Last Girls: A Favorite of 2021

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Last Girls by Demetra Brodsky
Genres: Mystery (YA), Thriller (YA)
Pages: 368
Goodreads

No one knows how the world will end.

On a secret compound in the Washington wilderness, Honey Juniper and her sisters are training to hunt, homestead, and protect their own.

Prepare for every situation.

But when danger strikes from within, putting her sisters at risk, training becomes real life, and only one thing is certain:

Nowhere is safe.

♥♥♥

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First of all, this is a “Molly Book” – as my husband and I would call it. If you don’t know, I am a sucker for end-of-the-world stories. I even am slowly “prepping” myself (in that I have emergency supplies, an emergency binder, and will be putting together bug-out bags). So when I saw that this book was about doomsday preppers, I was all in. And boy, it didn’t disappoint. 

This book will put you in a small town in Washington. Honey and her sisters live on a doomsday prepper compound just outside of the main town. Besides going to regular high school, they’re isolated and follow a long list of rules to avoid Outsiders (non-preppers). So while there’s no actual catastrophic event, the people on this compound believe there will be and want to be ready. It’s almost cult-like.

The story is told from Honey’s POV – her and her two sisters, Blue and Birdie, are the stars of the show. Honey is more of the brains of the three. She’s artistic but is level headed – she’s the planner (even if it doesn’t always work out). Birdie is more chaotic and reactive – her heart definitely motivates her. Then we have Blue, who must be protected at all costs! They each stand out on their own but where this book shines is their sisterly bond. This is very much about family. There’s an itty bitty romance, but this is a book about siblings and what sacrifices you’d make for them.

There is also a second POV from someone named Toby, but I won’t go into his character because you really need to to go into this not knowing. 

The plot itself is a wild ride. There’s conspiracy, mystery, and betrayal. Whenever I think I’d have it all figured out, I would be proven wrong. Even the part of the mystery that the reader should already put together early on kept the suspense going on how it would all come together. There are parts of this book that genuinely shocked me and other parts that made me cry. Yes, I cried. I don’t cry but the last few chapters of this book just really got to me. Like I said, it’s a wild ride. 

Overall, Last Girls is easily going to be in my top 10 reads of 2021. It has everything I love: great characters, intriguing mystery, and doomsday themes. You’ll love all three sisters – but you’ll even love the side characters (which I purposely didn’t go over because I don’t want to ruin anything). From the characters to the setting to the writing, everything about this book kept my hooked. I think you’ll love it, too! Besides, it has Greek characters and the author is first generation Greek, so I gotta support my fellow Greek gals 😆