"Empty" by Suzanne Weyn

From Goodreads: "It's the near future - the very near future - and the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no driving. No heat. Supermarkets are empty. Malls have shut down. Life has just become more local than we ever knew it could be. 

Nobody expected the end to come this fast. And in the small town of Spring Valley, decisions that once seemed easy are quickly becoming matters of life and death. There is hope - there has to be hope - just there are also sacrifices that need to be made, and a whole society that needs to be rethought.

Teens like Niki, Tom, and Gwen may find what they need to survive. But their lives are never going to be the same again." 

This  book is such an eyeopener and I actually found myself freaking out more and more while reading it. Imagine that gas becomes scarcer and more expensive than it already is (seriously, within the last couple of weeks in Southern Ontario gas has increased by at least 12 cents a liter- great). I never knew to what extent we relied on gas an if it were to become non-existent how it would affect everyday life (seriously, no TV! How would I watch my darling Damon on "The Vampire Diaries"?!? No fresh food/ produce- besides what could be grown locally- and most importantly, no water).

Now I must say that this book is pretty environmentally-friendly preachy, but I didn't too much because it is something that I think that we need to be more aware of and something we should really make an effort to change (ie. do you really have to leave the tap on when you brush your teeth or do you have to leave your phone charger- or any charger in general- plugged in when it is not charging anything? Do you know how much power those babies suck up?). One of the characters ends up finding an abandoned model home that is entirely eco-friendly and self-sustaining- the Whippersnapper- and it is one of the coolest things I have ever read about before in a book (think the hollowed out tree in "My Side of the Mountain", but you know, in a house form) and I would love to see the Whippersnapper become a reality.

My largest complaint of this book is the characters. I personally didn't feel a connection to them whatsoever, which I found to be quite shocking since there is almost always at least one character that I love in a book.

All in all I think that this would be a great book for middle grade kids and those who like stories where it seems like all hope is lost but at the end you are left with a flicker of hope.

Rating: 7/10