ARC Review: This is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang




Title: This is Where the World Ends
Author: Amy Zhang
Series: N/A, Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: March 22nd, 2016
Pages: Paperback ARC, 287
My Rating: 3 Stars



Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship—as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt.

Using a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators, Amy Zhang reveals the circumstances surrounding Janie’s disappearance in a second novel. 

  I was given an ARC by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review. 

  Janie and Micah. Micah and Janie. One who dreams about fairytales; the other about the apocalypse. Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie - two people who couldn't have been more right or more wrong for each other. 


"Stars and stars, night after night, secrets spilled in a world too big for sleep."

  This Is Where the World was a very promising book. When I was around the middle of the book, I was actually really enjoying it and was prepared to give it 4 or 4.5 stars. There were so meaningful quotations, and the author clearly had a way with words. I really enjoyed the writing style, and even though I didn't know where the story was going, I was really liking it. I felt like the story was meaningful, and I wanted to find out what happens next.

  I finished this book in just one day, which I haven't been able to do for months and months now. I chose to read this even when I had a lot of homework to do because I felt that sense of urgency, that sense of need to find out what happened to Janie and Micah. So you ask, why only three stars?


"He says my problem is that I was born with a thousand beginnings and no endings at all."

  Well, after reading 70% of the book, it just slowly went downhill from there. Yes, the book is still meaningful; yes, the writing is still amazing. However, I expected something more from this novel, you know? I thought it was going to end up being this epic book that I wouldn't be able to forget about because of how it started, but I was wrong. When I closed the book, I thought, "What, that's it?" I just couldn't believe how flat the ending turned out to be. And I guess yeah, it's kind of my fault for expecting something from this book that it didn't exactly promise, but I still felt disappointed, you know?


"And that's how we lie, telling secrets after secrets after we drift...."

  Overall, I thought I was going to love this book, but I was just disappointed by the ending. I still enjoyed it, but it just fell flat of my expectations. Nevertheless, I will look out for other books by the same author since I really love the writing style.


well-that-went-downhill stars


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