I have pretty consistently enjoyed Armentrout's works previously, both her other contemporaries and her fantasy works, so I was quite sure it would be the same case with If There's No Tomorrow, and it was! I was slightly worried that it would read as too juvenile, considering it is a YA novel concerning first love, but Armentrout's writing remained strong and didn't simplify anything. In fact, the way in which she covered such sensitive topics like grief and survivor's guilt felt very thoughtful and nuanced, not at all reading like a PSa for drunk-driving that I thought it might. I found myself being genuinely moved by Lena's vulnerability and eventual acceptance of her flaws. In terms of the romance, the chemistry between Sebastian and Lena worked so well for me because they remained friends first and foremost, and used that as an incredibly strong foundation for their budding romance, which I was a massive fan of. I really liked this, another strong novel from Armentrout.

Unfortunately I no longer wish to review this book as the first few chapters did not reel me in. Thank you for the opportunity.

I enjoy reading Jennifer’s books, but I haven’t read one in a long time.

This book deals with a lot of themes, Heavy issues and raw emotions. It’s an emotionally charged story, that had me in pieces throughout. It’s definitely a heavier YA read. I still find myself thinking about this book even though I finished it a couple of weeks ago

Jennifer is a great writer and this book did not let me down. I loved the characters and setting and recommend it to all YA fans.

To start off I just want to say that this book is now one of my favourite contemporaries ever, which is really saying something after all the great books I've read recently. Even though some themes and plot points have been explored in the past by many different authors in loads of different ways I still feel like this was unique. The author took a concept that sadly happens way too often in the real world and was able to truly explore why such things do happen. I'm trying to be vague because I don't want give away plot points, but this story is strikingly realistic, and heartbreaking.

The books protagonist is Lena; a seemingly ordinary teen living the typical high school life. A girl with friends and family problems, and an actual shot at real love. Gradually she begins to feel out of her depth, but things soon take a turn that make those problems seem extraordinarily small in comparison. We follow her journey of grief, love, heartbreak, guilt and finding out what truly matters to her.

“Sometimes I just wanted to…I don’t know, escape life. To delve headfirst into a world that dealt with real-life issues to open my eyes, or a world that was something else, something completely unreal. One with warring fae or roaming vampire clans. I wanted to experience new things and always, always, read the last page feeling satisfied. Because sometimes happily-ever-after existed only in the books I read.”

The characters seemed so real that in fact it was easy to get lost in the story and really make you think 'what if?'. The author was able to show grief in a way that I had never read before, in such a brutally honest way. The writing was beautiful and flowed easily making this a really fast read. So fast in fact that I wanted to keep stopping because I didn't want the book to end. I do warn that their is a slight case of the friends to lovers trope, however I'd like to defend it by saying I liked it because it wasn't the one friend pining and the other not realising until the other had moved on.

“I knew I couldn’t go back and start a new beginning. I couldn’t rewrite the middle. All I could do was change tomorrow, as long as I had one.”

The author was really able to make the characters rememberable, and yet have them be relatable. I don't know how she did it, it was like magic. I honestly can't praise her enough for what she has created. From previously reading 'The Problem With Forever' I definitely had high expectations as I really loved that too, but this was even better. I absolutely adored it. I also very much enjoyed the fact that Lena loved reading and the quirky references to some of my favourite books of all time. That first reference to 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' was like a revelation.

“I’m not leaving. You can get mad. You can get upset, but I’m staying right here, because whether you realise it or not, you shouldn’t be alone.'

In addition to everything else I've already mentioned, the descriptions were well placed and didn't feel forced at all, and I found that I could easily fall back into the story after putting it down for a while. The first person narrative was excellently done and as apposed to many other contemporaries that I have read in first person the author was able to keep the main character still slightly mysterious and also ensure that it was presented in a sophisticated way. I often feel that first person can get cheesy if not done right, especially within the contemporary genre, but that was most certainly avoided in this case. I could really tell the more I read that so much went into the creation of making this book work out the way it did. It was truly great!

I think that these characters will really stay with me for a long time.

RATING: 5 Stars!

Characters
I don’t trust Lena as much as perhaps I should. I know she’s an unreliable narrator owing to her memory loss; however, even when she regains her memory, she isn’t just pulling away from her friends, she pulls away from the reader too.
Sebastian is a little too perfect for my liking. He’s not an undeveloped character and I doubt for a second he is that perfect. However the things we know about him are from Lena, and I’m afraid she has him on a pedestal.
Plot
The first half of the book jumps around the timeline, allowing the reader to feel the same confusion that Lena does. It’s a weird feeling, but it adds to the atmosphere of the narrative.
The plot follows in the manner as we might expect grief to; nonlinear, progressive with unpredictable pitfalls. It’s wonderful and painful.
Writing
It’s a solid, professionally written novel. So Clear and well written that could handle the time jumps; something other writers would make feel clunky and convoluted.

Thank you Netgalley for this amazing ARC!

This book was amazing.
I may be bias as I love anything written by Jennifer Armentrout, I think she is just an amazing author and her books always drag me into their worlds so when I saw the opportunity for this I couldn't resist.

I felt that it was such an untouched subject matter in YA and that makes it all the more fantastic. It is so beautifully depicted and I think it is such a magnificent and heart wrenching way of looking into grief and that is part of what makes it so amazing.

I loved the characters and absolutely loved the interactions between Sebastian and Lena and I honestly thought it was amazing how he was able to keep his faith in her. The characters were so well written and as someone who has experienced what seems like a similar sort of grief I was able to relate to Lena so well, which made me want to keep on reading.

This book was so good that I really couldn't put it down and I have all ready recommended it friends. I think it would definitely help those who have never suffered grief understand it better and I honestly think it is a book everyone should read.

I absolutely adored this book, it gave me a book hangover, and I cannot wait to read more of her amazing writing.

This is the first book by this author that I have read and I really enjoyed it. I'm not usually a big romance reader but I thought this was nicely written and not over the top like some YA books are. Without giving it away, the event that happened (which included underage drinking), was handled well and I think how the main character, Lena, reacted was believable. It was good that culpability wasn't brushed under the carpet or ignored, and it really showed how caught up in our own emotions we can get, so much so that we forget what others are going through. I liked Sebastian, Lena's best friend (and secret crush!) too but wondered at times if he was a little too good to be true. Or am I just a cynic? Overall, this was an emotional but enjoyable read which dealt with a difficult issue.

If There's No Tomorrow was gripping from the first page. Starting with a person in a coma hearing people talking about them and confused how they ended up where they are.

We then go to the beginning of the story of great friends having great fun at parties and trying to figure out what they want from their lives. Lena has a best friend, Sebastian, who she may have feelings for but doesn't want to ruin her friendship.

Suddenly one night and a bad decision everyone's lives are permanently altered. This is a tale of how decisions we all make day in and out and think everything will always be fine and there will always be a tomorrow can change everything.

An emotionally charged story of how guilt and regret can take over lives, an addictive read that I couldn't put down

If There's No Tomorrow is a very fast contemporary read.

There main theme of Lena's story is dealing with survivors guilt and also is a very clear lesson about the consequences of drink and driving and those are to be applauded.

However, unfortunately the story is very predictable and the characters are quite one-dimentional, Before the accident Lena is completly focussed on her crash and after accident there isn't enough gravitas for the reader to really feel her anxiety and despair.

Overall, the book comes out rather forgettable and on that basis 2* only.

I'm used to the fantasy based books JLA tends to publish but this novel was completely breathe taking and left me in awe. I laughed, I cried,I threw my kindle in frustration. I felt every emotion as though they were my own. Having lost someone so very close to my heart in an accident early this year, this book hit very close to home. It was real and filled with so much raw emotion and I wouldn't have it any other way. Definitely recommend to fellow JLA lovers out there as well as anyone who needs a good laugh/cry.

I received an e-ARC of If There’s No Tomorrow from NetGalley in return for review consideration. The book will be published in the UK on 14th December 2017.

Lena Wise is the main character in Jennifer L Armentrout’s If There’s No Tomorrow. She’s a soon to be high school senior, planning on heading off to college the following year to study anthropology. She’s spending the summer between her junior and senior years working and spending time with her friends: Megan, Abbi, and Dary. There’s another important person in her life as well: Sebastian; her next door neighbour, oldest friend, and the long-time object of her affection. Lena’s nursed a crush on Sebastian for years, but has never told him about it. Instead, they spend platonic nights together, talking about everything under the sun.

As the end of summer approaches, Lena attends a party with Sebastian and her other friends. It’s the last typical thing she does: from that evening, nothing will ever be the same again. The rest of the book follows Lena’s life after the events of that evening and the major changes that have been wrought on her town, her school, and her friends. This is a sharp, well-thought out novel which asks the question: what happens when we don’t speak out? The characters in this book end up wrestling with this question from different perspectives as they try to come to terms with the events of that one dramatic night.

This was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. The situation Lena finds herself in is dramatic, but sadly not unheard of. Armentrout shows her trying to come to terms with the event itself, and the part she’s played in it, whilst trying to move on and go about life as a typical High School senior. I appreciated that Lena wasn’t put forward as either a hugely popular or unpopular character – she was somewhere in the middle, which I think is probably true for a lot of people in their school years.

I enjoyed Lena’s self-awareness and reflection: she comes across as mature and intelligent, but at the end of the day, she’s still a teenager and still makes bad decisions. Armentrout clearly shows the impact of those decisions, and the way in which one choice can create a ripple effect far beyond what you could have imagined. The relationships between her and her closest friends were well-crafted, showing a long history prior to the start of the story, and those friends provide counterpoints to Lena’s introspection and fondness for history and books. The counterpoint between Lena and Keith, whose life is also severely impacted by the incident but in a very different way, was particularly interesting to me.

The biggest issue I had with the book was the character of Sebastian. To me, he felt somewhat one-dimensional, mostly reacting to situations in a very level-headed, ‘perfect’ way. Particularly after the events of the summer night, he’s rarely anything other than understanding and gentle. Whilst I appreciate that having such a great guy in her life is good for Lena, for me as a reader it felt somewhat unrealistic. Lena and the characters around her are allowed to react in ways that felt genuine to me, whereas Sebastian displays textbook mature responses to every situation, which I found frustrating. However, I did appreciate that during the latter half of the book, the development of the relationship between Lena and Sebastian didn’t overshadow Lena’s character development and learning to deal with her ‘new normal’.

Overall, I would recommend this book for older teens, given some of the subject matter, and adults who enjoy smart and slightly dark YA.

Phew, that was emotional. I can’t remember the last time I cried so much reading a book, it should really come with a warning or at least a free box of tissues.

I started this early(ish) on Sunday morning planning just to read a few chapters before I got up and got on with my day but once I started I literally couldn’t put it down and demolished the whole thing in one go, bawling my eyes out for probably half of it.

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on the plot but it’s a not unfamiliar story in YA contemporary. It’s about how you live with the consequences and the guilt of one wrong decision, one mistake that changes your life and the lives of those around you forever. Main character Lena Wise has her whole life in front of her but that all changes at a party when she doesn’t listen to her instincts and makes that one mistake that I’m sure many others have and probably will.

I really liked Lena for the majority of this book. She has a lot to deal with and doesn’t always act the way she should but I could definitely relate to her and a lot of her actions are very understandable. I could very easily imagine myself acting in the same way even though hopefully I’ll never find out. The highlight of the story for me was however boy next door Sebastian. I’m not sure he’s wholly believable as a teenage boy (he’s just too good to be true) but he’s just sooo sweet and funny and lovely I could definitely understand why Lena had a major crush.

There is a little bit of romance but it too is very sweet and not at all heavy. I absolutely adored Lena and Seb together before everything changed for them and even afterwards I loved how he tried to stick by her despite her pushing him away.

This story does deal with some very heavy issues but it does it in a very responsible way. There are the proper consequences and it gives the right messages without ever really becoming too preachy.

There is definitely a lot of good in this book, there were however a few things that forced me to knock a star off my rating. Firstly, it’s just not original enough. The writing is great and the storyline really got to me but I’ve read it before, more than once. I do think it has messages that are worth repeating but I would have really liked something to make it stand out from the rest. Secondly, I didn’t 100% buy into the friendship between Lena, Megan, Abbi and Darynda. I’m not sure why but there was something about it that just didn’t feel true to me. Possibly it was just that it was more tell than show. And lastly, the plugging of books by the authors friends just really irritated me. If the main character is a big reader she would get through more books than just the ones by those two authors.

These are fairly minor niggles and despite them I did find myself completely immersed in the story. If you like YA contemporaries I think you’ll enjoy it. Just don’t expect it to be too original, and make sure you have a lot of tissues.

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy to review!

I did not finish this book.

Despite this being my first Jennifer L. Armentrout book, I was hoping for something more. Although the writing style was okay, the fact that Lena's character was so obsessed with Sebastian just made me not want to continue with this book, and I ended up skimming it. She seemed to me like every other YA character obsessed with her childhood friend. The references to S.J.Maas were interesting, but that's all. Just not for me.

However, this does not put me off reading any of her other books, and I hope to pick up one very soon! xx

If There's No Tomorrow is a book about self-blame and the idea that 'everything will probably be fine' can have horrendous consequences.

Jennifer L. Armentrout is very good at writing characters that can be very easily sympathised with. This story is also excellent at making you analyse your own behaviour, making you ask yourself if I were in there shoes, would I have done something differently? The characters were extremely well written and the author portrays trauma (and the length of time it takes heal) really well.

The one critique I have is that, whilst Sebastian and Lena's relationship is very well written as a standalone entity, it doesn't weave very well in with the rest of the plot. If there was a standalone book about there relationship, it would definitely be worth reading. However, it almost feels as if it was added in just so the main character has a love interest. A very well written love interest, but one that isn't a necessary part of the story.

Overall, this book will make you cry and sympathise with the characters a lot. This is a great book if you are looking for a slightly heavier YA read.

I liked how this book started with yesterday - you got to understand the friendships, the dynamics and to know the characters. So that when the event happened, you felt the impact. You felt what Lena was going through, the devastation of what happened hit you as the reader. You might not necessarily agree with how she worked her way through it and got to tomorrow but you could understand. I loved Sebastian and would have liked an epilogue, I wanted to see the HEA - she had been through so much and dealt with it - she deserved it.

I read a lot of this type of book, what I think of as young adult fiction with a message and also maybe a nice wee romance alongside it. The difference with this one is that the writing is of a much better standard. You fall in love with the group of girlfriends at the start, thanks especially to Megan's rant about how it's okay to talk about boys sometimes and it doesn't mean you're shallow. This book is very American but will still be very relevant to teenagers here in the UK, too. I'll be looking out for more books by this author, for sure.