Interesting and quite unique prose - I enjoyed reading this. I'm not sure I love the cover, but the rest of the experience was quite good.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for letting me read this amazing book. You can’t go wrong with Neal Shusterman. His creativity never stops blowing me away, and this time, he’s dreamed up something wild: a variant of COVID called Crown Royale that actually makes people less self-centered and more at peace.

I won’t lie—there were moments that really made me stop and think, especially the scenes where people aren’t buying new stuff anymore, just recycling and fixing things. We’re all so driven by wants instead of needs, and this book is such a great reminder of what’s really important.

And Rón? How could you not love him? So many of us were that kid—depressed, confused, and carrying guilt for something we didn’t even understand. Seeing him finally at peace was just... beautiful.

I recommend this to everyone. It’s powerful, creative, and one of those books that makes you rethink the world.

Shusterman has written a very entertaining and thought-provoking young adult thriller in his latest work. Stand aside, COVID-19, there's a new pandemic sweeping the world. It's called "Crown Royale," and it kills 4% of those infected. The survivors, however, are forever altered with a profound sense of happiness, clarity, and contentment. The book mostly follows three young people: Rón, the son of a billionaire who battles depression; Mariel, who has been living in a car with her mother before her life becomes entangled with Rón's; and Morgan, ruthless and ambitious, who has recently been given the reins to a business empire and is determined to stop the spread of Crown Royale at any cost. I thought both the pacing and characters were great, and the premise is highly creative. This is a thoughtful exploration of power and morality. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for a digital review copy.

This book is a very relevant and thought provoking story. We are not all that far from the Covid 19 pandemic and lock down, so I think this will resonate with a lot of middle school/high school students.
The premise is very clever - there is a high survival rate to this new virus, but there is not a 100% survival rate. Those who survive end up with an intriguing change: the inability to feel anger, depression, sadness, etc.
The concern by some that this changes people fundamentally and will create herds of sheep is an interesting twist. The two different viewpoint about the danger of this virus' after effects are fascinating, and I think this will create a lot of great discussions in classrooms.
This is another brilliant novel by Neal Shusterman, and I am excited to order copies for our middle school library. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the e-galley!

Neal Schusterman has done it again! This book hooked me from the second I started it. Schusterman does such a great job of setting each stage. Even though there are many different characters, each one has a story so in depth that you start to think that you know each of them. The story is told with such detail that you can actually picture everything happening. Despite it being a dystopian book, it starts to feel as though it could really happen from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this story.

I've been a Shusterman fan for years as a school librarian, so the chance to read his newest title was most welcome. And it did not disappoint.

In this timely tale, two young people become the focus of a new pandemic. But this is not a story of Covid-19. Crown Royale changes its victims in ways that may impact civilization. Survivors find they've discovered a compelling need to find the bright side of life, to be content, to help others even at their own risk. They've discovered a secret that they want to share with everyone. Naturally, there are those who feel differently. And so the contest begins.

Characters are well drawn, and the plot moves along at a steady pace, reaching a crescendo and ... oh, I'm not going to spoil the ending.

Shusterman raises and explores important questions through his characters's thoughts and actions. Readers are not told what to think but are challenged to consider some of the complex ideas raised; no easy or simple answers emerge. I'd love to read and discuss this with students.

This book reminds me a lot of Neal Shusterman's Arc of the Scythe series, but I don't think this story was as well executed. All Better Now takes place in the near future and references the management/fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to how this new pandemic is unfolding. The new pandemic has a higher mortality rate at first and the recovery results in people who become extremely altruistic. Like altruistic to the point of ignoring their own needs. There's a scene early in the book where multiple recoverees jump into the San Fransico Bay to assist a boat that has overturned. The thing is even people who couldn't swim jumped in resulting in their death.

The three teens that the book centered around are not just from different backgrounds, they each have their own agenda/outlook on Crown Royal (this universe's new pandemic). The dynamic between the separate storylines is interesting, but I felt like the antagonist's storyline was too vague. There wasn't enough characterization of them for to understand why they were doing what they were doing. The antagonist wants to find a vaccine for Crown Royal because they believe the disease is taking away people's choices. During the vaccine process, their company also creates all kinds of negative spin. The negative spin has a lot of real-world impacts including violence against recoverees. Obviously, there is a parallel between this negative spin to the violence against Asian Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic, but there isn't really any character reaction to it till the tail end of the book.

I did really enjoy the littler interjections of stories from around the world and how Crown Royal was affecting those places. I thought that added some humanity to the book and fleshed the story out. I liked this book, I just felt like there could have been more character building and development. It was an interesting read, but I don't think I'd read the second book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance co

Shusterman delivers a pandemic tale like only he can--with societal critique wrapped up in a fast paced package that teens will devour.

Neal Shusterman delivers a thought-provoking and poignant exploration of healing, identity, and resilience in All Better Now. With his signature blend of emotional depth and razor-sharp prose, Shusterman crafts a narrative that lingers long after the last page. Perfect for fans of contemporary fiction with a touch of raw honesty, this book is a must-read for those who appreciate stories about finding strength in the most unexpected places.

I enjoyed this book greatly and it is right up there with most of the books I have read from him. The characters are always interesting and flawed, but in the best ways. There was a touch of some woke dei in this book that haven't seen from the author before, and that was a little disappointing. But it was slight and fleeting and only interrupted for a few chapters. I just wanted to mention if you have your teens read it. There is love, action, adventure, and mystery. The fact that this takes place after a Covid world feels so real and like this can actually happen. Both sides in this book seem right at times, and both seem wrong. I think it is what makes it so interesting. Covid was polarizing and this virus in the book takes it a big step further. . I really got a kick out of this book and look forward to the author's next one!

#allBetterNowBook #Netgalley

I’ve been a big fan of Neal Shusterman’s since I first read Unwind in 2011/12, and I’ve loved being able to recommend his novels to students since I’ve been a teacher.

Being able to read an ARC of this through his publisher and NetGalley excited me both as a long-time fan and as an opportunity to be one of the first to recommend this to my students!

I am glad to say that I am VERY excited to recommend this to my students.

It’s got a lot of Shusterman’s hallmarks, interesting characters, interweaving perspectives and storylines, a deeply considered sci-fi premise and a great amount of action to propel you through a pretty long novel.

I really liked the characters on both sides of the conflict. Ròn and Mariel are great and are interesting symbols of their side of the story, Morgan and Blas on the other are also really great. I quibbled a little bit with that I often found it difficult to know which side to root for. But that makes for interesting discussions about the nature of protagonists and antagonists with my students!

The way Shusterman builds the world and buoys it with interesting characters with interesting perspectives has always been a favorite of mine and this book is no exception.


I really loved this and I am sure my students will too.

Wow, this is my first book to read by this author and I was swept away. My students love his books so when I saw this was up to read I wanted to see what I had been missing. I also met him in person at TLA and was super amazed at just how down-to-earth he seemed to be.
Now, onto this lovely review.
This was a great topic I actually had with my husband and then my coworkers.
What if there was a virus that could make you happy? Would you be good with that and not wanting a vaccine.
We follow different people throughout our story and see how each one of them plays a huge role in this I am going to call it a "happy virus" though just like with any virus we sometimes have casualties. Why would this "happy virus" not be any good? Well as it seems our economy will be affected because everyone will be willing to just hand things over to people as they no longer need it or want it.
We have one person who can not catch this to save her life, but she sees what it does to others and no matter what she does she can not catch it. We have another teenager who caught the virus, and his mission is to be a superspreader. Another person had already put in the work to create a vaccine to stop this virus from going any further, but when she ends up catching the virus her whole life changes and she realizes that just maybe there shouldn't be one.
Each person plays a part in this story and you see just to what lengths people will go to, to get their way. This is one book I am going to put in my library once I have the money from budget as I know my students are going to eat this one up.

I find myself really heart broken by the messages of the book.

In the early days of COVID, before many protections were in place (though my area listened to few of those protections even later), I had to go grocery shopping. I remember an old woman, tiny little thing, wearing a mask, a face shield, and gloves trying to stay as far away from anyone and everyone as possible. Three people, old enough to know better but maybe not old enough to grasp their cruelty went up to her and started coughing on her. She was scared and the people around her did not take that fear seriously.

This book kept reminding of that moment. Most of the book has little care for other people. Both sides of the "war" are doing what they are doing largely for their own self interests.

There is a moment later on where they are discussing how people on a bus are on a bus because they've either accepted the chance of getting sick or actively want to get sick. Maybe that is true for some but anyone having lived through COVID knows many people were exposed who had no choice in the matter and this book completely ignores that fact from both sides. There is a flippant attitude about lives and peoples' choice.

I honestly don't know how I would have responded to this book as a teenager or someone who was a teenager during COVID. I can see it being just stressful in general no matter where you fall on the spectrum of fears coming out of 2020. I'll avoid spoilers but every layer I pealed back with the plotlines and characters of this book was worse and worse the more you thought about it.

As for the writing. I enjoy Shusterman's style. I liked the sections of the book from other perspectives that turn out to be important later. I think it could have been way shorter or it should have been longer with a better foundation for the morals and ethics of what everyone is doing. As it stands, I didn't really enjoy the book. I'll have to think twice before reading if this becomes a longer series.

UNPUTDOWNABLE. A blend of characters that will keep you wondering, hoping, praying. Humanity at the core of catastrophy.

Title:   All Better Now
Author:  Neal Shusterman
Genre:   YA    
Rating: 4 out of 5

An unprecedented condition is on the rise. It behaves like a virus, with the first symptom being a fever, but those who contract it experience long-term effects no one has ever seen utter contentment. Soon after infection, people find the stress, depression, greed, and other negative feelings that used to weigh them down are gone.

Almost everyone revels in this mass unburdening. But people in power—who depend on malcontents tuning into their broadcasts, prey on the insecure to sell their products, and convince people they need more, new, faster, better everything—know this new state of being is bad for business. Soon, campaigns start up convincing people that being happy all the time is dangerous. There’s even a vaccine developed to rid people of their inner peace and get them back to normal because, surely, without anger or jealousy as motivators, productivity will grind to a halt and the world will be thrown into chaos.

It’s nearly impossible to determine the truth when everyone with a platform is pushing their own agendas, and two teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in different ways by the virus find themselves enmeshed in the center of a dangerous power play. Can they reveal the truth?

I found this to be an unsettling read. Not just the whole pandemic thing, but the people fighting so hard against people trying to help other people, people being positive, and against people just being content. That doesn’t say anything good about us as human beings, does it? This was an entertaining enough read, and the little vignettes of different people in the short chapters reminded me a bit of The Stand, which I always enjoyed.

Neal Shusterman is a bestselling author. All Better Now is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Simon and Schuster in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 2/6).

Another new series for Shusterman. This one focuses on a new pandemic, caused by the Crown Royale virus. Fast-paced and interesting throughout. And THE ENDING! I can't wait for book 2.

There’s a new pandemic. This time though, the recoverees become… happy. Some people call it a body snatching virus because those who recover are different. They forget grief and vengeance; they just want to help others, and they want to help them most by making sure they also get the virus. Mariel, Ron, and Morgan all have different roles to play from getting the virus to developing a vaccine for it. All Better Now follows their journeys through their own perspectives. Readers also get glimpses of events with recoverees happening all over the world to give the story more context. This is another unputdownable read by Neal Shusterman. Its only downfall is that it’s a bit long providing details into some of the supporting characters that could have been cut for a more succinct story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced ebook copy of this title from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for this earc

Okay. Here’s the thing. I’m a huge fan of Neal’s writing and his storytelling. Like Arc of a Scythe trilogy changed my life so I was very excited about the new book. And we did get a lot. The story again was interesting and made you think about humanity in its entirety. The writing was still very good. The characters had a range of “I’ll die for them” to “Can you please stop talking”
But sadly this book didn’t change my life.

I will still be picking up anything Neal writes

I love everything written by Neal Shusterman, but I had a very hard time with this one. The premise was intriguing, the writing was great, and the characters were well developed, but as much as I wanted to love it, it was a bit hard for me to read. Perhaps it is COVID- PTSD because I was so uncomfortable with the pandemic aspect, I couldn't truly appreciate the book for the wonderful work I think others will see it as.

From New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman comes a young adult thriller about a world where happiness is contagious but the risks of catching it may be just as dangerous as the cure. Wow really thrilling...