The world is about to end. Again.
It’s been a year since a devastating storm ripped Liz’s world apart. Haunted by the memories of those she couldn’t save, Liz holes up in the only place she felt safe before her world fell away: the bookstore where she used to work. Now she spends her days trading books for supplies and collecting stories from the remaining survivors who pass by.
Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.
Enter Maeve, a spiky out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. When Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives and asking themselves one big question.
As the end of the world approaches, is there time for one final love story?
The Last Bookstore On Earth is an amazing read - I loved it just from reading the blurb, and actually reading it has only reinforced that feeling. Here are my 5 reasons you should read:
1. How often do you get to be in on the ground floor of a whole new genre? Following on from cosy fantasy and cosy sci fi, this is cosy apocalypse, and not in the snide way people talk about John Wyndham. Liz and Maeve have both suffered, but the focus of the book is on a small area and their concerns are mostly (but not solely!) everyday, smaller items.
2. But that doesn't mean this doesn't have the usual trappings of post apoc - there are marauders and people out for themselves. There's just far more of the other kind, the decent people who even now just want to help each other get by. It's a far gentler apocalypse than any I've read before.
3. The girls. Liz has a backstory straight out of The Rain by Virginia Bergin, and it's made her gentle and nice. Maeve has a much more typical post apoc backstory, and it's made her spiky and hard. Together they are far more than the sum of their parts.
4. Those amazing covers. Both US (top image above) and UK (lower image above) have knocked it out of the park; the US is moody but still has signs of brightness, and the UK has so many little details that make sense once you've read it. Whichever you get, it will look amazing.
5. The found family and sense of hope that threads through this story. I adore a good found family story and this one scratched that itch really well. I'd love to read more in this world, but if this is what we get, I'll be happy - it's a wonderful ending for our brilliant characters.
I hope this has piqued your interest and might lead you to check out the book! If you enjoy it, you might want to check out All that's left in the World by Eric Brown and its sequel, The Only Light Left Burning. If you enjoy the found family aspect of the apocalypse, keep an eye out for The Last of Us on TV!
Book Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214490415
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593899482/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-bookstore-on-earth-lily-braun-arnold/1145363634
IndieBound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-last-bookstore-on-earth-lily-braun-arnold/21541974
About the Author:
Lily is currently a junior at Smith College studying English. When she isn’t writing, she can be found working at her local independent bookstore or daydreaming about living in outer space. At Smith, she enjoys playing trombone in her school’s wind ensemble and hosting a late-night radio show. Her first novel THE LAST BOOKSTORE ON EARTH is being published by Delacorte in Spring 2025.
Author Links:
Website: https://lilybraunarnold.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lilywritesbooks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lily.braun.arnold/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49305963
The Last Bookstore on Earth publishes on the 7th of January in the US and on the 9th of January in the UK. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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