I featured this book a couple of months ago when it toured with Goddess Fish Promotions. Apologies for taking so long to read and review it. I can recommend it - and if you decide to purchase it, I think you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Everything Under the SunBy Jessica Redmerski
Genre: Dystopian/ Post apocalyptic
Age category: Young Adult/ New Adult/ Adult
Pages: 683 pages
Release Date: 28 August 2017
Blurb:You can find Everything Under the Sun on Goodreads
Thais Fenwick was eleven-years-old when civilization fell, devastated by a virus that killed off the majority of the world’s population. For seven years, Thais and her family lived in a community of survivors deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. But when her town is attacked by raiders, she and her blind sister are taken away to the East-Central Territory where she is destined to live the cruel and unjust kind of life her late mother warned her about.
Atticus Hunt is a troubled soldier in Lexington City who has spent the past seven years trying to conform to the vicious nature of men in a post-apocalyptic society. He knows that in order to survive, he must abandon his morals and his conscience and become like those he is surrounded by. But when he meets Thais, morals and conscience win out over conformity, and he risks his rank and his life to help her. They escape the city and set out together on a long and perilous journey to
find safety in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Struggling to survive in a world without electricity, food, shelter, and clean water, Atticus and Thais shed their fear of growing too close, and they fall hopelessly in love. But can love survive in such dark times, or is it fated to die with them?
You can buy Everything Under the Sun here on Amazon
MY REVIEW
This is a roller coaster ride. From the start, none of the characters have it easy. People die, sometimes quite unpleasantly. Thais, the main character, dedicated to protecting her young sister who is blind, despite being scarcely more than a child herself.Sweet and innocent Thais is also strong and determined.
Then there is Atticus. A flawed hero, shaped by events in this cruel distopian world, he doesn't turn a hair when it is necessary to kill, but with Thais, he is gentle, concerned, and oh so considerate, in contrast to an environment filled with evil men who are quite the opposite.
The book is long, but I never once felt that it dragged and it kept me flipping my Kindle pages to the end.
There are many twists and turns. Characters the reader gets fond of are brutally killed, people they thought they could trust betray them, and through it all, Thais is forced to rely on Atticus although the horrendous things she's been forced to see and endure have made her fear and mistrust men in general. She is far from a weak, simpering heroine though, strong and quick witted her own right, she is a perfect match for him. Despite her initial mistrust, the chemistry sizzles between them and Atticus is such a charismatic hero, the reader is likely to fall for him as heavily as did Thais herself.
The ending of the book came as a complete shock. In fact my only criticism of the book is that I thought this was a 'standalone', but there is apparently a second book in the offing, and although not a complete cliffhanger 'Everything Under the Sun leaves enough of a question at the end for me to make a mental note that I have to read that second book when it comes out.
A gripping, sometimes uncomfortable, but always exciting and enthralling read.
