by Trisha Telep
First published 2012
The world ends in different ways across these fifteen stories, but love persists in each collapse. In one tale, a girl watches her city burn while clinging to memories of her boyfriend. Another follows teens who build shelters from rubble and find romance in shared survival. A third tracks young rebels who fall in love while fighting the regime that destroyed their families. Each story drops readers into a moment where everything familiar has shattered. The protagonists scavenge for food, hide from authorities, or struggle to rebuild from nothing. Yet they still reach for each other across the wreckage. Some couples are torn apart by violence and chaos. Others discover that shared hardship creates unbreakable bonds. The collection reveals how young people navigate both physical danger and emotional vulnerability when their futures disappear overnight.
Genres: short-stories, dystopia, romance, young-adult, contemporary-romance, apocalyptic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, shared-trauma
384 pages · Paperback · Robinson
Content warnings: violence