What an unexpected book, in so many ways. Celt's vision of a near-future that has collapsed a bit further feels startling for its potential accuracy: the world more or less still moves forward, even though there've been massive climate disasters and an indistinct world war that left cities like New York bombed out. But the real trick is that this world is just the backdrop to a strange time-loop situation at the Louvre, with two friends whose friendship is on the rocks... except there's a *lot* more to come. Celt leaves a lot of the 'how' up in the air (I have my theories) and I think that some readers may be turned off by the shifts of plot and the lack of clarity, but I was pulled further in by each and every turn. Really mind-bending stuff, and I want to write about the connections between this and the new Sally Rooney and the new Alex Kleeman.

End of the World House begins with friends Bertie and Kate going to the Louvre on their last day in Paris. A man they met in a bar the night before has promised to get them in- even though the museum is closed- so they can experience the art. And they do. And some stuff happens. And then Bertie wakes up and she and Kate need to get ready because they are going to the Louvre. They met this guy in a bar the night before who said he could get them in.....

What follows is an interesting, if uneven, story about time loops, art, and, well, Bertie. As Bertie's experiences change the story moves in different directions and moseys towards a conclusion.

I liked many things about this book. The world-building was good, the language moves the story along, and I love a good time loop story. I grew to like Bertie and was interested in her inner monologue. I had some problems with the underlying situation in the second half, but I enjoyed the end.

This is a 3.5 star review rounded up to 4 stars.

I really enjoyed End of the World House by Adrienne Celt, which tells the story of Bertie and Kate as they relive the same day over and over until they lose one another and have to find their way back. The beginning of the book follows the pair as they travel to Paris and get “lost” inside the Louvre, while also telling their backstory. I didn’t always love the characters; Kate came off as narcissistic and Bertie overly clingy. The story made me feel anxious and confused at times, but I think that was the point, as the characters themselves try to figure out what is going on. Overall, I did very much enjoy the story, and would recommend to others.

Can you imagine being trapped in Louvre museum in the middle of the apocalypse, stuck in a time loop: trying to find your missing friend! That’s what Bertie is dealing with!

Most of the people in the world dealt with similar situation but they were not lucky enough to get trapped in one of the most inspiring museums of the world; they stuck in their own houses, living the same hellish Groundhog Day! So this book is easy to relate and the apocalyptic universe the author created has so many similarities with our modern world which makes this book more terrifying and jaw dropping.

At the first part: we’re informed about how the world slowly ends with detailed and extra realistic descriptions which make us think what if those depictions are just horrifying true premonitions. We’re also introduced two close friends who will part their ways in a few days, deciding to visit Paris as if this would be their last chance to see the city.

Bertie is a talented cartoonist who is doing mostly dinosaur avatar illustrations for a large tech company in Silicon Valley. She stuck in this job, procrastinating her dream to work on her own graphic novel. Kate works as fundraiser and publicist of nonprofit organization lobbied to improve the school lunches. But now she gets an offer from L. A. and her decision to leave the city immediately reminds Bertie of her own loneliness.

When they meet an eccentric stranger at a bar who promises them to provide an early entrance opportunity to Louvre museum, the girls get excited.

As they arrive to the museum early in the morning, Kate performs secret knock she’s told and the museum workers let them in.

But the girls finally confront each other about their boiled up feelings and they have an argument. When Bertie leaves her friend alone to freshen up at the restroom, she doesn’t find her at the same place she left.

She keeps looking for her friend, trying to find her way out from the museum and she finally realizes this actual day turns into her own Groundhog Day she has to live over and over again.

I was a little worried how the story would conclude but thankfully time loop and romantic turn of the plot wrapped up adroitly.

I love the creative idea of plot but I had a little problem to connect with main characters.

It’s still one of the original, well written, post apocalyptic- fantasy- romance story I mostly enjoyed!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon Schuster for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

End of the World House by Adrienne Celt is a wonderful read about being stuck in a sort of time loop. I am a huge fan of this in popular culture, and this one had great characters, a great story, and everything else to boot. I enjoyed it!

Thanks Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me an ARC for my honest opinion. The first half is spectacular. This is a story of friendship, first and foremost. A sort of dedicated female friendship that evolves or devolves over time, a sort of thing that potentially I’d label and dismiss as women’s fiction. But it is set in a mildly apocalyptic world and had time loops in it. Now that’s interesting. Intriguing mystery, dependable story and characters.

Excellent! A time loop novel with a slow decay of society as background and a friendship as the center. There's a lot of ambiguity - what causes the loop? what is the 'boyfriend's' role in creating it? But that ambiguity felt right for the sliding nature of the loop, with the main character loosing hold of solid memories. Original and a fast read.

I loved this book! It made me think and empathize with the characters in a way that I really didn’t expect to. Although the time loop genre is hardly original, I feel it created an outlet for Celt to explore the way relationships define our lives and how we let them define ourselves. The end of days narrative was also particularly chilling because it depicted a world so much like our own that it was sometimes hard to tell the difference. The overlapping narratives were a bit confusing at first but I found that its was best not to constantly try and piece together the fractured narrative, and to instead to just read it as is and to wait till the end for all the pieces to come together. What really made the book for me though, was the main character Bertie and how often I found myself relating to her. The friendship between Bertie and Kate at the center of this book is so beautifully written and so spot on. I highly recommend this book, particularly to people who’ve struggled to find themselves outside of their friendships and romantic relationships, or anyone looking for a fresh take on the multiverse and alternate timelines!

I didn’t realize this right away, but this wasn’t a first celt read for me. I’ve read her Invitation to the Bonfire some time ago and liked it, mostly. I’ve just revisited my review of it and the phrase that stood out was that it had a nice twist but it took you down the WTF road to get there. Because that is very much the case with this book also.
This is a story of friendship, first and foremost. A sort of dedicated female friendship that evolves or devolves over time, a sort of thing that potentially I’d label and dismiss as women’s fiction. But it is set in a mildly apocalyptic world and had time loops in it. Now that’s interesting.
If you’re wondering what constitutes a mild apocalypse…well, it’s the one that sort of fades to the background. Most apocalyptic stories feature it front and center, but in this book it’s merely a stage setting. There are expositions that are not attributed to anyone, there are climate change based disasters, but overall majority of lives remain unaffected or at least there is still a consistent semblance of the world as we know it.
And in this world two best friends, Bertie and Kate, decide to do it up and go to Paris, where Kate promptly disappears in the Louvre and Bertie finds herself groundhogging the same day over and over.
It takes a while for her and for the readers to figure out what’s going on, by which time the book takes a decidedly romantic turn. But it’s all connected, in a trippy and loopy (literally) way and it’ll all be understood in the end.
So definitely an interesting and origjnal plot. The execution…well, it was pretty good too. I didn’t love it, to be honest, for two main reasons…a. the plot was too precociously trippy as if enamored with its own weirdness and b. I didn’t really connect with the characters. I’m not sure if they were too girly for me or too millennial or just not interesting enough, but there it is. Something that’ll probably vary for different readers, but reading is personal like that.
It was a pretty fun read, I was entertained, the writing itself was very good, the plot had cleverness about it, so the overall result is much the same as my previous book by the author, somewhere inbetween. Thanks Netgalley.

I'm a suck for time loops, apocalyptic dread and fierce friendships so this novel hit a lot of my personal preferences well.. What can I say, I was charmed!

This book was provided to me by Simon & Schuster and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Intriguing mystery, dependable story and characters. I’d read it again.

In the end, a very solid read. I thought it was much stronger in the first half, before the mystery started to unravel and it was focused more on Bertie and Kate and their friendship. The second half was a bit more of a slog, but the end brings it all together. I also liked the slow apocalypse going on in the background of the story. After living through 2020, it was all too plausible to imagine the world ending this way.