Reading Rainbow: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Let me just get this out - I LOVED THIS BOOK! Seriously, Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick was amazing and completely captivating. I will say, this type of book is exactly what I love - apocalyptic fiction, mysterious, a bit scary, and all with a believable heroine.

From Goodreads:

A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed."
Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human...

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.

This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.

This is one of those, "What if?" books that I adore. What if, in an instant, life as we know it ceased to exist? I love that, in Ashes, it is in the present-day when these things happen. It makes it very relatable, and also more than a little scary.

I really loved the heroine in this book, Alex.  She was very Final Girl, in the slasher-film sense.  She is smart, curious, brave but knows when to be afraid, and above all, she is a survivor.  The sense of family (the "improvised family") is also so well done.  I loved the characters and found each of them to be genuine.

I should warn you: this book ends with a fairly high cliff.  It's one of those jaw-dropping moments.  That being said, I think I'm okay with it because the story was just so good.  I am SO VERY ANXIOUS to find out what happens, but I am also content to have read a really great story that has made me think.