Quirky Reading Retreat

Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle

Genre: Contemporary/Post-Apocalyptic

Pages: 262

Series: Vivian Apple #1

Published: January 6, 2015

Rating: ⅗ stars

A few years before the story begins, a man named Frick had some kind of divine intervention telling him to start the Church of America. The Church took the world by storm, recruiting millions of believers that hope to be saved on Rapture Day.

Vivian Apple doesn’t believe in the Church, but her parents are new converts. Vivian returns from a Rapture’s Eve party to find that her parents have disappeared, leaving only two holes in the ceiling. Now the world is in chaos while those left behind deal with the aftermath of the alleged Rapture. Vivian and her friends are suspicious, and they decide to go on a journey to figure out what is really going on with the Church of America.

Well the story wasn't that bad, a bit predictable at times, but still entertaining. I thought there would be more to the road trip aspect, but unfortunately there wasn’t much road tripping. They spent the first part of the story in their hometown and when they finally hit the road, they stopped a lot and didn’t do too much. The pacing was uneven, which really shouldn’t happen because it isn't even 300 pages! I did have a few problems with it.

Throughout most of the book, the main characters are constantly trashing the Church of America and while they were a pretty extremist organization, it felt like this was supposed to represent Christians and while I don't get offended easily about that kind of stuff, it was so excessive that it was frustrating. On the same note, Vivian finds out that one of her favorite teachers (and just favorite people in general, someone she has looked up to for quite a long time) is Catholic and immediately detests this woman and literally blames this person for the Crusades. Seriously. So Vivian was kind of annoying and not very well developed.

There was a useless Doctor Who reference thrown in as if the author wanted to say, "Hey, readers! I watch Doctor Who, I am one of you!" Which would make me say, "You and millions of other people, that doesn't make you special."

ALSO. The first hurricane of the year was named Ruth. Anyone who has any basic knowledge at all knows that the name of the first hurricane of the year starts with "A". Mistakes like this are so obvious that they should be easy to fix, but they are in almost every book I read. UGH.

But I did enjoy it. Really. If you want a quick read then you should definitely pick this up. most of the problems I had with it were probably my fault and you might not feel the same way. I am undecided as to whether or not I will continue on with the series.