♥Donnie Darko Girl♥: Everything Under the Sun by Jessica Redmerski ~ Blog Tour: #BookReview & #Giveaway

August 2, 2018

This is my stop during the blog tour for Everything Under the Sun by Jessica Redmerski. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours and runs from 30 July till 12 August. Click here for the tour schedule.

Title: Everything Under the Sun

Author: Jessica Redmerski

Release date: August 28, 2017
Genre: Dystopian, Post apocalyptic, Suspense, Romance
Age category: Young Adult, New Adult, Adult
Pages: 683 pages

Source: Copy for review

Purchase: Amazon | B&N

My Rating:

Synopsis

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?

Everything Under the Sun is a gritty read about life after the Fever, a virus that has killed most of the world's population. Everyone has been affected by this virus one way or another either by losing loved ones or somehow surviving it with injuries (such as losing one's sight), not to mention living in a new world where people are desperate enough to do anything it takes to survive.

When I used to watch The Walking Dead, it didn't take long for me to realize that humans are much worse than the zombies themselves. The same can be said for this book. The people Thais and Atticus encounter on their journey are much more frightening and dangerous than the virus that caused all of this in the first place.

I loved Thais, but I wondered how she could remain so naive and trusting of people after the many times she came close to death or torture at the hands of strangers and after all the death she's witnessed. I wanted to yell at her to remain skeptical of anything that seemed too good to be true because that means it is!

In a world such as this, feeling sorry for others can get you killed. I'm not sure how I'd deal with it -- I'd like to think I could keep my empathy intact, but who knows? The fact that Thais hasn't become disillusioned with the world is what draws Atticus to love her and might just be what kept them trudging onward.

As for Atticus, I didn't think I'd like his character as much as I did. He straddles the line between being a hero and an anti-hero, and that's what made him realistic. He struggles with what they have to do to survive and his morals. Meeting Thais changed everything for him, giving him a purpose and a reason to search out a better life for the two of them than what awaits them in Lexington City.

What else can I say about Everything Under the Sun? The cover is gorgeous, the writing is captivating, and the characters are worth getting to know. Read this book asap! It's an excellent post-apocalyptic romance done in a way I've been wanting to read for forever. I've heard there's a second book coming, and I'm so excited to hear that!

About the Author

Jessica Redmerski is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, international bestseller, and award winner, who juggles several different genres. She began self-publishing in 2012, and later with the success of THE EDGE OF NEVER, signed on with Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance. Her works have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Jessica is a hybrid author who, in addition to working with a traditional publisher, also continues to self-publish. Her popular crime and suspense series, In the Company of Killers, has been optioned for television and film by actor and model William Levy.

She also writes as J.A. Redmerski.