I gave this book a four out of five stars. I really enjoyed the characters and the growth of those characters. I like the friendships that form in this book. This is my second book by this author and I have enjoyed both of them. I will keep an eye out for new things that Jen Wilde comes out with in the future.

This was definitely unexpected. I went into this one completely blindly. I honestly can’t remember why I even requested this ARC. The beginning was a little slow and took a while before anything interesting really started to happen but once it hit about the 40% mark, I couldn’t put this down! It was a fun, roller coaster ride of a book! If it weren’t for the slow start and some of the writing choices, I would have a rated this higher. Still glad I read it though.

2.5 Stars

Initially I was hooked. I loved Waverly’s character- queer, autistic, scholarship student at an elite school in NYC, and dealing with heartbreak from the dean’s daughter. She struggles to fit in and was so excited to go to the upcoming Masquerade Ball. She wasn’t invited but then the most popular girl in school asks Waverly to take her place. But then when Waverly gets the ball, the book takes a weird, dystopian/apocalyptic turn that I wasn’t excepting. I’m not going to give anything anyway but I wasn’t a fan. It was really farfetched an then it ended. The ending was very vague and left me with a lot of questions.

As others have said, this book took a turn about half way through and I opted not to continue reading.

What a ride! This story gave the elite glamour of Gossip Girl and the vibes of a great thriller. I was glued to the pages, waiting for what happened next. I love seeing Jen Wilde branch out from their usual (which I also love) and take on a different genre.

This book and I weren’t meant to be together.

Know that the synopsis gives A LOT away. I’m 35% into the book and still haven’t gotten to the interesting hook mentioned in the description.

I felt like neurodiversity was being hammered into my brain with repetition, literally reminding me over and over about her autism, rather than a natural flow with Waverly’s character.

The overall tone is very young.

Characters felt stereotypical, lacking complexities and depth.

I would describe the first third of this book as a YA contemporary (melodramatic) romance. The plot feels tired, like a yawn. Not at all what I expected. So I read some reviews with the hope of convincing myself to carry on. Apparently the story does spin into the expected murder mystery and eventual apocalyptic suspense, but I’m not feeling the call to continue.

DNF

1 star

I know when I don’t pick a book up for 2 days, it’s not my thing.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.

I first feel the need to keep it real and say I decided to read this because of the cover. It’s so pretty and feels like my exact literary aesthetic. The book didn’t match the cover vibes as perfectly as I wanted to, but the energy is still there.
The voice of this book was a lot. There was a lot of overexplaining. The tone sometimes felt like it was trying too hard. It could have been up to fifty pages shorter due to excessive words. However, the first person narrator has autism, and from what little I understand about autism, it causes many seemingly normal things to be a lot to handle in a loud mind. So all of my above complaints could just be me, a neurotypical person not knowing what it’s like to live in a neurodivergent brain.
This book also takes a long time to get to the point of the story. The blurb for the book probably explains up to the halfway point of the entire story. I still enjoyed it up to that point, but it took its time to get there, and once it was there, everything moved almost startlingly fast.
This story was less than I expected, but more than I expected at the same time. It was super campy (whether or not that was intentional, I’m not sure), which made it kind of fun, the dark glamor of it all. I was genuinely surprised multiple times; there were some great unexpected plot twists in here. It was a fun and riveting read.

I definitely wasn’t expecting those turn of events! I loved that the MC is a queer autistic teenager who lives in NY and attends a private school with a scholarship. Her character was amazing and I wish I could keep reading about her!
She tutors some of the wealthier students and one of them allows her to attend a masked ball in her place for a once in a lifetime chance to feel like Cinderella.
The party is when everything goes askew and I can’t say much without giving it away, so you just need to read it for yourself!

Waverly, is a lesbian teen who faces many daily challenges. Living in the slums of Queens,. Despite suffering from autism, dyscalculia, and panic attacks, Waverly was able to secure a scholarship for the exclusive Webber Academy. After graduation, she plans to attend Yale's medical school and become a doctor. Waverly is also a tutor who falls in. love with the dean's daughter, Ashley. They keep their love a secret. Waverly is part of a tightknit trio of friends who are misfits. Pari, Frank, and Waverly are often ridiculed, harassed, and bullied by the other students. Pari is an outspoken, bisexual girl who has mobility issues; she walks with a cane. Frank is a shy nerd who, like Waverly, has a poor family and attends Webber Academy on a scholarship. Pari and Frank are in love. They help Waverly with her Cinderella-like deception at the Masquerade Ball. The evening takes a surprising turn when Waverly stumbles into a secret meeting between the dean and the school’s top donors—and witnesses a brutal murder. Before she can contact the authorities, a mysterious blackout puts the entire party on lockdown. Waverly, Pari and Frank unite to escape the building after it turns into a fortress.

The novel has an unexpected twist that changes the whole novel. It’s a novel that I found intriguing though I found it at times not a smooth flowing novel. I did like the main characters in their friendship. It’s a novel that is unusual in what happens.

3.5 stars
This book was a YA dystopian novel with a little bit of a love story thrown in. It was engaging enough, but I felt like the author tried too hard with the main character. I'm all for diversity and disability awareness, but the main character had autism, panic attacks, and was poor and queer. It just seemed a little much. Overall the story was good though and I'd give the author another try in the future.

If it started the way it ended, I would have been all ready for it, but the lead-in was too obnoxious with the tropes about nerdy girl being taken under a wing by rich, popular girl. Nerdy girl gets to enjoy the time of her life pretending to be rich, popular girl at a mysterious party. Then all hell breaks loose. Give me the hell breaking loose sci-fi bend that reminds me of [book:The Compound|2696181].

This book had me hooked from the start! The protagonist, Waverly, is an autistic, LGBTQ loner. She provides both mirror and window elements, making Waverly a relatable character even if the reader doesn't match all of her describers. She's also a strong character, not just strongly written but a strong person, being herself even when she feels judged or like she doesn't fit in. There are a lot of interesting and diverse characters in the book as well. I thought the pacing was really well done, totally gripping, and I didn't want to put it down! Definitely will be recommending this book to my library!

Jen Wilde’s This Is the Way the World Ends

"Only rich white men would throw a party at the end of the world."

Three things I appreciate about this book:

MC Waverly is spunky & has tons of heart. She’s a gay, neurodivergent scholarship student from a low-income family, and she’s trying to make a name for herself at an elitist private school in NYC. Wilde does a phenomenal job of showing her growth throughout the story with a subtle coming-of-age theme.

The characters in the book feel very Gen Z, and often, it made me think of my kids’ peers (minus the private school element). The book has diverse representations: neurodivergence, LGBTQIA+, disability, POC, and chronic pain and illness.

It’s action-packed, so it reads fast. The solar flare science is a little light, IMO, but overall, it held my interest (for a YA book).

For fans of Gossip Girl, Inheritance Games, or One of Us Is Lying.

3.5*

This Is the Way the World Ends was an entertaining, engaging read. It was a pretty quick, easy read as well, considering I thought it would be much heavier based on the plot. There was one point when I was brought to tears and am still holding a little resentment towards the author because of it.

The story was a little confusing at times as well, as I'm still not 100% sure of the why, when it comes to the dean and what he was doing. But I do enjoy end of the world/apocalyptic stories so my interest was held pretty much throughout.

I actually liked the way the story ended, although I'm sure some won't.

Thank you to @wednesdaybooks for the eARC of this! This will be published on May 9th. I read this very quickly and for the most part enjoyed it but have some mixed feelings on the plot in later parts of the book.

The main character is Waverly who is a scholarship student at an elite prep school and is autistic. I felt that the representation of her autism seemed really well-written and was woven into her responses to some of the difficult situations faced throughout the book. One of her best friends, Pari, has chronic pain and sometimes uses a cane, due to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I really liked getting to know both of them as well as many of the other secondary characters. Waverly has a complicated secret relationship from her past that comes back in this story and is enjoyable.

My mixed feelings are about the direction that the plot takes. It felt a bit out there and at times I felt like it was too much fast paced plot when I wanted to slow down a little and spend more time getting to know the characters. I also wanted to know a bit more what was going on with the rest of the world during this “end of world” experience because the book was very insular and focused on the people in one location.

Overall, I couldn’t put this down but also wanted a bit more focus on the characters rather than the end of the world plot. If you’ve read this, let me know your thoughts!

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this!!

I was super intrigued by the description of the book, a poor autistic girl attends a private school and they are throwing a party, how goosing girl then a murder how criminal minds! But I think I had different expectations going into this book than what it really was.
I enjoyed the diversity of the characters but at times it felt like I was reading 3+ pages and biography of why they were diverse while checking each and every diversity box.
The murder wasn’t until the last half of the book but by then I felt like there wasn’t enough time to figure it out.
While this book wasn’t for me, it might be for other people! 2/5

Fans of end of the world type stories are going to love this YA thriller take that features queer and disability representation. Our main character, Waverly, is there to win readers over from the start and take them on a whirlwind of chaos. I enjoyed how Wilde created a badass group of friends to support Waverly. Each one has a distinct personality and background that add elements to the story and plot. There’s also a great cast of more secondary characters who are there to thwart some part of this group’s plan.

This story has tons of twists and turns throughout. Some you’ll definitely have to suspend belief for to fully embrace them, but they’re downright fun to read about! Wilde keeps the reader on their toes, never quite letting you know what might come next. I loved guessing about the motives of certain characters or what the friend group would choose to do next.

Readers be warned: I highly recommend walking into this book blindly because the synopsis gives away major plot points that don’t happen until later in the story.

A huge thank you to Wednesday Books for my gifted copy!

This Is the Way The World Ends is marketed and packaged as a thriller. It is more of a Contemporary Dystopian. And, at the moment, I really just can't get into the book. So I'm temporarily setting it down to pick up again at a later time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with a review copy.

Waverly is out of her depth. She’s a student at Webber Academy, the most prestigious private school in New York City, but her family is not rich. She’s on scholarship, and she works as a tutor to make some money and earn some bonus points for her college applications. As she’s tutoring Caroline a few days before the big Masquerade, a charity event that the school puts on every year, Waverly sees the beautiful red gown that Caroline has bought to wear to the event. Caroline sees Waverly staring at it and encourages her to try it on.

Waverly has never seen anything so luxurious or beautiful, and she thinks this may be her one chance to try on a gown like that. It fits her perfectly, sparking an idea for Caroline. She is thinking that she could use a night off from being Caroline, and she encourages Waverly to go in her place. Everyone will be in masks, so no one would see Waverly and know that it wasn’t Caroline. She even takes a photo of Waverly in the dress and mask, to share on her social media shortly before the Masquerade, so her friends would know it was her in that dress.

Waverly has reservations about going to the gala as Caroline. She is on scholarship. She plans to go to Yale, to study medicine. She thinks her diploma from Webber will open that door for her, hopefully with another scholarship as well. But then she hears the rumors that Ashley Webber will be at the Masquerade too. Ashley is the daughter of the man who runs the school. She’s also Waverly’s ex-girlfriend. Ash, who ghosted her. Waverly’s been wanting to talk to her ever since, to find out why. Waverly can’t let this chance pass her by. She agrees to go to the Masquerade as Caroline.

The day before the Masquerade, Caroline’s father falls ill and ends up in the hospital. Waverly decides she can’t go to the ball, but a text from Caroline tells Waverly that she should go ahead with the plan. She goes with her friends to the building in Manhattan where the Masquerade will be taking place. At first, it seems like a big party, with men in tuxedos and women in gowns. It’s for parents as well as students, but there are separate party rooms for the adults.

Waverly goes in search of Ash, and tries to avoid Caroline’s boyfriend Jack, so that she can talk to Ash about what happened between them and then leave the party. As an autistic, the noise and lights are pushing her towards sensory overload. But when she tries to find a way to talk to Ash, Waverly stumbles into a dark plot that the adults seem to be in on. Her friend Pari is taken by one of the security guards, their phones had all been confiscated by security when they first came to the party, and Waverly finds herself lost in a maze of mirrors and lights and a strange dystopian projection of what could be the end of the world.

Waverly is lost and alone and wondering if she’ll be able to get herself and her friends back out of the building to safety. But if the world is really ending, will they be any safer outside, or is the end for the all?

This Is the Way the World Ends is a dark YA thriller about power and class and what’s really important in life. The story takes some very dark turns as Waverly and her friends try to figure out what is happening around them, and then when they’re trying to figure out how to survive what is happening around them. There are lots of surprises as the teens fight for survival and try to figure out what is most important in the new world they are about to find themselves in.

I was not prepared for how dark or dangerous things were going to get in this story. As someone who struggles with anxiety and sensory issues, being with Waverly through the party made me feel really tense as well, a little more than I was comfortable with. But I liked Waverly a lot. I admired her drive and how deeply she cares for those she loves, so I wanted to stay with her and cheer her on. But this does go quickly from an unsettling story with tension and confusion to a really dark story where people can be sacrificed like pawns in a giant game of power and control. If you’re a fan of dystopian fiction, then this could be the book for you.

Egalleys for This Is the Way the World Ends were provided by Wednesday Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.