Quick Synopsis – A deadly and unprecedented virus is spreading. But those who survive it experience long-term effects no one has ever seen before: utter contentment. Three teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in very different ways find themselves at the center of a power play that could change humanity forever.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Imagine – John Lennon as sung by celebrities on the internet (iykyk)

Publication Date – Feb. 4, 2025

Content Notes – There are several on-page and off page references/discussions of suicide. This book deals with a pandemic and has a lot of on page mention of illness. There is also depiction of depression and anxiety.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Review – This book reminds me a lot of Neal Shusterman’s Arc of the Scythe series, but I don’t think this story was as well executed. All Better Now takes place in the near future and references the management/fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to how this new pandemic is unfolding. The new pandemic has a higher mortality rate at first and the recovery results in people who become extremely altruistic. Like altruistic to the point of ignoring their own needs. There’s a scene early in the book where multiple recoverees jump into the San Fransico Bay to assist a boat that has overturned. The thing is even people who couldn’t swim jumped in resulting in their death.

The three teens that the book centered around are not just from different backgrounds, they each have their own agenda/outlook on Crown Royal (this universe’s new pandemic). The dynamic between the separate storylines is interesting, but I felt like the antagonist’s storyline was too vague. There wasn’t enough characterization of them for to understand why they were doing what they were doing. The antagonist wants to find a vaccine for Crown Royal because they believe the disease is taking away people’s choices. During the vaccine process, their company also creates all kinds of negative spin. The negative spin has a lot of real-world impacts including violence against recoverees. Obviously, there is a parallel between this negative spin to the violence against Asian Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic, but there isn’t really any character reaction to it till the tail end of the book.

I did really enjoy the littler interjections of stories from around the world and how Crown Royal was affecting those places. I thought that added some humanity to the book and fleshed the story out. I liked this book, I just felt like there could have been more character building and development. It was an interesting read, but I don’t think I’d read the second book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy, all opinions are my own.