About the Book
-
Author:
- Lily Braun-Arnold
- Genres:
- Dystopia
- New Adult
- Woman-Woman Romance
Cover Story: Montell Jordan
BFF Charm: Eventually
Talky Talk: Meta
Bonus Factor: Bookstore
Anti-Bonus Factor: Horror
Relationship Status: Storm Shelter
Cover Story: Montell Jordan
I was going to write something pretentious about post-apocalyptic literature and finding beauty in destruction – I even had a T.S. Eliot quote ready from a poem I’d never actually read until I Googled “fire and roses” – but never mind. This cover’s just really pretty. Also, if you look closely, the flowers are made of printed paper.
The Deal:
Liz Flannery runs the last bookstore on Earth, as far as she knows. Since “The Storm” (a deadly acid rain) ended the world as she knew it, her store has become the only source of information (and distraction) in what’s left of New Jersey. She trades books for food, passes on messages, and writes down people’s survival stories, but no one stays for long. It’s lonely, but it’s relatively safe … until a fierce, beautiful stranger shows up needing shelter and bringing news of another approaching Storm. Can the worn-down building take another disaster? And can a girl who’s been alone for much too long handle living with another person again?
BFF Charm: Eventually
I found Liz’s self-pity and sarcasm grating at times, but I understand how she came to be this way. Losing family, friends, and an entire community to death by acid rain doesn’t tend to make you pleasant company. I do respect her commitment to the power of the written word, even – especially – at a time like this, and by the end of the story, I had to admit that she’s a lot braver than she thinks she is.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Catching a burglar in your store and letting her stay in exchange for repairs is an unusual meet cute, but Liz and Maeve make it work. Their strengths complement each other: Maeve drags Liz out into the fresh air, while Liz provides Maeve with the shelter she was missing. It’s a slow burn romance, which makes sense; given what both of them have gone through, it wouldn’t ring true if they fell in love too fast.
Talky Talk: Meta
As a first-person narrator who loves books, Liz is constantly contrasting her life to dystopian series like The Hunger Games or The Walking Dead. She doesn’t think much of herself compared to her “badass zombie-busting heroines”, and ruefully admits that life-threatening situations are “awesome in theory”, but not to live through. Flashbacks of her life before the Storm serve as poignant reminders of everything she’s lost, while her interviews with fellow survivors add some perspective beyond hers.
Bonus Factor: Bookstore
This should go without saying, but I love bookstores. The idea of one being maintained even through an apocalypse is deeply reassuring.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Horror
The night of the Storm and the deaths of Liz’s family are described in the kind of detail that made me reach for the nearest Regency romance after I finished this book, as an antidote to help me fall asleep.
Relationship Status: Storm Shelter
If Liz and Maeve don’t mind a third wheel, I could think of worse places to weather an apocalypse than the Last Bookstore on Earth.
Literary Matchmaking
The 100 (The 100 #1) by Kass Morgan was one of Liz’s favorites before the Storm.
Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho is another apocalyptic story set in the world of retail.
The Loneliest Girl In The Universe by Lauren James is basically this, but in space.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley from the publisher. I got no compensation for this review.
