5/5 Stars ⭐️

"Zero Stars Do Not Recommend" by MJ Wassmer is a masterful debut that takes readers on an unforgettable journey. Initially, it presents itself as a fun, light-hearted beach read, following a couple on a summer vacation. However, this seemingly breezy narrative takes a dramatic turn when the sun explodes, plunging the world into a post-apocalyptic setting. This unexpected twist is handled with such skill that it leaves readers both shocked and captivated.

The strength of this novel lies in its deeply relatable characters, like Dan and Mara. Wassmer has crafted them with such authenticity and depth that I found myself fully immersed in their struggles and triumphs. Dan’s resilience and Mara’s courage are both inspiring and heart-wrenching, making them feel like real people rather than mere characters on a page. Their journey is one of survival, but also of personal growth and discovery, which resonates on a profound level.

The emotional range in "Zero Stars Do Not Recommend" is impressive. There were moments that brought tears to my eyes, as well as instances that made me laugh out loud. Wassmer balances these emotions beautifully, creating a narrative that is as poignant as it is entertaining. The story's pacing is perfect, with each chapter leaving you eager to see what happens next.

One of the standout aspects of this book is its surprising and powerful ending. Just when you think you’ve figured everything out, Wassmer delivers a twist that is both unexpected and satisfying. It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel, given the maturity and confidence in the storytelling. I always love a HEA!

"Zero Stars Do Not Recommend" is a book that deserves a spot on everyone’s TBR list. It's a thoroughly entertaining book that examines human nature. MJ Wassmer is an author to watch, and I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a story that combines heart, humor, and a dash of the unexpected.

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend is so funny! I wanted to read this story just based off the title and I’ve found it to be very clever and it had me laughing throughout.

This was a little exhausting to read. The world is a mess right now. The last thing I want to do is read a book about the elite taking over when the end of the world is approaching. A little too close to home. I mean there is an “uprising” but by that time, I didn’t care anymore.

Even the narrator who is lumped in with the non-elite, spends so much of his time being judgmental. It feels like the point was missed… or if not, it was a conscious choice…

The story is juicy and incredibly entertaining, but the characters are so freaking exhausting. I’m meh about this one. It was clearly written by a white man and just didn’t give me enough to enjoy… except Mara!

This debut novel is one of the most interesting plots I have read in years! Couple Dan and Mara are set to enjoy two weeks in paradise at a new all-inclusive resort when the sun explodes and chaos unfolds as resort guest scramble to gain power over each other and scare resources on the island. While a terrifying situation unfolds, Wassmer brings unexpected humor and keen observations about the human condition and American culture. With critiques on Christian conservatism, MLM 'girl boss' culture, and sexism/classism, Wassmer uses this novel to reflect on how we would potentially handle a near catastrophic dystopian environmental disaster. I swung between cackling out loud to gasping in horror, and absolutely had to know how the resort residents would fare as the situation got more dire. Wassmer shows real promise as a satirist with a unique plot and memorable 'average' characters you will remember beyond the end of the novel!

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend is a comedic take on the apocalypse. Dan & Mara are on an island vacation when suddenly the sun explodes. Poof. - 𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 - The temperature is dropping & they’re stranded with the other guests not knowing if they’ll make it home to their families. Everything descends into chaos immediately & Dan bands together with a few other guests to try & get Mara home to her mom.
This book had me giggling like an idiot. The concept for this book was so intriguing. I’ve read books & watched movies about the world ending before but never where the sun explodes. Before I even started reading I was racking my brain trying to figure out how this was going to play out. I had zero complaints & I 𝒟𝑜 recommend this book. Five stars all around. It’s not all comedy either. It’ll tug at your heart strings. There’s a good balance of seriousness too.
This is also the author’s debut novel so I’d like to take a moment to say what an amazing job he’s done & what a way to kick off your writing career. I hope to read more someday. Also his wife does their social media & she’s equally hilarious so if you want a laugh go follow them!

Thank you to NetGalley & Sourcebooks for this advance copy.

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend is a completely different book than I thought it would be. I went into it thinking it was going to be a romcom and it’s definitely not that. Apocalyptic and with many classism issues brought up, this can be more serious at times. However, Dan’s commentary on everything adds much needed levity. He had the perfect one liners and irascible wit. Although about half way through this slowed down a bit, I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this plot. As the story progresses and you get to know the characters better and I grew attached to them, some of the things that happen hit hard. I definitely will read whatever Wassmer writes next. 4 stars, do recommend.

This was a good book. The plot was interesting and kept me engaged. It was interesting to see how people react in stressful situations. It was different than I expected, in a good way. The ending was shocking. I enjoyed the book.

Dan Foster has been underachieving for years, but now he has a girlfriend, Maya, and he’s finally taking his first vacation and lounging in the pool on a private Bahamian island. They’re at an all inclusive resort and while they are not in Building A - that’s for the super rich, but they are staying in the mediocre Building B (but not C because well, that’s for the riffraff). However, while sitting by the pool, the sun explodes and all the resort guests have to figure out how to deal with the impending apocalypse. The elite guests (i.e. Building A), led by a beachbody multi-level marking owner and her preacher husband, take over the resort and steal all the supplies and begin a rationing system based on labor. Now the plebs are looking to Dan for leadership and he has to decide if he can finally rise to the occasion. It’s a bit like a high end resort version of Lord of the Flies.

I really had no idea what to expect when I picked this one up (and I started with the audio which I felt like jumped you right in even more so) but this one was fun immediately. It’s satirical, funny and starts pretty fast paced. It has the same theme of One Perfect Couple but with a tongue in cheek quality to it. This is a social satire and so it brings up issues of socioeconomic bias, religion and science overreach. The narrator was perfect for the audio on this one but I enjoyed reading it as well. Because of the satirical nature of the book, it’s a spoonful of sugar while you ingest some deeper messages; you get to have some fun while you think about some of the ills of the world.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC to review

What could be worse than the sun exploding while you’re on a private Bahama island vacation? How ‘bout an MLM Queen Bee appointing herself Boss Babe of the resort? Want to survive the apocalypse, hun? Be part of the (s̶c̶h̶e̶m̶e̶) solution, or else.

Dan, a snark-talking, underachiever, is coaxed by his out-of-his-league girlfriend, Mara into becoming the reluctant hero of the “this vacation is bullshit” rebellion. But are his true motives just as self-serving as the Dystopian Diva’s?

Would-be readers, look at the cover. It’s a cocktail-sipping dude in an inner tube, floating unbothered in a pool while the world ends. If you’re looking for hard-hitting survivalist drama or scientifically accurate fiction, you’re not gonna find it within these pages. It’s speculative satire with some pretty witty observations that made me laugh while also making me think.

"Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend" by M.J. Wassmer is an absolute must-read! This whip-smart social satire combined with apocalyptic elements made for one of the most engaging and entertaining reads of the year.

Dan Foster, the protagonist, is laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly relatable. His realistic portrayal as an everyday guy is something I think will resonate with a lot of readers! His journey from a professional underachiever to an unlikely hero is both hilarious and inspiring.

The blend of social satire and the high-stakes apocalyptic scenario kept me on my toes, with my emotions swinging from laughter to heart-pounding anxiety. This book had me crying, laughing, screaming, and throwing up (in all the best ways).

One particular plot twist (which I will not spoil!!!) left me absolutely reeling. As a friend of mine would say, M.J. really put the crocs in sport mode and had us RUNNING for the last 20% of the book.

This is an outstanding debut from M.J. Wassmer and I'm already geared up to hand over money to get whatever he comes up with next. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a read that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining!

Full of humor, action and the best twist I definitely didn’t see coming! I loved it! It was a great read! Thanks NetGallery!

A vacation on a tropical island with no (sun)shine? What else could go wrong? This was a survival story with so many unexpected twists and turns that triggered some deep and concerning “what if” thoughts. The sarcastic voice of twenty-nine year old Dan, and the assorted vacationers, were entertaining as they struggled to survive in this isolated and dangerous post-apocalyptic world.

Keep writing “silly things” Mr. Wasserman; this was such a creative and detailed story.
(Bagel Bites and pretzels have even made it on to my grocery list this week!)

I’m so happy to have had the chance to read the Advanced Reader’s Edition e-copy of the debut novel Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend; thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark.

I received this as an ARC and loved it, though not what I expected. Based on cover art alone I thought it would be a cute beach read probably a bit of cutesy romance.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The book is funny & the (new) author clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously, but in the best possible way.

Dan and Mara, a young-ish couple embark on a 2 week vacation on a remote island in the Bahamas at a new resort….built by some rich kid with too much of mommy’s money and no idea how to run anything. Then the sun explodes and all the guests are left wondering WTF to do, what now, what happens with no sun?!

The resort is *almost* the only thing on the island and has 3 “hotel” type buildings on it, which ends up creating quite a class system & of course, as you’d expect when the end of the world is near, your friends and family are back home with no way to communicate, things don’t go well, like at all.

The author kept this light and relatable, writing out what most of us would honestly be thinking (& the MLM tie in was awesome!). He crafted male and female main characters, but not in traditional ways or roles which I thoroughly enjoyed, especially from a male author, if I’m being honest. I’ll say I was starting to slowly put pieces together, connect some dots & still I managed to be surprised by quite the twists, by 60% through (on kindle) I couldn’t put it down and was awake until 4:30am this morning to finish it.

I don’t want to say too much or I’ll give away some of the fun twists and turns, but this was way better then I ever imagined! I can’t wait to see what else this author has in store for future books!

This book takes places at an island resort. Many couples are here for a nice, relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, things take a turn. Everyone staying at the resort is suddenly moved to take action. People divide themselves according to the section of the resort they are staying in. This seems to correlate with social class to a certain extent. Each group does whatever they can to stock up on supplies and any kind of protection items. Things on this island become tense. People are relying on whatever means necessary to make sure to survive this situation. This book gives the reader insight into what is transpiring on this island during an emergency situation. The strength of the couples’ bonds are put to the test. We get to witness the individuals showing love to their partners. This book is full of some intense scenes, but also a huge plot twist. It really shows the reality of how people behave when a tragic situation is occurring.
I enjoyed this story. I felt like it had a deeper meaning since individuals responded to the situation in different ways. This story was fast paced at certain points. It really highlighted the intensity of the situation. It was very neat to see how some people bonded together, while others just focused on themselves. The author’s writing was well done. I found that it was easy to picture different scenes. The author did a great job of setting the scene and capturing the behaviors of many characters. This book was an easy and engaging read. I became invested in the characters as the story progressed.

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend interested me from the beginning and comparing it to White Lotus, which I enjoy. The book was somewhat fun, but it just kept getting more far-fetched. I guess that was the point, but it took me a while to finish it.

In retrospect, the title is freaking hilarious. This is not a book I would typically read. It is about the sun actually exploding. Dan, our main character, is joined by a band of lovable, kooky resort guests who are all plunged into darkness, and who must decide whether to try and escape, or stay and fight. Such a unique premise for a book! I loved the extreme wealth aspect!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this novel. I can see it's gotten a lot of good reviews, so I'm definitely in the minority here. The novel depended on a big twist that I guessed at the beginning, so that didn't help. I could not convince myself to care about any of the characters. It was just not my bag.

Between 3.5-3.75 stars rounded up.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Publishing - thank you!

What an interesting concept for a book! Dan Foster and his girlfriend arrive at the grand opening of an all inclusive resort on an island in The Bahamas. Very quickly into their stay the sun explodes/disappears from existence. The guests on the island have to figure out together how to navigate being stuck on an island during an apocalypse. This quickly goes wrong when the richer of the guests try to take over and the poorer/middle class guests get fed up with their abuse of power.

The last roughly 1/3 of the book is insane and takes you on a wild ride. I did see the twist coming but I love that I was correct about it. The middle part lost me a little bit with the politics and slowed me down a little bit, but it’s definitely worth it because you need to see how the politics/class wars play out for the ending. I didn’t know what to think going into this one; but it had a Lord of the Flies feel, but with adults and while on a tropical resort vacation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!
Reviewed on Goodreads. Overall enjoyed this book. The narrator’s voice is witty/sarcastic, a lot of hints dropped along the way that lead to a good wrap up, enjoyed how none of the characters were really that great. It took me a little while to get into the book, but once I passed 50% I finished it pretty quickly. A couple of character arcs that didn’t fully make sense, but overall really liked the story, dots that get connected, and how it ends. I would read another book by this author, and I would recommend this read if you like funny end-of-the-world stories.

5* Highly Recommended! Truly flabbergasted……I didn’t see it coming!! The characters are spot on for how people would react during an apocalypse. Some got what they deserved, others not what they deserved, and the one I truly hated, should have got more than she deserved. Thank you for a great book, this is truly a great first book for a new author. Read this book!!!,