Review: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

I have been wanting to read this book for a few months now. Ever since I saw that gorgeous cover and read the summary. Was so sure that I would love this book. First I got declined a bunch of times via Edelweiss, but I finally got accepted a few days ago. Had to start it right away, even though I'm not reading much these days. But oh. I did not love it.

I wanted to love it, I truly did. But I just didn't. It wasn't was I thought it was going to be. I had imagined a fast paced book with lots of action and romance. And while I was pleased with most things in this book, it was just too slow for me. In the beginning I was confused, didn't understand if it was a flashback or not for the first 30 pages or so.

But then I got that cleared up, and I started to enjoy the story. I did like the writing. The writing was good. And I loved Lynn, the main character. She was awesome. I liked her mom too, somewhat. She seemed a bit weird and harsh a times. But she was loving and I did enjoy reading about her. Just didn't fully understand that one scene with the big coyote. I sort of enjoyed reading about their life by their pond. We get to know some things about how the world is and how it came to be that way. We learn how much and how little Lynn knows about the world.

We get to know Stebbs, their neighbor. He's a bit old and I adored him. He has a bad leg though, and I felt sorry for him a lot. Still. He was interesting to read about. Then we also meet some new characters, Eli and Lucy and Neva. I liked reading about them, although yeah. It was a bit confusing. But I loved Lucy, she was just a little kid. And I felt so sorry for her mom, Neva. Eli was the brother to Neva's husband. I loved Eli. But I wished we had gotten to know him a bit more.

Thing is, after we got to know of these three the book slowed down so much. And I disliked it a bit. Because I felt like it didn't have to be there, that some parts could have just been skipped. Although I did love reading about Lucy, but still felt like it didn't have to be there. I truly don't know what to say about this book. There is a lot of death and killing. Which I enjoyed. Maybe. There is some romance, which was sweet but also happened a bit fast and a tiny bit weird.

I don't really have anything else to say. I enjoyed the writing. I loved the characters. But I wished for more. The ending felt very rushed. And holy crap, how I hated the ending. It didn't make sense much. At least not to me. It was just heartbreaking and evil. This is a standalone book, with an epilogue. And to be honest, I don't even want a sequel. I did not enjoy the ending at all. It was just cruel. Sigh. Still. I sort of enjoyed the book. For the most part, I think. It was a little bit good.

I'm still a bit unsure about how to rate this book. But I have gone with a 2 star. Although it might be a 2.5 star. Because I did enjoy it a little bit in the middle. I was interested in the book, in the characters. Then the ending happened and I just did not enjoy it at all. It did not make sense at all. Which made me also realize that I didn't fully love this book like I had wanted to for so long. I'm sure others will love it, I just couldn't. I'm sorry. But oh, I am still getting my pre-ordered copy :)

Thank you so much to the publisher, HarperCollinsChildrens, and to Edelweiss for the chance to read this book early. Really happy that I got to do so, even though I did not end up loving it.

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