Book Review: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
They Both Die at the End
Series: Death-Cast #1
Author: Adam Silvera
Published: September 5, 2017
Paperback: 389 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 21-30, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.
Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.
Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.
Jessica’s Review:
What else can I say about They Both Die at the End that I haven’t already said? Let’s find out:
Here are links to my double review with Kim and then when I listened to it a second time before the prequel came out.
My Double Review with Kim
My Second Listen/Read
Now, in 2025 a third in the series recently came out (with a fourth releasing next year!) So of course I have to re-read Silvera’s series! And this time I actually read it! Some friends of mine all switched books last year and we annotated them, so reading the book with their comments added to my enjoyment seeing what they thought!
Here is a picture with their commentary added in:
I just love this book. It is the journey that Mateo and Rufus go on for their last day. Knowing the ending from the title, you just can’t help but find yourself getting attached to these two teens and hoping against hope that Death-Cast is wrong. This book is not about dying, but learning just how to live.
Just a couple of quotes from the book this time:
“And you wouldn’t have waited for me to be brave. Maybe it’s better to have gotten it right and been happy for one day instead of living a lifetime of wrongs”.
“Two dudes met. They fell in love. They lived. That’s our story.”
Again, I did not cry reading it, but got emotional. And I know those ugly tears will reappear for my re-read of The First to Die at the End.
Throughout their end date Rufus takes pictures and posts them on Instagram. At the end of the book his username is mentioned. Be sure to note that once you have finished this book look him up. It is an actual Instagram account!
I just noticed that this book was released on September 5, 2017, which was Mateo and Rufus’ end date. I’m feeling so many emotions now!
Adam Silvera, you are brilliant with your writing in this world of Death-Cast. Keep bringing this world to us with more people meeting!
ALC Review: What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
What the Woods Took
Author: Courtney Gould
Narrator: Lindsey Dorcus
To Be Published: December 10, 2024
Audiobook: 12 hours 28 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: November 19-24, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
Yellowjackets meets Girl, Interrupted when a group of troubled teens in a wilderness therapy program find themselves stranded in a forest full of monsters eager to take their place.
Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. No stranger to a fight, she calls to her foster parents for help, but it soon becomes clear this is a planned abduction—one everyone but Devin signed up for. She’s shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she’s dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they’ve all been enrolled in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways—and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness—they’ll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say.
Devin is immediately determined to escape. She’s also determined to ignore Sheridan, the cruel-mouthed, lavender-haired bully who mocks every group exercise. But there’s something strange about these woods—inhuman faces appearing between the trees, visions of people who shouldn’t be there flashing in the leaves—and when the campers wake up to find both counselors missing, therapy becomes the least of their problems. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the teens quickly realize they’ll have to trust each other if they want to survive. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other—and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive.
Atmospheric and sharp, What the Woods Took is a poignant story of transformation that explores the price of becoming someone—or something—new.
Jessica’s Review:
I was intrigued by this novel when I saw there was a comparison to Yellowjackets and Girl Interrupted, so I had to read it, or listen to it in my case. I have never seen Girl Interrupted but love Yellowjackets, so there we go! What the Woods Took is a coming-of-age tale with survival added in the mix. The teens don’t go Lord of the Flies (Poor Piggy!) or forced into cannibalism like in Yellowjackets, but it is a fight for survival against literal monsters.
What the Woods Took starts with an intensity with Devin being taken against her will and it was delivered in just a way to pull you in and keep you interested. We have a small group of five at risk teens who are ‘enrolled’ in a wilderness therapy program without being told and two counselors not much older than them. This group made up of three girls and two boys with a variety of backgrounds and personalities that show through. This is not a spoiler as it is mentioned in the book’s description, but once the counselors go missing the teens are left fend for themselves and survive together.
This book was something. Gould did a very good job bringing the story and characters to life: She could pull the reader into the story with the descriptions: Everything could be pictured and she also gives a sense of heightened urgency. And these teens: As they come together as a group, you could see how they grow as individuals.
The biggest thing for me that frustrated me once the counselors had disappeared was that the group decided to continue forward on the trail. I found myself saying “Just turn around! You know what to expect that way! Going forward is totally unknown!” I mean they would have found civilization at some point sooner rather than later. But then if they had done that then we would not have had this story and the direction it went.
The narrator Lindsey Dorcus did a great job with her narration. I was pulled in and wanted to know what was going to happen and reach the ending. This was despite the chapters being longer than normal for a YA book.
Overall, a good book that teens will enjoy. Yes, there is the starting of a lesbian relationship, but it is a smaller detail as the main focus is the teens working to survive.
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me an advanced copy to listen to and review.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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Audiobook Review: Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith
Something Like Gravity
Author: Amber Smith
Narrators:
MW Cartozian Wilson
Sandy Rustin
Published: June 18, 2019
Audiobook: 9 hours 7 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: October 21-25, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Chris and Maia aren’t off to a great start.
A near-fatal car accident first brings them together, and their next encounters don’t fare much better. Chris’s good intentions backfire. Maia’s temper gets the best of her.
But they’re neighbors, at least for the summer, and despite their best efforts, they just can’t seem to stay away from each other.
The path forward isn’t easy. Chris has come out as transgender, but he’s still processing a frightening assault he survived the year before. Maia is grieving the loss of her older sister and trying to find her place in the world without her. Falling in love was the last thing on either of their minds.
But would it be so bad if it happened anyway?
Jessica’s Review:
I saw this one in my Audible account and it was available until October 30th, so I decided to go ahead and listen to it. And it was just ok. I didn’t really connect with Maia as she was just so… I’m not sure but poor Chris. He had experienced so much bad in life already at a young age! But really both Chris and Maia are going through losses. They are two traumatized teens who meet when Chris almost hits Maia with his car!
I had no issue with one of the characters being transgendered, we need more of those books for trans youth. But maybe they should be written by trans authors. Authors who know what these characters are going through. The author is in the community, but not trans herself, so it may have been some of the issues I felt. I did not know this about the author until I went to go write my review. I have read some books about trans characters written by trans authors and I felt what I was supposed in those books!
There is a little bit of spice for a YA novel, but nothing too much. Its two young people having their first relationship and experiences.
The narrators MW Cartozian Wilson and Sandy Rustin both gave fabulous jobs in their narration!
Overall, I give this novel a solid three stars. It was a good effort with intended love written by the author that just overall did not work for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK