Last Chance Live! by Helena Haywoode Henry

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✦ BLURB ✦

Last Chance Live! is the most popular reality show in America-and eighteen-year-old death row inmate Eternity Price's last chance to live. Getting cast on the show could win her clemency preventing her execution... if she can convince the viewing audience she deserves a second chance. The catch? If America doesn't vote for her, she loses the chance to appeal her sentence, and she'll be executed within a week of being eliminated from the show. And since Eternity's been unpopular her whole life, she's terrified America won't pick her. But any chance of getting out of prison and back to her little brother Sincere, no matter how slim, is better than rotting away in her cell.

Eternity never expected to find her first real friends in a reality TV house full of people battling for survival after being convicted of capital crimes, but that's exactly what happens. So when she gets the opportunity to sabotage them and secure her own victory, she has a choice to make: protect the friendships and acceptance she's always longed for at the cost of her own life, or sacrifice her newfound community. Eternity must ultimately decide what forgiveness, family, and freedom mean to her, and how far she'll go to win a game where the stakes are literally life or death.

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A reality TV show with life-or-death stakes forces teens to confront survival, morality, and the meaning of forgiveness.

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PRE-READING THOUGHTS

I was wary going in — the premise is heavy: death row teens competing for freedom with execution as the consequence of failure. But it also promised a deep dive into character, choice, and humanity under pressure.

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POST-READING

As I thought…
Eternity’s perspective is raw, gripping, and heartbreaking. The tension is unrelenting; the stakes make every choice feel like a moral tightrope. The story humanizes each contestant while exploring the brutal reality of a system that devalues life.

It surprised me by…
How deeply it balanced suspense with emotional nuance. The friendships that emerge in the house, the decisions about sabotage versus loyalty, and Eternity’s inner reflections on family, forgiveness, and survival add layers to what could have been purely dystopian gore.

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🎵 MUSIC PAIRING

• 🎵 Featured Song: “Bury a Friend” – Billie Eilish (tense, eerie, survival-driven)

• 🎶 Vibe Album: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish

• 🎧 Artist Recommendation: Halsey — emotionally charged, high-stakes storytelling in song

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🌈 VIBE CHECK

• Colour Palette: Charcoal, crimson, harsh fluorescent lighting

• Soundtrack: Ticking clocks, murmurs of contestants, camera clicks, echoing halls

• Season: Any — claustrophobic, indoors, constantly on edge

• Mood: Tense, moralistic, emotionally intense

• Scent: Sterile rooms, sweat, fear

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🃏 TAROT PULL

Justice (Tarot of the Divine) — The stakes are literally life and death, and Eternity’s path revolves around fairness, morality, and the consequences of her choices. Justice reflects the central tension: can fairness, mercy, and moral decision-making exist in a system designed to eliminate humanity? This card also echoes Eternity’s internal reckoning with what she owes to herself, her friends, and her family.

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FOR FANS OF

• Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — dystopian survival and moral choice

• TV/Movie: Squid Game — high-stakes competition with life-or-death consequences and a focus on human morality

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LAST CHANCE LIVE! publishes on the 7th October, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.