Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me listen early! Also: happy release date!

This is a heartfelt yet gruesome story about Flora who’s trying to get herself and her brother to a safe location while the world is crumbling due to a virus that turns humans into zombie-like creatures.

On their way they find an old school friend and crush and together they try to find their way. But their new companions have a secret that might destroy them …

It read like a The Walking Dead episode but make it very queer and Flora has OCD and is afraid of dirt, bacteria or anything else that might make her sick which is, as you can imagine, not ideal in the apocalypse.

For me, this story was amazing mostly for the characters and the legit amazing OCD representation.
Unfortunately some parts of the story felt a bit dragged out and essentially it felt like there wasn’t really a plot at all. And the ending was, though I understand what the author tried to do here, not inspiring but just depressing to me.
I really wish this was a bit more plot driven but I still enjoyed it a lot.
The dual time line added a lot of depth to the characters and their relationships, which was amazing and very well done.

The narration by the author herself was great and I can totally recommend to listen to it.

All in all this is a great read for all dystopian fans, it’s not as heavy on the horror as I had hoped but it was very enjoyable!

Flora and her brother Cain are left alone in their house when their dad leaves to check out the cabin they used to go to in past summers. With "Rabids" on the prowl - zombie-like people infected with rabies that can spread the disease with a bite, or just tear you apart - the siblings have to navigate the changed world to join up with their father after Cain is convinced he heard him over the radio.

At first I was a little worried that the narrator was going to be a little too monotone for my liking, but was thankfully slightly assuaged when the dialogue began. The narration part continued to be a bit monotone, but I thought about it less as the story went on and I was drawn into the characters and plot. The characters and relationships were definitely the highlight, and while the story itself felt a bit trite, I still had a good time. The main romance wasn't really a hit for me, but the diversity representation was great. The flashes back to the past felt a bit unnecessary. Beyond showing a bit of character backstory/personality, it felt unhelpful and like not much was happening or being shown when we flashed back until the very, very end.

A coming of age queer zombie story I would recommend for fall spooky vibes.
I rated it 3.75/5 rounded up to 4. 
Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ALC of this book. It was a fun YA book that reminded me a lot of The Last of Us. I loved the author was the one that was the audiobook narrator. We are going back and forth between her mother and father and what happened with them. And then the present day of fighting for their lives with the zombies at every turn.

4.5*
YA zombie apocalypse with neurodivergent characters? Yes, Please!

I truly enjoyed how dark and serious a lot of the subject matter was in this book. It did not make things campy simply because the characters are YA nor because they are neurodivergent. In fact, it feels as though the author striped away some of the "fluff" to better represent the ways people feel in this type of situation.

Flora and her brother Cain have been trying to survive the rabies mutation which has turned many into "rabids" and into zombie-like creatures who crave living flesh. Flora is both horrified and intrigued by this morbid turn in society, but her brain also creates many worst case scenarios which she has to battle as well as the zombies. Her OCD and anxiety makes working with other people quite difficult for her. This book is quite heartbreaking at times as well as gory and emotional. .

We get glimpses of when Flora and Cain were last on a trip with her family about a year previously mixed with the current events of how they are handling the outbreak and surviving. They also run across some familiar faces and a puppy named Biscuit (which I love). Honestly, this book was really well done in many ways and I thought the story was well written. I highly recommend it.

We follow in this book a young girl surviving in a zombie apocallypse triying to keep her brother alive and safe so go see their father and this is book is told in the present and the past with a shocking plot twist. I really like this book, the pacing was very fast and easy to read and i could feel all the things the protagonist was feeling. I also really love the audiobook narrator.

The narration made the book for me. Kudos to the author for expressing the character and the climate so well. This is a YA dystopian novel with diversity representation. If you're acquainted with zombie narratives, there isn't much new here (well, the main baddies at the end of the book where kind of hilarious ... my little bit of dark comedy). I felt that the plot was floating through the backstory of the lead character. The main romance fell flat for me. But this is a solid dread-laden thriller for younger audiences.

The real horror in this book is how close to reality it gets. As a young adult trying to navigate a post-apocalyptic world, this seems pretty close to how it would go. It is also scary because zombies coming from a strain of rabies is something I fear regularly.

This is not a lighthearted or humorous read. I would describe this book as almost poetic. It is written in first-person and almost like a diary. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t the beauty of discovering yourself in a world that has fallen apart. Trying to navigate friendships and family while fighting for your life…

I loved how this book was written. There are flashbacks with their family, which are so wonderfully placed to uncover little bits about the main character.

I received this ARC through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest opinion. Also, I got this as an audiobook, and it was narrated by the author. Her voice is so perfect for the story itself. Wonderfully done.

4.25⭐️

This is one of my favorite apocalyptic stories I’ve read! It was fast paced, had lots of action and sad scenes. Literally teared up! Had realistic characters in a terrible situation. Highly recommend

4 stars ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

So good!!!
This dystopian zombie apocalypse story was so incredibly well done. It can absolutely be hard to make a dystopian book feel real and atmospheric. And Racquel Marie did such a beautiful job of telling this story and portraying mental health specifically, OCD. All the characters were so full of personality and all their dynamics felt real and effortless.

Having Racquel Marie, herself narrate the audiobook was so satisfying because everything about the novel was delivered as intended.

If We Survive This is pitched as a zombie book, and technically it is. But really this is an emotional and surprisingly quiet YA coming of age novel about a queer girl with OCD and intrusive thoughts who survives a zombie apocalypse. It interweaves flashbacks and moments from the present (with zombies) and has themes of found family and a sapphic romance subplot. If you're looking for an action-packed zombie drama, you're not really going to find it here. But it does an excellent, if brutally realistic job of showing the experience of someone with OCD dealing with regular life and then contrasting that with surviving when the worst truly has happened. I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.

A Walking dead-esque, young queer story. A rabies mutation that has taken over has Flora and her brother searching for their missing dad and hoping he is at the cabin they remember from when they were kids. Along the way, they find some familiar faces, new allies, and harsh challenges.
The characters were all really likeable and as someone who never got into the Walking Dead as a television series, I loved the way this story was told. Flora was a character you wanted to root for and there were still moments where you remembered that she is just a teenager trying to figure out the world around her. There is a queer awakening that I won’t spoil but was a moment of normalcy in a world that is anything but.
I really appreciated the way the author addressed Flora and her OCD, which has her constantly picturing the worst outcome for the people she loves. While this would be an anticipated consequence of her world view, this is to the next level.
The narrator was great, and brought a diverse cast to the reading.
Overall, this was a very solid YA apocalyptic read.
I received an audio arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

Yes!!!!! I absolutely love it!! I’m going to be recommending this book and the audiobook for spooky fall reads.

Okay so I loved this book, but that was in spite of the narration. The book itself is wonderful. LGBTQ, post-apocalyptic, adventure. It was great and engaging, and I obviously think highly of the author because of the book, however I think she is a much better author than a narrator (I am so sorry). The narration itself was flat, and monotone, and incredibly boring. If the writing itself wasn't so good, I probably would have DNF'd.

This book is heartbreaking, I wouldn't particularly say it's horror, but rather a dystopian novel with some horror vibes. Which actually works great for this story.

This is a character-driven story, we follow siblings, Flora and Cain. They were both great, I loved their dynamics, banter and the characters growth.
What I liked most is the portrayal of OCD and intrusive thoughts. This was really well written and it felt read and true to the character of Flora.

The novel is very action-packed and it has a good amount of gruesome cool scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and RBMedia, for the ALC.l All reviews are my own thoughts!

If you are a fan of The Walking Dead or any other kind of zombie movie, you are going to love this book!

The story follows Flora, who is not the girl who survives. She is a creative who loves creating things, but she spends so much time fearing death and inside her own head. She tries to hide this fear from the people around her because she doesn’t want to be seen as weak. Now, they are half a year into a global outbreak of a rabies mutation that turns people into zombies, or as Flora calls them, ‘rabids.’ Flora’s mom is dead, and they aren’t able to find her father, so all she has is her brother Cain. Their father left, but Cain and Flora have to create a new plan to venture to the cabin in the woods they used to go to growing up, in hopes of finding their father. As they try to find their dad, they must also deal with both people and rabids alike.

I liked that we got to see both the past and the present and how they melted together. I liked Flora as a character, and while she claims that she’s not a survivor, she is. She cares so much about the people around her, she will do anything to keep them safe. Flora has OCD, which can consume her thoughts and thoughts of her dying. Flora hides this from everyone that she loves because she doesn’t want the people around her to worry. I thought that the author did a nice job of showing the hard sides of both OCD and anxiety. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for Flora to deal with daily.

This story will have you gripping the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. There is such strong imagery when they are fighting the zombies that it feels like you are there with Flora, killing the zombies. I liked the writing and felt like the writing flowed well throughout the story. I also liked the found family aspect of the people they meet along their journey. I was always so shocked at how trusting they were, because when I watch shows like TWD, they never trusted anyone, and Flora trusted these people they just met. It’s a nice change seeing that while the world is ending, they are still able to find people to care about who are worth fighting for.

Overall, this was a good book, and I highly recommend it if you love thriller/zombie books! 4/5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy to review!

If We Survive This is a fascinating sapphic story, combining zombie apocalypse, first love, family love and mental health. I enjoyed that the MC Flora wasn't a typical survivor, and her brain was actually an adventage in the new world of the book. Sometimes I found the plot all over the place, but the read was engaging, and I loved the narrator!

Thank you Netgalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends and Racquel Marie for the eArc of If We Survive This.

If we survive this is a fantastic sapphic, zombie, survival novel ( try saying that when you're drunk!) Even though it took me a little bit to engage in the storyline, I enjoyed this very much. Our MC, Flora and her Brother, Cain battle across the city to make their way to a cabin to met their Dad. Battling Rabids ( our zombie friends who contacted a virus ) are sly creatures and Flora will do what she can do protect her Brother and further more other survivors.

Even though this is essentially a YA book, I loved it and I don't understand why some adult readers shy away from YA books ( each to their own I know ) Racquel has a beautiful writing style and her characters are wonderfully built. The plot is medium paced with a bit of everything, teen angst, being frightened of dying, frightened of living, self discovery, survival, all bundled up with zombies! I can't ask for any more.

I also loved that this book is set on a dual timeline, building in our characters past and how that's all relevant in the now narrative. I would definintly love to see more of our MC, flora and her found family.

Racquel Marie narrates her own book which I found both endearing and impactful. Her voice suits the narrative and throughout the book I could actually picture her writing at her desk as she's speaking.

4.5 for Storygraph. 4 stars for other review sites.

I loved the zombie apocalypse aspect of this book so much! 🤩 as a fan of the resident evil video games and the walking dead I knew I had to pick this audiobook up when I saw it! The characters were interesting and I loved all the action moments ! The narration was great to. The only reason I took off half a star is because I felt like there were a few parts where the story dragged but other than that I loved it !

If We Survive was an interesting read, I was a little nervous that it was read by the author but she did a great job! Flora is the narrator of this store and along with her brother she’s surviving an apocalypse. But your left thinking is Flora alright a lot of the time. It was sad because Floras headspace is a hard place to be. But the author did such a good job at portraying that. Mental illness doesn’t disappear just because an apocalypse comes around.

A zombie type book seemed right up my alley. But I just didn't vibe with the story. I didnt care for any of the characters and I didnt know if it was a positive outcome or not. Seeing the high ratings just shows me this is just a book thats not for me. But thats ok.


Thank You Netgalley for this audio arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.