The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

The Way We Fall
by Megan Crewe
Hardcover
Disney-Hyperion
January 24, 2012
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It starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you're dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back. Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival.


As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest. Because how will she go on if there isn't?

Megan Crewe crafts a powerful and gripping exploration of self-preservation, first love, and hope. Poignant and dizzying, this heart-wrenching story of one girl’s bravery and unbeatable spirit will leave readers fervently awaiting the next book in this standout new series.

This book...oh, this book, you guys.  This book hit so many of my this-is-awesome-buttons.  I LOVE apocalyptic stuff (every once in a while I'll watch a movie or read a book, and the instant result is starting to stockpile food and making mental notes of where all my tools/sleepingbag/everything useful is... I'm kind of a survivalist.  What can I say.  Too many zombie movies, I guess...but when the zombie apocalypse comes, by gum I'll be ready, but I digress).

In case my little aside confused you, no, there are no zombies in this book.  This book is the OTHER kind of end-of-the-world my brain naturally goes to.  Plagues.  People dying left right and center...and the breakdown of society as it all falls down around you.

This is what The Way We Fall is about.  (And it's set in Canada!  How cool is that?  ...where's my first-aid kit?  Wait...what?  Not yet?  Well...okay...)  It follows Kaelyn, the daughter of a microbiologist who is living in a island community in Canada.  The story is told in journal entries, and picks up not long after a childhood friend of her's (who's she's fallen out with over the years, much to her regret) has moved away to attend a dance academy.  It picks up as she's trying to figure out where the friendship went wrong, and she's trying to change herself s that by the time he gets back, they can give their friendship another try.  But that's not what happens.  What happens is that people on the island start to get sick.  First her friend's father, then her friend, and soon, people are dropping like flies.

The island is quarantined, and cut off from the outside world, and Kaelyn is trying to hold everything together as everything falls apart. 

I absolutely adored this book.  I loved Kaelyn, she was such a great narrator, and I loved how she changed and grew as she faced the struggles that tried to beat her down.  The character relationships were great, and I love how much they changed just due to the circumstances, how Kaelyn grew close to people she never would have otherwise, had this whole thing happened.

I can't wait for the next book!

But, as I wait, you guys should pick this one up.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

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