“The Summer The World Ended is a brilliantly woven tale…. Unforeseen twists and a masterfully paced storyline assures that Matthew Cox has a bonafide hit on his hands!” ~ Aiden James, author of Cades Cove and The Judas Chronicles
As far as Riley McCullough is concerned, her best friend getting ‘dragged’ off to Puerto Vallarta for the first two weeks of summer vacation was the end of the world―at least until the bombs fell.
Life in suburban New Jersey with her mother has been comfortable, not to mention boring, to an introverted fourteen year old. As if her friend’s surprise trip wasn’t bad enough, her expectations for the ‘best summer ever’ disintegrate when she gets sent across the country to stay with a father she hasn’t seen in six years. Adjusting to a tiny, desert town where everyone stares at them like they don’t belong proves difficult, and leaves her feeling more isolated than ever. To make matters worse, her secretive father won’t tell the truth about why he left―or what he’s hiding.
Her luck takes an unexpected turn for the better when she meets a boy who shares her interest in video games and contempt for small town boredom. In him, she finds a kindred spirit who might just make the middle of nowhere tolerable.
Happiness is short lived; fleeing nuclear Armageddon, she takes shelter with her dad in an underground bunker he’d spent years preparing. After fourteen days without sun, Riley must overcome the sorrow of losing everything to save the one person she cares about most.
I received this book from the author, Matthew S. Cox, for an honest review.
Oh, boy! Let me tell you. Right off the bat you are bombarded with the feels. Serious feels. The kind of feels that make you curl in a corner and want to cuddle the main character. Okay, maybe it’s not right off the bat, but in chapter two, I was wanting to go into my kindle, pull out Riley, and give her the biggest cuddles a person could.
I’ve read a few books from Cox, and I have to say that he is very good with the feels and female leads. Either he has a little girl, a little sister, or was a girl in a past life. Maybe all three. I feel connected with every one of his female leads. Each one has a different personality, but has that quality that makes you believe that this is a real girl.
It doesn’t end with the main character. Cox weaves intricate and believable situations and worlds. No matter how unrealistic it may seem, Cox makes you believe. That is difficult to achieve and I applaud him in it.
The Summer The World Ended, is one such book. I’d like to say more, but the title explains everything. For Riley, this is the summer the world ends.
Casia's Corner 