Review Detail

Reading This Is Not a Test, Freddie and Stella Got Hot, The Future Saints, and Hemlock felt like riding four very different emotional rollercoasters each one wrecked me in its own special way. From zombie apocalypse despair that somehow feels painfully intimate, to a savage, darkly funny takedown of popularity and power, to messy fame, grief, and doomed ambition, and finally to a haunting descent into addiction, memory, and something lurking deep in the woods I was hooked every step of the way.

What tied these books together for me was how deeply human they are. Every story digs into survival whether that’s surviving the end of the world, high school social warfare, public scrutiny, or your own past. I loved how none of these characters are easy to love, but I still found myself rooting for them, wincing with them, and thinking about them long after I closed the book. These are stories that sit with you, creep under your skin, and refuse to be neatly wrapped up and honestly, that’s my favorite kind.