I’m ultimately giving this one a 3.5, rounded up, because it did take a little while to get going, but the ending totally redeemed it. I cried. It was beautiful, scary and haunting, all at once.

The romance aspect of it was great, and I rooted for Ian to be able to tell Eric how he really felt about him. The angst! The longing!

One character did get on my nerves a bit, due to the “I know how to do everything ever” and “Let’s commit crimes because no one ever cared about us” vibes, but I loved how three of the characters really loved each other. This story has a wonderful message of recognizing that everyone has failures and makes mistakes, but we can find our people and create a community that means something.

Major shout out to the author for sheer inventiveness regarding the illness taking over the town. I was invested in seeing how it played out.

It’s important to note that this is a good opportunity to learn more about what it might be like to suffer from epilepsy and seizures. Leif gives vivid descriptions of Ian’s experiences with his disability and shows how it has affected his entire life. Any time I can learn more about what life is like from another person’s perspective, I take it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for the eARC. All opinions are mine.

Take All of Us is a teen book about death, zombies and friendship. All Ian wants to do is confess his crush to Eric, his best friend of ten years, but when the mall alerts for an evacuation, triggering Ian's epilepsy and leaving him to have a fit in the water fountain, death gets in the way of his plans.

The town that Ian lives in has a unique way of dealing with death, being that those who die will linger on for hours to days, rotting from the inside out until someone puts them out of their misery. This fate now awaits Ian, but there's something he needs to do before he'll allow that - find out where Eric has gone and say goodbye properly. He tags along with Monica and Angel, who've also remained behind while the rest of the town were evacuated.

This book started strong; the premise is interesting and the characters are unique and diverse. There's elements of horror and mystery, as well as romance and friendship. The language is easy to understand, the storyline isn't hard to follow and doesn't get bogged down by a lot of exposition or descriptions. However, there wasn't much sense of urgency despite the novel taking place over 1-2 days, and the ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory.

this was really good. in part a beautiful and emotional love story, and part a survivors story. this was gross in the best way posible, and i loved every bit of it.

This book destroyed me emotionally and tenderly. Ian is a good bean who deserves the world. Monica and Angel are the best apocalypse team one could ask for, and Eric is complex and deeply sympathetic. Zoey is Zoey. 10/10