Title: Everything Under the Sun
Author: Jessica Redmerski
Series: Possibly a duology
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Publication Date: August 28, 2017
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Dystopian
Source: Recieved an electronic copy via InkSlinger PR for the purpose of this blog tour in exchange for an honest review

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Rating: 3 stars

Thais Fenwick was eleven-years-old when civilization fell, devastated by a virus that killed off the majority of the world’s population. For seven years, Thais and her family lived in a community of survivors deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. But when her town is attacked by raiders, she and her blind sister are taken away to the East-Central Territory where she is destined to live the cruel and unjust kind of life her late mother warned her about.

Atticus Hunt is a troubled soldier in Lexington City who has spent the past seven years trying to conform to the vicious nature of men in a post-apocalyptic society. He knows that in order to survive, he must abandon his morals and his conscience and become like those he is surrounded by. But when he meets Thais, morals and conscience win out over conformity, and he risks his rank and his life to help her. They escape the city and set out together on a long and perilous journey to find safety in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Struggling to survive in a world without electricity, food, shelter, and clean water, Atticus and Thais shed their fear of growing too close, and they fall hopelessly in love. But can love survive in such dark times, or is it fated to die with them?

Review:

“And what good are strong hands if the mind that controls them is broken?”

Everything Under the Sun is the story of Thais Fenwick and Atticus Hunt. The world as we know it had ended due to a virus that swept the nation and killed of countless people. There is no more electricity, shelter, food, and water at the snap of one’s fingers. Everything is impossible to come by and worth being fought over, which will definitely end up with somebody dead.

Thais lives with her father and sister in a small town with survivors. There’s no leader of any kind, just people trying to live their lives and make it to the next day without being attacked by armies or cannibals. Atticus is a member of the ‘army’ in Lexington City, a town ran by a madman who loves women, bloodshed, and looting as much as all the men who work for him by looting towns, burning them to the ground, and bringing back the men and women they deem worthy to live a ‘life’ in Lexington City.

Thais and Atticus’ paths eventually cross and Atticus knows he needs to protect her. To do whatever he can to ensure that she is safe and out of the hell hole that is Lexington City. Together, they espcase and embark on many adventures together trying to run towards a better life, and of course, they fall in love.

I enjoyed Thais as a main character for a decent part of the book. She started off incredibly weak for someone who had been in her position for so long (she didn’t want to gut and scale a fish. girl it’s been 7 years, you need to suck that up). She was also quite whiny. But the more the story progressed, she became so strong. The more she endured, the more she obtained the strength she needed not only to survive, but thrive. Her character development was impressive to read about, especially for the last 30% of the book. I mean two of the speeches she had were top notch and I was sitting there like ‘hell yeah, girl! you go out there and get the life you deserve’. If there ends up being a second book, I can’t wait to see what becomes of her and her new life.

To be entirely honest, I don’t think Atticus Hunt is going to fall anywhere on my list of ‘perfect book dudes I totally want to date.’ I get that like everyone else who survived the end of the world, he had to pull through some pretty traumatic stuff to have survived so long (and when you find out what it is… wow, it was awful), but sometimes I wanted to hop into their world and deck him myself. Don’t get me wrong, I know he wanted to protect Thais more than anything, but dude. Reign in the overwhelming possessiveness a little. Please.

“And in my heart I know I’ll love you long after the sun dies and takes the world with it.”

There were a slew of other characters who appeared at different points throughout the story. And while the focus was mainly on Thais and Atticus because hello, this is about them, I thought each and every person that appeared had their own worthy moment. They were either good or evil and their appearance always added something to the story.

The writing was pretty good. The descriptions of the action was well done. I could picture all the fight scenes in my head down the awful cracking and popping sounds. It was greusome, but in a post apocalyptic world, life certainly isn’t going to be pretty. The one thing I was kind of on the fence about was the romance part of it. It was so sappy. Like, so sappy. In terms of editing, there were a fair bit of errors, but that had no effect on how I felt about the book.

The plot was pretty standard for what you’d expect of a post-apocalyptic romance novel. People stuck in an awful place, they fall in love, the hope to find a better place to live out their lives together without all of the violence. That kind of thing. There was however one moment that shocked me. I just sat there, needing a minute to take in everything I had just read. And to be honest, while writing this review, I still feel that way.

The pacing of Everything Under the Sun wasn’t the strongest point of the novel. I felt the first part went by pretty quickly, but once they espaced Lexington City, everything suddenly slowed down. There wasn’t a lot of action and most of the focus was on Thais and Atticus falling in love. Around the 70% mark, things picked up again and oh my lord, some stuff went down. I flew through the last 30% of the book and before I knew it, it was already over.

Overall, Everything Under the Sun was a somewhat enjoyable book. Besides the pacing being a little back and forth and Atticus making me want to push him in front of a moving vehicle, it was decent. It was quite long for what it was, but I really did like the part that shocked the crap out of me. If this ends up being a duology, I think there’s a good chance I would pick it up at some point.

About the author:

Jessica Redmerski is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, international bestseller, and award winner, who juggles several different genres. She began self-publishing in 2012, and later with the success of THE EDGE OF NEVER, signed on with Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance. Her works have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Jessica is a hybrid author who, in addition to working with a traditional publisher, also continues to self-publish. Her popular crime and suspense series, In the Company of Killers, has been optioned for television and film by actor and model William Levy.

She also writes as J.A. Redmerski.

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