When I checked out this book, the librarian said, "This is a hard read." She was correct, but not in the way she intended. This book made it hard for me not to do the following:

• beat the book with a baseball bat
• beat up the characters
• burn the book
• kill myself
• punch the book
• rip my hair out
• rip the book apart
• run the book through the shredder
• scream
• scribble on the pages
• stab the book
• stomp on the book
• tear out the pages
• throw the book

Just a few reasons that reading this book was literal torture:

• CHARACTER-CENTRIC
  • not a single likable character
    • they're written horrendously
    • I want to pop all their heads off like a dandelion
  • everyone constantly switches between "woe is me" and "look at me, I'm such a hero"
  • everyone is so annoying oh my God
  • forced diversity (note: author is a member of We Need Diverse Books and founder of DiversifYA)
    • Autumn and Sylvia’s characters focus entirely on each other
    • Sylvia and Tomás think Spanish randomly, call their mom Mamá and their grandpa Abuelo, and mention they mention a Spanish lullaby; all we know is they are from a Spanish-speaking family
    • every time Fareed is mentioned, so is his accent; he is such a flat character, and his race is his main trait
    • random diverse characters just for the sake of diversity
    • there’s no way Alabama is this diverse
  • absolutely horrendous relationship between Autumn and Sylvia
    • Autumn feels that Sylvia doesn't understand her love for dance
      • when Autumn meets Aisha they have better chemistry because they both are passionate about dance
    • no chemistry
    • their characters center each other
    • can’t trust one another
    • they barely talk
  • Chapter Fourteen: Autumn
    • she starts dancing to save everyone???????
      • "'...You never cared abut any of us. You only ever cared about dance.'"
      • "'So dance. You wanted a stage. Take it'" (161)
    • "And then I see her face. Sylv's the only person who matters. Our late summer nights are the only time I've been happy" (163)
      • literally proving Tyler's point that all she cares about is Sylvia (brought up at a different point in the book) and dance
    • thinking about it gives me a headache
  • the multiple times Autumn is almost shot but isn't (I wish she died)
    • the author couldn't bear to kill off one of the main-main characters
  • Sylvia in general (worst character)
  • Chapter Fifteen: Tomás
    • he asks out a girl whilst trying to get people out of the auditorium and gets mad when she doesn't say anything???
    • "'Hey, want to go out? The doors are open'" (172)
      • when I read this I was shocked, flabbergasted, astounded, dumbfounded... I couldn't believe it was real
    • "I didn't expect for her to fall for me like a knight in shining armor, but I would have liked a smile or some indication that I'm helping to save her." (172)
    • a few seconds later, she says thank you
      • "I don't move from my crouch. My heart hammers, and it isn't from fear or dread." (173)
  • weird and out-of-place romantic scenes between Claire and Chris
    • " Chris's fingers brush mine. 'I never thought you needed to win to be perfect.'" (86)
      • they are running to get help
  • Claire and Chris forcing the police to let them help
    • ALSO, CLARIE INITIALLY HOLDS BACK IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE COPS?? AND THEN SHE GETS TO HELP???
    • Chapter Twenty-Two: Claire
      • their stupid, out-of-place romance even appears whilst sticking their big fat noses in police business
        • ­­"Strong arms wrap themselves around me as Chris pulls me into a hug. His heartbeat thumps against my cheek. I place my hand on the nape of his neck, tracing his goose bumps. His hand trails form my shoulders to my ears as he pushes a strand of hair out of the way.
        • ­­­"'You are so brave,' Chris's voice rumbles, deep and low." (247)
    • there's no way this would ever happen
  • Claire is literally useless
    • she didn't help or advance the story at all, her point of view should have been replaced by her brother, Matt’s, or Tyler’s (I think this was the best option)
  • the "good" Tyler that everyone loves and misses so much was a terrible person
• OTHER
  • blatant ripoff of Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
  • boring
  • anticlimactic
  • unrealistic and nonsensical
  • "Opportunity High"
    • "('no pun intended')" (2)
      • liar.
  • reference to title
    • "Together, we'll get out. Together, we'll survive this. Together, we'll be strong enough to face whatever comes our way.
    • "This is where it ends." (205)
  • writing style
    • This. Thing. Especially.
    • the book is essentially a (very VERY bad) fanfiction
  • insanely slow paced
    • "time slows when in danger": cool concept, executed poorly
    • WAY too long
    • there’s no good place to stop reading
  • switching perspectives
    • sometimes I like it, but I don’t like how it was done in this book
    • every single perspective change ends... weird?
      • it reads like it should be the end of the chapter or book if that makes any sense
  • flashbacks
    • I groaned and rolled my eyes every time I was forced to endure one
  • tweets and blogs
    • "@CADETCJJ Can we ask you some questions about the situation at #OHS? Our reporters would like to get in touch." (106)
  • large number of characters can be a little confusing
  • the name "Nyah"

The things I didn’t hate:

• it made me feel an emotion other than anger twice
  • Chapter Seventeen: Autumn and Chapter Nineteen: Autumn
  • Chapter Twenty-Four: Sylv
• the hate (I do not use this term lightly) this book brewed inside of me caused me to finish it in two days
  • 74 pages on day 1 and the remaining 208 the next day

ranking: This Is Where It Ends narrators

I seriously do not understand why this book is praised so much.