This Is Where It Ends Kindle Edition

...Wow. Drop everything you're doing and pick up This is Where It Ends right.now. Go. Buy it on Amazon. Or your local indie. Whatever you do, move this book to the top of your TBR.If you've been hiding under a rock recently This is Where It Ends is at the top of the NYT Bestseller's as of August 31st 2016. This book came out over eight months ago, so that should tell you something.Together we'll survive this. Together, we'll be strong enough to face whatever comes our way. This is where it ends.This is Where It Ends begins like most contemporaries, sharing tidbits of the characters. What a false sense of security, because minutes later, we would be worried about their lives. Taking place over the course of 54 minutes, This is Where It Ends makes you care deeply about the characters, including the one who fires the weapon. Multiple perspectives can be overwhelming but that is not the case here.When I was in kindergarten, my community was rocked by a school shooting. Not only that, but it happened at the elementary school where I was supposed to be attending (they used a different address so I could go to a different school). I remember vividly to this day the panic from my parents and their conversation about how grateful they were that I didn't attend the school.This is Where It Ends is not a light book to read, but it is a thought provoking book. I found myself needing to take breaks, but being unable to set it down. It underscores the need for mental health support for all youth. It shows us how tragic school shootings are - not that anyone was confused about this before. The fast paced story will keep you engaged through the end.

*********SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS***********Review originally posted on lysskreads.wordpress.comTIWIE could have been so much better than it was. It had so much potential to be amazing, to send a message, gain some understanding—to really see through the eyes of victim’s of school shootings everywhere.The only emotion I got from this book was irritation. For example:"Chris tosses me my sports drink, and I take a few gulps before discarding it. More shots break the icy air, and we run."It’s that little key right there, “more shots.” They had already heard the gun shots inside the school. They had decided on a plan to find help. But before doing anything, they needed some Gatorade? That irks me so much. People are getting shot—their friends, siblings, teachers—but they needed to power-up really quick before finding help? No. I understand being in shock. This is not shock. This is a waste of time.Claire. There was no reason for us to read from her POV. None, whatsoever. All we got from her is that she’s incredibly selfish. She noticed the welts and bruises all over Tyler, HER BOYFRIEND OF TWO YEARS, and instead of mentioning to someone that he was being abused by his father, she acted like the bruises didn’t even exist. Throughout the whole book, in her POV we go back and forth from flashbacks of her with “kind-of-good Tyler, who was just ohhh so kind” (What?) to “Chris, he’s always there for me, do I like-like him, but wait is my brother okay?” Ugh. Her POV in this book is an inconsideration to the true sadness, anxiety, and complete desperation that people go through when faced with the possibility of having lost a loved one and not being able to do anything about it. She made me sick. By the way, she’s Gatorade girl.All four of the main characters were written the same way. I actually had to go back a couple times to remind myself of who’s POV I was reading from.I understand that Tyler was troubled, that losing his mom and the thought of Autumn moving away were hard for him to handle. I understand that he was abused, mostly in defense of Autumn. But he was also a bully, a rapist, and a murderer.And there’s this little gem:'He stares at me over the barrel, and the corner of his mouth twitches. A smirk. Then a smile—a smile full of delight and mischief. When he pulls the trigger, I feel the shot rather than hear it…The last thing I hear is Ty saying, “I just don’t want to be alone anymore.”'So, let me get this straight. He’s smiling mischievously while confessing that he “doesn’t want to be alone anymore.” Right. Okay.TIWIE was hard to finish, but not for the reason I picked it up in the first place. It had so much potential to be amazing. Instead, I’m angry with myself for reading it.

This book is beautifully written and the composition is creative and intriguing. I honestly don’t recommend it, though. I sobbed through the last 3/4ths of the book. It’s so heartbreaking and painful to read. My pillow is damp with tears as I’m writing this. I thought I could handle this book because I’m usually able to distance myself when it comes to school shootings and tragic events but seeing it from the characters’ point of views makes it real. Read at your own risk but you have been warned.

This will stay with me for a long time!! I imagined myself in each character’s shoes and my tears didn’t stop. Everyone should read this book. It does not as it should not or cannot, prepare you for something like this, but it makes you appreciate life and all that you have.

Not gonna lie. I'm a grown ass man and this book really had me in my feels, majorly. Once the punches start rolling it really pulls you by the heart strings and doesn't let go. I wasn't expecting this. Wasn't expecting to bond with the characters this much. To want to see their dreams and aspersions fulfilled. Seeing them develop retrospectively, given them context and meaning- only strengthening that bond.Knowing that this is a fictional story but also knowing that these experiences, reactions and emotions are felt and lived by real people in this country makes it a tough read. My empathy making it nearly impossible to finish, yet the story making it hard to put down.This book needs to come with some kind of stand-up comedy DVD to help the readers feel better after this.

A fantastic book, tense and frighteningly real and very much what I imagine it would be like for those who unfortunately have experienced such a horrific event. The author did a superb job and is definitely one I would read more from.

First the plus - the author is not devoid of talent and her writing style is not horrible. I can imagine her writing a fairly decent navel-gazing teen romance. However her style does not lend itself to the kind of thriller this purports to be. There are way too many POVs, all of which are virtually distinguishable (I had to keep flipping back to find out which character was narrating)- none of the characters are well developed and it's hard to care about any of them. The whole Clare storyline needs to be cut I got tired of her endless self-absorption and she seemed an unlikely girlfriend for Tyler. One set of people working to rescue those trapped in the auditorium would be sufficient. Not even Tyler the shooter is given any depth, I really had very little idea what kind of statement he was trying to make and I found it hard to care about victims either, as they tend to be introduced only to be executed seconds later. The pacing absolutely horrible - the author really can't write action scenes - the shooter can hardly pull the trigger within the narrative shifting to a flashback of some utterly generic teen drama which destroys all possible tension. There is no real sense of this being a life and death situation -( one character een takes the chance to make a date with a girl he likes while rescuing hostages!) The time taken for a response by emergency services is completely unbelievable given - as one character notes - the number of people with cellphones who can call 911) and I didn't believe for one second that Tyler would fail to notice the noise of people breaking into the auditorium or far that matter that people had started to sneak out. The author needs a few writing classes before attempting to write anything else - she has way way too many characters/subplots/flashbacks none of wh ich are remotely original or interesting and they needed to be culled - after the first few chapters I was rooting for the shooter. Seriously not worth what I paid for it a another overrated novel hyped to the skies by unscrupulous publishers.

This had the potential to be a lot better than it actually was.What I was hoping for: dark, reality-fiction that socked me to the stomach with flawed characters I could really root for.What I got: a kind of navel-gazey story about brothers and sisters.I think I’m going to stop reading high-school-shooting books. I guess I’m never going to be able to get behind a book that treats the ownership of guns as something, like, completely normal. Because, for me, it’s not normal to have a gun in your house! I would be freaked out if I ever ended up within a hundred metre radius of a gun. It’s a gun! A metal tube that shoots bullets and is designed to kill stuff! They use them in wars! It’s like keeping an IED in your back garden!I had the same thing with Hate List. It weirds me out when books treat something like a high school shooting as ‘something that happens’. I mean, I realise they DO happen in America, and they should absolutely be written about, in the same way that rape and abuse are written about, but I will never get my head around the tone this book (and others) use. Characters weren’t shocked or freaked out that a guy had brought a gun into school and had started killing people. They were terrified, yes. But not shocked.Because, well ... yes. If you live in a society where you can literally go into a supermarket and buy A GUN, then you will also find yourself living in a society where crazy people use those guns to kill other people.Christ knows, Britain is no Utopia - we’re finding plenty of ways to screw up our own country, thanks very much - but I don’t think Americans (particularly American authors and publishers) realise how weird it sounds.Going into a supermarket. And buying a gun.So, no. No more high-school-shooting books for me.As for the rest of the book, I didn’t really feel it lived up to my hopes. The characters were bland. I didn’t really manage to get behind them and ultimately I didn’t really care if they got bumped off or not. The lesbian couple, who I had great hopes for, were so tepid it just made me roll my eyes. The track star and her friend/love interest were included for no good reason I could see. There was an interesting delve into the dynamics of family relationships, specifically into the relationships between brothers and sisters, but it needed some interesting characters to bring it to life.The plot was dull. The kids in the auditorium just sat there while the mad guy picked them off, one by one. There were no mad escape attempts, no tension (astonishingly, for a book about a mass-murder).And that ending was cringingly cheesey.I’ve read a couple of reviews that say this book is too scary for younger readers. I wouldn’t necessarily agree. High school shootings do happen and I do think it’s right that it gets written about. But with this book, I’d have more concerns about younger teens slipping into a Boredom Coma than being kept up at night, sleepless and terrified.

I fully anticipated This Is Where It Ends to be good. It’s not – ‘good’ isn’t an adequate description of Marieke Nijkamp debut. Let’s try stunning or amazing. Better words, still not sure if they are enough though.Here’s a rundown of what happened: I got the book, read, cried, sent a lot of messages and emoticons (mostly hearts, some crying ones), finished reading and curled up in a tight ball. Why am I telling you this? Because it’s clear that This Is Where It Ends will be an emotional read before you start. I had prepared myself for that, what blew me away was just how much of an impact particular moments would have. There are two that just won’t leave me and I can’t tell you which because that would be spoiling.Giving the in short timeline I’m so impressed by how much Marieke Nijkamp makes you care about four narrators, actually all the characters (one of the most poignant moments for me was about another student). The pacing, back-story and character development is well balanced. Once the students know they’re locked in the auditorium the tension sets in, then the shooting starts and your nerves go to because it might only have been a few pages but you’re already half in love with Autumn, Tomás and the others. That feeling never leaves you. I still can’t stop thinking about those characters (I got sniffly just writing this review) and being able to do that is AMAZING.This Is Where It Ends is heart-breaking in the best possible way.Truly a wonderful debut.

To me this is a concept that is unique to YA books and as soon a I read the synopsis for this book I knew I had to read it. Living in the UK gun crime is quite rare and I only seemed to read about what was happening in America, but this book really makes you think about the experiences people go through either being in the middle of a school shooting or the grief of knowing someone who has.It sounds weird, even to me, to love a book about a school shooting but somehow I do. From the beginning of the different POV’s I felt a connection to each of the characters and I wanted to get them out of the danger and wrap them in a blanket. Usually I’m not a big fan of different POV’s but the way the story fit together and the way back stories of the characters linked really made the plot of the book thicken.I think this book was told over the shortest time period that I’ve read and it definitely had an impact on my emotions. I think knowing that there was only a certain amount of time for everything to happen really made my heart race and my adrenaline was through the roof. This book gripped me from the start and that hasn't happened this year so it definitely made my like this book a lot more.Although this book is about a terrorist and is filled with death and grief, there is still a small part of me at the end that felt hope even through everything that has happened and that is why I recommend this book.

This was such a gripping, yet harrowing story. It’s fast-paced and the POV switches regularly between various characters as the horrible events unfold.Initially we are introduced to each character as they start what is supposed to be just another normal first day of a new semester. We learn a little of their hopes for the future, some memories from the past, and how their lives are all interwoven. Because there isn’t much build up to the shooting (which is great from a pacing/atmosphere perspective) it can be a little confusing getting to grips with the various relationships between all the characters and how they’re linked, but this got easier to remember as the story progressed.The story is, as expected, unsettling, brutal and terrifying. The shooter is completely remorseless in his actions and that leaves no character safe – not even those closest to him. Through flashbacks from the various characters, we learn a little of the shooters background and what has led to him reaching the decision to attack the school.It should come as no surprise that a lot of people die in this book, many of them characters that you grow close to through the narration, and all of them undeserving of their fate. They’re terrorised in the most brutal way by someone they know – and for some of them, someone they loved and trusted – and for things that aren’t their fault. But there is more than death here, we see some spectacular displays of bravery, of care and selflessness, and of love that there is so much emotion packed into a short book. It was incredibly hard-hitting.I would definitely recommend this. It’s an incredibly real story and something that could easily happen in so many schools – which is as terrifying as it is heart-breaking.My only complaint was that there wasn’t much coverage of what happened after the incident, and I would’ve liked to see a little more of the outcome and how the survivors had adjusted.