I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Dystopia
Age Range: YA
Star Rating: 4 stars
Series: standalone
Blurb:
Good news: we all have a soulmate somewhere.
Bad news: it’s caused by a deadly virus. If you feel pain, your KinTwin does too. If you die – they die too.
Control-freak Zoe is determined to stay alive. And single. She carries a survival kit for every eventuality, except for when her phone lights up with a blood match to Milo Spencer, a boy who lives for recreational danger.
Time to find a cure before love wins – or worse.
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
SOULMATES AND OTHER WAYS TO DIE is a fun, action-packed dystopian romance with a great concept.
I loved how this book tackled the subject of soulmates. It’s not a trope I particularly like as the whole “predestined to love” thing feels like it takes the agency and choice from people, but this book tackles that right on. There’s a lot of discussion about how it would affect different sorts of relationships (like ace people) when the bond is used (along with government subsidies and societal expectations) to force a single type of relationship on people.
The idea of soulmates causing the apocalypse was also very fun. If you hurt or drop unconscious or die when your soulmate does, then the rippling effects would be a disaster. A massive death rate (two people dead for each death event), extra incapacitation from injury, and much more. It’s a really nice way of using the trope to create the dystopian setting without needing an apocalyptic event or tyrannical government.
The romance itself is an opposites attract. Zoe and Milo are so different and I liked how they was leant into for the discussion of whether or not the bond would force a relationship that might not otherwise develop. Plus it gives them complimentary skills to tackle the typical-to-the-world disasters and the bad guys they find themselves up against.
Read my reviews of other books by Melissa Welliver:
Standalones:
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 