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“A thoroughly original, intimate, and sometimes harrowing meditation on survival, forgiveness, and learning how to love again at the almost end of the world.”—Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author
The world is about to end. Again.
Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.
Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.
Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.
As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.
“A hauntingly beautiful story of love, loss, and the raw fight for survival.” —Jarrod Shusterman, New York Times bestselling author of Dry
“Hopeful, thrilling, and twisty…the snarky sapphic dystopian of our dreams.” —Jennifer Dugan, author of Some Girls Do
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 7, 2025 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9798217017829
- File size: 251215 KB
- Duration: 08:43:20
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from October 7, 2024
Braun-Arnold’s poignant sapphic debut dystopia turns a suburban New Jersey bookstore into a haven for survival and romance in a world of “death, and rot, and memories.” After acid rain ravages civilization and kills her parents and twin sister, 17-year-old Liz Flannery shelters in the only place that feels safe: the bookstore where she used to work, and where she now trades books with fellow survivors for necessities. After a year in hiding, Liz’s solitude is disrupted by mysterious, street-smart Maeve, whose past hints at violence and trauma. Despite misgivings, Liz allows Maeve to stay, realizing she needs Maeve’s know-how to fortify the dilapidated bookstore before the next disastrous storm. As they work together, animosity warms to affection and romance—until Maeve’s enemies find them, unleashing deadlier chaos than
the pending tempest. Liz narrates with tongue-in-cheek sass, interspersing her story—a vivid homage to books, music, and their power to unify and comfort—with memories of prestorm life and excerpts from the logbook in which she records survivors’ tales. Endearingly
awkward romance pushes toward a hopeful resolution that heartens this desolate vision of a postapocalyptic future. Protagonists cue as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Lily Dolin, United Talent. -
Narrator Bailey Carr introduces listeners to Liz, a 17-year-old who is taking sanctuary in the bookstore she worked in before a cataclysmic storm left her one of the few survivors in New Jersey. When she catches a girl named Maeve breaking into the store to find shelter from another impending storm, Liz needs to balance the difficulties of having a relationship with the benefits of having someone with survival skills. While Carr's pleasant, well-modulated narration can make it difficult to distinguish between the two characters, her use of pace and volume captures their distress, along with the horrors they face in the story's postapocalyptic world. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine
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