This was so unique and original! I haven’t read a good post apocalyptic novel in a long time and this totally delivered! I loved the bookshop it was a character in itself and the characters were amazing. Will be adding to my library 100%.

This was a GREAT BOOK! My FIRST 5-star read of the year! I absolutely loved the writing and the plot was to die for. Going to order this book when it comes out!

Engaging and immersive. A recommended purchase for YA and HS collections where dystopian is popular.

... well, fuck, i guess MY slightly autistic stomach metaphor was not so original! damn you, lily braun-arnold for calling me out

Thank you to Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for allowing me to read this book! No matter how much I did feel called out.....

I thought it felt a very good slice-of-life, self-contained book set during the apocalypse. I also very much enjoyed the hope that was there-- people are helping each other out, passing along warnings, letting each other know what happened and what's happening. I felt like many other such stories could have taken place or been set during the same time, with how small the general setting was, which is something I appreciate a lot.

I think my students would enjoy this!

Even after the world has ended, we still need to find meaning and purpose in our lives and that is exactly what Liz does at the bookstore she used to work in. The last bookstore on Earth isn’t just a place of solace for others, it is for Liz too. With nowhere else to go, why not go to her home away from home?

This story has a great blend of tense action and emotional moments between characters. Liz’s backstory is one I won’t forget anytime soon. I loved all the references to some of the author’s favorite books and can’t wait for readers to discover this on shelves in real bookstores.

It’s been a while since I’ve read an original post-apocalyptic story. Not that the premise behind a nationwide weather crisis is original, but the way the characters and events are written makes me feel like the first time I’ve experienced reading one. That’s quite the feat since I’ve been a dystopian girl for over half my life.

There is amazing character development throughout the story. It’s present as something that progresses through the novel but also in the artful use of flashbacks. The main character reminds me of the girl I wished was my best friend. She’s witty and cute and well read, which is ironic considering her view of herself. Not only does the main character develop, but so do the side characters. They all have moments of growth even in the small snippets of their cameos.

Love story? Yes, but so realistic. Not in the “we’ve been fated to be together” way, more in the reality of two people meeting and just fitting well with each other. Complimenting and confronting each other’s flaws in order to become better people without forcing change. For the short time and extenuating circumstances, I cannot express how likely this relationship was built to true life, which absolutely immerses the reader even deeper into this small nook of the world.

This book had me staying up late and burning through pages. Are there things that could have made this story better? Probably, but that’s something I can find on a second-, third-, other read through. I was entertained and left with a story that was immersive and exciting and I’m happy to live in a time where books can still do that for someone.

"The Last Bookstore on Earth" is a post-apocalyptic young adult novel by Lily Braun-Arnold. A few years after the first acid rain storm hit the world, another one is predicted. Liz has been living in the bookstore where she was working before the storm. Her former coworker, Eva, left awhile ago, so it's just her. When another teen named Maeve breaks into the bookstore, they form an uneasy truce, Liz providing shelter while Maeve helps fix up the store for the upcoming storm. The story is interspersed with little short bios told to Liz by people who visited the bookstore. A believable romance grows between Liz and Maeve and you hope that they survive. Characters feel realistic. A recommended purchase for YA collections where post-apocalyptic fiction is popular.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a a fairly quick, easy YA read set in an unfortunately realistic dystopian Earth plagued by acid rains. I appreciated that the dystopian elements were simple and realistic, the after effects of climate change and not a completely crazy new situation (see: Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.) That said, I think a bit more detail about the acid rain could have benefited the story. How are they predicted? What makes them different than regular rain showers and storms? Is it happening everywhere or only on the east coast of the U.S.?

The characters were really the highlight of the novel, especially protagonist Liz. She definitely has some flaws and it's sometimes hard to understand why she makes the decisions she does but that just makes her feel more real and 3-dimensional. The same is true of Maeve and even some of the side and backstory characters. The one character I was unable to fully connect with was Eva - I think some additional backstory flashbacks between her and Liz would have made me care more about her and the history she and Liz share.

The post-apocalyptic bookshop setting was superb with the scenes between Liz and her customers being some of my favorite. I also enjoyed reading the blurbs and stories Liz had collected from them. Overall a great new novel in the sometimes-stale dystopian YA genre and a fantastic debut!

For a debut novel, I really enjoyed the authors writing style. I felt very connected to the main character Liz and her emotions and experiences both past and present. I however did not care for Maeve’s character at all. I found her to be very annoying and I’m not sure what Liz saw in her really other than the fact that she was simply there. I liked the concept of this novel and of course was intrigued by the idea of her being in a bookstore in an end of the world situation. The novel is all from Liz’s perspective, but does share a past timeline as well. There are also some mini journal entries throughout of others peoples stories. I liked how those all came together to share the overall story. I did find the novel to be a bit one dimensional, I wish there was a little more substance or another subplot to compliment the rest of the main story. Maybe more of the romance between Maeve and Liz as well? It all felt very surface level. I am glad though that there’s another new decent YA dystopian out, it is something lacking right now! If you’re into post-apocalyptic scenarios, give this one a try.

I enjoyed this book. I read it in about two days, which is incredibly fast for me. I was captivated and wanted to know more about what had happened in the past, and what would happen in the future. As a librarian, it was fun to read a YA book about a bookstore. The story was well written and held my attention the entire time; the pacing worked for me as well. I did not feel bogged down by too much exposition.

I liked the characters, and especially liked the blurbs of people's 'stories' that she kept in the diary. I wanted more of those; it was fascinating to learn what people had been doing during/before/after The Storm.

The characters all felt real and fleshed out.

There were questions I wanted answered that did not get answered, or were left too vague for my liking - had it not rained at all, from the time of The Storm to the time of the second Storm? If that's the case, then how did the acid in the water get diluted over the year between the storms? How did they get on top of the cabinets in the basement without getting hurt by the water, and what happened exactly to her hand? That last part might have been left vague so that details weren't too extreme, but it did feel like something her hand shouldn't have been able to heal from at all without doctor intervention.