If this book was meant to be satire, then it was too heavy-handed with it. With his earlier series, Unwind, Shusterman was able to hit hard with producing social commentary using a dystopian setting. The voice and writing of All Better Now was mediocre compared to the talent utilized in his earlier work. I had to DNF this one.

I was hoping to love this one, but just really didn't enjoy it and felt a little bored especially after the first couple of chapters.

Neil Shusterman does not miss. I loved challenger deep and This gave me the same feeling. Highly recommend for high school students especially.

I have enjoyed other books by Neal Shusterman, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as I had hoped. There was so much going on but I also felt like nothing was going on because I was lost most of the time. There were so many characters that were being focused on besides the main 3. I wish it hadn't jumped around so much. Even when it was focused on one of the main 3, I didn't feel anything for them. I was unable to connect with them. I also felt that the book was just trying too hard. Overall, this book was just not for me, and I wish it had been done better because it had good potential.

content warning: pandemic, death, death of parent, sucide attempt, self harm

Thank you for this ARC.
I'm sorry that I really couldn't get into this book. I do believe many others will enjoy this dystopian. sci-fi kind of read. Teenagers might enjoy it more than a much older adult. The ideas are good. Not fully fleshed out. Some parts could have also been eliminated. I didn't see a conclusion. Unless there was a key line of dialogue I missed. The plot is a slow read if you can piece it together.

Neal Shusterman does it again. His concepts are always so brilliant. This one is about a COVID-esque type illness that leads to pure contentment if you survive. But is contentment really the best for humans? That is one of the questions that Shusterman asks as we follow characters who are on very different sides of the coin: someone who wants to spread the illness to everyone and someone who is willing to anything to stop it. Another 5 stars for Shusterman!

I loved a lot about this book, but I have to say the second half didn’t live up to the first half. I loved the characters and their storylines, but it started to drag as it went on. I also wasn’t super satisfied with the ending in comparison to his other books.

The scythe series is one of my all time favourite series to exist. I love his dystopian stories - one of the best genres to exist! So when I found out he was yet again coming out with a story within the same realm, I knew I had to pick it up. And pick it up I did, I loved this!!!! Our leading man, Ron, has seen the world through a very different eye view than his father, who’s one of the wealthiest males in the world. Ron has been through it all, and unfortunately fell victim to multiple attempts at taking his own life while struggling with his inner demons, and turmoil with depression. But an unlikely cross between Ron and a young woman tangles their lives in ways both believes once impossible. We also follow many other characters that I both came to love and absolutely despise. I had a lot of fun with this. It made me anxious but my eyes were hooked to my kindle the entire time. The themes of mental illness were handled with care. If you’ve read any of Shustermans previous books, you’d know that he writes mental illness in a very relatable and respectful way that deeply resonates with so many adults and teenagers. But overall, this was an incredible read.

This book is a compelling, thought-provoking exploration of “contagious happiness,” presented with impressive nuance and complexity. Rather than offering easy answers, it invites readers to wrestle with big questions through multiple perspectives—over 20 characters briefly lend their voices, creating a rich, layered world. Though the plot itself is fairly concise, the depth of conversation and philosophical weight make it feel expansive. The central conflict involving Crown Royale is tense and thrilling, and the final revelation about combating the virus adds a fascinating, unsettling twist. The ending is chilling yet hopeful, and perfectly captures the book’s emotional extremes—fear, hatred, joy, and hope—all coexisting in a way that feels eerily timely. It’s the kind of story that stays with you long after the last page and demands discussion. Highly recommended for high school readers and up; younger readers may benefit from thoughtful guidance. Mr Shisterman once again delivers a masterfully bold and timely narrative.

3.5. A second pandemic is sweeping the world 1 in 25 will pass away but the others who pull through gain clarity and happiness. Such an interesting concept.

Reading the description I thought, ok, this sounds really interesting. A virus that takes away your unhappy feelings, depression, anxiety, etc. Sign me up!! I dive into the book very curious and excited. I should have remembered the saying "be careful what you wish for". Crown Royale doesn't just make people happy and it's a big problem for many characters - they just don't realize it.

I will start off with what I liked. This story was nothing like anything I've ever read before. I am not familiar with Neal Shusterman's other books so I am not sure if this is the type of book he normally writes. I thought the idea of a virus that gets rid of anxiety and depression would be a good thing. I thought reading about a world where billionaires and world leaders would suddenly be happy and good and want to give away their money would also be a good thing. I was curious to see what exactly happened. I also liked that my curiosity kept me wanting to read more. The main character - Mariel, was likeable and I really wanted to know more about what happened to her after the story ended.

What I didn't like... there were WAY too many characters mentioned. Some were never even really mentioned again after a short cliff hanger chapter that introduced them. What happened to those characters? Why introduce them? There were also many times where I had to go back and remind myself who I was reading about, who was this character, who was speaking, and more. It was a MESS. The majority of the characters in the book were unlikeable. Even those who caught Crown Royale and were now supposedly "good" didn't lose their true nature completely and were still "bad". I wanted the book to get better and get more interesting and it kind of did (but not really) at the end but it just took so long to get there.

I also did not like the long winded "poetry" way of speaking from one of the characters. I honestly just skipped it after the first page.

This book had the opportunity to be really great but the end just sort of fizzled out. I'm rating this a 3 out of 5 even though my initial thoughts were to rate it a 1. After I finished reading this book, I wanted to throw it across the room but I didn't because I read on my phone. After some time though I was thinking over and over about various aspects of the book. I called my son and talked to him about the book for a good 30 minutes and he now he wants to read it for himself. Any book that gets me riled up like that deserves a few more stars. Even though I didn't personally LOVE the book, it got me thinking and talking. That's a book that did it's job right there.

I started this book with high expectations overall it was just OK for me. I did end up having to DNF but I read about 30% before I did so.

Actually a 3.75 rating.

I usually am a huge fan of Neal Shusterman and love every single one of his books. But this book seemed like it missed in a few places. I really enjoyed the plot concept and the whole idea of "is everyone constantly being happy sustainable" or do we need hard times to appreciate the good in life and for the economy to stay strong. I was really interested in this concept the whole book and I enjoyed Neal's writing style throughout.

The ending was what spoiled the book for me. It may be that Neal is planning a second book to this story, but the end finished in such a cliffhanger, I felt it was incomplete. For example, what happened to the plan with the uncontained anti-virus. Why did the main antagonist survive. I have no idea how this could've been a planned ending unless there is a sequel. The only possibility I can think of is that no one really knows whether life can exist with no bad, but I just wish the ending was more conclusive.

Another issue I had were the characters. I usually connect well with the characters or at a minimum feel something towards them in all of Neal Shusterman's books. But for this book, there was nothing.

Overall, not a bad book. A very exciting plot. Would recommend for any Neal Shusterman fans.

A pandemic causing your personality to change. I have always loved Stories written by Shusterman and this scifi / fantasy turns a current situation into a twisted version. A virus like no others, still deadly to most, but life changing for others. Some push to ‘catch’ the virus is for the better, but people in power fear this change.

All Better Now is a fantastic new read by Neal Shusterman. This young adult speculative fiction will really make you think while also keeping you entertained and on the edge of your seat. This book is a chonk but it is well written and the story flows easily and keeps you wanting to find out what happens next. While this is a young adult book, I believe adults will find it enjoyable as well.

All Better Now focuses on three main characters and how this new pandemic, Crown Royale, impacts their lives. Crown Royale is a disease that is like Covid, but if you survive it leaves you changed. The disease makes people feel more content, and all their stress goes away. Essentially it makes you happy. However it does cause people to lose ambition, so there are some people who will stop at nothing to keep from getting the virus.

It was neat to see how the different factions of people felt about the virus and what they thought should happen. Those who became “compromised” wanted to spread the virus to try and make the world a better place. The “unembraced” wanted to create a vaccine to stop the virus from spreading because they feared that the world would become chaos if everyone was content and lost their ambition.

While reading the book it had me contemplating what I would do if I were in these characters situation. I could see the pros and cons of both situations. I really hope the author writes more in this world because the way it ended definitely left me wanting more.

A virus begins to take over the world, but it’s not your typical sickness. When people recover from this, they are filled with feelings of happiness and elation, with all of their negative feelings disappearing. Some people are all for it. Others are strongly against it, and want to develop a vaccine to put a stop to it. With both sides battling to either spread or stop the virus, who will be the winner? 3/5 stars

who wins in a war between capitalism and contentment?

spoiler alert: you're gonna need a sequel to figure that one out.

i loved the premise of this from the beginning. an epidemic? count me in. and epidemic that makes people's lives better? i've never read anything like that, so i was super intrigued. the story started out well enough, getting to know our main cast of characters and their experience with crown royale, the new virus that leaves its survivors content for life. content is key here, because it's not exactly happiness.

rón is the protected son of a billionaire. mariel is the pragmatic daughter of a woman on the move. morgan is a rich woman who cares about herself and her money, and absolutely nothing else. i enjoyed reading from rón and mariel throughout the first half of the book. it was fascinating how they slowly changed, drifted, and clung together as the virus got its hold on them. but morgan ... i hated her from the start, unsurprisingly. and as rón and mariel got more annoying throughout the book (i don't think this should've been over 500 pages at all. it took me two months to get through), i couldn't care about any of them. all i knew is i was rooting against morgan.

the real struggle over the virus - and the implications of embracing it or fighting it - takes place in the last 10%. most of the book felt like it dragged the journey to this part. it's well-written and interesting, but horribly unsatisfying as an ending. i feel pretty "meh" because i didn't hate it, but it had absolutely no impact on me. except for the few good quotes in there.

i personally don't think this stands well on its own, but i wouldn't read a sequel because i do not care about these characters at all. overall, loved the concept, didn't love the characters or the pacing. i'd describe this as contemporary with a scifi element, not a thriller or hard scifi.

Dystopian vibes with a twist of a new pandemic that makes people happy. It had SO many twists that just kept reeling me in. This book kept me engaged and I sincerely enjoyed the entire story, though it could be hard to power through at times.

A virus named Crown Royale has become a pandemic. If you catch this virus and are close to death, you lose all stress, unhappiness, etc and become happy at all times. If you are cured, you remain happy for the rest of your life. There are people who feel this is an impairment and set out to find a cure.

I liked this book a lot because of the character development and the twists. There were some slow moments that might have dragged on a little too long, but overall, I know it can't be all action and important information was introduced. I would suggest this if you want to find a good book in the dystopian genre. We read a lot of dystopian novels in my curriculum at school and this would fit right in with that.

Happiness is a pandemic. Shusterman's latest proposes what would happen if that was the case.

This book is long. It is also not as nearly engaging for the merely sci-fi dabbler such as myself. I liked it, but I did end up skimming and not taking in some of this book. Props for a great cover, but I will stick with recommending Scythe as the better Shusterman book.