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The Walking Dead meets Yellowjackets in If We Survive This, a tense and emotional young adult horror novel from award-winning author Racquel Marie about a teen girl leading a group of survivors on a perilous journey during the apocalypse. Flora Braddock Paz is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies mutation that transforms people into violent, zombielike "rabids," she and her older brother Cain are still alive. With their mom dead, their dad missing, and their LA suburb left desolate, they form a new plan to venture out to the secluded Northern California cabin they vacationed in growing up―their best chance at a safe haven and maybe even seeing their dad again. The dangers of the world have changed, but so has Flora. Still, their journey up the state is complicated by encounters with familiar faces, new allies, hidden truths, and painful memories of the family’s final time making this trip last year. And for Flora, one thing inevitably remains: No matter how far you run, death is never far behind.
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~~Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC!~~
This is me whenever I read a Racquel Marie book (affectionately)
I loved this book so much.
I've gone on and on about how much I adore Marie's writing, of its tenderness and the emotional punches that hit hard exactly when they need to, so I won't rattle on too much about it here, but the character work here is still a quality of her writing I am drawn to every time.
Flora is such an incredible antagonist. Someone who she, and everyone around her, thought of as weak until the apocalypse came and she comes to learn she can survive in it. Not for herself but for her brother, a person she would die for while harboring some resentments for. Her grief, OCD, and very possible PTSD hurt her a lot throughout the book, but she still fights like hell for those she loves despite her believing she doesn't deserve to survive, not after all she's been through. She tries to shove any perceived weakness down by acting cold and hardened, especially towards Crisanta, her childhood crush, but she cannot help but love those she's closest with. It eventually leads her to learning she does deserve to survive, to live and be with the people she loves and who love her. It damn nearly made me cry.
I'm also really delighted that Marie's prose regarding the horrors, the gore and death descriptions, are so vividly gruesome and great. She admitted in the acknowledgements that she could never do horror because of how squeamish it made her, but I think her horror prose is amazing, and I loved that she pulled it off.
Another incredible Racquel Marie book to add to my shelf, and I cannot wait to see what she'll do next!
Pre-Review 1/16/25: AAHHHHHHH!!! I JUST GOT MY ARC APPROVAL TODAY!!! One of my most anticipated reads of the year and my favorite author!!! I literally screamed when I got the notification
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