Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Full review to be found on Goodreads and on my website.

The story was so weird for me. It’s so confusing and plainly annoyed of what was happening.

I did not finish even though I was three quarters of the book.

I requested this book from netgalley a while ago, but not sure why, unfortunately this does not really interest me. I will not be reading this. I’m going to give a three star rating because I can’t say if it’s good or bad.

Ruta’s distinguished writing and eclectic cast of characters garnered my attention from the start. Ingenious plot with such well-sketched detailed characters, I found each person fascinating in their individual way, definitely a character-driven tale. The marriage of the plot and protagonists mixed with the way they weaved together made for one enjoyable yet surprising reading experience. I found the ending perfectly fitting. No doubt Ruta is a more than capable writer with plenty of imaginativeness. I read her memoir and was impressed and here I am fascinated once again. I look forward to reading future enterprises from this authoress.

I'm completely shocked by the low Goodreads rating this book has. I have no idea why a novel this inventive and creative would get anything below four star-ratings. Ruta's novel follows the lives of several people (including a teenage girl and an astronaut in space) who are celebrating what is called Last Day (a holiday in which everyone around the globe honors what they think will be the last day on Earth). These Last Day festivities occur every year, despite the world's persistence. How these characters mark the day is what makes this storytelling truly original.

Sometimes with books from multiple perspectives, things can feel muddled. Ruta provides characters that are realistic and unique, so each chapter told from their point of view feels intriguing. There's also this urgency to each storyline that makes the reader feel like they're hurtling towards the unknown - and I enjoyed every minute of the ride. The ending was my absolute favorite part - no spoilers here - but it was fully satisfying.

I read Ruta's memoir a few years back and loved it, and so I think I'm definitely a fan of her writing style. I can't wait to see where her imagination takes her next.

It's a different experience to read an apocalyptic novel after 2020. I read Station Eleven for the first time last year and I enjoyed this as another idea of a possible future. I enjoyed meeting the characters, though I wish the narratives had come together more.

Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy. I like a good dystopian novel and this fit that bill. It's fast paced and the plot kept me intrigued.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during that 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I’d rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.

I usually enjoy end times/apocalyptic books but could not find any interest in the characters by the time I was 20% into the book. I had to dnf the book because it was too painful.

I thought this book was interesting, but could not find my footing nor was I really engaged. Perhaps it's just a consequence of the time, but I have to DNF this one all the same. Nevertheless, thanks for allowing me to read in advance — I really love the cover!

I was very excited to get approved for this book but it left me quite disappointed.

This is the story of the World's End, or at least it is supposed to be. In the described world, which is very like ours now, people celebrate Last Day every year and wait till the World ends after every celebration, but it looks like it never did. There is a story behind all of that but it was shared only in bits and pieces and hard to get where this Last Day idea came from. Nevertheless, the reader follows few characters on this particular Last Day celebration. There is a good man Bear - astronaut - serving his mission in space, a teenager Sarah, lost in understanding her self and her place in the World, and mentally and physically abused Karen. Along the way, many more characters come into play but left little or no mark on the narration.

At first, I was engaged in Sarah's thoughts of discovering herself and setting limits. I was sad to follow Karen's pursuits (however, I think that the theme of mental illness was poorly executed). I was intrigued of Bear's space adventures. However, after about 100 pages, more random characters were introduced with little or no value, and I was put off. It was hard to follow whose story it was and why some characters were connected and how it would play out. Well, it didn't and I had a feeling of unfinished story lines.

SPOILER

At the end, when the reader understands, that the World would actually end after this particular celebration, even more random characters are thrown into the story (music composer, a woman from Bali, etc) which just gives more pages but less value.

Anyway, I hoped I liked it more, but it felt like a waste of time.

I loved the concept of a parallel universe where the world prepares for The End once a year. That was quite clever. Last Day is a morbid holiday reminiscent of Yom Kippur in its theme of tying up loose ends and forgiveness. There’s also an element of debauchery and exposure of the human pain so many carry. The characters were mostly unlikeable, which made for a cringy read at times. I wanted to like at least one person in this book, but alas there was almost no one to root for except a lonely astronaut circling the globe, dreaming of returning to earth. Without giving anything away, I was left feeling bereft. Dominica Ruta has a wonderful gift for language and the book was vivid and well written, I just wish the characters were a little more worthy of redemption. Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Before I start with my New book Review , I would like to thank @PRHGlobal @prhinternational for Providing me with a free E-galley copy of this book for my Honest Review . Thanks a lot for giving me the opportunity to read this novel.

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Book : Last Day .

Author : Domenica Ruta.

Genre : Fiction , Science Fiction .

Rate : 3.5/5

Review in one word : Interesting .

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As always when I receive ARCs to review , I didn't read the blurb or know anything about the book , even the genre .

I started it and I was ok , what's next  ? 

Then I got immersed in the story and actually found it quite interesting , yeah , I didn't finish it in one sitting , but I was invested in the story , the characters and their journeys.

The best thing about this story is the author writing style , Domenica Ruta is a gifted author , she has the ability to make you connect with the story with her charming Words and Entertaining plot , even though I didn't like the story that much , the writing style was amazing .

I think the genre wasn't for me .

But again  the world building and  characterization were really good .

I think this is all for me , I  really don't have much to say :) 
Full Review : www.bibliomedico.wordpress.com

I liked the premise of this book and certainly the hype drawn in the comparison to Station Eleven was enough to draw me to it. The problem was that the flow of the book itself didn't hold together well enough for me. It was hard to follow at times and while parts of it were decently good, other parts needed work.

#LastDay #NetGalley

I thought I knew what to expect when I began reading this book but it was a little different than what I had originally anticipated. Because of that reason I waited to write my review; I wasn't sure of how I felt about it. Still aren't.

I read through it in two nights alternating between liking some characters and not liking them. At times it was difficult to connect with them, to understand or emphasize with them while other times, it was hard not to feel what they were experiencing.

This novel is not split into chapters, there is nothing to alert the reader when the author transitions to another character. This can be frustrating as several times I did not realize that we had switched to someone else's story.

From the description, I originally thought the characters were all physically together in one location. A "Love Boat/Fantasy Island" kind of thing. A diverse group of people who happened to all book the same trip with some overlapping stories. There is some overlapping, at times, you may recognize a name or place but you won't necessarily be hit over the head with it. In fact, as an example, one person mentioned quite often in a character's life story appears only near the end of the book. I don't know exactly how diverse this group of main characters really are but the impression I had was of few if any POC. I may be wrong, if so I apologize, but I can only recall descriptions of pale skin, blonde ringlets, etc. There are POC, in Karen's story, her friend Rosette is Azoaron and some people in the church are Haitian, etc. But the main people we follow, I think, are mostly white. It may have added to the experience to see in a main story how a POC treated the holiday, how a Native American treated the holiday and so on.

The story I found myself most drawn to took place in the space station. Sure, Bear was interesting but his fellow astronauts were fascinating. This group of characters were consistently the most interesting and compelling.

I can't complain about how the ending was abrupt as I think that was realistic to the scenario presented. I do have a small complaint with suddenly having many new characters/stories thrown in in the end. Who are they? Why didn't we get to meet them before? It isn't as bad as when that happens in a mystery and the new character/murderer is introduced in the last chapter - now that is a problem!

All in all, I think there is an audience for this book. Dystopian novels seem very popular these days. I have read quite a few but I don't think I would put this in that genre. Perhaps Dystopian -adjacent, I don't know if it already has a specific genre. I don't want to say more, no spoilers here. This was a first of its kind for me, not sure if I would read this type of book again as I am a person who worries about everything and it might freak me out too much.

This is my second book in the last two days that had a blurb comparing it to “Station Eleven”. Blurb writers have no shame and neither book measured up to “Station Eleven” (and I didn’t agree that that book lived up to its hype). According to this book, the last day of life on Earth has been prophesied to occur on May 28th of an unspecified year. Various annual last day rituals have developed in different countries. Some people party, some apologize for past failings, some make new hookups. And then the world doesn’t come to an end and everything goes back to normal until next year.

The book consists of vignettes and biographical sketches about way too many characters. Some of these characters converge but most do not, and towards the end of book it felt like a flood of new characters suddenly appeared. I wasn’t really engaged by any of the characters, or this book. However, I did like the eloquent last chapter. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because of the ending.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I loved this book so much so I couldn't put it down. Last Day is celebrated throughout the word although differently from one place to another. Very well written with a good selection of characters some of which like Karen I would have liked to learn more about. A fascinating read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In a world, much like our own, May 28 is the 'last day.' It's a day of atonement & forgiveness. It's a day of celebration. It's a day where people celebrate the end of the world that may or may not come.

Following an assortment of characters who are all connected on some way, we read how one character influenced another who then in turn changed this person's life who then ..etc etc. It's the butterfly effect. It's hard to keep track at points, but...as any last day of the world would be, its full of love, hope, chaos, excitement, fear and happiness.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

LAST DAY was up and down for me — some huge high points, and some low points too. A high concept centers around a few main characters, slightly related, all celebrating a fictional holiday called Last Day. Every May 28th, most of the world honors the inevitable end of the world with apologies, surprise tattoos, cook-outs, and much more. What the characters don’t know, however, is that the actual end of the world may be not that far away.

Such a great idea for a novel, and while this book wasn’t as good as some other recent apocalypse novels, I enjoyed Ruta’s execution and prose. My complaint is that there were a lot of characters and it was often hard to understand what was happening. There were two characters, Sarah and Kurt, that I liked the most and almost wished the book was only about them!