DNF (technically):

Okay, I get the satire. It’s humorous and an accurate take. BUT it relies so heavily on the one single stereotype, hypocritical rich Jesus-freak, to ground the story and it became boring and then annoying. One idea like that cannot carry an entire story. I needed more personalities and layers. More stereotypes if that’s the way you’re going to go. It was just way too heavy handed through the first half and I couldn’t listen to the audio (which only emphasized the things I didn’t like) anymore, regardless of how spot on it is.

I also had the ebook so I did switch from the audio and start skimming the story. I do see where it goes, how it does grow bigger than the first half suggests. It’s a psychological and physical adventure. For me, it came too late and I just wasn’t interested. But for those that are hooked by the story, it is a an explosive ending, so I get it and highly recommend it if the premise appeals.

I also feel like when I accepted the advance copy (many months ago) that it was marketed as more of a summer rom-com adjacent style story. It’s definitely not. It’s a quirky present day dystopian survivalist story. Which is fine. I don’t know where my misconception originated. Just a note.

Just wasn’t entirely the book for me.

It's the end of the world and I feel fine about Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend. We follow Danny Foster and his girlfriend Mara as they go for a two week long getaway on a newly-developed resort on a small island in the Bahamas. But, things quickly unravel when the sun appears to explode, encasing the entire island in darkness, cutting the resort off from communications, and leaving everyone to fend for themselves as the island begins to get colder and colder.

There is plenty to like about the book, the quips on masculinity and how men are supposed to act were good commentary throughout the novel and I liked seeing Danny come into himself as the book progressed. Even small things like having Mara worry about not having travel insurance when the sun explodes felt very real. Having the initial villain be an MLM owning, God-Fearing exercise queen was delicious. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that everything came off the rails too quickly and spiraled faster than made sense as I was reading. The situations the characters find themselves in within 24 hours of the sun dying were absurd, and only increased in tragedy as the book continues. The rapid descent into fascism had the bells in my head ringing about the the Stanford Prison Experiment, and turns out I was not so far off in the end.

I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator, Stephen R. Thorne, did such a wonderful job that I will absolutely be seeking out other books that he reads. Even if ZSDNR was disappointing, I was delighted to find a narrator who really brought the story to life and made every character feel real with their unique voice.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced copy.

This book is a book I will think about next time I'm on vacation - especially if I'm traveling without my kids. It left such an impression on me.

Some of the characters made me cringe (in the intended way) and the main character made me laugh out loud.

I fully enjoyed this story, the twist and turns and the cast of characters.

Five Stars, would recommend

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Underachiever Dan Foster is at a resort in the Caribbean Islands when the sky goes dark. The vacationers turn all Lord of the Flies with the wealthy guests in the nicest tower (building A) taking control of all the food and services. Dan unwittingly becomes the leader of the B&C buildings.

More of a story about caste systems and power dynamics as Dan works to save as many people as he can. Lilyanna made me want to scream but the book was written with a lot of humor.

Excellent narration by Stephen R. Thorne. He really brought the characters to life.

I absolutely loved this book, the concept was so fun and ridiculous and the twist caught me completely off guard.

It definitely has some pretty heavy parts to the story but on the whole the narrator and side characters keep it silly enough to be solidly a cozy thriller.

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook! I hope for more post apocalyptic sci fi cozy thriller books in the future

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia and MJ Wassmer for the advance copy of this audiobook, I LOVED it!

The narration was PERFECT. Absolutely perfect. They did such a good job of conveying the humor of the situation through their inflection, and I would listen to them talk for hours. I mean - I did listen to them talk for hours but I'd do it again, and again, and again, and again. Excellent work, Stephen R. Thorne.

Now, let's get down to brass tacks.

I actually loved this book. I was really intrigued by the premise of going to an all-inclusive fancy resort, a perfect vacation, and having a life-altering or even life-ending event take place. But I wasn't sure where it would go from there. As I was reading I found myself changing from team "Can't Stand Dan" to team "Go Dan Go!" This was such a unique way to introduced the types of revelations he experiences. It's hard to review it without giving too much away, but I really loved Wassmer's ability to write so many different personalities so perfectly. He really nailed them.

4/5 stars from me!

I received an advance listening copy of this book, narrated by Stephen R. Thorne and was thrilled with both the story and narration. Stephen did a great job of distinguishing all the characters, both male and female and with accents. The story was a fantastic read, I have never read a story along these lines and I was mostly confused in the beginning but so entertained it didn't matter, by the end of the book however, it all made sense and I very much enjoyed the book. I will definitely be picking up more by MJ Wassmer and adding Stephen Thorne to my favorite narrator's list.

4.5 / 5

Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for the opportunity to listen to this for review.

This was a such an entertaining, captivating dystopian story. This book has suspense, heartfelt moments, and even some really funny one liners and sarcastic comments that will have a you laughing. Such an intriguing concept of a novel. I do highly recommend reading or listening to this one!

The audiobook was so well done. It was narrated by Stephen R. Thorne. There are several characters and he voiced them so well it was easy to follow. The sarcasm was on point!

This was an absolute shining star and blew my world up (yes, all puns are intentional)! The debut book “Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend” by MJ Wassmer was easily a riveting five star read for me. I can’t wait to see what he writes next!

Needing a much overdue break, Dan and Mara book a two week vacation on a remote island in the Bahamas. All is seemingly going well in Building B at their resort where they enjoy views of the courtyard and pools (they decidedly couldn’t afford Building A since they’re not the Uber wealthy; and B was better than Building C which appeared to have subpar conditions).

Enjoying the warm temps and sun, adult beverages, people watching, and time spent together, Dan and Mara aren’t sure what to think when the unthinkable happens: the sun explodes and throws everyone into darkness.

Their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare when they’re told all communication is down meaning there is no way to call for help to get off the island. And when a wealthy southern woman from Building A, a fitness and wellness influencer with a huge following, takes control of the food and security guards things go from bad to worse.

Alliances are made, lines are drawn, people are killed and all of that is on top of the SUN EXPLODING!
Will Dan and Mara form an alliance of their own? Will the situation bring them closer together or tear them apart? And how on Earth do they try to get back home to their family?

I was instantly hooked from the first sentence of the book to the very last. This was thrilling, engaging, and fast paced. It made me seriously question what I’d do in their situation. This five star read is one you don’t want to miss! Again, I can’t wait to see what the author writes next!

☀️ZERO STARS DO NOT RECOMMEND🏝️
𝒽𝓊𝓂ℴ𝓇ℴ𝓊𝓈 𝒻𝒾𝒸𝓉𝒾ℴ𝓃
🗓️𝙿𝚞𝚋: 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟼, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢!
𝕄𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝟜 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤! ★★★★

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝…”whip smart social satire about a man who finds himself trapped on a island resort after the sun literally explodes..”

😎𝙼𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜..Who knew the end of the world could be so hilarious but this book had me cackling! The audio was so well done. It is def dark humor, but that’s my fav humor! This one surely is gonna get some fun buzz surrounding it bc the premise is beyond unique! The third person POV was the only “tough” part for me but def helps if read this one in audio..so many twists & turns..it was very fun! This one comes out today! 😎🏝️☀️

𝖹𝖾𝗋𝗈 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗌, 𝖣𝗈 𝖭𝗈𝗍 𝖱𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝖽 • 𝖱𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐

𝖬.𝖩. 𝖶𝖺𝗌𝗌𝗆𝖾𝗋

𝖱𝖾𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗍𝖾: 𝖠𝗎𝗀𝗎𝗌𝗍 6, 2024

★★★.5

I saw this cover and immediately wanted to read it. I will say the beginning of the book does just as good of grabbing your attention as the cover does! The story follows a man who finds himself trapped on an island resort after the sun explodes and he’s conflicted in saving himself & girlfriend or fighting for all the other island resort guests. I definitely wouldn’t want to spend my summer vacation that way but definitely would love to read about it happening to other people!

As intrigued as I was for how this would all play out, I found myself unable to connect with or even really like any of the characters (and there are quite a few to choose from). I look forward to seeing what else this author puts out as the storyline it’s self was very entertaining with the craziness and humor!

Thank you NetGalley & RBMedia for this advanced audiobook✨

This was a fun read with all the twists and turns. I love the narration and I feel the narration moved the story along with ease. I will be recommending this one!

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend is MJ Wassmer's debut novel and I was curious to read it by the title alone. This book is Survivor meets Under the Dome (the novel/tv series) meets White Lotus.

Dan Foster and his girlfriend Mara are on vacation at a resort on a remote island in the Bahamas when the sun explodes. Lilyanna Collins, a pyramid scheme business owner/fitness guru takes control of everyone at the resort. She rations the food, water and electricity, so the guests rebel and a war breaks out between the guests. The resort has been divided up by "class" with the rich in building A, middle class in building B and and commoners in building C. People are murdered and Dan and Mara needs to decide if they are up to standing up against Lilyanna. I did not guess where this story was headed, or what twists would leave me guessing! I liked some of the characters, while hated others and found the plot to be like no other I've read before. I recommend this novel to those who like action and romance with a little bit of suspense.

MMC and girlfriend are on an all inclusive resort trip on an island, and the sun blows up. Or does it? Tides are still tiding, stars are still starring, it’s just pitch black, cold, and all communications are down. As humans do, the super wealthy folks in building A take charge and take all of the food in all three buildings, handing out mandatory work assignments and ration cards based on the quality of their work. And the security guards definitely develop their God complex. There are other things on the island, it was once used for a large science compound, and the observatory is still active with one man checking out the space situation. Lots of disaster and shenanigans and rebellion happen, and the MMC is just kind of along for the ride. He shows a little bit of growth thru the book, but still heavily relies on his partner to actually make effective decisions and help out the folks in Buildings B and C. If he was a more likable character, I could definitely see this being a higher-rated book for me, but I did enjoy it and some of the ridiculousness of the side characters a lot!

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend is such a witty, sarcastic and fun-filled adventure to the end of the world. I loved that even amidst doom and panic, humor can still be found. One thing I loved about this book were the twists and turns in the plot. Something would happen and I would be utterly shocked, not thinking the story would turn down that path.

Dans character development was a fun journey because it happened so quickly since he was thrust into a decision making position. All in all, five stars, do recommend!

The narrator really helped capture the wittiness of Dan and Mara’s personalities through his tone and perfect timing on his sarcasm.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book started out strong. I am really into the end of the world, apocalyptic scenario so this had me hooked at the beginning. As the end of the world comes about and the people continue on, this started to drag. I still liked the humor and the way the relationships developed and were realistically portrayed by different couples, but I was kind of force reading during this stage. As the end approached, the speed picked up, but by then I had too much time to predict the ending. Overall, it was a quick summer read. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook!

A fun romp of satire, comedy, meets Shaun of the dead meets the last man on earth. It was fun, cute, thought provoking and had realistic characters.

I have so many mixed emotions about this one, I really wanted to like it and I think it could have been really good. This story follows Dan, a rather dickish character who does have some laugh out loud moments, but his main raison d’etre is being a man. He has to save his girlfriend because he’s a man and that’s what men do. He can’t cry, because that’s not what men do. “What men do” was mentioned about a thousand times. The side characters were also all rather flat, they felt like caricatures and bad stereotypes. You have the gay couple, the pastor & his MLM influencer wife from Nashville, the New Jersey deli owner, and then of course the characters of color are overly violent. I think spending more time with these characters in the beginning of the story, before the sun exploded and flushing them out into more than their surface level would have helped the story immensely, instead they fell flat and I really didn’t care when any of them died. Because shockingly this book was pretty violent, not really when the sun exploded more so when gangs took over the resort and there was copious amounts of gun violence and decapitated bodies. My last comment will be on the casual racism and homophobia. I think that the author thought this would be okay because it was always a “bad” character that was saying it or it was laughed off as part of a joke. But you can be funny without it and it really added nothing to the story or to the characters. Casually joking about black face and Rodney King is just not funny and it never will be. Making the pastor Islamophobic adds nothing when we already hate him. Having the body guard throw out a homophobic slur once at the end of the story so you can jokingly say come on man it’s 2024 doesn’t add anything, we already hate him.

I guess I had more grievances than I thought, for the good. I did think the story was original, it did make me laugh out loud multiple times, Mara was a great character, and the narration for the audio book was fantastic. It just needed to be a bit more upfront with what you are in for at the beginning and to really question itself on why something is being added and what does it add to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley & RBMedia for the audio arc of this novel.

Dan Foster is enjoying a break from his mediocre life with his girlfriend, Mara, in the Bahamas when the sun explodes. Things go from bad to worse when a wellness influencer/pyramid schemer named Lilyanna rises to power along with the elite guests at the resort and commandeer the supplies. As the temperatures drop, revolution begins to brew among the classes and Dan somehow finds himself as the unlikely hero among the surviving vacationers.

This apocalyptic satire from MJ Wassmer about the end of the world hits close to home for those of us still reeling from the early toilet paper hoarding days of the pandemic. It toes the line between the absurd and terrifyingly plausible as a good satire should. I highly recommend this on audio as the narration for Lilyanna was especially hysterical with the perfect amount of southern twang and girl boss tone you’d expect from an MLM tyrant.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me this arc to review.

“It’s like, society thinks there’s something broken about a person who’s just living. Like there’s no inherent worth to people unless they’ve accomplished something.”

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend was hilarious. It’s like if you put the Stanford Prison Study on an island, with a Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy type of humor - which is to say, right up my alley. Come on, with quotes like “Apocalyptic dictatorship,” “Teamwork makes the regime work,” “They showed my butt — (“Did they at least pixelate it?”) Yeah, but they only needed like, two pixels,” it’s hard to not bust a gut.

I laughed out loud a lot. A super funny Lord of the Flies. Humans can be cute and funny sometimes, but human nature is violent. And we definitely see that unfurl throughout the story. I especially liked the emphasis on the class war - because same. There were also nuggets of wisdom laced throughout about mankind that I found endearing, and those little nuggets and the humor really made me fall in love with this book.

But speaking of violence, there are two or three references to someone being violent like a pit bull (I’m paraphrasing because I can’t remember the exact quotes), but in 2024, can we all agree that pit bulls are not a good standard for describing violence? They are the greatest, most loyal dogs, whose intelligence and loyalty are used against them.

Overall, I loved this - save for the pittie slander - and I highly recommend it if you want a lot of good belly laughs.