After I read a book and friends ask how I felt about what I just read, I must say with this book I have no real answer. I felt so many different emotions while reading this book. There were times of joy, love, closeness which turned to horror, fear and sorrow. As I have stated in many of my reviews I love NetGalley for bringing me to new authors. Well Kate Hewitt is new to me and all I can say is WOW!!

Who would think that a book about Daniel Alex, Mattie and Ruby a family from Connecticut would be involved in a nuclear attack that would through their fractured family into more turmoil. Besides having a mother in a nursing home, Alex is also worrying about their son Sam who is in school in Clarkson. I could not put this book down.

After losing his job not just once but twice, Daniel cannot bring himself to tell his wife and family. On top of losing his jobs their daughter Mattie is involved with a boy who almost gets her expelled from school. Their daughter Ruby has some of her own issues and Alex feels they must get away from their lost home, the shame of losing it all plus Daniels deception. Can she pull the family together to try and save them?

Off they go to Lost Lake in Ontario to the cabin Alex's family owned and where Alex had many fond memories. Having not been there in seven years and with no one except a family friend Darlene to look after the place will Alex's plan help heal this family. She thinks so until she wakes up one morning to find out that their lives will be changing yet again. Only this time Alex does not know what they will do. A nuclear attack on major cities all over the country has occurred. Alex can only think of getting to Sam and maybe her mother. They devise a plan that splits this family with Daniel leaving them in search of Sam and Alex and the girls fending for their lives. What happens next is something you would never want anyone to go through.

I loved seeing the changes these characters went through through out this book. How Alex became the protector of her family and the instincts that kicked in when they needed to. Daniel his determination to get to Sam after what he put his family through he couldn't let them down again. Even Mattie who needed her inter net, her boyfriend and her attitude how she grew up and changed for the better. This book showed you what a family would do to survive and the love both parents had for their children. Going through this ordeal made them all put the fluff aside and concentrate on the present and move on.

This is not a book I would generally read. All I thought was would I be able to survive such an ordeal. It really made me think and it was scary. Don't sweat the small stuff and cherish what you have around you because it can be taken away.

Thank you Ms. Hewitt for a rel thought provoking book. Really wonderfully written. Though I must say you need a sequel because I need to know what happens to them all. The ending left me hanging. Thank you Storm and NetGalley for the ARC. It was a great read and I look forward to more from Kate Hewitt. Four and a half stars for me.

I enjoyed the premise of this book. When multiple cities in America are nuclear bombed, the facade of civilisation crumbles. As Alex and Daniel were already escaping issues in their city, they were in a remote location. How does the average urbanite fare when there is no electricity, government , internet, supermarket or fuel. This is a story of survival and development, especially for Alex and her older daughter, Mattie. The friendships that develop and the skills that suddenly become valuable are quite remarkable. There are ethical conundrums to ponder, like what would you do to protect your family? This seems like the first book in a series, so we are left with some closure, but there is more to come. I look forward to the next book, as I have enjoyed the characters and starkness of the situation, Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an ARC to review.

Well, this was not what I expected. Not that that's bad, but when the story took the hugely different direction, I was surprised. I liked the story - I didn't love it. The idea has been done a thousand times in the last decade, and I'd say this one was pretty successful. The characters seemed real, the situations seemed real, the drama seemed real. It certainly felt like a sequel was coming.

This is the first book I've read from the author -- I'd read more.

I received a complimentary copy the book from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

Wow! What a book! The Last Stars in the Sky was a complete surprise. I thought it was going to ba a simple.book with something happening to one of the family an illness or something similar that would change her life. I never thought it would be anything like a nuclear war.
How would we cope if it did happen?
This is raw and unfiltered and left me stunned.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

To be honest, I requested this book on NetGalley because of the beautiful cover. I thought it was a love story and in a way, it is. It is also a compelling story of grief, unimaginable tragedy and family.

A nuclear holocaust isn't something I've ever imagined and I'm quite certain it's not something I could survive. Alex has the same thoughts when it happens and her family is far away from the initial fallout. Daniel, her husband, goes to get/rescue their son from college while she stays behind at their cottage with their two daughters.

What follows is beautiful, tense, amazing and incredibly sad. You can't really imagine what you'd be willing to do to survive. To keep your family, your kids alive. It's too much for my brain to realistically ponder.

I would definitely recommend this book.

I’ll be honest with you, I saw the author’s name and didn’t read the synopsis. I knew I’d enjoy the story regardless of the topic because I’ve loved all 9 previous books I’ve read by this author. When I began reading and discovered that it was speculative fiction, I almost stopped reading and I had to remind myself why I chose this book. Full disclosure: I LOVED it. This goes to show you that an author with amazing skills can make you appreciate a different genre in ways you hadn’t considered before! WTG, Kate Hewitt!

What you are going to get: a story about a family’s survival in the wilderness after a nuclear holocaust.

Daniel and Alex, their 11-year-old daughter, Ruby, and their 14-year-old daughter, Mattie - an ordinary family from Westport, Connecticut - are in desperate need of a reset, so they head to Alex’s parents’ ramshackle cabin in rural Ontario, Canada for six weeks. Knowing that the cabin at Lost Lake has been uninhabited for 7 years, they realize that they have their work cut out for them. It’s nothing, they presume, compared to the challenges they’ve faced this past year; the losses of Daniel’s jobs, the negative pull of social media, their toxic friends, the lies, shame and the desperate attempts at getting their teenage daughter’s life back on track after she was suspended from school.

Not long after arriving at the cabin, they discover that while they’ve been isolated and without wifi, the world has experienced a nuclear disaster and that martial law is in full effect. Worried about their son enrolled in Clarkson, College in upstate New York, the unanimous decision is made for Daniel to bring him to the cabin. What follows is a harrowing and traumatic experience for both Daniel and the family he left behind.

I appreciated seeing how the experience changed everyone and how priorities changed and the superfluous ‘stuff’ fell aside allowing them to focus on what really mattered. Desperate and dangerous circumstances reveal what we are made of - and in Daniel and Alex’s case, it showed the extent of their love for their children.

This is one of those books that I’ll be recommending to everyone I meet! I cherished the opportunity to read something outside of my comfort zone and came away with the desire to value (1) the little things and (2) the extent of my parent’s love.

I was gifted this copy by Storm Publishing and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

This book captivated me right away. I love getting a look at the lives of husbands and wives and their children. Hewitt did a fabulous job creating a book that I quickly became invested in. I needed to know what happened to these characters amongst the crazy scenario Hewitt made up for them. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.

5 stars!

This is the second time that I am reading a book by Kate Hewitt (previously, I have read The Girl from Berlin), and once again this author did not disappoint!

It is such a gripping plot, as we root for the well-being of Alex's family.

The way the author makes us feel all the emotions is superb, I did cry during this very emotional read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC!

What a read ! It was a rollercoaster of emotion. I was sad, happy, terrified, angry. It felt as if I was living with Alex and her family and I wanted to protect them, to survive with them. I really hope there will be a sequel to this book !

Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is a beautiful story about family, love, and survival. I found the beginning to be a little slow, but once things start happening it’s hard to put this book down. I was invested in this family and what happened to them. I would love to see the characters again in a sequel. Thank you for the opportunity to read in advance!