This book had great potential, but I feel like the characters were too flat. I didn't care about the main characters, and I didn't feel that they cared, either.

I was initially drawn to this gorgeous and mysterious cover, and I'm still thinking about this unsettling story. As other reviews note, I'd place this more firmly in the lit fit category than dystopian. I think fans of Emily St John Mandel and Charlotte McConaghy would connect with this story. I found the pacing a little off, but the interior relationships were well drawn.

The concept of this book was interesting and appealed to me, but I feel as though it didn't quite present the purpose of the story in as much detail as it could have. Some things just didn't make sense to add and it just felt like randomly trying to add an event to make it peak then never touching it again. The end of the book mentioned the Marshallese and the horrors that they faced which is why it was in the story as well...it was in the story for like five pages, then wasn't really brought up again. It felt like too many vague ideas thrown together. It wasn't bad, but there was so much more potential it could have had.

Like many of reviewers have stated, I feel like this book didn’t go as in-depth as it should. We are left with so many “whys” and not enough answers. I did enjoy the story, I just wish there was more understanding with the way the world works. I found the ending to be a bit odd and it made me question what the point of it all was. All in all I give it 3 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

I was somewhat uncertain about the rating for this book. While I felt it deserved a five-star rating for the majority of the story, around the 70% mark, a series of events were foreshadowed that caused the pacing to slow a little bit.

There are a few inconsistencies and unresolved details, and I found the conclusion to be somewhat unsatisfying. Specifically, I did not feel it did justice to the main character, who, from a very young age, was adamant about not pursuing motherhood. In her efforts to honor the memory of the deceased, a core belief was sacrificed, which I felt undermined her character's arc.

Despite these issues, I still highly recommend the book. It presents a fascinating and thought-provoking exploration of the idea of human extinction. Overall, it is a very engaging read that I will recommend to everyone.

This book started off a little slow for me, but around the halfway point, things start getting real. Really real. The style of the book feels like a long short story spanning the course of a few decades. Sections of time are skipped or summarized for plot’s sake, which gives the book a certain passive tone that fits the narrative.

Charlie, the main character, had a lot of the qualities that I find in most of my favorite heroines: grounded, rational, anxious-but-calm. This made reading from her POV easy and satisfying.

There were a few jarring plot inconsistencies (how do they spread Maggie's ashes when they never found her body?), and I do feel like the main theme of the book could have been explored a little deeper, but as is, it makes for an easy-to-read light dystopian novel.

Super grateful for this arc!

Super interesting themes, but wishing for more depth maybe? Wanting a bit more examination into our world and politics.

Still enjoyed the ride!

Thanks again!!

Thank you to Lauren Stienstra, Little A Publishers, and NetGalley for this arc of The Beauty of the End out April 1, 2025!

📜Quick Summary: Maggie and Charlie are identical twins who are nothing alike. They were adopted by their loving parents and did not know their biological parents. The adoption was too simple, too easy, which in turn had vital things overlooked. Fast forward a few years, and they learn of “The Limit,” and how humankind has four generations to survive. The Mendelia, an organization that is trying to save mankind and provide the healthiest viable options for people to carry a child, starts making drastic measures. By the age of 18, if a young woman donates all of her healthy eggs, she would earn a spot as a Mendel and receive a large sum of money. But is this program exactly what it seems?

❣️Initial Feels: This feels a little YA in dialogue and writing, definitely dystopian-ish, but has a unique take on an odd situation. I’m intrigued…

👀Trigger Warnings: IVF, end of the world situations, miscarriages, talk of embryos/removal of eggs

🙋🏼‍♀️Moving Character: The way Charlie tried to honor her sister was something beautiful. But also Charlie’s character changed a lot through the novel and I don’t know if she stood by what Charlie believed in.

📖Read if you want: sci-fi thriller, speculative fiction, character driven novel

💡Final Sentiments: This was … so interesting. I don’t know if I enjoyed the story as a whole, but I did enjoy the last 40%. The strong sisterly twin love, transcended her sister’s crimes and actions, and the grief that Charlie experienced is something, sadly, most people can relate to. The talk of babies, and families being built and the rating of each girl’s health… It was a lot. The deception of the company is something that could truly be a reflection of real life experiences. The politics intertwined with making health decisions for women and young girls was terrifying… maybe being a mom made me jilted when I thought about the vetting process, the way they discussed babies being made or tossed out… I could see this book going through another round of editing and maybe a deeper dig into the heavy topics.

🌟Overall Rating: 3 stars

This novel was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this book. The plot was original. The characters were believable. I liked how the sisters had unique personalities.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Little A publishing for an advanced copy of this book.

This has to be one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. It’s the concept that drew me in (abeit I found the cover quite lovely as well). Unfortunately, this book had quite some flaws, in my opinion, as well.

This book follows adopted twin sisters Charlie and Maggie, who’se lives were just irrevocably upended. In this speculative fiction, science has just discovered an extinction date encoded in to every living creature’s DNA. And while some creatures were years away from dying out, humanity only had approximately four generations left. As adults, Charlie and Maggie choose to enlist as “Mandels” - an organization of scientists determined to somehow beat humanity’s ticking clock. While Charlie chose to do this because she could not picture herself becoming a mother, Maggie’s ambition leads her in a more ethically questionable direction.

First of all, I want to applaud Lauren Stienstra’s choice to draw attention to something that is little talked about, certainly not something I was aware of, and that is unethical adoption practices at the expense of immigrants. It’s touched on a little in the book but after reading the author’s intent, I wish more focus was put on it. I also appreciate Stienstra’s education and experience through the more scientific aspects of the book. It leant to believability, which I liked.

While the story was definitely interesting, there were several issues that kept me from rating it higher. I did not enjoy Maggie as a character and in a lot of ways, I found what she did irredeemable (that was not my main issue). What I enjoyed even less, was her sister’s unwavering clinginess and adoration for her. Despite the fact that her sister used her over and over again, Charlie constantly strived to make excuses right her sister’s wrongs - something I found rather grating throughout the course of this novel. I think the pacing also felt a little disjointed and the story flowed a little awkwardly at times.

Overall, I think this was a really unique and imaginative concept but the characters and strange pacing made it difficult to enjoy at times. However, if you're a fan of books that explore speculative scientific concepts, and somewhat apocalyptic themes, I think you should check this one out!

Rating 3.5/4 (rounding up)
This book releases on April 8th 2025.
Review will be posted to my website on March 31st, 2025 (close to release date).

Thank you, NatGalley and Little A books for this ARC for review. I loved this book and the premise that science finds out that most human are on the brink of extinct and the chaos that ensues! This book delves into the money, politics, fertility science, and all that goes along with finding out how many more generations your family line may have left and what you or your family might do to protect it or profit from it. The government turns to offering people money to have more children to increase the population in fear of humans becoming extinct while also offering women positions in fertility science to help convince others to get screened for genetic mutations. Very compelling and super interesting!!

The premise of this story is extremely interesting and instantly grabbed my attention. Overall I found it to be very thought provoking and moving--but to a certain point. I felt like it was lacking a true depth to many of the points that were brought up. Another round of edits could have made this work more fleshed out.

This was a really introspective read about grief, loss and personal growth. The writing was thoughtful, the themes were powerful, but the pacing felt slow and I slogged through it for a bit. Some moments still felt distant, even with the deep emotional topics, which led to me not engaging as much as I'd like to in a book.

3.5/3.75 stars
Initially drawn to the front cover, I put in the application to read this ARC due to my love for dystopia and new concepts. I wasn't disappointed - this novel had rounded character development, unrequited love, tragedy, sibling rivalry and revelry, governmental mistrust, yet none felt particularly cliché which is remarkable.

The novel follows the perspective of Charlie from when she is a young girl playing with her twin sister Maggie and friends to joining the government in their scientific research to break the "limit" - a limit embedded in the DNA of all humans resulting in the end of the line for the species. Charlie, never keen on the idea of children, and Maggie, dedicated to her education and the possibility of finding the breakthrough cure commit to each other that they will both endeavour on the journey together and never grow apart. Then, as aforementioned, much turmoil, tragedy, unrequited love, chaos and secrecy develops into an interesting and thought-provoking novel. Providing you have the moral understanding of the character's predicaments.

I found myself falling off somewhere around the middle but I think this is because it was on my kindle (I'm definitely a physical book kinda person). When I jumped back in, the second half of the book was outstanding and had the pace which I felt the first half didn't have. This can be expected of Dystopia - where the idea of the world is trying to be conveyed. So I recommend sticking to it.

Spoilers below:
A few inconsistencies were a bit jarring for me - primarily the interactions of young Charlie and Maggie made me unable to establish how old they were. Their language well, well above their years (and somehow when they're older they speak much more simply). I get that they are essentially child prodigies but even so, 6 year olds do not speak the way they did. The other inconsistency was a line saying they "spread ashes" at the pier but as far as I could make out, they hadn't found a body (as Charlie kept repeating that she thought she could still be alive)

'The Beauty of the End', written by Lauren Stienstra, follows the story of Charlie and Maggie Tannehill, twin sisters growing up in a dystopian world where the human species is generations away from extinction as a result of the progressive inability to gestate. Faced with this future outcome, the government establishes a programme of assisted reproduction based on the donation, with financial exchange, of all the eggs of some women to others.

'The Beauty of the End' is a book that hooked me from beginning to end because it speaks not only of our present but also of a future that could become our own. A book that introduces the ethical debate on the use of the female body for purely reproductive purposes, as if it were a vessel, and the social hierarchy that is established according to the greater or lesser capacity of these women to gestate.

Despite the more than interesting premise, I missed a little more feminist reflection (a perspective that I consider key to this story) on a general scale and not so focused on the case of the two sisters. Still, it is a book that I recommend 100% and one that I am glad to have read.

(Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for this ARC).

Giving this a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Thank you NerGalley for the ARC.

As a trained biologist who in another life would have pursued public health/epidemiology, the concept of this book immediately drew me in: scientists have discovered a genetic alarm clock that is counting down to the extinction of the human race. Given the current political and social climate in America, specifically surrounding reproduction, this book was a novel take on an age old human issue. The first third of the story has me absolutely spell bound, but unfortunately the pacing in the middle after the twins graduate just dragged on.

There is so much speculative science weaved into the story that is clearly well thought out as a plot device and as part of the world building. And with any science will come questions about ethics and morals, and the human aspect of the story really delves into these characteristics.

I can't quite put my finger on why the execution overall fell a bit flat for me. There were pacing issues, especially in the middle portions, and the ending to me felt very antithetical to one of the character's arcs.

This book explores a fascinating concept: the human race is facing extinction within four generations, and twin sisters, Charlie and Maggie, must navigate a world in crisis as they grow up. The novel delves into how different people react to this devastating news, with some choosing to help and others exploiting the situation for personal gain. The moral complexities and gray areas are a strength of the story, especially when the characters struggle with their involvement in finding a solution.

While the pacing started strong, the middle of the book felt like it dragged on, and by the time the action picked up again in the final third, I had already started to lose interest. Despite the slow sections, the book’s premise and exploration of human behavior in the face of extinction kept me engaged overall.

It's an intriguing read with plenty of moral dilemmas, though it could have benefited from a tighter pace. I’d recommend it to readers interested in dystopian scenarios and complex characters.

Thanks to net galley for providing an ARC copy of this book !

I enjoyed reading this book, and really wanted to know the end, but after reflecting on it, I feel that this book doesn't go in-depth enough, I liked the story and I liked the theme but I feel like there was so much more to explore and to say. Especially when it comes to the way the Mendelia functions.

I really believe the story has much more potential and could develop into a deeper analysis of our world, politics and healthcare.

It was still a very enjoyable read but I wished for a little bit more.

“There could be no relaxation while humanity sat on the threshold of extinction’s door.”

How far are we willing to go to save the human species? What morals are we willing to sacrifice?

Charlie and her twin sister Maggie are only children when the world learns the human species will be extinct in just four generations. As adults, they join a government organisation dedicated to figuring out how to prevent this extinction event from happening. The lines between what is right and what is wrong quickly become blurred.

I really enjoy reading speculative and dystopian fiction, and this book was no exception, the premise intrigued me. I appreciated the application of science within the story, it made everything seem so much more probable and real.

“Reproduction had been the shared purpose of all living things for so long that even extinction could not derail it … procreation allowed creatures to persist beyond their individual lives and infinitely elude an inevitable fate.”

Particularly in the first half, the tension and suspense kept building with such an ominous sense of foreboding I couldn’t put it down. This story really made me think, and the moral conundrums and sacrifices faced by Charlie and other characters brought the question; where do we draw the line in the name of survival?
I do wish however that the government organisation was a bit more fleshed out and some aspects of the story felt rushed or glossed over.

What a captivating and intriguing story! Thank you Netgalley and Little A for this ARC.

The idea and premise of this book had something promising but I really wish I could say I loved it. It took me months to get through it felt like a lot of filler...while some of the content played into the main characters history other parts seemed way too repetitive and it was torturous to get through because it was literally just the two main characters. There are A LOT of REAL topics/themes that get brought up in this book and it opens up a lot of discussion. Some of it could be debated and countered but it is a science/dystopian where anything is possible but there is some reality to consider when writing something so close to current issues. The author is absolutely amazing with words but I just wish I could say I personally liked it.