Title: They Both Die at the End
Author: Adam Silvera
Rating: 5 stars

About:

Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day. (Goodreads).

Review: WHERE. TO. START.

I want to scream. Okay.

Thanks to the title, the ending is rather expected. But this Book is a roller coaster. I felt so many emotions and things that I didn’t expect happened and it was crazy.

When I started reading it, I realized that I had a pint of icecream (Oreo) in the freezer for me to eat while I cried over the book. I was very thankful for having the willpower not to eat it yesterday! I read this book over the course of the day, and as part of my readathon. Upon finishing this book, I have reached my goal for time (I believe I’m at 11.5 hours out of my hope for 10) and having read a full book (also most of another one yesterday).

The focus of this story is living your life to the fullest. Taking risks without regret. Loving without regret.

I’m not sure how to explain the setting of this novel… it’s current time but it feels like fantasy and somewhat futuristic. A call is delivered at midnight saying that you’re dying within the next 24 hours so you can live your life to the fullest, which, well, it doesn’t happen like that… even though it’s based in modern day so I’m not sure how to describe that.

Mateo and Rufus meet on an app called Last Friends and connect instantly, meeting each other and spending their End Days in the company of one another, hoping to beat the clock, and Death.

Through their End Day, they experience life together, doing things they never dared of doing like sky diving (sort of). They sing duets, and travel the world (sort of) and see life in color, together.

*SOMEWHAT SPOILER FOR JUST THIS PARAGRAPH* … the boys fall in love and it’s super cute, and I felt the tension between them and I was just waiting for it.This story has good visibility for the LGBT community, with a bi main character, gay main character, and a lesbian minor character.

I feel like Mateo has anxiety and could be a good rep for that, though I don’t remember it being mentioned, just some of his behaviours and manners come across anxious and his thinking patterns too.

*SPOILERS/ ABOUT THE ENDING. FIND THE NEXT HEADING FOR CONCLUSION*

Don’t even get me started on the ending….I’m so mad! It feels unfinished. So, Mateo dies, and Rufus goes out, to visit Mateo’s dad who’s in a coma in the hospital. When he leaves, he’s going to a park in the area, and is looking down at his phone as he crosses the street. It legit says something along the lines of I look down at my phone and don’t look up before crossing the street. And then there’s a black page.

The chapter before is about a woman named Deliliah who is at said park and also got the call that she was going to be dying that day but didn’t believe it. She went there and called her fiance, Victor, who was going to meet her there to say goodbye because she had two hours, if that, to live.

Victor drives towards the park to see Delilah which I assume is the car that may have hit Rufus and killed him???? But then like, Delilah was supposed to die too and there was no mention of that??? And it’s just sort of implied that Rufus died which sort of bugged me.

Ugghhhh.

*END OF THAT SECTION*

Overall, I really liked this book. If I’m completely honest… I didn’t cry. I was expecting to and I’m usually super emotional with books so it kind of confused me.. It wasn’t poorly written whatsoever, I think maybe I just got numb??

I got teary-eyed, and my palms were clammy, my heart was racing, I was totally intrigued, but it didn’t hit me as hard as I thought it would.

This book was amazing. If this is any sort of comparison to his other books, I know I’ll be getting those ones as well. Adam Silvera’s writing is powerful. It makes you feel emotions in strong waves which I value in books. It was extremely well written, really cute, and had important messages to live life to the fullest and value the time, and people, you have.

“Entire lives aren’t lessons, but there are lessons in lives.”
― Adam Silvera, They Both Die at the End

Stay Strong
Xx

-Cass