I Hope You Get This Message: Farah Naz Rishi

We meet again!

Reading a story about an alien planet threatening to possibly end all life on Earth seemed pretty dang appropriate for an October read. I’ve had this book for a while but hadn’t gotten around to it yet, but it’s been great for my spooky season needs and gloomy weather reading time. Here we go :) Brief Synopsis: When the planet Alma and the beings that reside on it begin to wonder if the humans of earth are too problematic, destructive and all around hazardous to keep around, they send a message to earth that takes a while to be decoded that essentially tells the humans this, giving them about 8 days to wonder, worry, and party like the end of the world is indeed approaching before the decision is ultimately made.

So here are Adeem, Cate and Jesse, who are all living very, very different lives and do not know that each other’s lives actually connect in different ways. Jesse is stuck in Roswell, the bad boy gay kid that nobody really bothers with. He finds it easier to just hook up with guys that are passing through Roswell on the alien tours than try to make any real and lasting connection, though that sounds like a pretty dang lonely life to me.

Cate has long-ago forgotten what fun is, since her mom’s mind has decided to totally turn on her and her paranoia and hallucinations have only gotten worse. Once her mom voluntarily checks herself in for some help, Cate decides that it is time to go on a journey and find her dad, whom she doesn’t know. Especially since her mom made her promise that if anything ever happened to her, Cate had to give a letter to him. She eventually finds out that he moved, and his last known location just happened to be Roswell.

Then we have Adeem, who’s sister abandoned the family a few years prior when she came out of the closet and they didn’t respond to her. It wasn’t out of hatred, but shock, but Leyla didn’t know that and hasn’t tried to communicate with her family since, which has left Adeem really brokenhearted. He loves HAM radio and is shocked when he hears his sister’s voice, broadcasting from… yep, you guessed it, Roswell. How’d you know?

While on the road, Cate’s best friend Ivy ditches her and she ends up connecting with Adeem. Meanwhile, Jesse has decided to use the opportunity (he doesn’t believe in Alma, he thinks that it is something the government is doing to hide something bigger) to his advantage, even if it means duping other, desperate-for-hope people in the process.

The story continues following the three teenagers as their adventure goes through dangerous, desperate and sometimes hopeful situations while the three of them actively watch humanity vanishing before their eyes in the wake of doomsday.

When Adeem and Cate finally arrive in Roswell, it doesn’t take them long to end up in the same path as Jesse, and just in the nick of time. Jesse’s life is literally on the line and these three strangers, young kids in the throes of panic, come together to save his life, helped along by Adeem’s sister, who was also heavily involved in Jesse’s life (because of course she was).

This book ends in desperate attempts to make connections and reach the ones that you love before it’s all possible over. Which is a great reminder that living for ourselves, TRULY living, and doing the things that are right and best for us should be a daily thing, not a end of the world thing.

My rating:

10/10. This book is a great reminder of how fleeting life is and to not get bogged down in regrets and grudges.

Favorite Quote(s):

“All day, he’d gotten lost in the sound. Listening to the messages was cathartic, captivating, even, a front-row seat to the world’s slow unraveling.”

“Humanity arose as an accident of evolution.”

Other books I have read by this author: I have been experiencing a lot of first lately, and this is another one of them. But there’s just something about a book focusing on the end of the world that makes it unforgettable.

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3