Thank you to Random House/Delacorte and NetGalley for providing am eARc in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: explicit gore

I'm a little on the fence about this one. It definitely held my interest and I found the two main characters well-drawn and empathetic. Finding out more about the apocalyptic storm - what happened and why, how Liz's family died and why she felt responsible, when and whether society would rebuild and find a way to protect against additional acid rainstorms - kept me turning pages. Ultimately, some of these questions were answered and some weren't. The story's resolution fell a bit flat for me because of that. I did enjoy the relationship between Liz and Maeve. Their slow burn toward an eventual deep connection felt realistic and satisfying. The peripheral group of characters from the woods, who provided the story's main conflict beyond physical and emotional survival, felt a bit forced to me.

Ultimately, I think this will be a fun read for teens with a dark side, and my issues with the story may not matter as much to them.

The Last Bookstore on Earth was a fun and unique read, even with its dystopian setting. I loved the idea of a bookstore as a post-apocalyptic sanctuary, and Liz’s journey from isolation to finding trust, love, and bravery was engaging. The way she traded books and acted as a postmaster added a creative touch to the story’s survival themes.

While it’s definitely trope heavy, the story kept me hooked, and the mix of quiet, heartfelt moments and post-apocalyptic tension made it stand out. It’s a great read for fans of dystopian stories with a balance of grit and hope.

I do not gravitate towards romance-centric works so although this book has a romance element, I gave it a try regardless because of the Queer rep. The premise and characters are well-written and developed but with a distinctly YA flair. This book will appeal to the YA dystopian crowd who likes a romantic sub-plot, which I have unfortunately grown out of taste-wise as a reader. I think I would have adored it if an adult audience was the intended audience. DNF at 15%.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 out of 5 stars

When The Storm hit, Liz took shelter at her place of employment – a bookstore, where she worked with Eva. One day, Eva left, stating she couldn’t stay in one spot for the rest of her life. Liz heard “I can’t stay with you.” From that point on, Liz was convinced of her unworthiness, but couldn’t make herself leave the bookstore. Why would she? It had been pretty stocked when Eva left, and Liz had brought some items from her own house. There are people who come and go, buying books or leaving messages for people they expect to pass by. Liz has become the de facto postmaster of the area.

One day, though, someone breaks into the bookstore while Liz is sleeping. After confronting the intruder, Liz decides to let them stay until after the next storm. But when Liz sticks her hand in a generator, Maeve, the intruder, helps her. She also seems to be handy with tools, and the bookstore needs a lot of repairs before the next storm.

But maybe Maeve is hiding something, and when Eva comes back, the hostility between the two might be more than jealousy.


My gripes: YA tropes up the wazoo. Seriously. Liz's angst and emotional self-flaggelation. Enemies to lovers...can we pick a different trope?

But those were pretty easy to get past. The idea of the story was phenomenal, right? Post-apocalyptic bookstore sanctuary? The character-building was okay. I just felt like it could have been so much more, if it weren't a YA novel first and post-apocalyptic novel second. Liz's backstory was brutal, especially considering the rest of the story could be considered almost cozy.

Still, it kept my attention. I would read more by this author.

The Last Bookstore on Earth is a post Apocalyptic novel about a girl who remains with a bookstore in order to survive. She does business by trading books for items and occasionally food. She also becomes a quasi postal worker by accepting notes from passersby and posting them for people who come by afterward. I kept wondering how she was able to find food and survive. She didn’t experience any violence from others until one night when someone broke into the bookstore. At that point, everything changed for her. She found friendship and love. She also became brave enough to go beyond the boundaries she had set for herself. That action lead to a violence she had not known.
As bleak as apocalyptic novels seem to be, this one does give a glimmer of hope. I like this book. It vaguely reminds me of The Last of Us without the constant violence. I don’t , however, think that the Lesbian element had to be there. I realize that the trend in writing is to introduce LGBTQ+ elements, but it now seems trite and overused.

I love anything post apocalyptic and this was everything I was looking for when I signed up to receive an arc of this book.

Seeing how charectors coped with loss and being alone was so relatable and I loved that it was discussed a lot. I also loved the love story between Liz and Maeve and thought how they found friendship then love was executed perfectly.

I definitely recommend this to teens who want to read something like the Last of Us that isn’t as gruesome!

This had a very interesting "end" to the world. It was very compelling, reading everyone's stories about the day or times of the end. Liked the coming of age love story. Does not hold back on the gore.

This is a dystopian novel, about a time after "the Storm" a never quite explained massive storm that came with extremely acidic rain, flooding, and then extreme cold, followed by a hotter-than-normal summer. The Storm was anticipated, but occurred somewhat earlier than expected, and Liz Flannery is the only survivor of her family. Unable to remain in her family home, Liz moves to the bookstore where she worked before the Storm and sets up housekeeping there instead. A year later, people are trading for books and for the use of her store as a mail drop, and Liz has settled into a routine - a routine that's disrupted when Maeve appears one night, and turns Liv's world upside-down, in multiple ways.

There are multiple themes in this novel - survival, betrayal, love, among others - that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Liv is an engaging character, dealing with a traumatic experience that is expected to recur, and fighting to maintain at least a little normality following the Storm that ripped her world apart. I was quickly caught up in Liz's story, and finished the novel in a couple of days. Recommended for teens and adults.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Last Bookstore on Earth follows Liz as she works to survive in an abandoned bookstore in New Jersey. After The Storm decimated the world as they knew it, Liz has been mostly alone after her friend left one night. She spends her time trying to keep the place running and trading books for supplies with other survivors. Everything is going somewhat fine until she learns another Storm is coming and a girl breaks in at night. Maeve is prickly but handy and the two girls strike a deal to work together before the next Storm comes. As Liz and Maeve grow closer, their secrets threaten to tear them apart when their pasts come back to bite them.

I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic books and I thoroughly enjoyed this one! It’s a lot quieter and slower than some of the others I’ve read, but I loved the vibe and introspective quality of the novel. It was really refreshing and exactly what I was looking for. While there’s not tons of action, the scenes we do get are intense and gripping. The whole story is really beautiful and I adored the setting. It felt so fitting for an end of the world story. I really loved the writing and found myself swept away with this lovely story.

Liz is a great main character. She’s strong but she’s also not the kind of girl to run headfirst into danger and it was so refreshing to see a mc like that. She’s perfectly content to stay in the bookstore. But it was also so nice to see Maeve pull her out of her shell and realize that to survive you have to make yourself uncomfortable. Both girls are truly such great characters and their romance was really sweet. The flashbacks and snapshots of other characters were such great additions and the reveal of information was really well done. The ending was great and the Storm was so intense and scary—really great concept!

Overall, if you’re looking for a post-apocalyptic book about two teen girls falling in love in a bookstore while trying to survive, this is definitely one you don’t want to miss!

Thank you to Penguin Teen CA and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Lily Braun-Arnold, and Random House Children's: Delacorte Press for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I haven't read a YA dystopian novel since my reread of the Hunger Games trilogy last year, and I forgot how addictive they are!! I absolutely FLEW through The Last Bookstore on Earth and was hooked from page 1. I was pleasantly thrilled to see that Braun-Arnold is still in college because her writing style felt way beyond her age, and I already look forward to reading whatever comes next for her. I liked both Liz and Maeve and having a sapphic element to the story definitely helped to pique my interest as well. Everything is high stakes and super fast-paced, and I liked the home base of the bookstore. My biggest complaint is that because it is so fast-paced, there are things that are resolved a bit too quickly <spoiler> (for example, Liz's arm injury?? I felt like that was unbelievable that she would survive such a severe injury, and I wish it wouldn't have rushed past that so much!). </spoiler> I would have also liked the book to be a bit longer, so that the world building and history of both of the main characters could have been more developed. As an action story, however, it worked well for me and was a lot of fun to read!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I admit I’m still not a huge dystopian reader, but I was drawn to the concept of The Last Bookstore on Earth, as I love anything to do with books. And in that regard it definitely met my expectations. As we’re seeing with our own dystopian hellscape, books and knowledge are incredibly valuable and I appreciate the way the story depicts the value of books themselves as well as the value in preserving and rebuilding the abandoned bookstore space.
However, while there’s references to the chaos going on in the outside world, the setting being confined to the bookstore means that there is very little context for what is going on outside beyond a handful of references. The lack of sense of place or other context for the “why” behind the storms or other aspects of the state of the world.
And because it’s so cozy, there’s not a ton of suspense or action. There’s some danger, but I didn’t feel a real sense of stakes because I didn’t understand what the characters were dealing with.
Characters wise, it was pretty decent. Liz is fairly easy to relate to, as she carves out a passable existence for herself sheltering in the bookstore trading books for supplies. The romance with Maeve was cute, but the romance also didn’t really rock my world.
This is a fine debut, but I think I went in with different expectations for what this book was going to be than it ended up becoming overall. If you’re expecting the typical action-packed dystopian, I don’t think you’re going to have a great time with this book. But if you happen to enjoy a cozier take on the genre, and are also craving a love letter to the varied ways books and bookstores serve society, I recommend giving this a chance to see what you think.

I feel so bad, but I had to DNF this book. I wasn't a fan of the writing and the beginning seemed to drag for me making it hard for me to get through. I tried to push through because I never wanna DNF and arc but it was putting me into a reading slump and I had to stop. I will still be posting and sharing on release day though, as well as recommending it. Even though I didn't like it, I know other people who might!

A drama and prose filled telling of a dystopian future where a storm has wiped out much of humanity leaving the survivors to carry on in a broken world. Overall an interesting story, but not a lot of action or suspense as you would expect from a dystopian novel.

I really enjoyed the shifts between life before the Storm and after the Storm, and the way that the two different storylines built off of each other. This was a very solid, enjoyable read, but I didn't feel like it did anything new that other post-apocalyptic climate-based novels haven't done before. I think that I would have enjoyed it more if there was more of a focus on the bookstore and the customers, rather than trying to include too much plot within the book. It didn't feel like the book was quite long enough for everything that happened within it, and I didn't see as much character growth as I would have liked to see from our main characters. Despite that, I still did enjoy reading this book, and there were parts of it that I really loved.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy!
Rating: 4.25/5 (rounded to 4/5)

I enjoyed the YA debut novel full of well developed characters, dystopian setting, and struggling relationships. With a decent pace, and numerous book references, I enjoyed the setting and the character introspection as much as I enjoyed the plot. Strongly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an advanced reader copy

I love anything bookstore related, and Braun-Arnold's novel does not disappoint. The premise is unique yet familiar, and the characters are well realized. If you're a fan of books, survival, and the dystopian genre, give this one a try.

I was really excited to read this book just from the title and description, and I really appreciated the twists and turns and the revealing of secrets, but I had a lot of questions while reading. There were some things that just did not make sense- for example, the almost total lack of adults other than those passing through- but the story will be of interest to teens, and I doubt they will have the same hurdles I did. Overall, it was an interesting read.

Thank you for the ARC.

I enjoyed this dystopian tale, set partially in a bookstore, whenever there were familiar books mentioned. I was less intrigued with the story itself as the virus that wiped out most of humanity was quite terrifying! Overall, I wanted the story to be better executed and as the author is still quite young, I have hopes for their future.

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold takes place in a future where the United States has been left in ruins due to a catastrophic weather incident called “The Storm.” A teenager named Liz
survived The Storm and has spent the last year surviving by living in a bookstore. It’s here that she meets another teenager named Maeve. Another Storm is coming and Maeve and Liz agree to help each other survive the next storm. They two girls grow closer, but have to deal with forces beyond just the Storm to survive.

This book straddled cozy and thriller. After reading this I realized how much I want cozy apocalypse books. That is exactly the scenario where I would want comfort and this book delivered during those scenes. Reading about how Liz survived and maintained her humanity was great. Also, her and Maeve’s relationship was full of sweet moments.

However, the thing with straddling cozy and thriller though is that you need to switch to thriller and those switches could be pretty sudden and jarring. For all of Liz’s humanity you can also see the dark side of a world like this.

Overall, I liked the book. The concept was very interesting. I just struggled to feel settled and maybe that was the point.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and Lily Braun-Arnold for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for my ARC!

"I should have known from our shared human history that destruction often causes more chaos."

I don't usually read YA but the concept of this book and the title had me intrigued.

This book is what you'd expect from a dystopian YA novel with one difference: the female main character is not what you expect. She's not your typical heroine in the survival stories. I loved the dive into her subconscious, the timeline flipping with her last days before The Storm, and her relationship with not just (some of the last surviving) people but also herself.