Journalist Loyal May returns to her small hometown of Jacknife, Louisiana to care for her ailing mother and work for the local paper. When one of her childhood friends is found dead in a swamp, Loyal questions the sheriff’s verdict of suicide and sets out to discover what happened to her friend. But small towns can hold big secrets, as Loyal soon finds out. Our Last Wild Days is a brooding, dark and suspenseful tale of a town given up for dead, and author Anna Bailey hits it out of the park with this sharply written and beautifully described story of a downtrodden family, friendships gone awry, and a quest for redemption, all set against a backdrop of alligator-infested swamps. The writing is absolutely mesmerizing, and you can almost feel the stifling heat and humidity and fear the lethal reptiles as the almost lyrical prose envelops the reader. Loved the characters and the gripping plot, and was sorry to see this one end, it was so good. Easily a five star read through and through. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I love Anna Bailey books. This one was not my favorite. It was very atmospheric and the writing was well done if a bit fluffy, A solid mystery with corruption and some heavy topics. All in all not a bad read.

This is a very good story, I think you would really enjoy it if you like southern life that's rough around the edges. Loyal May has recently moved back to the town she grew up in, her mother has a dementia type disease that has found her out in the yard digging tulips in the middle of the night, or wandering around not knowing where she is, Loyal is there to help her. Loyal found a job with the local paper, she worked for one in Houston where she had moved to when she left Jacknife. Jacknife is a very small community, everyone knows everyone else, no strangers there. Loyal had upset her best friend Cutter, when she wrote about Cutter's family in the local paper before she left, it was not a nice article, hinting that perhaps Cutter's family may be intimate with her (she lives with her 2 brothers and a father who had passed by the time Loyal returned). Cutter's bothers make their living by hunting alligators, not always legally, they sell the meat and the skin and can make a lotta money from it. One day Cutter is found dead in the swamp, and the police quickly rule it a suicide and close the case. Loyal is convinced that Cutter wouldn't do that and starts to look into on her own, and quickly catches the attention of the police, and not in a good way. A young girl also goes missing and that has the whole town out looking for her. The story is told at a good pace and you really get the sense of the environment, and how it's not a good idea to get too close to alligators. The story ends very nicely, all the loose ends come together. Overall I would recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Atria for the ARC.

One of the novel’s strongest aspects is its well-developed characters. FMC is not only intelligent and resourceful but also deeply human, making their struggles and triumphs all the more engaging. The antagonist is equally compelling, adding layers of psychological depth to the story.

What a wild ride!

This is the type of book I love getting sucked into. A mysterious death, in a town that you feel like you’re in while reading it, with a family in the centre of it all.

I would recommend this to readers.

An atmospheric book set in rural Louisiana! Loyal comes back to her hometown to care for her mother when her childhood friend (Cutter) turns up dead in the swamps. As a reporter and friend, she sets out to find the truth of what happened.

This was a slow burn for me and took a while to get into. You can definitely envision the setting and the dark troubled people of this town. The ending was unexpected for me but satisfying!

Our Last Wild Days swept me away to the swamps of Louisiana, where the setting and the people feel as alive as the bayou itself. The small-town atmosphere is rich and immersive, making it easy to get lost in its secrets.

Loyal, a journalist returning home to care for her mother, finds herself caught up in the murder of her childhood best friend. As she and her newspaper coworker Sasha start digging for the truth, they uncover more than they bargained for—twists, danger, and even an unexpected and surprising love story.

This book balances suspense with humor beautifully. The mystery kept me guessing, the friendships felt real, and the romance was raw and real.

This was such a great thriller. It was super atmospheric and you can truly feel like you're in the Louisiana bayou. The characters were deep and it kept me guessing until the very end.

If for no other reason, read this for the atmosphere alone! This story is set in the Louisiana Bayou, and it feels so real! The oppressive humidity and creepiness are around every corner! But back to the story itself, Cutter Labasque has been found dead in the swamp. Her family is the "trash" family of the neighborhood. Enter Loyal, Cutter's childhood best friend, who returns to help her mother and something about the death just doesn't sit right. We also have a betrayal from long ago that Loyal wants to make amends for. She is also working for the local paper. The tension is very real and by the end, nearly the entire town could be a suspect. I am starting to love this author, having read her previous book, Where the Truth Lies also. I didn't see the ending coming.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Anna Bailey and Atria Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Instagram and other retail and social media sites upon publication day of May 25, 2025.

I don’t think I have ever read a book that made me as homesick as this one did. That is how brilliant Bailey is in describing the swampy, claustrophobic, heartbeat of the swamp. You can feel the humidity as well as the danger!

The Labasques are wonderful characters, as is Loyal and her rag-tag bunch of fellow reporters. The Labasques siblings, two sons and a daughter, are outcasts in the town of Jacknife, Louisiana. Known as trouble and Loyal knows just how violent they can be.

Cutter Labasques and Loyal were friends. Until their gator took part of her hand. But when Loyal comes home and finds out Cutter is dead, she is determined to find out what happened and get justice for Cutter. Righting a wrong.

Brilliantly atmospheric! Absolutely loved it.

NetGalley/ Atria May 20, 2025

When Loyal returns to her small hometown to take care of her mom, she learns her childhood best friend has been murdered and sets out to find out what happened.

This is my second book by this author. I just read their first one and tore through it. I found the plot to be fast paced and gripping. This one fell flat for me. I wasn’t very interested in the storyline and it was very slow paced.

I did love the character of Sasha and enjoyed his storyline the most. The writing was also fantastic (just like their first book). I also appreciate all of the intricate threads between so many different characters. The author does a wonderful job of weaving complex stories with equally complex characters.

I love a small town secrets thriller and will definitely pick up their next book but I just couldn’t get into this one.

I had not read any work by Anna Bailey before, but after finishing “Our Last Wild Days”, I will definitely be seeking out anything Anna publishes in the future. This gothic fiction captivated my attention from the first page to the last. Set in the Deep South, I felt like a fly on the wall as the story unfolded. The storyline was expertly crafted, keeping me engaged while I tried to unravel the mystery—though, spoiler alert, I never figured it out! I love that! Although gothic novels aren’t usually my preferred genre, the synopsis intrigued me, and I’m so glad I stepped outside my typical reading habits. “Our Last Wild Days” is a five-star book that I won’t soon forget!

This is a captivating, immersive novel that takes place in the bayous of Louisiana. It centers around the Labasque family, who have always been troublemakers.

When Cutter Labasque shows up dead, nobody cares enough to solve the mystery of what happened to her, except Loyal, who betrayed Cutter in the past and wants to make amends, if only for herself.

This story encompasses many issues such as drug addiction, family bonds and dynamics, regrets and justice. It is beautifully written with an eye to detail when describing life in the swamps.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.

This was a slow burn of the best kind. You know all the major players by the end, and all their dirty layers and the clean, bright brief spots glimmer though. This is one of the best books I have read so far this year.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

this was so incredibly good. the writing was propulsive, gritty & punchy. i loved their attention to detail and the way that i felt like i was genuinely in the swamp. their characters were amazing and i was invested into everyone. the mystery and the storyline had me gripped from start to finish. so many twists that made me gasp. so many lines that made me laugh. i couldn’t recommend this more.

thank you atria books & netgalley for this arc!

This is a good thriller but I feel the story line in the beginning is too stressed out l. It takes way too long to get to the twist which could be boring for some. I know that right in the beginning a body is found but you keep wondering what happens and it’s not til halfway through that you truly get answers. This is definelty not my favorite thriller but it’s still an interesting storyline.

This was phenomenal I was genuinely confused throughout the entire book. It kept me guessing who was being honest and I loved it.

Wow. What a great read. Could not put it down. Thank you for letting me read this in advance. I stayed up way to late trying to get to the end.

In many ways, I have lived this. I have lived in rural Louisiana for most of my life, and I have seen the things poverty drives people to do. This book felt beautifully researched, and the way it was written was absolutely stunning. The lilting prose smack dab in the middle of some of the most dastardly written acts stopped me in my tracks multiple times, and was a highlight for me in reading this. The characters were 100% flawed and imperfect, sometimes brutal- but God, how I rooted for and treasured them. Truthfully, I didn't want this one to end. While the outcome was somewhat predictable, I can't name a single thing I would have done better. Justice is somewhat served and honored, and this was a perfect crime thriller. Thank you so much to the publisher for the chance to read and honestly review this eARC!

Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected reader's eproof ARC of 'Our Last Wild Days' by Anna Bailey - expected release date of 05/20/2025.

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was my 2nd book by Bailey. This one has a "Where the Crawdads Sing" meets "A Time to Kill" kinda feel to it... Bailey set the scene hard for the location, describing everything so well I felt like I was right there in the small, swampy town in Louisiana. My heart broke over and over for the characters, their pain and suffering, along with addiction, poverty, abuse, hate and violence. Her writing was so captivating that I was uncomfortable reading this, the empathy was so real it was almost unbearable. Every single character had depth and not one string left untied. This was one heck of a book, highly recommend.