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 NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC to review

Overall a pretty good read, I enjoyed the plot but to anyone going into this book thinking that it’s a surviving the end of the world type story, you may be disappointed. This story to me was more about classism and how much power imbalances affects people. The comedic timing had me chuckling, but I will say that I did get the ick from a few lines the characters say in reference to current online trends.
In the first half of the book, the main character was extremely unlikable in the sense of he’s just another man with nothing really going on, let’s give him this really awesome girlfriend in hopes of making him more interesting. Though in the last half we really got to see and understand more of him which made me root for him in the end. There is a twist too which if you’re paying attention throughout the book you’ll probably be able to tell what’s going on, but I still enjoyed the reveal.

4.5 ⭐️

What a standout debut novel for Wassmer! The story grips you legitimately from the first sentence and keeps your attention consistently. The range of characters made for an imperfect group to be experiencing an apocalyptic event together, which made it all the more better! This story had it all; sacrifice, plot twists, well timed humor, and even though the circumstances were undesirable the cast still took time to celebrate (what little they could) in times of crisis. There’s only one thing that kept this from being five stars to me.

Spoiler warning for one piece of the story:

Dan and Mara’s relationship. I loved their dynamic in the beginning, and then out of nowhere it seemed like Mara didn’t want to be with him anymore and Dan randomly mentions that he hates the sister she wants to get back home to. Which okay, those discoveries don’t blow my mind. But then it shifts to them getting thrown into being married and then all that tension gets dissolved and it’s never mentioned again. Perhaps it was just the nature of going through a beyond traumatic event together, but I’d say that made me question their relationship so it pulled me out of the story. However, they do reconcile pent up feelings on their wedding night in a tender moment so it does end up getting squared away.

Regardless, this was an absolute blast and will be recommending to all my friends, and I’ll be keeping tabs to see what this author pumps out next!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and MJ Wassmer for an advanced copy of this book!

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.

The narrator has great comedic timing. I’d definitely listen to other books read by Stephen R. Thorne.

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by M.J. Wassmer
Narrated by Stephen R. Thorne

I rarely read Apocalyptic or Dystopian genres but do enjoy Science Fiction, which sometimes does venture into Apocalyptic and/or Dystopian so I probably need therapy or something. Those genres are mentioned in this book's taglines, along with Humor, which sparked my curiosity. So I tried it and the story is silly and funny in a dooms day kind of way. It's the characters who make it funny and I couldn't help liking several of them, hoping they could somehow do the impossible, which is to live through the end of the world.

Twenty nine year old Dan Foster is on an island resort vacation with Mara, his girlfriend of two years. Despite knowing he was genius material by the time he was seven, or maybe because he was told this at a young age, Dan coasted through life so lazily that by the time he was in college and an adult he was pretty much capable of doing nothing but underachieving and feeling guilty about it. The narrator nails it with the narration, his demeanor makes the story even funnier for me and I could easily imagine seeing everything through Dan's eyes.

Now, the sun has just melted from the sky and the world is dark and humans have maybe two weeks before they freeze to death. Dan could and does find himself pondering how he wasted so much of his life and now it's about to be over and he's left with a life full of regrets and could of, should of recriminations. Not that any of that matters anyway now that there is no future for anyone.

The resort was already broken up onto social classes. There is building A, the wealthy elite, building B the middle class-ish types (Dan and Mara), and building C which is made up of poor people who got super big discounts to stay in what amounts to prison cell-like rooms. Once the sun goes "poof" the island becomes more like a dictator run concentration camp no escape horror story. Building A runs the show, hoards everything, including electricity, water, food, etc, along with meting out severe punishments against the underlings, all the way up to and including executions. No planes coming to save these folks, no outside communication, this is a no escape remote island horror show.

But it is funny. Dan is a real doofus in so many ways but he does try to do heroic things now and then, only to fall on his face, get up, browbeat himself, and do it all again. I really did like some of these characters even if the story felt a bit cartoonish at times. But that's why I could handle the story, so many goofballs that made me laugh even if I felt bad for laughing at times. Overall, I had a good time surviving this apocalypse although I'm not saying if anyone else survived it.

Thanks to RBmedia | Recorded Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

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

I'm gonna be honest here (as I always am when providing my feedbacks): by reading the synopsis of this book I had certain expectations and ideas of what this novel would turn out to be. And my expectations were never met and my ideas were pretty much all wrong.
I thought this book would be a post apocalyptic and dystopian story with some humour.
Well, in my opinion, the only 'apocalyptic' thing that happens is the fact that the sun exploded and the characters, now and then, here and there, mention some repercussions of it.
By the way, other than Dan, the protagonist, I pretty much didn't care for anyone else. And I'm not saying all the others are unlikable or despicable in any way. No. They simply didn't interest me. I never felt invested in them, and after the first 20% of the book I didn't feel engaged, either.
Honestly, this novel turned out to be way too 'funny' for my taste and not really dystopian and post apocalyptic in any way I could hoped for. By the time the twists started to come, I no longer cared for.
I believe this book will please other readers, especially those who enjoy a more comic, funny and satiric humour way of a dystopian story, but it ended up not appealing to me.
The audiobook narrator is decent enough and I'd recommend it to audiobook lovers.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for allowing me to listen to a free advanced audiobook copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

FIVE stars. DEFINITELY recommend!
Despite the sheer intensity of the premise, M. J. Wassmer’s debut didn’t fail to make me laugh. This book managed to put the worst parts of humanity on full display in a unique and incredibly imaginative setting.
I also love that we are witnessing all of this through the eyes of a guy called Dan. Dan is awesome. I loved his commentary, his humor, and his sarcasm. If the world is going to end do yourself a favor and seek the nearest Dan.
ZERO STARS, DO NOT RECOMMEND is an incredible debut by M. J. Wassmer’s that offers a witty commentary on class difference in an intense high-stakes narrative that still manages to laugh at the stupidity of humanity when faced with its imminent demise.

This was one of the most fun yet ridiculous books I’ve read in a while. Granted with the title like this, you knew it was going to be an interested read. Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend tells the tale of what happens when you go on vacation with your significant other to a remote island in the Bahamas and the sun explodes. Yes, the sun exploded or rather looked like a running egg or melting butter. Those are real descriptions from the book which make so much sense by the end. Bravo Wassmer for working fun details in from the very beginning. The cast of characters vary so much across the island but it made for a great read (except Lilyanna, IYKYK). Being trapped on an island with Lilyanna can be its own dystopian novel. Mara however is everything I love in a FMC while Dan is delightfully clueless while somehow leading the resistance. I felt the plot was fairly well paced considering the topics it addressed. There was also a nice blend of humor mixed in which this book really needed. This was the story that knows how to walk the fine line without going so far as to be cheesy. While I guessed the big reveal, I thought it was perfect for this story. Wassmer provided us with enough clues to figure it out but did it in such a way that it was still exciting to read about once you knew. I read this via audiobook, and it was an absolute delight. I can’t recommend Thorne’s narration enough. It added perfectly to the overall ridiculousness (in a good way) that is this book.

Ugh, I hate a middling review of an arc, but, since Netgalley trusts readers with advanced copies in exchange for honest opinions.....this was just an ok. Would I read it again? Probably not. It started out well, was different than expected, then just got weird.

Zero Stars feels like it doesn't fit into any one genre - perhaps intentionally? But, I think it may end up a middle of the road (or worse) read for some because of this confusion.

The publisher has called it Literary Fiction and uses the blurb: "White Lotus meets Kevin Wilson in this whip-smart social satire about a man who finds himself trapped on an island resort after the sun explodes, and suddenly must choose whether to save himself from the chaos, or help the fellow guests make it off the island alive."

Not gonna lie, I adored White Lotus and had high hopes this would be similar. In no way shape, form or fashion is this anything like White Lotus, so remove that from your expectations. Since the "sun explodes" I also had hopes this would be somewhat post-apocalyptic and survivalist, but it doesn't ever get there. My closest comparison would be Animal Farm meets The Righteous Gemstones.

And can I pause for a moment? The sun explodes. But, here they still are and they have daily schedules and evening entertainment? I'm married to a physicist and when I asked him what would happen if the sun exploded. Without hesitation he said "it would destroy all life on this planet including the amoebas."

I won't go into details of the plot except to say this brand new resort on a Bahamian island brings in all guests on the same day, for the same length vacation, planes drop and leave and even before nature explodes, it's confusing. The initial lol for me was when the main character was describing his accommodation selection (buildings A, B or C had different price points) and they didn't choose building A because "we aren't the Kardashians"). Much of the book is an inner dialogue from a 29 year old underemployed man who has a sense of humor some will enjoy. Some will not.

Glad I read it, won't re-read, unsure I would tell anyone in my circle to read it.