A Heartbreaking Portrait of Friendship | Review of The End of the World

About the Book

A desperate boy. A damaged girl. And a dark house filled with secrets.

For Cameron Tate, being shuffled from foster home to foster home is just a normal way of life. Until the year he turns fourteen. That’s when he’s sent to the home of seventeen-year-old Shaye McCormick—a fellow foster kid counting the days until she’s released from the system.

For good reason. It doesn’t take long for Cameron to learn that Shaye is shackled to the worst kind of pain...living in a home where nothing seems right. And now he’s joined her with no way out. Their only refuge is a lake, a quiet spot at the edge of the property where they can sit together for a few moments at the end of each day. Alone with their thoughts. Away from prying eyes.

At the lake they become friends. At the lake they begin to talk. At the lake Cameron vows that no matter how deep their secrets are buried, he’ll make it his mission to heal Shaye from a past that makes living in the present nearly impossible. Even if it takes until the end of time to do it.

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My Review

This story is about regrets...things left unsaid...unspeakable sorrows and the power of a love that never completely gives up. It's about kindness that reaches so innocently toward tragedy and somehow makes all the difference.

The End of the World is not an easy or happy read. It's not a feel-good book, but it is a book that makes you feel:

- Pain at lost childhood, horrible secrets, and accusations.

- Desperation to cling to the sweet moments between two unlikely friends who need each other.

- Sorrow at tragic revelations and unspoken goodbyes.

- Frustration as the same mistakes and hurtful choices are made over and over and over again.

- Dismay.

- And yet, hope, meeting Shaye and Cameron at the end of the world.

This is an intense story, both in the events that happen and in the relationship between the two main characters. It's not for all readers, but for those who do pick it up, a great deal of perspective, compassion, and reality await between the pages.

While the plot is heavy with choices that fall one by one like dominoes, there is a tender lightness in its portrait of friendship. The End of the World exposes the shadows that haunt a life...and reminds us of the unrelenting love that can set a life free.

*With thanks to Relz Author Support Services and the author for providing me with an e-copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*