The smallest thing by Lisa Monterfield.
The very last thing 17-year-old Emmott Syddall wants is to turn out like her dad. She’s descended from ten generations who never left their dull English village, and there’s no way she’s going to waste a perfectly good life that way. She’s moving to London and she swears she is never coming back.
But when the unexplained deaths of her neighbors force the government to quarantine the village, Em learns what it truly means to be trapped. Now, she must choose. Will she pursue her desire for freedom, at all costs, or do what’s best for the people she loves: her dad, her best friend Deb, and, to her surprise, the mysterious man in the HAZMAT suit?
A very good read with good characters. I liked Emmott. I liked the cover. 4*.

Emmott has always dreamed of leaving her dreary village life and moving to London. Now this dream looks like it is about to come true, she has a job and flat lined up and she has even persuaded her boyfriend Ro to go with her. But before she manages to get out, the village is put under quarantine with a mysterious new disease and her new life slips further and further out of reach.
I couldn't warm to Emmott, she starts off as a bratty, self-absorbed teenager and though she probably does have a reason for being this way, we don't really get to see it develop. It took me a while to get into the story but I did want to find out what the mysterious virus was and if Emmott and her father would survive. I must admit I had a few problems with this book, for example a few times it seemed to be leading up to a clue or a big reveal and then nothing happened. But ultimately I did feel invested and it was well worth the read.

This novel is based ona real life quantentine but within a contemporary setting which is something that particularly enjoyed especially when it is coupled with normal teenage things like school and falling in love.

Emmott is ready to get out of the house and do her own thing. When a series of outbreaks occur in her town everything is put on lock down. Now shes trapped in town while people are dropping like flies, her father is going out all the time to aid neighbors risking his life, her best friends family has her on her own form of lock down and she wants nothing more then ever but to leave this town behind.

My expectations on this book wasn't must. I don't remember requesting this book but it was in my kindle and the cover had me curious. I think I might've requested it under the impression that it might've been one of those types of outbreaks books with zombies. Thing is not sure where I even got that idea from. So when I did decide to pick this book up I was a by iffy about it being that it was different from anything I've ever read. This book also turned out a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting to to like this book as much as I did. I loved seeing the growth of the main character Emmott and seeing how she was dealing with her family but also learning in times of crisis who is really there for eachother. Who can anyone trust? I loved that this book managed to have plenty of things that kept me entertained and although there is a bit of interest between Emmott and another character that bit of romance between the two didnt over power the main story line. This book is very different from all the books that I've read and I'm glad I got a chance to get it, it really was fascinating and I'd highly recommend any of you readers looking for a different and interesting book to check this book out.

Something was lacking for me! This isn't the usual genre I read so maybe that was it!

(I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)

Emmott has plans to leave her small English town with her boyfriend, Ro, and get a job in London. It doesn’t matter that her mother and little sister are at the sea for the summer, or that her father needs her to help at his tour company, or that her parents don’t approve of Ro… nothing can stop Emmott from leaving for London.

Then, her neighbors start getting sick and the community is put under quarantine. Now, Emmott must face some hard truths as she tries to survive.

Students will love the relatable protagonist and her efforts to help the very village she hopes to escape. Emmott is pragmatic, determined, and resilient, even as everything she’s ever known is shaken.

I felt the pacing was a little slow through the middle third, but I liked the “retelling” of a historical event, and this would be an excellent pairing with a research project about outbreaks.

I really enjoyed it. The fact that it was based on a true story added to the reading experience.
Emmott was so easy to connect with even if at times she seemed too reckless in such a serious situation but her character developed tremendously and by the end, I felt for her and her family. This is a very character driven book, the outbreak is only part of what is going on in her life. The only issue I had with it was the fact that the whole quarantine situation was never named, people were getting sick and dying, but no one could name the illness that took their life despite it being in modern times. I would have liked for it to go a bit deeper into it, but over all, this story touched so many subjects in a person's life in such a small amount of pages, truly remarkable.

People are getting sick in a tiny English village. At first it's just elderly people, but then healthy adults start coming down with it too. Neighbors begin to die, and sudden the entire village is quarantined, including 17 year old Emmott.

Emmott's weeks away from her lifelong dream of ditching her small town and heading to London with her boyfriend. She has everything planned out, and doesn't care what anyone (especially her father) thinks. But Emmott is forced to stay and watch her friends and neighbors succumb to the virus.

I really, really liked this book. I enjoy reading about fictional outbreaks/pandemics, something I suppose that stems from watching Dustin Hoffman's "Outbreak" movie when I was kid. We don't get to see the scientists racing to find a cure, or even much of the doctors and nurses helping those who are affected. But we do see how one girl's life changes as everything she knew and loved crumbles around her.

Emmott begins as a self-centered teenager who wants to get out and live her life. Even when people start getting ill, she stubbornly tries to find a way out of the quarantine zone. As the novel progresses, however, Emmott evolves as a character. Her relationship with her father also changes.

There was some insta-love with Aiden, one of the aid workers. I rolled my eyes a few times, but I could chalk it up to teenage hormones. Luckily, Aiden does prove himself in the course of this novel.

Oh, and I wish the cover were prettier! I admit that I am a sucker for beautiful covers, and this was the one deterrent from reading "The Smallest Thing" ASAP.

Emmott Syddall is a 17 year old girl who wants to get out of her small English village and live her own independent life in London.
She is trying to wait until the last minute to tell her Dad and Mom about it when the unthinkable happens - people start getting very sick in her village and a quarantine is enforced.
Emmott tries to sneak away by avoiding the patrol during a certain time when she is confronted by her boyfriends' brothers and their guns and she has to turn back home.
Emmott is on her own with her Dad, whom she doesn't know very well to face an unknown virus that is decimating her town.
She is befriended by one of the Red Cross workers, Aiden, who tells her about the virus - a similar virus had been spread in Siberia and they were trying to use similar measures in Emmotts' village to stop the virus from spreading.
You will have to read the book for yourself to see if anyone survives and what Emmott learns about becoming an adult.
I do not think that the physical descriptions about Emmott's sexual feelings added to the story, they could have been omitted and the story would have been better.