Making Friends by Erin Ampersand

Meghan can't afford to take a break.

She's gotten food and shelter for her family. Her oldest is turning into a wizard, her middle boy is some kind of self-healing monkey, and her youngest is accumulating a small army of pets. That's a bit much to roll with, but when monsters are appearing on the lawn, it's probably for the best.

What worries her is the mysterious―and dangerous―“Challenge” she knows is fast approaching, and she's got to get her kids and community ready to face it. Some neighbors are ready and willing to pitch in, but others? They might end up being a bigger problem than the alien monsters.

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Making Friends — Erin Ampersand

PRE-READING

After my first venture into LitRPG with Time to Play, I'm back for the next instalment of the Apocalypse Parenting series. The first book introduced us to a world suddenly transformed into an intergalactic game, with monsters, supernatural abilities and a mother trying to keep her three children alive through it all.

Now Meghan has to do more than protect her own family. She's trying to build a community, prepare for the mysterious Challenge and work out how to survive in a world where the usual rules no longer apply. I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop!

POST-READING

One of the things I particularly enjoyed about Making Friends is that it expands the scope of the story. With powered machinery no longer working, people are stranded wherever they happened to be when everything changed, and food is becoming an increasingly pressing concern. The apocalypse isn't just about fighting monsters; it's also about the very ordinary, very practical business of keeping people fed and sheltered.

There are some interesting questions here about what happens to people who depend on technology or ongoing medical treatment. The story doesn't explore what this new world would mean for someone with a chronic illness such as diabetes, for example, and I'd be fascinated to see how the alien healing abilities might interact with that. Alas, I appear to be doomed to curiosity for now!

Meanwhile, the community Meghan imagined in the first book is beginning to take shape. It's not all harmonious neighbourly cooperation, naturally, but people are starting to come together, and the difficulties are as interesting as the successes. When the world is falling apart, your neighbours can be an invaluable resource. They can also be a problem of entirely different proportions.

The approaching Challenge is handled particularly well through the use of shifting points of view. Until now, Meghan has been our main window into events, so getting glimpses of the world through other characters is a welcome change. So far, that includes her sons, and even that small shift helps the world feel larger than one family's experience.

And I have to give special mention to something that made me disproportionately happy: this book has a RECAP. A RECAP! Authors, please take note. When there's been a gap between instalments, a little reminder of who's who and what's happened is a kindness to readers who may have read a couple of hundred other books in the meantime. I love seeing it.

Overall, Making Friends builds on the foundations of the first book, broadening the focus from family survival to the challenges of building a community in a world that's been turned upside down. I'm enjoying seeing the series grow, and I'm interested to find out what happens when the Challenge finally arrives.

RECOMMENDATIONS

TV: The Tribe - a series about young people trying to find resources and establish communities in a world with no adults. It gets increasingly weird as it goes on, but it's a lot of fun.

Book: Gone by Michael Grant — for readers who enjoy watching a community struggle to establish new rules and relationships when the familiar structures of society suddenly disappear. Also, superpowers.

MUSIC PAIRING

“Lean on Me” — Bill Withers. Because when the machinery stops, the food starts running low and monsters are turning up outside, knowing which neighbours you can rely on becomes rather important.

VIBE CHECK

• Colour palette: Earthy greens, harvest gold, deep soil brown and the warning red of an approaching threat.

• Soundtrack: Neighbours talking across fences, children playing, the scrape of tools and the distant sounds of something that definitely shouldn't be in the garden.

• Season: Late summer tipping into autumn, when the harvest matters and winter is beginning to look like a very real problem.

• Mood: Resourceful, communal, watchful.

• Scent: Woodsmoke, cooking food, damp earth and freshly turned soil.

• Texture: Rough timber, warm bread, sturdy blankets and the reassuring weight of a hand on your shoulder.

TAROT CARD PULLED — QUEEN OF PENTACLES

The Queen of Pentacles is the practical caretaker: someone who creates security, makes resources stretch and understands that looking after people means more than simply wanting them to be safe. It means food, shelter, planning and making a place where people can survive together.

Meghan is showing definite Queen of Pentacles tendencies. She's building a home for her family while helping a wider community take shape, all in circumstances where even the most basic necessities can no longer be taken for granted. The Queen reminds us that care is not just a feeling; it's something we do, day after day, with whatever we've got.

Making Friends publishes on 10 November 2026. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.