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A review by ladytiara
Last Girls by Demetra Brodsky
4.0
Last Girls is sort of bonkers, but in the best possible way. From the description, I expected it to be a story of a girl living in a prepper community who starts to question the group's lifestyle, but it ended up being so much more. I don't want to say much about the plot, because it goes to a lot of unexpected places, and that's big part of the fun.
Honey Juniper is the eldest of three sisters. Their single mother is obsessed with the end of the world, and she has raised the girls to be ready for anything. The family were just solo preppers until they joined a larger group who has their own compound. All the women live in one compound, the Nest, and the men live in another, the Burrow. It's a hardcore prepper group, and the kids in the group are highly trained and ready for anything. When we first meet Honey at her high school, there's an event that sounds like shots fired. While everyone else in her class in terrified and sheltering in place, Honey grabs her everyday carry bag (her school backpack, which is filled with all kinds of survival gear), pushes herself through a ceiling panel into an air vent, and goes to meet up with her sisters in their designated meeting spot. Sounds extreme, but this is just standard operating procedure for the Juniper sisters.
Honey is such a distinctive character, full of contradictions. She's a complete badass, but she's also got the soul of a sensitive artist. (She loves painting, but her mother doesn't approve of developing any skills that won't be useful after the apocalypse.) She's suspicious and closed off to outsiders, but she finds herself opening up to a classmate. She's a dedicated prepper, but she also questions the policies of the group.
This book is a really interesting look at the prepper lifestyle, and I learned a lot (mostly that if the apocalypse comes, I'm totally unprepared). It's a fascinating insight into this subculture, and it's a great setting for the book. This is an action-packed book, with a fast-moving plot. I found it hard to put down.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
Honey Juniper is the eldest of three sisters. Their single mother is obsessed with the end of the world, and she has raised the girls to be ready for anything. The family were just solo preppers until they joined a larger group who has their own compound. All the women live in one compound, the Nest, and the men live in another, the Burrow. It's a hardcore prepper group, and the kids in the group are highly trained and ready for anything. When we first meet Honey at her high school, there's an event that sounds like shots fired. While everyone else in her class in terrified and sheltering in place, Honey grabs her everyday carry bag (her school backpack, which is filled with all kinds of survival gear), pushes herself through a ceiling panel into an air vent, and goes to meet up with her sisters in their designated meeting spot. Sounds extreme, but this is just standard operating procedure for the Juniper sisters.
Honey is such a distinctive character, full of contradictions. She's a complete badass, but she's also got the soul of a sensitive artist. (She loves painting, but her mother doesn't approve of developing any skills that won't be useful after the apocalypse.) She's suspicious and closed off to outsiders, but she finds herself opening up to a classmate. She's a dedicated prepper, but she also questions the policies of the group.
This book is a really interesting look at the prepper lifestyle, and I learned a lot (mostly that if the apocalypse comes, I'm totally unprepared). It's a fascinating insight into this subculture, and it's a great setting for the book. This is an action-packed book, with a fast-moving plot. I found it hard to put down.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.