NineStar Press
Publishing date: May 21, 2024
Good Reads Summary
Two boys fall in love in a deadly world, but it’s the secrets they keep that might kill them.
Seventeen-year-old Zach was visiting his uncle in a small Montana town when a mysterious illness ripped through the world. Most died, but those who survived the Infection became mindless killers, spreading the disease with a single scratch. Now, a year later, civilization lies in ruins, and Zach is the town’s sole survivor. Desperately lonely, he longs to return to his family in Seattle, but his fears hold him captive.
Eighteen-year-old Aiden is on a critical mission for the covert Scientific Collective, delivering vials whose contents could cure the Infection. Tortured by his boyfriend’s death, he welcomes the risks of the perilous journey. When a militia attacks Aiden, he flees to Zach’s town.
The boys escape together and soon form a bond as they comfort each other in this desolate and broken world. The farther they travel, the more their affection grows, as do the forces pulling them apart. But their greatest threats are the secrets they keep. Zach hides details of his uncle’s death, and Aiden conceals the vials’ sinister origins. In order to survive, they’ll have to confront the truths that could tear their love apart.
Review from Coffee&Ink
This post-apocalyptic novel is well written, and the world Zach and Aiden inhabit is very well developed. I especially liked the realistic scenario that caused the collapse of civilization—believable and well thought out. I do love a society’s-collapse-is-right-around-the-corner story, and this one had me at page one.
Two first person point of view novels are sometimes hard to pull off, but Zach and Aiden have very different voices, which is one of the things I love about the novel. There are a lot of emotional mysteries to unravel while they evade the Infected, the FLA, and scrounge for food and other supplies. Aiden is on a mission he cannot tell Zach about, and this causes quite a bit of trouble for them throughout.
I highly recommend this action-packed, road trip style story about two teenagers trying to fix their broken world, and their broken selves, with love and humor.
Thank you Kourtney at Pacific & Court for a copy of this novel to read and review.
Coffee And Ink 
great review! i always enjoy two first person point of view novels. they are usually fun and very enlightening.
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