I will always try an end-of-the-world survival story. I'm a bit torn because on the one hand, hurrah for representation: the main character has depression and panic attacks before the end of the world, during her very normal, rather privileged life. They understandable don't get butter during the end of the world, and reacting to the death of billions and to sudden overwhelming isolation with panic and/or depression seems both reasonable and normal. But on the other hand, there's only so many panic attacks, willful procrastination, and weeks in bed that I can read about. Bleh.

The main character also isn't very bright. She doesn't know how to start a fire or to cook at all, which, ok, lots of people don't, I recognize they aren't required skills for the modern world. But while she bemoans the lack of the internet as a place to look for help, it takes her 4 months to go to a library. She actually visits a big London destination library within the first couple of weeks, but just to look around. She raids a camping and outdoor supply store but doesn't get a guide book or any of the instructional books on making a fire, cooking of a fire, or keeping warm.

Maybe the point of the story is that unlikely, ill-prepared, and very regular people are just as likely to survive the apocalypse as anyone else? Add to lists for unnamed main character/narrator, maybe unreliable narrator, and ambiguous ending.

eARC from NetGalley.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. I'm normally a fan of post-apocalyptic stories, but it's always a gamble. This one ended up being tons of fun though.

I loved our main character. Her reaction to 6DM was perfection. Like sure, we all love to think we'd do great in the apocalypse - farming, hunting, and surviving. But our MC didn't react like this. Her reaction was so refreshing, and even though it was frustrating to watch her throw every worry away, it was also fun. It just felt new.

And Lucky deserves a paragraph to himself. I was so happy when she finally picked up a companion, and Lucky was perfect. He was an infusion of joy into this otherwise dark world.

Speaking of the world, it terrified me. Between the descriptions of the rotting/burning corpses, the killer rats, and the vicious seagulls, I was certain I was gonna get nightmares. (The seagulls were a special breed of terror) The author didn't skimp on the descriptions at all, this could definitely be gory.

So, even though it took me over a year to finally read this one, I really liked it! I'll definitely be recommending it to my friends who enjoy dystopians.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Ok I’m not sure what I expected from a book a book about the end of the world, but holy shit that was bleak. I guess maybe the fun colors and illustrated cover made me think there’d be more humor and hope. There were moments of that but oooof. I think maybe while in the midst of covid still, it was too much for me but also I couldn’t stop reading. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. I don’t know if I enjoyed it, enjoy seems like the wrong word but it’s a quality story and I’m glad I read it. I’m giving it 3.5 stars.

TW and small spoiler for those of you who are triggered by this: the dog does NOT die

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Last One At The Party feels all too realistic after the past couple years. It's a novel about the last woman alive after a pandemic in 2023. The story being so readable is a testament to Bethany Clift's writing because it doesn't sound like it'd be a very eventful novel. Told through flashbacks, we learn who the nameless main character was. It is written in diary form and even tells of her search for other survivors. There is this nice layer of humor at times. Highly recommended if you can take a pandemic novel! It's fun!

In November 2023 the world as we knew it ended. Just like Covid a new pandemic, 6DM (6 days maximum), hit the world and as the name of this virus suggests, once you have it, you’ll only have 6 more days to live.
It’s highly contagious and everyone who gets it suffers terribly before they die. And no one is safe. No one except our protagonist who survives 6DM without knowing why and is the last person on earth which brings a whole lot of different problems.

I was a little worried reading about a pandemic while currently stuck in a pandemic, I thought that it may be a mistake and would make our situation seem bad. After all, all we want is going back to our normal lives and not be reminded about everything, right? Well, for this book I’d say wrong. The story is so gripping from the first page that I couldn’t put it down.

As our heroin thinks about her past life, her missed opportunities and everything that went wrong or where she went wrong, we get to know her a lot. She is extremely honest when she confronts her past and that makes the whole story so much more impactful for me. Her only companion, Lucky the Golden Retriever, is loyal to no end and is loved by the main character as well as me, the reader.

When it comes to the present and the bleak situation our hero is in, the story is brilliant. All the obstacles she must face to safe herself (and Lucky) and everything she does to survive are so realistic, that I could see that happen in real life. What I liked most was, that the protagonist isn’t a superhuman who suddenly knows everything. She has to be resourceful and clever to learn how things work.

I found the narrator to be a love her or hate her character. I loved her. Even as she was unlikable, I found her relatable and refreshing for a lone survivor. The ending was not fully satisfying, but it’s keeping the book on my mind long after finishing, so maybe it’s a better job well-done than I realize.

A story of the last girl on earth; so far as she knows any way. The Last One at the Party follows the journey of a girl as she grapples with what it means to be all alone in the world, quite literally. Following the outbreak of a deadly disease that kills everyone who gets it within a week, the last woman shares her story with the reader. Its told diary style, with her present day experiences mixing with pre-plague memories. Its the story of a woman who’s just trying to survive a horrific new world. Sometimes you’ll applaud her, sometimes you’ll want to shake some sense into her, but that's the beauty of it. It really is the story of an average, imperfect woman doing her best to make it work.

#LastOneAtTheParty #NetGalley

In 2023, a new deadly virus wreaks havoc on the world. It’s known as 6DM, or six days maximum, because you have up to six days from the point of contraction before the virus causes your internal organs to melt. There is no hope. 6DM has destroyed the world. As far as one woman knows, she’s the only survivor. She didn’t get 6DM and was forced to watch everyone she’s ever known or loved die from the virus, and now she’s determined to find another poor soul who is trying to survive in this new world.

I was drawn to this book because it’s a dystopian novel that is also adult fiction. I know that it might be an odd choice when we’re still living in a pandemic, but I love dystopian novels as well as novels told through a series of journal entries. When I first started the book, I wondered if picking it up might’ve been a mistake. The protagonist whose name we never learn isn’t the most likable, and her diary entries are pretty dry. However, the more I read, the more I liked the book. Bethany Clift got into a groove and the diary entries were no longer dry. I also found that I liked the protagonist as I continued to read.

I thought this was an interesting book. It reminded me of an old TV show that I watched years ago called Survivors, which follows a small group of people who survive a deadly virus that killed nearly all of the human population. While the premise is similar, this book follows a woman who is left completely alone. She’s scared, lonely, and both high and drunk while hoping to find fellow survivors. While there were some flaws, like there being electricity and easily available running water for too long and COVID details being shoehorned in, I found it to be a great read.

One of the things I like about the book is that the protagonist is forced to reflect on her life. Now that she’s alone, she has to get to know herself on a new level. On the flip side, she can finally be herself without trying to pretend she’s someone else for the people around her. Watching her struggle with the death of everyone she’s ever known was heartbreaking, but her struggles with surviving or wanting to end it all when she’s seemingly the last person on Earth is something I think anyone in that situation would find themselves struggling with.

All in all, I thought this was a great read. I also liked the ending, which gave me an idea of what happened to her and what the future holds. I highly recommend this book if you like to read dystopian novels. However, I do think you should avoid it if you are a recovering drug addict since the protagonist does begin to use drugs at some point and I think the details may be triggering.

Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift was fantastic! The book is set in 2024 when a new pandemic called Six Days Maximum or 6DM has broken out. It’s tearing through everyone and somehow our protagonist makes through and then has to figure out what to do with herself. I was a little worried that a pandemic book might be too stressful to read but it was different enough from COVID-19 that I wasn’t bothered at all. It reminded me of I am Legend but with a strong leading lady. I read half the first day and stayed up late to finish it on the second this book is super readable!

The premise of this book seemed right up my alley. I love a good dystopian/survival story. However, I just could not get into this book and DNFd at 65%. I struggled with 3 main components. The first is the main character who is incredibly unlikable. She has no survival skills, treats animal pretty poorly, and is all around unrelatable even with her struggles with anxiety and depression. Since everyone is presumably dead, she is the only point of view you get and the only character you really spend time with aside from her best friend and her husband who are also both meh. Secondly, there is really nothing to the plot. Its a mix of the main character driving, drinking, and thinking about her past life with a few big moments thrown in. At the beginning it is clear that the main character is not capable of surviving on her own and I figured we'd spend the book watching her learn the hard way. There are very few moments like that. Instead she keeps randomly finding food, water, and shelter with little trouble and most of the book is her staying in hotels and drinking or doing mundane life things.....just alone. Lastly, I struggled with the lack of research and logic. At one point she says she sees a car every hundred miles or so (England is not that many hundred miles long anyway?) and then she says she went from London to like NorthHampton which is only 62 miles away. She also talks about snow being up to her thighs and then the next day it has completely melted and the grass is green. It just doesn't make sense. There seemed to be no research done into how bodies decompose or how long electricity would last without people. All in all it was a very frustrating book.

Last One at the Party was a beautifully written story about a woman who finds herself as the lone survivor of a terrible pandemic, 6DM. Once diagnosed with 6DM, the longest anyone has to live is 6 days and she soon finds herself all alone, trying to survive. This story is gritty, moving, and all too realistic considering what the world is going through right now. We got a perfect glimpse into what it would be like had coronavirus been even more devastating than it already has been. I think it was the timing of the book that made this so challenging of a read for me - I believe it was written before COVID hit and at the time of writing, this idea probably seemed like a piece of imaginative science fiction. Now, it feels all too real. That being said, the author's writing was beautiful - you could truly feel all of the emotions the character went through - anger, depression, elation, acceptance. I would want to re-read this at a later point time once we have distanced ourselves a little further from the effects of COVID and see how the story reads at that point. Thank you NetGalley and Quercus for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for my honest opinions!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

DNF 30%

The reason I did not finish this book has nothing to do with the the author or the story, but my own mindset not being prepared for this book.

Set in the almost immediate future and in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, a new virus enters onto the world stage and wipes out humanity. This story is told through the chaotic mind of one woman who survived it. The author perfectly captures the stream-of-consciousness hysteria the protagonist feels as she navigates her new world. It is poignant, occasionally funny, and dark. If it had been any other time, I likely would have read this book and enjoyed it immensely.

However, right now, this is not the book for me. But the book itself is expertly crafted and will make for a very interesting read maybe in a year or two.

I liked this, but since there are so many ratings and reviews already out there, I'll just recommend it to sci-fi fans. Good stuff.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

Name ten horrible things that could happen to one person and I guarantee about eight of them happened to the protagonist in Last One at the Party. Holy crap! One thing they teach in thriller or horror writing is to "make it worse." That sure is the story of our poor heroine.

But first, the story started with the rundown of the virus spreading throughout the world. I thought, "I don't want to hear this. It's too close to our real pandemic." It wasn't long though until I started thinking that maybe I should stock up on food and water. The book felt that real. I even thought about getting chickens because of this book!

I don't get scared by horror novels, but Last One at the Party eventually had me white-knuckled. The descriptions of the massive die-offs, the sickness, lack of water and food, animals ravaging bodies, was too much like something that could really happen in a major pandemic. I want to make it clear, though, this is ultimately a story of hope and survival. I don't want anyone to pass this by because they think it is doom and gloom. Things do get pretty nasty though. It will make you want to hug your family, your dog, you cat, and even your chickens if you have 'em. Oh, you might want to fill your pantry up.

There were a couple of things I quibbled with. The electricity certainly stayed on a long time after everybody who could run the power plants was dead. For weeks there was air conditioning and hot water. Geez, I was out of power and hot water because it freakin' snowed one night last winter. Eventually the power shut off in the book and things seemed more realistic. It wasn't enough to detract from a good story. No buzzards, though. You'd think buzzards would be the last ones at the party. They fly over my house sometimes. I shake my fist at them and yell, "Not yet!"

If you like horror that is scary because it could happen, Last One at the Party will disturb your dreams.

I LOVED this book.

I think this needs to be made into a movie immediately. The writing style was fantastic, the main character was relatable, and the journey was emotional. I did cry. I was very attached to James. I loved our dog sidekick. I am absolutely terrified of being eaten by my pet if the world ends bit that’s just good story-telling.

I would recommend this to anyone, but I might wait until my country is truly out of the COVID woods. Still absolutely loved it, stayed up all night to follow our heroine and Lucky. It’s everything I want in a Zombie movie with none of the gross zombies.

An amazingly brilliant debut novel of a realistic look at how a slightly neurotic 30-something would cope with being a lone survivor of a cataclysmic viral outbreak. Told in flashbacks, we get to learn about the main characters personality flaws and weaknesses set against her struggle to survive alone in a ravaged world. The writing grabs you takes you along on a wild ride that you won't soon forget. It also makes you question how you would react in similar circumstances and if you think you would survive and even thrive.

What would you do if you were the last (wo)man on earth?

Last One at the Party takes place in post-COVID 2023. Beginning in Andover, Kansas, a new pandemic known as 6DM has been quickly obliterating the world population, despite the lessons learned in 2020. One woman in London (our nameless narrator) just… doesn’t get sick.

Our narrator must contend with the massive trauma she has just experienced in the context of her history of mental health (depression and panic attacks), and the reality of a country full of rotting corpses. Last One at the Party is written in the form of a diary in which the narrator describes her adventures searching for other survivors, and surviving herself. The narrator here is flawed, struggles with executive functioning, and is at times unlikeable, which I think made me love this book more.

This book won’t be for everyone. For starters, the first line is “Fuck you!” and there are graphic details related to death, decomposition, substance abuse, and bodily functions. Emetophobes should probably avoid this one entirely. This might hit too close to home for those who experienced personal trauma or loss during COVID. I have a pretty significant rat phobia, and had to put this one aside for a bit to get my heart rate back to baseline after one particularly harrowing scene.

On the other hand, at 9% into this book I messaged all of my book friends to tell them I thought it was going to be a 5-star read for me. The last time I did that, it didn’t go well. This time, I was spot on. In Last One at the Party, Bethany Clift has found the perfect balance between realism and hyperbole, and has created a delightfully irreverent, horrifying (and at times vulgar) story about who we become when there is nothing left to lose.

Though this was more graphic, horrifying (and honestly, satisfying) than the TV show The Last Man on Earth, I felt like the humor here was similar, and think readers who enjoyed that type of post-apocalyptic story will enjoy this stellar debut from Bethany Clift.

Okay so I don’t usually like reading pandemic books because it hits too close to home, but once I started reading this book I could not stop. I was hooked! The book gave me a Bridget Jones vibe, with how the main character, unless I missed it I don’t think it’s ever said, acted. Totally reminded me of Bridget Jones, it’s even written in diary form. At first I read it because I was like how is someone who is a ditzy as her going to survive this. As I read more though I learned how much more complex she was and started rooting for her. Love her way more than Bridget Jones. This story has a lot of funny moments but the reality of the horror that she has to go through, is still very much there. I, for one, do not know if I would have been strong enough to go through all that myself. I think this book has a lot to teach us of how resilient we can be and also how awful things can get. It’s such a great read if you give it a chance.

Probably a strange time to be reading a book about a lone survivor from a global plague, but it actually put a positive feeling that "life finds a way" as the main character struggles to figure out how her life is going to work in this new era. Everybody sees themselves as the hero of their own story and the "one who survives against all odds" so it was fun to walk through that fantasy with the characer.

This one is not for me, but I think it will probably be for someone.

It's the story of the end of the world. There has been a terrible pandemic, much worse than the one in "The Stand" or, you know, the covid-19 pandemic I'm currently surviving. No, this is The Big One. Within the first few pages it is clear that everyone - all of humanity - is going to die.

Except one woman. Who knows why? Anyway she doesn't get the disease, and she doesn't die, and this is her story as the Last Surviving Human.

Which I was into, when I read the description, but the problem is that I intensely disliked the narrator. If she were a real person and we both survived the global pandemic I'd probably just avoid her and live alone. And since she's the only character, that made the book rough going for me.

Except the dog. I liked the dog.

The book was ugly and upsetting, and that was entirely intentional and not a flaw, just... a thing the author was doing that I didn't need done at this time. I didn't enjoy this book but you might. The writing quality was good, after all, good enough to keep me reading and upset all the way to the end, which made me even more upset..