If We Survive This by Racquel Marie was a fun YA thriller/horror that pulls you straight into a post-apocalyptic world through the eyes of these captivating, relatable, well-drawn teens.
The well-developed and compelling characters hooked me from the start.

I've been obsessed with zombie novels on and off since I was in high school and I truly love this version of the virus that causes people to become zombies. This book is one that I wish I could reach back in time to my high school self and give it to her, because it would have been lifechanging for her to read a queer zombie horror novel.
This book was so good. I loved the characters, especially Flora. I often am stuck in thought patterns similar to hers, and so I felt like I understood what she was going through throughout the book.

I know that this book is a deviation from the types of books Racquel Marie typically writes, but after reading If We Survive This, I can't wait to read their other books!

The book was removed from my netgalley app so I lost my notes so bare with me.

Im not a horror reader I 100% picked this up because of the author so I feel like I cant rate it on where it stands as a horror book but just a book overall.

I enjoyed the main character SO much. She's definitely not perfect but who is in an apocalypse? I actually dont read about sibling relationships often but I enjoyed it here. Also really loved the ending.

I did have a hard time connecting the the side characters tho, and its not a story that'll be sticking around in my head long.

I’m a fan of The Walking Dead and zombie stories in general, so this was a guaranteed hook for me.

Make no mistake – there’s a good amount of blood and gore in this novel, but I’d hesitate to classify it as horror. Clashes with the rabid are on the backburner as this is more of a character driven story. Flora navigates this apocalyptic world with OCD, something that magnifies her fears in an already terrifying situation. She’s highly protective of older brother Cain and would rather risk her own life before his. The two of them leave their suburban LA house for a cabin in northern California where they vacationed with their family for many years. During their journey they come across Cris, an old friend/love interest, who’s traveling with Adan and an adorable dog named Biscuit (for my fellow animal lovers, Biscuit lives), but Flora doesn’t trust them. As with The Walking Dead, the real danger is other people more so than the rabid.

Chapters rotate between the world before the rabid when Flora’s family was together and present day. Through conversations with her brother and Cris, Flora learns their perceptions of her were very different than how she perceived herself before the outbreak, and it’s something she struggles to come to terms with. The ending wasn’t what I’d expected going into the novel, but it fit with the characters and their motivations.

Recommended for fans of coming of age stories, survival/thriller more than horror, and diverse casts of characters.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was marketed as "if Walking Dead meets Yellowjackets," and while Yellowjackets is still on my tbr (I know, I know) I have seen walking dead two, if not three times through now with all the spin off's, I'm a zombie girl. With that being said I can be very critical on the "how's," of Zombie novels. "If We Survive This," did not disappoint. I loved all the Zombie aspects, the how they became, the info of how they act and why they act different at different "stages."

Now the characters. Flora was probably one of my favorite FMC I've come across in awhile. I love the way the author did not make her OCD or her being a lesbian the first thing we learn or the main focus of her character. I think both aspects of her character were flushed out so well, I did not even notice at times! Additionally, I did not mind any of the others, and thought all of them were very believable easy to read about people.

I honestly wanted someone to die, and maybe that is messed up of me, but again Zombie girl, someone would of died. At the end I was like......ohhhh....ohhhh.... lol .... iykyk but I did love the ending and all of it will 100% be persuading me to buy a physical copy and I followed this author as well.

Flora has spent much of her life in constant fear of losing the people she loves in any number of traumatic ways. When she is thrust into a real life zombie apocalypse, she knows that she's the last one who is supposed to make it. But being responsible for her brother gives Flora strength she didn't know she had. When the siblings set out to see if their dad made it to their secluded cabin, they encounter expected and unexpected dangers along the way. Their relationships and fortitude will be tested, and that's if they even survive.

At first glance, If We Survive This is just another zombie apocalypse story. What really stands out though is Flora's character growth and the way her anxiety/OCD are handled. I'm always up for another dystopia novel, but I think the focus on mental health and relationships gives the story a different feel. It still contains all the blood, gore, and zombie killing that one would expect, and the details are definitely gruesome. Probably a book that will end up in our horror section, but that has a strong character depth as well.

flora braddock paz has always considered herself weak. there’s no room for weakness during the apocalypse, though, and somehow she and her older brother are still alive half a year into it. now, they’re on their way from their desolate LA suburb to their secluded cabin in northern california. but no matter how far they run, death is never far behind.

i’ve enjoyed racquel marie’s romances, so i was very excited for her first horror novel! i loved how flora had OCD and how this was discussed in the midst of an apocalypse. this story was focused on her journey rather than the apocalypse itself (though, obviously, this did play a big role in her development), and i liked seeing how she changed throughout the book. we also get flashbacks to flora’s pre-zombie world, providing more insight into her story. overall, this was a great book, and i highly recommend this to anyone looking for a character-driven YA horror.

a post-apocalyptic ya story that explores grief and the fear of living in the unknown

if we survive this follows flora, a young adult who was preparing to go to fashion school, and her brother cain, as they make their way from their "relatively safe" home in search of their father, who they believe is in a cabin up north. this is a post-apocalyptic setting, with rabids everywhere as a result of a mutated rabies virue. along the way, they bump into old acquaintances, who they proceed to make the journey with. the story has two timelines, switching between flora and her family going to the cabin before the apocalypse, and flora and her ragtag crew after.

this novel is described as yellowjackets meets the walking dead. i do see the walking dead in here, but not really yellowjackets. nevertheless, i'm a fan of flora. i'm around the same age as her, and i really do understand her. she's dealing with the fear and grief that comes with losing people you care,her constant fear of death, the anxiety over the world becoming something entirely else from what you're used to, and the uncertainty that comes with your life changing. flora is dealing with OCD and anxiety, and it's magnifiied by the world she's in now. i thought her relationship with cain was accurate and well-written; they love each other, but at the same time, they can't agree on a lot of important topics.

i also really liked the other characters; adán lowkey annoyed me but i grew to like him. the cast felt very developed and solid; i loath the found family dynamic if not done right but i will say they were like a found family (even though two of them are related). flora and crisanta's relationship was very slow burn; i think i was 50% through the book and they were still building up for it. BUT I enjoyed it i can't lie okay when crisanta sleeps near flora in the hospital(?) i was seeing the vision

honestly, i wouldn't really describe this book as horror; maybe more thriller? it reads to me as a coming-of-age in the unknown, especially since flora is quite literally coming of age in the apocalypse. this is trademark marie; balanced diversity, well-written and emotional relationships, and a complex main character. i def recommend this book to fans of marie's previous works, fans of zombie stories, or fans of ya coming-of-age stories.

thanks to netgalley and macmillan for the arc!

“It’s a fool’s world, sweetheart. Knowing I can make a tiny difference in whatever time another living creature has left is what gets me out of the nurse’s office cot every morning,” a former vetenarian tells Flora, the main character, explaining why she chooses this dangerous life, all alone in a remote location, taking in strangers that need her help.

Like any good sci-fi book, "If We Survive This" raises core questions that resonate even when you haven’t lived through a zombie apocalypse, such as “What do we live for, especially when the world is bad?” “How do we know what constitutes a life worth living?” “How does humanity respond to change and catastrophe?”

But what truly sets "If We Survive This" apart is how it filters these big questions through a queer lens—one often missing in post-apocalyptic narratives. Queer people have always known what it means to live in dystopia: organizing, resisting, and imagining a better future. Furthermore, If We Survive This affirms what queer people already know to be true: that queerness is not a trend. Even in the apocalypse, queer people will still survive, build community, take the leap of faith that is coming out, and find ways to stick together through it all. People are still going to be trans, even when the apocalypse comes and hormones and other gender affirming healthcare are entirely out of reach – This is and has been many trans people’s reality since the beginning of time. And there will be so much love, in the many forms that can take.

If there’s one part of the book that didn’t fully land for me, it’s the “then” chapters. They’re meant to provide emotional context and backstory but most of them feel too low-stakes to hold weight next to the intense present-day narrative. While they show how Flora’s OCD shaped her thinking, the scenarios were often repetitive and didn’t build much narrative momentum. The only “then” chapter that truly hit for me was the last one, where the climax of that storyline is reached. I found myself wishing the flashbacks had either been pared down or pushed further — with more emotional turns, or perhaps told through more varied, nonlinear moments that could showcase Flora’s interior life without slowing the pace.

Ultimately, "If We Survive This" is a reminder that what makes a life worth living — connection, identity, courage — doesn’t just disappear when the world ends.

If We Survive This is an apocalyptic zombie book with rabids going after our main characters. However, this book is so much more of this. This book is about grief, how we navigate that, while also trying to survive in an unsurvivable world. Flora is our main character and one that is entirely relatable and feels real in this surreal world. I really enjoyed the world building in this and it felt like its own take on the end of the world. The sibling relationship between Flora and Cain also felt real and relatable. I honestly can't recommend this book highly enough.

I love horror novels but I admit I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about a young adult horror novel. However, this books is like The Walking Dead meets Yellowjackets.

I will admit that I actually enjoyed this book. When a virus ravages the world, Flora and her brother have to navigate survival. I guess the question is can you truly "live" in a town of chaos?

I loved that mitchell health was representing a very good way in this book. Flora deals with anxiety and OCD and I feel like the author touched on these subjects very well. I love how well written.The characters were in this book. I also feel like there was a good representation of what the world would be like in a time like this.

I was a little shocked at the endings, but I can't say that was mad about it..

The way Racquel Marie never misses! This was a departure from her usual contemporary work but still has her usual queer, tender, heartfelt characters. An auto buy author for me

This was an intense read! While it deals quite a bit with fear as a concept, it's less horror and more dystopian in my opinion. It's a post-apocalyptic world as seen through the eyes of a girl with OCD and intrusive thoughts. There's plenty of action and bloody violence, like you would see with a typical zombie storyline. They are not real zombies, but they're similar enough that it gave me chills.

This is a good read for someone who is ready for the spooky season! It reads like a movie, which is my favorite kind of story. I highly recommend picking this book up!

I really enjoyed the relationship between Flora and Cain, while fraught with typical sibling problems and even more issues due to the zombie apocalypse, they are still ride or die for each other. I wasn't a fan of the other two characters that were brought into the story, or the romance that formed between them and the siblings. But I kind of just skimmed past those parts. There is a dog, and I am going to spoil one part.... read ahead at your own risk.... it lives. your welcome.

I think this is more a survival story vs horror, but it was enjoyable and fast paced. And even though the ending was a bit ambiguous, I overall had a good time reading the story.

- With IF WE SURVIVE THIS, Marie brings her signature prickly girls and complex interpersonal dynamics to a zombie apocalypse story, with fantastic results.
- Flora is a new favorite main character of mine. She has OCD, which as you can imagine is a particular nightmare in this scenario. She deals with fear of germs and intrusive, violent thoughts throughout the book.
- Plus, it’s not a Marie book if there aren’t several queer identities represented. We still don’t have enough QTBIPOC in traditionally published YA stories, and she is bringing it.

part zombie horror and part all-too-familiar search for one’s place in the world, if we survive this surprised me in all the best ways with its achingly realistic depiction of anxiety and OCD, sibling bonds, and contemplation of humanity. think the walking dead if the walking dead was a coming of age story.

told in dual timelines—now and then, two very different road trips to the same cabin—if we survive this centers around flora, a girl no one (herself included) would have pegged as a survivor. then flora loved fashion and math and dreamed of attending design school; now flora can only focus on keeping herself and her brother alive. the OCD and anxiety that once made normal life so difficult present a new set of challenges now, but years of existing in fight or flight mode have prepared flora for survival in unexpected ways.

the older i get, the more picky i am about YA fiction, but if we survive this is one of the best YA books i’ve read in a long time. i laughed AND cried over this book. i love a good post-apocalyptic story, and this one is reminiscent of the early seasons of the walking dead in the way it balances action and gore with quieter moments of introspection. i truly loved flora—in both timelines, she feels like a real teenager figuring out her place in the world. the heart of the novel is her relationship with her older brother, a sometimes-fraught bond between two people who desperately love and want to protect each other but don’t always understand each other. the romantic subplots were cute, and i appreciated the queer rep (+1 for actually using the word lesbian) and that they weren’t the central focus of the story.

my only complaint is that the story could have benefited from an additional 50 or so pages to further explore some themes, but that really didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all.

perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven survival stories or miss the smaller scale and intimacy of early TWD 🩵

thank you so much to netgalley and colored pages blog tours for the early copy! all opinions are my own!!

i only signed up because of the author. i wasn't expecting this 😱😱
as someone who is not the biggest fan of zombies, i actually enjoyed it way too much, specially how the MC thought about them and how she faced them. it was also my first time reading about a character with OCD; i never thought she was over exagerating, in fact she seemed more realistic than any of the other characters. i adored that, even tho she was the youngest, she was the one who knew more about surviving in a post-apocaliptic world and how to react. the romance subplot was subtly there, not enough to forget how everything is evolving, which was really appreciated. it was also super queer, that i already know that the author will never dissapoint. there were even dogs, tho i was worried if something happened to them because they were super cute and gave me hope (spoiler alert: they are fine 😁)
i have to admit the plot twists and the revelations made me gasp and open my mouth more times than i can remember, cause those were genious and make sense, tho they hurt way too much. the final comflict arrived quite suddenly and i wished it had been more explored in the middle of the book. and that last chapter??? excuse me???? i was super nervous and wasn't expecting it AT ALL. genious, that's all i can say.
go read it, like now 😱😍😭

This book reminds me why I love apocalyptic books. It was filled with action, heart and twists that weren’t easily predictable. The main crew are characters you can’t help but love. I think the OCD representation was done well and did not simplify it.

A Rabid Great Time (and Drink Lots of Water)!!

Racquel Marie wrote a Yellowjacket-esque or Last of Us-esque zombie adventure that readers are sure to devour! This story follows Flora, our main character, who is coming of age in the most horrendous of times. Joined by her brother, Cain, they decide to leave their family home in search of their father and safety. However, with the entirety of the world on the verge of collapse, safety is one of the hardest things to find. This setting and background had me hooked immediately. The virus is realistic but dialed up to raise the stakes of the entire plot. It makes this story feel like it could happen tomorrow, and that is truly the most terrifying aspect of the story.

This story had me in tears. There is such an emotional impact of this story, from the flashbacks in particular. I found myself so emotionally invested in the flashbacks. The action definitely fills the "Now" storyline, but the flashbacks are just as interesting, so don't feel like they pull you away from the story too much. The TWISTS in this story also had me sometimes in tears and other times beyond livid. Some of the final reveals toward the end of the story had my jaw on the floor. You won't see the end coming and there are some Walking Dead level moments that will leave readers REELING! Racquel Marie is a talented author and I cannot wait to read more of their stories! Check this out!

YA can be dark, and this one proves it. A tragic apocalyptic survival story about family, the price of love, and deciding what's worth it in a world full of violence and danger.

Flora has survived a mutated rabies virus that created zombies and ended their world, and her only goal is making sure her older brother Cain survives, even at the cost of others. They decide to try and make their way north to the isolated cabin they used to visit in the summer, hoping it would be a place they can subsist. Flora has been traumatized by the end of the world, but also feels like she was built for it having lived with OCD and anxiety. When you live in a world where you have to account for everything that might go wrong, it helps when you've always thought that way. It's a trick to survival that puts her ahead of everyone else. It's an interesting way to view what the current world sees as a disability as an asset in the apocalypse.

This is a harsh survival story with big emotions, successes and tragic losses, and deciding what you have room to feel when you have to put "staying alive" before everything else. It took me a moment to adjust to Flora's way of viewing the world, but in the end, she's definitely someone I'd follow if I wanted humanity to survive.