I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Survival List by Courtney Sheinmel
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/17/19
Genres: Contemporary, Mental Health, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Sloane Weber is devastated when her older sister dies by suicide. Talley was a bright light who made everyone want to step closer. Why had she made that unthinkable choice?

The only clue Talley left behind for Sloane is a puzzle—a list of random places and names, along with the phone number of a boy named Adam, who lives in California and claims he didn’t know Talley.

Sloane heads west, enlists Adam’s help, and together they search for answers. But while Sloane is drawn to Adam, she can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something. Is Sloane ready to learn the truth—about Adam, her sister, or the secrets her family has been hiding for years?

Short and Sweet

After her older sister Talley dies, Sloane finds a list with random places and names that are unfamiliar to her. Sloane thinks that if she can decipher the meaning of the list she can understand why Talley did what she did. The clues on the list lead Sloane to California and once she’s there Sloane learns that maybe she didn’t know Talley as well as she thought she did.

Characters

Sloane: Sloane is our main character and she’s dealing with the loss of her sister. Sloane doesn’t understand why Talley would have killed herself so when she finds the list Talley left behind it was like Sloane could try to figure out why Talley is gone. I know that Sloane is dealing with a lot but I don’t like the way she acted people would try to comfort her and she would tell them that they don’t know what she’s going through and at one point she does talk to someone who also lost a loved one to suicide. I thought that she lashed out at people who didn’t deserve it.

Talley: We don’t know much about Talley since she’ s gone but she is Sloane’s older sister and most of the characters would describe her as fearless and brave.

Adam: Adam’s phone number was on the list that Talley had in her pocket. Adam has no idea who Talley was but Sloane and Adam connect when she comes to California. Adam drove Sloane everywhere mainly because he was trying to avoid his own problems with his parents. I thought Adam was nice and he was helpful to Sloane.

Juno: Juno is Sloane’s best friend. I really liked Juno she was there for Sloane and even got Sloane the plane ticket to California just so that Sloane could find out what the list meant. Juno was very supportive and I felt bad for her because at some point Sloane ends up putting Juno on the back burner.

My Thoughts

~ Sloane loses her older sister Talley and finds a list in Talley’s pocket and all the random names and places on the list lead Sloane to California.

~ In California Sloane meets Adam whose number was on the list and he ends up trying to help her figure out what everything on the list means. When Sloane learns more about the things on the list she also learns that she didn’t know her older sister as well as she thought she did.

~ I think the best part of the book was that Sloane got to spend time with her aunt, and she also learned more about her mother that way.

~ At one point I did get annoyed with Sloane because it was like she was ignoring Juno and it was awful. I know Sloane was invested in figuring out what everything meant, but Juno needed Sloane at that moment.

~ There’s actually not a romance in this book, which was fine with me. I thought it was nice that Sloane and Adam just stayed friends.

~ Sloane and her father also had better communication by the end of the book and it was great especially because they were both grieving differently and they weren’t seeing eye to eye on things

Overall

I thought this was an enjoyable book I liked the premise of the list and Sloane trying to figure out what everything on it meant. I also liked that Sloane learned things about Talley and her family that she didn’t know because it led to more communication with her father. I thought it was great seeing how Sloane processed everything about Talley and learned about herself in the process. I would recommend this book its a realistic fiction that does deal with the hard topic of suicide but it portrayed how the people left behind deal with the loss and their emotions.