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.