About the Book

We Are Okay meets They Both Die at the End in this YA debut about queer first love and mental health at the end of the world-and the importance of saving yourself, no matter what tomorrow may hold.

Avery Byrne has secrets. She’s queer; she’s in love with her best friend, Cass; and she’s suffering from undiagnosed clinical depression. But on the morning Avery plans to jump into the river near her college campus, the world discovers there are only nine days left to an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it.

Trying to spare her family and Cass additional pain, Avery does her best to make it through just nine more days. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery would do anything to save the ones she loves. But most importantly, she learns to save herself. Speak her truth. Seek the support she needs. Find hope again in the tomorrows she has left.

If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come is a celebration of queer love, a gripping speculative narrative, and an urgent, conversation-starting book about depression, mental health, and shame.

Content warnings: discussions of depression, suicidality, apocalypse, homophobia and religious trauma.

Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62039307-if-tomorrow-doesn-t-come

Genre: Young Adult, Queer, LGBT, Romance, Science Fiction

About the Author

Lambda Literary Fellow Jen St. Jude (she/they) grew up in New Hampshire apple orchards and now lives in Chicago with her wife and dog. She has served as an editor for Chicago Review of Books, Just Femme & Dandy, and Arcturus Magazine. When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her cheering on the Chicago Sky and Red Stars. If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come is her first novel.

What I Thought

Well, I’m writing this review as I wipe away tears from my eyes but surprisingly ones that feel hopeful and not just sad.

A book featuring discussion of suicide and an impending apocalypse would not be the top of people’s feel good reads but oddly enough this story has all sorts of beauty in it.

Our narrator Avery is ready to die, until it turns out all her loved ones are too. What follows is both countdown (to an asteroid collision) and count back (to when her depression materialised) and when things went wrong between her and the love of her life Cass.

This is the ultimate high stakes book, but its inevitable outcome is challenged time and again, creating a tense read at times, but with plenty of time for reflection too.

I loved the exploration of a multitude of different ways that humans decide to face the end and the powerful hope there is in clinging to the idea of survival.

Our main band of characters were all drawn so well (and we even get a YA book with two living parents) but it is Avery that shines. Avery who doesn’t believe her life is worth living who gives so much to those around her. But will she see it for herself in time? Can she hold on until the end? Would she hold on if the end never came?

All in all this was a wonderful read.

If you knew an asteroid was hurtling to earth what would you do? And once you’ve determined that why wait because what if tomorrow doesn’t come?

Thanks to The Write Reads and the publisher for the gifted ARC. As ever opinions are my own. Do check out the rest of the tour. Everyone is loving this one.