I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The main character is relatable and the dynamic between her and the love interest is very interesting and different in a good way. The story made me laugh, but it also took on some serious subjects. I really liked this book and can't wait to read more from Gabby Noone!

A clever concept -- after a terrible fight with her sister, Bea sets out for a drive and the most terrible thing happens -- she is killed in a head-on collision. She "wakes up" in an airplane, lands at an airport, and finds herself in a "layover" between heaven and hell. I was intrigued with the concept. Bea and all the others she meets in the airport are funny, clever, engaging and worthy of our interest. This is part romantic comedy, part tragedy, part thought-provoking (almost) coming-of-age story. I was thoroughly captivated by the characters and story and could not put it down. Yes, it's predictable in places, but there are a few surprises. The emotions are very raw, and the story of Bea and her sister (told in flashbacks) is heartbreaking. I've read many YA novels, and this one (although not the best) is very well done and should be popular with teens. A CAUTIONARY NOTE for parents/teachers: there is little profanity or offensive language, but there are some sexual references, and definitely some religious commentary that may offend younger teens (or their parents).

Ever wondered what happens to you when you die? Well this is the book for you.! Layoverland is what happens to when you are in a holding pattern. Bea has to save 5,000 souls before she can move on to heaven. After a fatal car accident Bea is dead and she now has this strange alternative world to navigate while trying to help others. This book is full of sarcastic humor and will make you laugh out loud! A great read!

The idea is really good--it is very reminiscent of Good Place, but I loved Good Place and I found the description of Purgatory hilarious.

That being said, there didn't seem to be...any point? No one knew what Heaven was like, and the whole idea of the quota just seemed so useless. There was no incentive for Bea or anyone in her position to actually improve themselves.

So with a few modifications it could have been a much stronger book.

I enjoyed reading several aspects of this book! The pacing was wonderful, characters were well drawn, and the reading experience on the whole was delightful.

I was surprisingly blown-away by a book I never thought strong enough to hit me in the feels and impress me so much. Come for the humor. Stay for the heart!

There is something so endearing in the morbidity of this book. There is hope in an endless world of everything being just a little bit worse. Gabby Noone has created a cast of characters that are genuine in both their strengths and their flaws. This is especially poignant since, arguably, all of these characters did not get a chance to truly grow into themselves while alive and now have to finish growing in the afterlife. Being a teenager is hard, being a dead teenager? Worse. Goodbye support system, hello strange airport world. Quite an enjoyable book!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It seems ridiculous to refer to a novel about death as a fun read, but this is a good escape novel with a positive message about the inevitability of death and the need that we all have for forgiveness.

What a great premise! While I’ll definitely recommend this to readers I would have liked to known more about the other characters -Sadie, Todd, etc and some of the people they helped before Bea got to the airport. Loved the sarcasm and snark Ines’s that Bea displayed.

Layoverland is the perfect read for those who are now missing their weekly fix of The Good Place. This is an exciting tale about the afterlife with plentiful details (the jello-encase food) that will make this world feel real. The main characters are complex with both likable and unlikable characteristics. This is a great read for fun-loving teens.

I loved this book! It has a snarky main character and puts a spin on what happens after death. Although Beatrice is not warm and fuzzy you can relate to her sarcasm and annoyance at her situation. Even though it was a light read, it still packs a punch.

When Bea dies in a car accident, she finds herself in airport purgatory. In order to leave purgatory, she is tasked with helping five thousands people shift through their memories and find closure. When she is tasked with helping Caleb, she quickly realizes that he was the one driving the car that killed her.

The setting was pretty interesting but that was about it. The characters were pretty stereotypical and the plot was a bit predictable. The plot and characters needed more depth, more dimension to hold my interest. The book was quick paced and easy to read. I see its appeal for a middle school audience, it just wasn't for me.

This was a charming book with some very quirky, unexpected details. Though the basic premise is about a place between life and the afterlife, there's no religious overtones, which is refreshing. It's a story about taking stock of our lives and finding the connections which are most important. I found it very sweet and would recommend it to others.

Layoverland is described as being a young adult version of The Good Place—and it is, kind of. But I think the main difference is that comparing the two means Layoverland never gets to stand on its own. But it should be allowed to: it was a really great book that is so much more than just “girl dies, ends up in purgatory, and also falls in love.”

In attempting to figure out what’s keeping other Airport residents from moving on to heaven—a task Bea’s saddled with because she has a good bullshit meter which, okay, I get that it makes her good at her job but also it kind of sucks, right?—she also has her own moments of self-actualization. Moments so raw and powerful that you ache for what could have been on Earth. Had Bea not died and been able to see through her own bullshit, maybe she could have actually made a difference in her own life.

SPOILERS —> I don’t often enjoy reading books or watching films where things don’t work out—What If It’s Us and The Last Five Years come to mind—but I also don’t think I would have wanted Layoverland to end in a different way. Bea and Caleb barely figure out their feelings for one another before he realizes that killing her is what brought him to the Airport to begin with, and he has to make the very super important decision to either depart for heaven or stay in the Airport with Bea. I think they both made the right decision, but that doesn’t mean I was happy about the outcome. I wanted to read more of Bea and Caleb’s story, but that also wasn’t really what the story needed or deserved. And Bea saying goodbye to Caleb only to walk into a party her roommate Jenna has thrown just kind of made me want to cry: because it reinforced how Caleb was only a part of Bea’s story, and that there is still so much time left to continue writing it. <— SPOILERS

The one big detractor to this book was Gabby Noone’s decision to split the chapters between Bea’s last day on earth and her time at the Airport. Although I found both stories interesting—and truthfully can’t figure out a way around interweaving them—I was more invested in Airport Bea than I was Alive Bea. But this means that a whole part of Bea’s life, and the impetus for her profound personal growth, remains unresolved. She gets to reflect on her behavior and forgive herself, but her sister Emmy gets silenced in the process.

Bea's day could not have been worse, except then she died, so apparently it could. In this YA novel that has definite The Good Place-vibes, Bea hasn't gone to Hell, but she's certainly not in Heaven either. Instead, Purgatory is an airport where everything is just a little crappy - the weather is just cool and wet enough to be uncomfortable, the food is edible but not exactly tasty, and then there's the people. Most people are stuck in this waiting room, needing to overcome something from their life before they can move on to eternal bliss, but not Bea. Due to choices and attitudes she had on Earth, instead she must pay her debt and help 5000 others with their issues first, including the boy responsible for her untimely death (who actually isn't such a bad guy).

I liked the premise of this book, the rules and the situation, but unlike The Good Place where redemption is a choice and a team effort, here it is thrust upon them and still feels sort of lonely. A lot of characters are set up, and I would have liked to learn more about them, to dig deeper beyond the surface-level information provided for the sake of plot because there is definitely more there. A great choice for YA collections where contemporary picks are popular, but keep in mind that while there's nothing explicit in the text, mature situations are discussed frankly.

This is the story of Bea, a teen who dies in a head-on car crash and awakens in an airport that is some sort of purgatory. People who find themselves there have not quite gotten into Heaven - something that happened in life is holding them back - and haven't done anything bad enough to earn them eternity in Hell. So this airport is not the worst place, but it isn't good, either. It's mildly unpleasant. And it's where Bea has to exist until she can help 5,000 people sort through what is holding them back. Only then will she be able to to to Heaven.

By 'mildy unpleasant,' I mean the hotel room where Bea stays has two beds; both of them have lumpy mattresses. The food in the cafeteria is all you can eat, but all of it is encased in gelatin - even the coffee is cold cubes of gelatin. But most unpleasant of all is the fact that Bea has to help Caleb, the boy who was driving the car that killed them both.

The story is told in current time and flashbacks, so the reader learns about Bea and her strong relationship with her sister. It also gives the main characters time to get to know each other.

I'm predicting that teens will not be happy with the ambiguous ending. I sort of liked it, but also felt like there could have been more resolution. So, while it was an enjoyable book, I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun book. Bea dies in a car accident in the first few pages of the story. She wakes to find herself on an airplane, which lands at an airport. It turns out the airport is a stopover for souls who have some unresolved issue preventing them from getting to Heaven. Bea needs to discover why she is where she is and how she can move on. Funny and quirky, yet poignant and touching all at once, Layoverland explores life and death and all the choices that lead us to our ultimate destination.

Layoverland is an excellent first purchase for young adult and high school collections. Perfect for fans of Undead Girl Gang.

I ENJOYED…
☂️

- One of my favorite things about Layoverland was its originality. This book has been marketed “for fans of The Good Place” and I feel like this is a perfect thing to say. I found again the afterlife setting, I found the sarcastic, witty, fun and intriguing kind of story we get in the show, just as well and I loved it.
I really loved the idea of the book and its execution, too. The world-building wasn’t overly complicated and yet it made sense. It was fun to follow and really unique, I feel like you could write so many fun stories set in that universe.
- Bea was one main character you take a little time to get accustomed to, but once you do, you can’t help but love her. She’s hard hearted and wearing an armor around her feelings, she’s sarcastic, witty, funny and sometimes a little too stubborn and annoying, yet I grew fond of her and loved seeing her grow as the story went on, too.
- Bea is surrounded by other characters I equally enjoyed. I really liked Caleb, he was soft and sweet, caring and sometimes a little clueless, but I loved him. I loved getting to know him better, his flaws and weaknesses and really grew fond of him, too.
- Another thing I liked was the presence of friendship in the story. It’s not really the main focus of it all, but I loved Jenna as a character and how, slowly, she grew on Bea despite their differences and awkward first interactions. I also loved Sadie, another character and Bea’s mentor and her enthusiasm.
- Layoverland has strong elements of family, too, as one of the main focuses of the story is on Bea and her relationship with her sister Emmy. I loved seeing their strong bond, the way they interacted and fought, I just loved the closeness of their relationship and how important it is to Bea, too. I’m all for great sisters’ relationships in stories.


I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- I just feel like it ended a tiny bit… quickly? I feel like the wrapping-up part of the story was a little too quick to happen. I would have liked a little more resolution, especially with the sisters’ stories.

OVERALL
☂️
- If you’re a fan of The Good Place, or if you’re looking for a unique, original kind of read, I’d definitely recommend Layoverland. Witty and unique, this book was a really promising debut I devoured and I can’t wait to read more from the author.

Trigger warnings: car accident (narrated), death, cancer (leukemia), mention of abortion, blackmail.

Diversity: half Mexican-American main character (Caleb), POC main character (Sadie), Asian secondary character (Wayne).

This book was received as an ARC from PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really enjoyed this book because it was all about Bea not only getting a second chance to get to heaven but doing the hardest thing for anyone, helping the person that killed you in the first place. Bea can never forgive herself for ruining the life of her sister Emmy. While helping Caleb (the boy who killed her) she fines that there is more to him than meets the eye including the fact that he is very cute and the important part that Bea ended up needing Caleb in her life and falling for him. All through a layover to Heaven. I did have a few smiles while reading this book plus the concept was brilliantly executed. Our teen book club will definitely have some discussions on this book and will fall in love with the concept as well.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.