Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

As a girl who had watched The Good Place way more many times than healthy (gimme any episode and i can quote it) when I saw “For fans of The Good Place” I knew I had to read it and What Comes Next did not disappoint! Mari had me on the edge of my seat and every twist took me out! I couldn’t put it down! Incredible world building and characters that you can’t help but love. A fun and engaging story!

Mari is cynical and stuck in the afterlife trying to figure out how she died and make peace with her mother. I think that this book has a lot of potential that was just confused by the rules of the "afterlife". It felt like rules popped up or bent or changed based on what was convenient to the story which made everything confusing to follow. Sometimes it felt like a ton was happening and then there were long stretches where nothing was happening. The backstory with her mom felt really repetitive and didn't really give the entire emotional arc a chance to get off the ground before throwing in a non-relevant romance.

While this was a super interesting concept it just didn't feel like it was fully conceived. I think that this book does do some good with the talk surrounding healthy boundaries and the importance of self-reflection but overall just wasn't fully developed.

DNF at 9%.

I got the arc for this but unfortunately it’s suuuuuuper boring? The concept of the afterlife in this is that all religious people get to go to their respective religious places but the people who aren’t religious are stuck in a limbo area that 3 random souls developed into a “Good Place” like area where they gain points to rank up to get to a better afterlife.

It’s boring. 😑 And I don’t like that it shifts to “before” sections but the one we already got was even MORE boring than the After. No thank you. 🙂‍↔️

This was a unique read. Our protagonist is snarky, sarcastic and honest. She gives an authenticity to the novel.
As we explore what comes after, we are forced to think about our own beliefs and ideas of what that looks like. And for the target audience I think this is a clever way to do that.

A good read slow to start

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this review copy and the opportunity !

I loved how original this book was. I read a lot, and usually the books tend to blend together, but this one stuck out. I liked the characters and how they were developed, and I loved how this book was humorous, even with the darker overall subject matter. I would definitely recommend this to other people.

What Comes follows 16-year-old Mari in Paradise Gate, an afterlife where the dead work through unfinished business. The concept reminiscent of The Good Place focus on Mari’s rocky relationship with her mom. It’s an interesting story, though it doesn’t always stay on track.

The pacing felt uneven, especially after Mari’s death is revealed, and the romantic subplot didn’t feel necessary. Even so, the characters felt real, and Mari’s sarcastic humor kept things fun. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth checking out if you like stories about the afterlife with a mix of emotion and comedy.
Thank you netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group and Nancy Paulsen Books for this e-arc.

I enjoyed this book. It took me a little bit to get into the story, but I found myself very engaged in the second half. I liked the way the internal arcs developed, especially Mari’s growth. I really felt for her and her mom’s relationship. I liked what happened in the end and the way all the character’s stories wrapped up.

I really couldn’t connect with this story, but if you are a YA reader who loves the show “The Good Place”. I recommend checking it out. Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the E-ARC.

In this darkly comical, heartfelt novel, a cynical sixteen-year-old girl has only ninety days to remember how she died and finally make peace with her mother to escape spending eternity adrift in a vast nothingness. For fans of Adam Silvera and The Good Place.

No one could be more disappointed about Mari’s sudden death than Mari, herself. And if she ever thought about the afterlife, she certainly didn’t think it would be a suburban enclave called Paradise Gate or that the biggest problem to plague her in life would follow her into the great beyond: her recently deceased mother, Faye. But that is exactly who greets her when Mari opens her eyes in the In Between—where the newly dead with no religious affiliation come to work out the unfinished business of their lives so they can ascend to whatever’s next.

Mari realizes quickly Faye is her unfinished business and in order to ascend and join her loving grandparents, she’ll have to make peace with and forgive her dysfunctional mother for being no mother at all But there’s too much to forgive: never holding down a steady job, never having a stable home, Mari having to constantly change schools and in the end, Faye choosing her criminal boyfriend over Mari.

It's a lot to sort through, but Mari tries to keep her eye on the ball—attending classes at the Center like Youga and sending grief scarves sailing in Expressive Arts to move her vibe tracker from an angry unsettled red to an ascend-worthy green—all the while trying to remember how she died and deal with Faye, who, of course, is in danger of being kicked out of Paradise Gate altogether. But then Mari discovers in addition to mother drama, there’s even friend drama and boy drama to be found in the afterlife and none are good for her vibes. Even worse is the suspicion that Paradise Gate isn’t at all what it purports to be...and revolution may be afoot.

Loved it. Will recommend to others

This is very very similar to The Good Place, I love the idea but I feel it could have tried to be a little more original. However I liked the dark but comedic tone and I liked the main character

Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Group for this ARC What Comes Next by Katie Bayerl.
Story starts with Mari who finds herself dead and in an afterlife simulator. The other definitely watched The Good Place and took a lot out of there. Basically the dead people have to earn points to get to eternal bliss….Mari and her mother Faye are both there navigating their strained relationship. There is skepticism regarding the point system and the accessions. This book for me dragged on far to king and was a tough finish. Just seemed like a Temu version of The Good Place.

Welcome to Paradise Gate, this is where Mari, who is dead, wakes up at.
To ascend though she must earn points and to do so, she has to go to classes and maintain status quo. It’s also where she meets her mother, who died a couple months before her.
I felt the story had a good idea but, I just couldn’t follow it or the plot. I will say the book does deal with morality and mother-daughter relationships in a very heart warming way but, it just wasn’t for me.

What Comes After is about Mari arriving to an alternate limbo and trying to ascend to something better. It was a little slow, but for good reason. I really liked the idea of people getting a second chance at finding their eternal happiness and what happens when there is a prescribed way to attain it. The characters were believable. I also liked how Mari had Faye there with her to work out her issues.

I rated this book 3.5 stars and rounded up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A teenager’s “Guide to Living in the Afterfile”. Mari awakes to realize she has died but she has no clue as to how or why. With only 90 days to learn those facts and resolve her earthly issues, Mari finds herself living again with the mother who died before her. Their relationship is not the only struggle Mari endures in this limbo. Friendships, boys, and family are all just as complicated after death as they were in life. Enjoy the adventure to discover whether or not Mari achieves her goals in 90 days. This is an ideal sci-fi title for students 12 and up.

I really wanted to like this book, but honestly, it just didn’t work for me. The idea of a cynical teen, Mari, stuck in the afterlife trying to make peace with her estranged mother to move on is intriguing, but the execution left me feeling lost.

The world-building had potential—imagine 'The Good Place' meets 'Black Mirror'—but I had a hard time following the rules of the afterlife. It felt like the story kept throwing new concepts at me without fully explaining them, and I found myself more confused than captivated. The pacing also felt uneven; sometimes the plot dragged, and I struggled to stay engaged with Mari’s journey to remember how she died and figure out her relationship with her mom.

Speaking of Mari’s mom, Faye, their backstory came in such small, repetitive chunks that it eventually felt like it wasn’t adding much to the overall story. And then there’s the romantic subplot, which really didn’t do anything for me. It felt like it was trying to add drama, but honestly, it just distracted from Mari’s emotional arc and made the story feel more muddled.

The tone was another issue. At times, the book seemed to lean into dark humor, but other times it took itself way too seriously. This inconsistency left me unsure of what kind of book I was reading.

This story has an interesting premise, but it never quite clicked for me. I think it could work for some, but it just didn’t resonate with me the way I hoped it would.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Mari is dead. She wakes up at Paradise Gate—an afterlife with points to earn, classes to get to, and statuses to maintain before you can ascend—where she meets her mother who’s died just a few months ago. Although it presents an intriguing premise, I must admit I had a hard time following the overall plot of the story. Everything you learn from The Good Place, you’ll find it here, so I wasn’t so sure of the novelty of this book. Still, it’s a heartfelt book that deals with the complexities of morality, being your own person, earning a place in “heaven”, and mother-daughter relationships.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group for the ARC! :>

What Comes After by Katie Bayrel is a thought-provoking yet often frustrating exploration of the afterlife, blending elements of satire, mystery, and family drama. Set in the absurdly bureaucratic Paradise Gate, the story follows Mari, a 16-year-old who must confront her shortened life and work through her complicated relationship with her mother in a system that resembles a twisted, influencer-packed purgatory. While the world-building is imaginative, drawing comparisons to The Good Place and Black Mirror, the execution sometimes falls short. The pacing is uneven, and key plot elements, like Mari’s death and the afterlife's mysterious rules, can feel repetitive or lost in the shuffle. However, the themes of forgiveness and self-reflection are compelling, and the mystery of the afterlife’s deeper secrets keeps readers engaged. Despite some narrative hiccups, it’s a unique, heartfelt read that will resonate with those interested in unconventional takes on the afterlife.

Afterlife, but make it a capitalist, influencer-packed, propaganda-filled hellhole.

What Comes After is an absurd yet heartfelt story about life, death, and whatever comes in between.

Set in Paradise Gate, a community for recently deceased non-believers who are given 90 days to become better people and earn ascension, this book weaves elements of satire and mystery with heartbreakingly complicated family dynamics. At its heart, What Comes After is about forgiveness, growth, and, most of all, the love that drives us to do better.

Right from the start, the afterlife system shown in this book is so absurd it’s hard not to laugh at all the weird, nonsensical details. I’m sure I missed a few easter eggs here and there, rushing to take it all in and uncover the secrets of this odd place.

Finally, the storybuilding, although better as an idea than in execution, definitely deserves all the comparisons to Black Mirror and The Good Place.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.