Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

The End started off as a standard zombie-apocalypse tale, but featuring YA characters of Cate and her sister Mel. Everything is pretty much by the book of zombie lore from how the outbreak begins, the slow progression, and then the eventual (though quick!) mass consumption and ultimately humans just trying to survive the hordes of undead. Everything was fairly standard fare that has been done a hundred times before. However, at one point the author does shake things up and introduces an "evolved" zombie. This ratchets up the tension and horror exponentially and just when I thought the story was going to transition from rote zombie tale to something new tackling an evolving virus--that aspect of the story was merely glossed over and allowed to simmer in the background. That ended up being the only thing I cared about while reading the last half and never came to fruition. By the last handful of chapters, I felt the characters themselves became hum drum and boring, new characters were quickly introduced without not much more than a job description and a name (classic zombie-food setup), and with a rushed final chapter that just sort of ends it's clear the author is intending for a series. Maybe more of the actual story and disease progression would come out in later books, but there wasn't enough here for me to have much interest in continuing on. Also, this was grossly miscategorized as an LGBT title. The main character is supposedly a lesbian, or at least had a girlfriend, but we never see this girlfriend and she spends more time mooning over the male characters than any female. That was a bit of a head scratcher.

The end by M Rose Flores.
On Cate Mortensen’s seventeenth birthday, her family is scattered in a fight for survival, and she and her sister Melody are catapulted headfirst into a world where their phones are just hunks of plastic, they must scavenge for every bite, and they sleep with weapons in their hands. Traveling alone, and then not so alone, they follow the route their family planned to Alcatraz Island where the hope of safety and a real life awaits. After more than a year on the road, Cate has found three things to be true. One: Zombies are a thing now. Two: Not all zombies are just zombies. Three (the game changer): Cate is immune to the infection.
A slow start but after a few chapters it starts to get good. I liked Mel Catherine and Calvin. I didn't like Marco. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.  5*.

With a unique writing style, M. Rose Flores gives a YA zombie book unlike many others in this genre. Sisters Cate and Melody must journey through their dystopian world in order to reach a safe zone arranged previously with their absent parents. To get to Alcatraz Island, the sisters battle each and every step, against zombies and other hazards. Well-written.

Pretty typical zombie novel. Solid writing and dialogue, but offering nothing new to the genre.

Goodreads Synopsis:
On Cate Mortensen’s seventeenth birthday, her family is scattered in a fight for survival, and she and her sister Melody are catapulted headfirst into a world where their phones are just hunks of plastic, they must scavenge for every bite, and they sleep with weapons in their hands. Traveling alone, and then not so alone, they follow the route their family planned to Alcatraz Island where the hope of safety and a real life awaits.

After more than a year on the road, Cate has found three things to be true. One: Zombies are a thing now. Two: Not all zombies are just zombies. Three (the game changer): Cate is immune to the infection.

My Review:
In all honesty, this was another end of the world zombie story. They're everywhere, due to a virus outbreak, and the main characters are constantly and easily fighting them off. The book comes from the point of view of a late teenage girl named Cate who has a lot of memories to share.

The book starts off with an entire hoard of zombies closing in on the main characters, Mel and Cate. They say, how did we not see this coming, and then kill them and continue on their way with their truck and their dog. The chapters switch between then, and now, in Cate's mind. There's a lot of pop culture references, and backstory for the characters. I felt like this book really told me about things instead of showing me them. Although I knew a lot about the characters, I didn't really feel like I got to know them. It also brought up random topics like self harm out of the blue, and the characters did insane tricks with their weapons for seemingly no reason other than to be flashy. It really reminded me of a certain popular tv show that I'm not into, also about zombies.

I wanted to give it three stars, but brought it up to four because I did like how easy it was to read, even if it wasn't the most unique. I really thought that there was going to be more of a mystery to this book, but it's really just some characters thrown into an apocalypse setting and seeing how they survive. I liked the cover. Check it out and see what you think.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon, and another link to the author's twitter.

https://www.amazon.ca/End-M-Rose-Flores-ebook/dp/B07BY855VK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524081071&sr=8-1&keywords=The+End+by+M.+Rose+Flores

https://twitter.com/writemod

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

THIS. WAS. SO. GOOD. Let me just repeat, THIS WAS SO GOOD.

"That’s one universally reliable factoid from zombie lore: head shot equals kill."

I enjoyed this zombie offering a lot. For one thing, it takes place in areas I'm familiar with. The story starts in Spokane, Washington and winds south, ending up in San Francisco. I live in southern Oregon and one minor snafu - I can't figure out why the journey went south to the Medford, Oregon area and then backtracked to Grants Pass, Oregon to get to the coast. Oh well, it won't matter to people that aren't familiar with the area.

Cate and her sister, Melody, survive the initial pandemic and onslaught of zombies. With the help of their foster cousin Marco they get headed towards Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.

The tale spreads over many months as they travel by vehicle, by bicycle, and on foot, meeting many people, some good and some bad.

The story was well written. The characters were believable. The survival skills used made sense. This was a fun story.

I received this book from NineStar Press through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

*thank you to Netgalley and NineStar Press, LLC for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

This book has restored my faith in decent Zombie books and has reminded me why I enjoy them so much. This YA story was amazing! I enjoyed every bit of it. It is left open to a sequel which I'm really very excited about and while I dont know if there will be a sequel, I'm definitely crossing my fingers for it. This story is told in 2 different time frames. One of 'Then' and the other being 'Now'. It worked really well and I liked how they wove together. It's hard to believe that this was the authors first novel! First novels are not usually this good. I really liked the main character, Cate and her sister Melody. Plus Cate's relationship with Marco. I would have liked to have had more about Samantha and Cate's relationship. Overall, this book is a definite must if you are in the mood for a good YA Horror or Zombie story. M. Rose Flores is definitely an author to watch out for.