If Jamie Fraser said this it would be more eloquent and I would eat that shit up, but Wolf tries to hard even when musing about a muse. It’s gag inducing.

I’m not a huge fan of this novel, but I do think it’s a decent novel that if you are interested in already then I urge you to read it. But if you’re like me with a billion books on your TBR pass this one up. I’ll be looking into Kain’s debut novel because it sounds right up my alley, but this book isn’t bad and I imagine a lot of younger readers would absolutely devour this in one sitting.

Plotastic Scale: 2.75

Also side note because this irked me: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING ATTRACTED TO OLDER MEN! I mean have you seen Sam Heughan and Norman Reedus?


You're welcome!

Cover Thoughts: I like the cover, but like the rest of my thoughts on this book, I only feel lukewarm about it.

I won a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press (subdivision Griffin) in an exchange for an honest review.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, I am conflicted on what I feel about this book. Instructions for the End of the World had great writing and some really interesting characters. BUT, it also had a weird setting and an unsettling ending.

Nicole and her sister Isabel have just arrived at their new home. Their military father has just left his career and taken his wife and daughters to live in a home falling apart and miles from civilization. Their nearest neighbor is a hippie retreat. Dad wants his family to learn to live off the land. As a “prepper”, their dad has taught Nicole everything she will need to survive a tragedy. When the tragedy that occurs is that their Mother leaves and then Dad leaves them alone to go find her, Nicole finds she is not prepared at all. Is this the life of self-sufficiency all Nicole really wants to have?

So in this story we get 2 sisters who are very different who need each other. We get a few adults who clearly have issues who then make very bad decisions for children. There is a really cool boy who lives next door. This story also tackles peer pressure and first love.

I liked the writing style in this story. It was easy to follow along. The story switched POVs a lot and it worked in the case of Isabel, Nicole, and Wolf. All of their perspectives brought something that added to this story.

At times we were in a POV and I could clearly see who and why because it was all well written. Nicole was nicely fleshed out character. She starts off trying to do the right things and ends up pretty much the same, but for better reasons. Is is easy to see the struggle Nicole has in following her Father’s orders when he is not even there. Isabel starts off the typical teenage girl, and she hates her sister. She goes through some typical teenage stuff in this story, and a big event, but she basically stays typical. Wolf is a boy we meet who lives at the spiritual retreat next door. He is a survivalist himself, although him and Nicole go about things a bit differently. I loved his connection to Nicole. It was a bit of love at first sight, but for these two it just worked.

I didn’t understand how Laurel fit into the story until almost the end. She only gets a few chapters, but it didn’t make any sense to me until much later. Her story helped me to understand Wolf’s mother a bit, but I don’t think the story needed Laurel, at all.

In trying to make sense with all the POVs I get the feeling that survival is the whole point. All of these characters are damaged goods, but they find a way to fit together and survive. The characters are easy to imagine. The descriptive details were easy to see. The author is great at describing the scenes in a way that makes it all seem too real.

Okay, but we MUST talk about the elephant in the room, there is no world ending catastrophe in this story. What does happen is that Nicole and Isabel get left alone in a run down shack in the woods while their parents run away. How could these “parents” leave those girls alone? I get that Dad was distraught, I get that Mom couldn’t handle living in a run down house in the middle of nowhere but, but just how do people just leave their children home alone? Nicole is pretty self sufficient at 17, but Isabel is a typical 14 year old girl. Isabel is into her friends, and her hair and regular teen girl stuff. I kinda don’t believe this part of the story, but I guess there is no test for parenthood. So this could potentially happen. Right?

All in all this was an okay story. It was easy to read and I pretty much finished it in one day. The one lingering thing that still bothers me is that the book just ended. There wasn’t as much happening as I would have liked and the few things that got resolved were not enough for me to say I enjoyed this story. I liked the writing and the characters, but the story itself needed more.

[The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Review on The Candid Cover

Sometimes when I read a synopsis for a book or even find the cover to be appealing, I am immediately drawn in. Instructions for the End of the World by Jamie Kain certainly has a fantastic sounding synopsis and the cover is quite stunning. Sadly, the plot of this book took forever to move forward, which I didn’t appreciate. I did enjoy the forest setting, though, which was probably why I continued reading. However, this book is overly unrealistic and hard to believe, which really affected my enjoyment of the novel.

Unfortunately, the plot of Instructions for the End of the World is very slow-paced. The characters took forever to develop, and the story seemed sort of flat. Judging by the summary, I expected this book to be super fast-paced and exciting. However, nothing major really occurred in this book, and it became sort of boring after a while.

Instructions for the End of the World does, however, have an incredible setting. The book takes place in an empty forest, where Nicole and Izzy’s father forced the family to move to. I’ve always enjoyed forest settings, because they are the perfect backdrop for all sorts of things to take place. What I enjoyed even more about this forest was the fact that there is a group of people basically hiding in it. This aspect of the book did actually surprise me, and it was what kept me reading on.

Though Instructions for the End of the World has an interesting setting, it is overly unrealistic. I understand that this book is fictional, but I was honestly rolling my eyes at this book because it is way too unrealistic to even appreciate the rest of the story. I mean, sure the kids could be abandoned, but who moves to a forest that just so happens to be already occupied by other people and tells their kids that it is all to learn survival skills? There were so many elements in this book that I just couldn’t handle because they were so irrational.

Instructions for the End of the World has a slow moving plot and characters that take forever to develop, yet an intriguing and mysterious setting that I really enjoyed. However, this book is extremely unrealistic, which I found pretty unenjoyable. If you are able to open your mind to the plot of this story, then I feel like you would appreciate this book and find that it is the right fit for you.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huge thank you to Raincoast/St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC!

Last year I read The Good Sister, a book I wasn't expecting much from considering it was compared to The Lovely Bones, a book I quite disliked. I read it, and I LOVED it along with Jamie Kain's writing style. I was so excited to hear she had a second YA novel coming in Instructions for the End of the World.

However, this book was lacking compared to her first. I had a hard time trying to connect with the characters at times. Part of it is the multiple perspectives, though by the end of it Nicole and Wolf begin to dominate it. It's one of those books I kept wondering if I would have liked more written in one perspective or if it had been done in third would it have been more effective.

That being said, once again Kain writes a story about a troubled family coming together, in this case for the inevitable end of the world. She really has an amazing knack for writing family dynamics and making you care about the overall picture in terms of how the family will survive, how they will succeed, and where they have the potential to completely family. I loved reading about Nicole and Izzy's family life, and I found those moments of the novel, especially when paired with the survivalist aspects to be quite gripping. Kain just really knows how to paint an engaging family portrait.

Despite having read this novel in a day, there's a part of me that just felt it was lacking in terms of plot. It's a case where the blurb doesn't illustrate what the book is really about, and if you are expecting an apocalyptic novel, this probably is going to miss the mark. The ending alone complicates things in that it just ends and doesn't provide a conclusion to anything really. I see why this was done, but as a reader I didn't feel entirely satisfied when I finished the novel.

Even though I have some problems with this novel, I still think Jamie Kain is an amazing writer, and I love the experiences that she transplants me into when I start reading her novels. While this is no The Good Sister, I still found myself engaged by Instructions for the End of the World, and read the book in a day. There is a lot to like here, even if it isn't the most satisfying read out there.

[Celeste_pewter · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I think this is definitely one of those instances where the book synopsis doesn't necessarily match up with the contents of the book, leaving a very confused and/or bemused reader in the process.

Like many other readers, including Shannon of It Starts at Midnight, I went into Instructions for the End of the World expecting a more dramatic disaster scenario. The synopsis essentially indicates that whatever happens to the main character and her sister can't be adequately covered by their father's years of end-of-the-world preparation, so it has to be pretty darned bad, right?

Sort of, depending on your perspective. After main character Nicole and sister Isabel are forced to relocate with their parents to an isolated house in the Sierra Foothills, both parents split. Their mother leaves because she's mad at the circumstances, and their dad follows to try and reconcile. The two girls are left to fend for themselves, in increasingly trying and life-altering circumstances.

While I definitely think that it's a disaster-in-the-making for teenagers to be left without parents and fending for themselves in an isolated environment, the potential impact of Nicole and Isabel's story was significantly reduced by the quality of Kain's writing.

For starters, the book is written from the perspective of four characters - Nicole, Isabel, Wolf - a hunky, hippie love interest that Nicole randomly meets - and Laurel, a random secondary character who lives in the same village/commune as Wolf. While some authors are able to utilize multiple perspectives to great effect, Kain's pacing as she moves from character to character, is far too jarring to both development and plot. She literally alternates between characters every other few pages, often without introduction and/or background.

Outside of pacing issues, the characterizations of the book's characters are also problematic. Though Kain is fairly good at showing the frustrations of said characters at being forced into challenging situations, especially as they deal with the struggles of living on their own, some of the characters think and to things that make them pretty darned unlikable.

- Spoilers ahead -

E.g. After Isabel has non-consensual, unprotected sex with another secondary character who is friends with Wolf, Nicole thinks:

"It's not like it was [Wolf's] fault, but I can't help shake the feeling that what happened to her could have happened to me - maybe should have happened to me if it was going to happen to anyone." (Pg. 184)

Say what? She's talking about her sister essentially being raped. And yet, Nicole goes on to think about how she wants sex with Wolf, and how she's concerned that because it hasn't already happened, it won't happen. I mean, what?!

And yet, despite these thoughts, she still finds Wolf attractive... why?
​
Also, the book basically ends on the most ho-hum note ever, with things essentially being forced to return normal. However, no one seems to have really learned anything in the process. I almost feel like these characters are destined to repeat the same mistakes, and I definitely won't be sticking around for that ride.

***

Final verdict:

All in all, I think this is a book that had a promising idea, but just couldn't play out due to weak writing. Can't recommend. ​

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not about the world ending. This is about a family. An idiot dad, a mother and two teenage daughters. The idiot dad thinks the world is ending very soon so he takes his family out to his ancestors home out in the middle of nowhere that no one has lived in for decades. This is where they are going to set up to survive the end of the world. The oldest daughter has bought into this and is good with a gun and some survival techniques. The youngest daughter likes pedicures, magazines, her Iphone and just being a girl.

The story is kind of strange as to the fact there are no warning signs that the end is near. It's just in the dad's mind. The story itself was believable. The characters were believable, including the idiot dad. I found it to be entertaining. I think it was a good YA book. It wasn't too long, therefore should keep even the capricious reader interested.

Thanks St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for providing me with this free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

[Ryley (Ryley Reads) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to Raincoast Books for providing me with an eARC for review, all opinions are my own.

I'm just over halfway through and I am declaring this a DNF.

There is no point to this story. The family moves to the middle of nowhere to escape the supposed economic collapse, but night one the mom bails, and then the dad leaves a few days later to find her. Now the two sisters who hate each other are left to fend for themselves against the hippie commune across the street.

It's pretty much:

Nicole: hunting, guns, complaining about sister and talking about living up to fathers expectations.

Isabel: omg, no running water, seriously?

Wolf: I hate my drug addict mom, I live in a spiritual retreat, my names Wolf.

I cannot deal! This book is going nowhere fast! Ain't nobody got time for bad books!

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really gets more of a 2.5 than a 3, the writing style was amazing but I had a few issues that dragged me down. See the full review here: http://www.memyshelfandi.com/2015/12/...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review can also be found on A Thousand Lives Lived, check it out for more!

*3.5 star rating*

Instructions for the End of the World had the most interesting, promising plot that could ever exist. I have read Jamie Kain's The Good Sister, but to be quite honest, this beauty (with a gorgeous cover) shunned it. I feel so connected to this adventurous survival story that makes so much sense for anyone in any situation. Because of all of the events that occurred in the book, I feel like I'm stuck in this story, that the characters are continuing to follow me and that Nicole and Wolf are still staying strong in their own world. Jamie Kain's newest is like a flashback to everything that my mind ever wanted or predicted that contemporary novels will have.

This novel is very short but uplifting and entertaining. The cover is gorgeous, showing the absolute meaning and themes that Kain was trying to present to readers. The survival, intriguing themes that are presented mean so much for this kind of story. The characters are realistic, and a big part of the book is focused on the importance of family, friendship and staying positive.

"Today is the day that will go down in history as the day when everything started to suck. No, actually, suck is a completely inadequate word for what this day has done to my sense of the universe being a fair and nonretarded place." (27)

Instructions for the End of the World's title especially made sense. We have a tale of two sisters, a sisterhood, that especially forms when the characters needed each other the most. Isabel and Nicole are stuck alone, in the middle of the woods, with just a few rules to help them out, thanks to their paranoid secretive dad who went out to look for their mother.

Nicole and Isabel could represent you. For sure. The sisters had two distinct personalities that either could or could not be similar to you. I adored Isabel more, with her negative attitude and complaining, to be honest. NOT THAT I SUPPORT WHINING. She seemed able to be compared to a teenager (which I am) and her character was put in the perfect situation. I wanted something to happen more with a romance in her case, but I do guess that Nicole got that advantage.



As I had the same issue with Kain's novel last time, the story was not moving. Jamie Kain is an excellent author who knows how to captivate readers, but that is just about it. Through most of the book, everything seemed dragging, and when one thing was great, the other was not. It truly had its ups and downs, but mostly ups.

My instruction for you when picking up this book in the near future (hopefully) is: Enjoy it. Feel how relatable it is. Love the characters. You might dislike it more because it went by so fast, but it is a well-written, touching story that is not just a regular contemporary romance. I could drone on and on forever about what it resembles. Every time I see this cover (as well) I realize that I should work on my photography skills. There is a ton of competition out there with creativity. *winks*

*A finished copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!*

[Rosy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was written for The Review Diaries
You can read the full review here

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Side note: It really frustrates me when covers are designed by people who have clearly never read the book. Why is she wearing a hat and a blanket? The entire book takes place in the middle of summer when it’s stupidly hot and there are forest fires coming for them.

It’s always a bad sign when you want to shake 90% of the characters in a book. Alas, ‘Instructions for the End of the World’ has that in spades, in fact I think there was only one character that didn’t frustrate me. It also might be my book of the year for truly terrible parenting. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with such a bunch of awful, unfit to have children parents in some time. You have Wolf’s mother who is completely self-absorbed and tries to bring everyone into the drama of her life. Then Nicole and Isabel’s parents – one of whom it emerges never wanted children and willingly leaves her kids with their slightly unstable father in the middle of nowhere with no intentions to come back and rescue them.
Good job parents.

Then there are the kids, who are slightly screwed up but no less frustrating. There was so much potential here with both Nicole and Isabel and the situations they find themselves in, but it didn’t feel like the book was ever fully allowed to explore them, it just glossed over the top and as a result any emotional impact was lost. It also makes both of the girls decisions really hard to understand, particularly in the end of the novel where I just wanted to introduce my head to the desk for a while and weep for the idiocy.

There are several character viewpoints: Wolf, Nicole and her sister Isabel – all reasonable. But then we have one random other view point from Laurel who gets a grand total of two chapters out of the book and feels like a secondary character arc that was meant to be expanded into something, but instead was left as a beginning and an end.

Whilst the concept was fascinating, I never really connected with the characters or the story. I wanted to get drawn into the situation, to feel for these people, but I felt like nothing was really driving the events – there was no real plot to speak of. I ended up just feeling apathetic and mildly frustrated, and wishing for the story I thought I’d be diving into when I opened this book.

[Eileen (BookCatPin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instructions for the End of the World was a a strange book. It was short so I finished it in one sitting. To be honest nothing really stood out. The story left me kind of lost.

Nicole's father has forever been preparing his family for all types of natural disasters. However, it turns out the disaster they really needed to prepare for was one on an emotional level. Nicole was not ready for it - definitely not one that's inflicted by her own father. What struck me as most unbelievable is what kind of mother leaves her kids with a controlling temperamental psycho (even if he is their father). She knew exactly what kind of a person her husband is yet she just upped and left.

Of the four POVs, I liked Wolf's the most. Despite his less than ideal childhood, he's honest and genuine. Nicole's POV was very bland. She was like their new house, disconnected from the rest of civilization and in need of dusting. It's not until she meets Wolf that she comes a little out of the fort her father built around her. At least she didn't blindly follow and believe in her father. That saved her for me. Her sister, Izzy's POV was so resentful and hate-filled I didn't enjoy reading her chapters. Then there's Laurel. Why did we need her POV? All her POV did was make me think she's creepy and obsessive.

Sooooo what is the point of this story? That's my biggest problem with Instructions for the End of the World. If I had to describe this book using a line graph, it would be a flat line with a few little bumps and no peaks. There just wasn't enough character growth and/or plot development to the story.

As much as it pains me to say this, I wouldn't really recommend Instructions for the End of the World to anyone. Only give it a try if you're not looking for much and have no expectations whatsoever.

[Megan (thebookishtwins) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

Nicole and Izzy, along with their mother, have been dragged out into the middle of nowhere by their father who wished to protect and prepare them for the end of the world – any sort of disaster. However, he doesn’t prepare them for the disaster closer to home – a broken family.

I loved Jamie Kain’s debut novel The Good Sister, which is why I requested Instructions for the End of the World, but unfortunately it paled in comparison. Instructions for the End of the World is a book about family, friendship, loss and love. However, it wasn’t as powerful or as moving as I expected it to be. There was also 4 different POVs which was very jarring at first, but it got better further on. I think one of the reasons why this book didn’t impact me much was because I did not really connect or feel for any of the characters, but also the story moved at a very slow pace, with little direction.

Nicole was my favourite character, and the most well written character. She was smart and really stepped up when she need too. There was a POV from a character name Laurel which actually added nothing to the story, and those words probably would have been better spent exploring Nicole and Izzy’s characters and their relationship more. One thing about this novel which irked me was how sexual abuse was sort of brushed over, by both the story and plot itself and some of the characters.

The romance was okay, but cliché sometimes, and I think the novel might have been better off without it but the relationship between the sisters be explored even more.

Overall, an okay novel, with some decent characters which would have benefited from some more depth and to be a bit more fleshed out.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy via net galley.

This was an odd story for me, it had similar vibe to a book I'd read before ( I think it's called The Way we live now? I could be mistaken on that title) but mostly just for the whole kids surviving without parentals. I'm not even 100% sure what I just read either, I just wanted to write this review asap after finishing because well I have a feeling it's going to be one of those books I'm going to forget it ever happened.... The PoV changes to me seemed unneeded, for instances they lacked structure. No patterning, you would basically read one character for however long the author deemed necessary. And one of them I felt was totally irrelevant! Characters seemed stagnant with random "growths"? Most of the time both sisters seemed to just want to go off and break rules their father had strictly enforced. So I suppose they in a sense were growing up and making mistakes to learn from. Were they truly surviving on their own, not really mostly they just lived off a stash, after that one hunt in the beginning the oldest doesn't even mention hunting so instead it's a repeat of rice and beans and oatmeal. So much for all daddy taught her. I felt really let down with the storyline, I'd gone in excited and exited feeling robbed, but I don't regret reading it just because some small elements here and there were good. But as a whole, no... I can't say I'd recommend, nor will I plan a reread. 3 stars

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given an electronic copy by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that the title is misleading, as the expectation that this is an end of the world survival novel is not met. Instructions for the End of the World is the story about a family, dysfunctional at best, who ends up moving to a family home in the middle of the woods. After a stint in the military ends abruptly, Nicole's father becomes convinced that the apocalypse is near and preps his family for that eventuality. Shortly after they arrive at her great-great grandparents home, two events tip Nicole's world on its axis and threaten both her survival and that of her sister. Instructions for the End of the World is told in alternating viewpoints, which disturbs the continuity of the book. The author improperly identifies the speaker on a couple of occasions, which leads to some confusion. The motivation of Nicole's mother to leave does not seem plausible, as she basically raised her kids and would have probably explored other options. My favorite character in the book is Wolf, the teenage boy that lives next door to Nicole and her family. Although the author did not explore his character enough, he is the one person that I would like to know more about. I am usually a big fan of survival/dystopian novels, but this one was a little too limited by plot and stagnant characters for me to endorse.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another surprisingly wonderful story. Another marginal cover I'm not sure I'd pick the book up for. But an unusual story that fleshes out the most wonderful questions - how strong are you? What are you capable of?

Nichole's mom leaves. Here dad leaves too. It's just her and Izzy (her sister) in a house miles from civilization with a broken down house, a few hundred dollars in groceries and the explicit advice to just survive and not get to know the only neighbors for miles.

Nichole doesn't know what she's capable of. Trained by her dad since she was old enough to write, she strives to be a good prepper - killing her own meat for meals, building a garden, attempting to prepare the house. What is Izzy capable of? She's done her hardest NOT to be a prepper and fights any notion Nichole has of her helping.

How will these two survive, alone? How strong are they? It's a great read and I liked the struggles that were thrown at them. I found them realistic even if the whole premise was unusual. I loved the twists and had huge respect for Nichole. And Wolf.

[madie (madieanne) · Rating 1 out of 5]

one word: BORING

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will learn what the crystalline perfection of solitude has to teach me.

A quiet, literary patchwork of perspectives -- there is some skillful writing craft here. Parts of it reminded me of Karma for Beginners, though the commune here is a much healthier one. But as far as story, Nicole & Izzy's lives (both inner and outer) next door to said commune are more interesting than Wolf & Laurel's within it; I didn't feel connected to the latter but I really felt for the sisters - who are as opposite from each other as can be, and usually at loggerheads - struggling to get along by themselves, especially when the plumbing breaks.

I did love the woods backdrop, and I also loved that it was set in 2002 (not least because that's when I was in high school) for a few specific reasons: less reliance on the internet/easier to go off grid; then-recent 9/11 is cited as what fully set off her dad's survivalist paranoia; and most interestingly of all: their mother was a Cambodian refugee whose family fled the Khmer Rouge when she was a child. Naturally, she is less than thrilled to leave the comforts of Middle Class American Suburbia to voluntarily return to the kind of hardscrabble way of life her family left on purpose, which triggers the beginning of the abandonment plot (and also sets the stage for some complicated marriage dynamics we'll find out about later).

Bottom line: it kept me engaged, but I definitely appreciated its brevity.

[Rainy Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of the world here does not mean that there's some zombie apocalypse in this book, but rather about a teenage girl, Nicole, being prepped by her father on survival skills from young age. She and her family ended up in a deserted house in a wood far away from the city as her father moved them there. There, Nicole met Wolf, a boy who lived in the area with a group which Nicole's father described as hippies.

This book was told from the perspectives of Nicole, Wolf, Isabel and Laurel, mostly from Nicole and Wolf as they were the main characters. The storylines and narratives were okay for me but sometimes I feel like I was reading this book kind of in a straight line. I think the main genre of this book is somber, sadness and melancholic (and sometimes, a tiny happiness from the moments of Nicole being with Wolf). I love Nicole because she's as badass (even though she was prepped by her father to be that way) and I love Wolf because of his calm demeanor, not pushy and he's such an understanding character even though he had problems of his own. I just don't like Nicole's father in here because personally I think he's crazy.

This book is okay for me. It's not that great but it's not so bad either. I still like it. I just feel sorry for Nicole and Isabel to be abandoned by their parents in the middle of nowhere like that.

[Julianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review originally posted at Among the Authors.


You know the feeling when you read a book’s synopsis and immediately feel the surge of excitement as you dive straight into the pool of plot potential? Now, imagine you jumped right in, only to discover that pool had been drained. Welcome to how I felt about Instructions for the End of the World.


Things I Liked:

The premise. Well, that’s a stretch. I liked the idea of a girl being raised by a survivalist and having to put those skills to the test. Probably because it’s an idea near and dear to me…that happens to be the premise of a NaNoWriMo novel I was working on a couple years ago. But does that happen in this book anywhere? Sadly, no. Maybe I’m just biased…Maybe it’s cause I was born and raised in Appalachia, and my dad happens to be a prepper…but I’m pretty sure Nicole didn’t exhibit any survivalist skills at all. Sure, she carries a gun (can she shoot it? don’t really know…she kills a squirrel in a flashback, but is haunted by the memory), but carrying that gun seems to be about the only “skill” Nicole has. The girl doesn’t understand basic plumbing, and we’re expected to believe that she’s some survivalist expert thanks to her dad? She doesn’t strike me as someone who would make it a week if a real crisis happened.

Oh, well…there went the one thing I liked about the book…

I suppose I could say that I somewhat liked Wolf, Nicole’s hippie commune tree-hugging neighbor who is immediately drawn to her even though she personifies everything against his beliefs. Well, that actually kinda makes me gag a little…but truthfully, he wasn’t a bad character. The book switches point of view between the characters, and his sections were the most tolerable. I would have been happier with less about Nicole, and more about Wolf, his life in the commune, and his strained relationship with his mother. That might’ve made for an interesting book.

Things I Didn’t Like:

SO. MUCH. POTENTIAL. SQUANDERED.

You’re probably getting the idea that I didn’t like this book. Cause I didn’t. I wanted to SO, SO bad. I didn’t give up on it. I pushed my way through, waiting for it to fulfill the hopes that I had had for such a promising plot. Spoiler alert – it didn’t happen.

First, if you read the book’s description and think Nicole and her sister are going to be surviving some end-of-the-world scenario, you’re wrong. Let’s clear that up right now. It’s more like this: Survivalist Dad brings unhappy wife, eager-to-please daughter, and younger brat daughter to live in a run-down cabin in the middle of nowhere. Unhappy Wife, a Cambodian immigrant who just wants a normal life, gets pissed about living less than upper middle class (on top of a few other reasons), and flees the cabin to find a better life. Survivalist Dad goes to look for her, leaving his two children some supplies and the expectation that he will be back within a few days, at the most a week. Well, guess what? Dad stays gone…OVER A MONTH. Who does that? Really? I’m pretty sure that’s child neglect. Oh, sure, he expects Nicole to have the skills to keep her sister and herself alive, but as I mentioned before, nothing about this book made me think that Nicole could truly take care of herself. And it doesn’t even really get hard for them…the worst of it is when they can’t figure out the plumbing so -oh no!- they can’t shower. Did the author research survival skills at all? It might have been a good idea to incorporate a little practical, survival wisdom SOMEWHERE in a book with this plot.

Also, the switches in POV often include major time gaps that aren’t explained. It’s often hard to tell how much time has passed. Oh, and an important thing happened? You might hear about it vaguely. At one point, we’re in Nicole’s sister’s point of view, and she’s fed up and hitchhiking to town with a bunch of kids from the hippie commune. Next, we’re in Nicole’s POV and she briefly mentions that she and her sister got into an argument at midnight the night before. Wait…the night before? That’s when her sister was supposed to be gone. Oh…well…a few pages later Wolf explains that the commune kids brought her back home. It’s completely convoluted and confusing. There’s a definite struggle trying to keep up with this kind of timeline, and to me it just wasn’t worth the effort.

And probably the thing that ticked me off the most…Warning! Spoiler alert! When their dad finally does return, it’s only because of an emergency situation with wildfire spreading close to the house. He gets arrested for going against the order to evacuate (…does no one with the police notice that two minors are now unattended? Okay, guess we will just ignore that cause I guess no one at the emergency shelter noticed that the two girls were on their own either…)BUT THEN…Nicole finally confronts her father about the real reasons her mother left. What does Dad do? SLAP HER. That’s right, he slaps her…right in front of her sister and everything. Where does it go from here? Nowhere. It becomes a “we don’t really talk about that” kind of thing, but hey, at least the girls get to go to public school now since Dad feels guilty. That makes it worth it, right? No. He left two children to survive on their own for over a month and then slaps the crap out of his daughter that dares to challenge him…does none of this sound like abuse to anyone? and we’re supposed to just think it’s all hunky-dory? This quite literally made me sick.

Overall Rating:

It’s getting a 2, and let’s consider that generous. For a moment, I felt like I might be taking it a bit too hard on the book. Maybe I should be a bit nicer and give it a three. Then, I remembered how many times I said out loud while reading, “I don’t know if I even want to finish this.” Nope. If you get that kind of reaction out of me, then I can’t just give you a middle ground 3. It’s definitely a 2. It had so much potential, and a lot of things I really wanted to like…but I just didn’t. Poorly executed and overall very disappointing.

[Jade Klinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since she was old enough to walk her dad immediately gave her a gun and taught her how to survive. He's always been the strong protective type. Basically raised in the military Nichole Reed's dad has a different frame of mind than most people. Maybe slightly paranoid.. or more so.
Being a survivalist Nichole's dad takes the entire family to the Sierra Foothills, where there are no modern conveniences of any sort. Not liking where this is going, Nichole goes long with it helping her dad hunt for food,repair the 200 year old house,and unpack. Whereas Nichole's mom and sister despise their living situation and they think that their dad is going overboard with everything.

Nichole's life is falling apart and right when she thought things were cooling down, they start to escalate quicker than she thought. When her mom leaves the family, Nichole's dad goes in search for her mom. Leaving both Nichole and her little sister Isabel to fend for themselves, with no cell service,little money,no car. All they have is each other, food, minimal appliances, and the retreat center down the road from where they live.

All until Wolf comes along, a handsome boy from the "hippie retreat center" offers to help Nichole.
Feeling conflicted Nichole knows she can take care of herself, but theres something that she can't shake when it comes to Wolf.
As days and weeks pass, Nichole and Izzy get to know the kids from the retreat center. As for Wolf and Nichole, they start to become closer to one another. But everything stops her in her tracks when she realizes that her dad can come back any day,and would never ever approve of her dating or being with any boy.
Having all of these questions pulsing through her brain about "why her mom left"? "What's going on with her and dad"? Why was it so sudden? She soon learns very shocking things from a letter her mom sent and Izzy's confession.
Knowing she has to make a decision. Her family is falling apart, but her life with Wolf seems to be thriving. Will she choose to continue preparing for tomorrow's natural disaster? Just like her dad taught her? Or will she take the chance and start living for today?

The entire story of Instructions for the End of the World was quite unique. I went into this novel not expecting much at all! It was thought out well, and the characters were well diverse too!
I love how strong the main female character was. And how you could see her develop throughout the story.
Wolf's perspective in the novel felt pure. I instantly loved his character and how he appreciated everything and took nothing for granted, even though he wasn't raised in the healthiest of situations. When he meets Nichole for the first time, you really feel like he's truly falling in love with someone for the first time because of how descriptive the author is. His loving character was heartwarming to read about. It was mostly Nichole and Wolf who alternated perspectives, Isabel (Nichole's sister)and Laurel (Wolf's best friend) were kind of background characters and fillers. It was interesting reading about their side of the story and thoughts. But to be honest all I cared about the most was Nichole's and Wolf's perspectives. And it seemed like Isabel and Laurel's perspectives were not necessary.
The way the story was, it actually felt like you were in the world that Nichole lives in. I also loved how the author made her story feel like a real life story.
One thing that I didn't enjoy in this book was that it felt as though you were thrown into the story. I had a problem at the beginning of them novel of actually getting into the story. Also when there were perspective changes in the novel it felt like the author was also changing her style of writing to suit the character better. Maybe she had done it one purpose? But from that I found myself getting stuck at certain points of the novel.
Those were the only issues I had with the story.
I overall liked the idea of it. The story really showed you how quick everything could change not just with your family, but in your life as well. For better or for worse. And it really got me thinking how precious life is. And how we should just take it day by day.

[Kelly Gunderman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out this and other reviews on my blog, Here's to Happy Endings!

I had a bit of a hard time with this book. It isn't that I didn't like it, because I did. But when it comes down to it, I think the problem I had with this book was that nothing really happened...at least not anything like I was expecting.

Nicole has spent her life under her father's strict ideas that the family must always be prepared for any kind of natural disaster that might strike. Be it fire, floods, the end of the world...you name it, and her father tried to make sure the entire family was prepared. While Nicole tries to follow in her father's footsteps and learns to hunt and take care of herself, her little sister, Isabel hates their lifestyle and just wants to be normal, like any other teenager. Their mother prefers actually having normal things...like nice clothes, food from the grocery store...and a house that isn't falling apart...which is exactly the type of house that he moves their family into. So when the four of them move into a house in the middle of nowhere that needs more repairs than it might even be worth, their mother puts their foot down and decides that she can't handle it, and she leaves.

"So what do we do when the apocalypse happens from the inside? When it's our family, and not civilization itself, that falls apart?"

When their father realizes that he needs to go out and find their mother and try to put the family back together again, he leaves Nicole in charge, and goes off to search for her and try and bring her home.

That's right - he leaves two teenage girls alone in a house that is falling down and has broken water pipes...so the house doesn't even have running water. Huh. I mean, I'm not an expert or anything...but, what? I get that he wants to find his wife, but leaving two young girls out in the middle of nowhere in pretty much a shack, alone, for weeks...I just can't see any decent parent thinking this is a good idea...but, I guess in the end, Nicole learns what her father wanted her to learn all along:

"Survival means being able to rely on yourself, no matter what happens."

Early on in this book we're also introduced to a teenage boy, who's called Wolf. He is building a treehouse on Nicole's family's property when they move in, and he's hoping that her parents won't find it and make him tear it down. I found myself enjoying Wolf's character...he's having a difficult time accepting his mother's return (she spent the majority of Wolf's life on various drugs and alcohol, so he doesn't want to get his hopes up that she's really cleaned her life up this time around).

This book was a quick read...it had it's moments where it made me sad...like when Nicole's mother left them...but I just couldn't find myself getting attached enough to any of the characters in order for those moments to really have a lasting impact. Most of the characters in this book just seemed distant and simple...like they were missing that layer of complexity that makes them interesting and easy to relate to. I found this odd, because after reading Jamie Kain's novel, The Good Sister, I was expecting more in terms of character development.

All in all, this is a nice book to curl up with on a cold, snowy day...bring your fuzziest blanket and some hot chocolate, and you'll be set!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really interested to pick up this book. I haven’t read The Good Sister by this author (although I plan to), and this synopsis really intrigued me! I thought it was a really unique premise.
I’m not going to lie: I wasn’t blown away. I really enjoyed the writing style, which read very smoothly and beautiful – that element makes me excited to pick up more of this author’s work in the future.
However, I had a really, really hard time connecting with the characters in this book. It’s not that they were unlikeable (although some of them intentionally were), I just couldn’t relate to them or get really attached to what was going on in their lives for some reason. The book was told in multiple perspectives, and I honestly don’t think it needed to be. Most of the perspectives – other than Nicole’s – were rarely visited each and didn’t add very many new or needed viewpoints to the story.
I did appreciate Nicole’s character, however. She remained really smart during a tough time and didn’t do stupid things just for the sake of doing stupid things, as many YA characters seem to.
There were also many elements in this book that I wish had been explored more. The ending didn’t really satisfy me. There was still so much tension in certain situations and I didn’t want it to be over because I wasn’t confident that the characters were okay. I wanted to hear them yell at each other and work out all these issues that came up. The middle seemed like there was so much build-up, and then it ended.
Going along with that, I feel like there could’ve been so many side plots incorporated. Like, Nicole’s dad wrote a survival guide book called Instructions for the End of the World (hence, the title of this book), but it was literally only mentioned once. It would’ve been really cool to see that book included more in the plot of this one, even if that just involved quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Also, the setting of this story is a very unique town for many reasons, but the reasons behind the creation of this peace-focused village were never really explored, and the often-mentioned leader of it was never formally introduced or explained. It made it hard to be completely sure of what was going on and what was going to be relevant.
There was obviously a romance element in this book, but I didn’t love it as much as I normally love YA romances. It was certainly insta-love, which isn’t an always bad thing, but it bothered me that both characters were “just drawn to each other”. Okay, but why? Wolf was certainly an interesting character, though. I would’ve liked to hear more of his perspective and backstory.

While I didn’t love this book as much as I hoped to, it was still entertaining. The style of writing was enjoyable, so I’m certainly not opposed to picking up more of this author’s work after reading this one. Most of my dislikes were personal thing: just not clicking with the characters and wanting more of things that really interested me. If this book sounds interesting to you, maybe you should pick it up! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
2.5/5

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick but beautiful read that I finished in 3 hours.

What drew me to this book, aside from the title, was the fact that the main character and I share the same name -- with similar traits (being obedient especially to that overbearing father, having to deal with a stubborn and bratty younger sibling, trying to find a sense of freedom/independence... I was also really thrilled when it was stated in the text that she's Asian, too!) And also I love wolves so the fact that she fell in love with a guy named Wolf?? Great start already.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the "end of the world" wasn't really an apocalypse in a physical sense, but something more psychological and metaphorical, which is something I appreciated. This concept was new and I was intrigued -- and the story did not disappoint me.
I enjoyed the irony (like the dad intending the house to be some sort of shelter/bunker from Armageddon or something but it couldn't keep them safe from a fire, or the dad being SO prepared for a physical apocalypse but falling apart at a metaphorical "end of the world" -- I love it), and I thought the language of the writing was beautiful.

I actually just wished that there were actual "instructions" sprinkled throughout the book or something, like more of what Nicole's dad made her write in the journal that she mentioned -- or even tips that she came up with herself while having to deal with things alone. Then it'd be like her own type of "survival guidebook" to contrast with the one her dad wrote. I know there was already a sense of this at the different "Part"s, I just wished it was more prominent.

But overall I actually enjoyed this book.

[Holly Brumback · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was never a point in Instructions for the End of the World that I didn’t want to know what was going to happen. I wanted to know the mystery that seemed to surround Izzy & Nicole’s dad. I wanted to know why their mom bothered to travel all the way to this new house off the grid only to leave. I wanted to know if Izzy & Nicole would ever realize that they needed each other. I wanted to know if their dad was going to come back. But there were a lot of other things in the book that just seemed too coincidental for it to be believable. There were a lot of issues packed into a short book that just lingered or were ignored or brushed over.

It was definitely an interesting read; I just wish there was more depth to it.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book!

[Rachel Stansel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story about growing up and discovering who you are. The story centers around Nicole and Izzy Reed. The Reeds are preppers and move to a remote home, which proves too much. Their mom leaves in the middle of the night with no word to them. Their dad then leaves to go find her. The girls are left to fend for themselves. They meet other teens from a neighboring commune and typical love story ensues.

As a general premise, I liked the story. The writing was okay, but it felt like the points that should have been key were glossed over, tossed out without the weight they deserved. I was disappointed by the lack of depth of the characters and the story. I was left feeling like a read a detailed draft of the story that would have benefited from fleshing out the characters and the key moments of their lives.

Full disclosure - I received an ARC of the book from the publisher.