Very apt for the current pandemic situation. I enjoyed the growth of the main character and the self-resilience that she has. The situations she found herself in felt believable. Recommended.

My favourite read this year so far. I was a little dubious because I think we can expect a whole raft of fiction based on the experience of living with COVID-19 but this was somehow on another level. I didn’t want to put it down and was desperate to know how it would end. The ending, in fact, reminded me of the way The Handmaid’s Tale finished - there’s potential for more to come and I hope the author decides to tell that story.

This was a refreshing read, written from a woman's perspective in a strong pandemic where human race is wiped out. There's only one woman alive.
This book won't be for everyone. If you like the beginning, you'll like the rest. If not, it won't be for you. I think the charm of it is very much the woman character. I loved reading from her POV and enjoyed the book a lot.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

A bit heavier than I really needed in places especially in the current climate but really compelling read

This is grim reading. Post Covid a new virus is spreading globally and spreading fast, there's no recovery and death is imminent.

This book takes you through the experience of the last woman alive, her horror as she watches her loved ones die and the terror she goes through discovering that she truly is the last woman on earth. The whole book is written in a diary format with flash backs to life pre virus and the build up to it.

It took me a long time to get to a point of enjoying this book but it was it's high review rating that made me pick it up again. Second half of the book was definitely much, much better and I think it was because I started rooting for the main character and loved her perseverance.
There were a couple of things I didn't enjoy and the first one was, how obsessesed the author was about writing about excrement, it actually made me laugh out loud a few times, about how many references were made to it, I feel it actually bought the level of sophistication of the story down. And the second thing was the ending. So abrupt.
Lastly there was no mention of why she survived . Whilst it didn't reduce the story for me I feel it could have added to it.

I feel this book if targeted to the YA audience it will do really well. It would make a fantastic film
I'd definitely enjoy that especially the flash backs.
Overall I've given this a 3 star. I'd like to give it 3 and a half but that's not possible. I would definitely read another book by Bethany Clift and I would like to thank netgalley for this ebook copy.

This was a really surprising take on the pandemic novel, focused on one woman’s journey as the last survivor of the human race. I’d read comparisons to Bridget Jones - what would she do as the only survivor in a post-apocalyptic world? However, to me our narrator was more complex than that. There’s so much more going on psychologically. This is a woman used to a 21st Century world, where being watched by other people isn’t just granted taken for granted, but depends on us actively participating in it. This isn’t really interesting in terms of survival and what happens next, I found myself more interested in how the world as I live in it, leads to someone struggling to understand who they are now that no one is watching.

A devastating virus has swept round the world, so fast there’s no time for a cure and no one survives, except one woman, our unnamed narrator. She doesn’t react in a way, others might expect and the city is free from the usual post-apocalyptic tropes such as undead hordes, gangs of looters, or sudden dictators taking control. There’s quite simply nothing and no one and that’s what makes the book so eerie. Although, I was devastated by the animals left without owners, starving and desperate. There are just so many that she can’t help them all. She takes one golden retriever with her. At first she goes to pieces and tries to black out the reality of the situation. She takes whatever drink and drugs she can find, which is the denial part of her development. Really, she is suffering grief for the whole of the human race and the life she expected to have. She’s struggling to construct a new self that has to live in this new and hostile environment. She is used to an existence where you can order food from your sofa and company by swiping an app. Who are we when we are alone? When there is no Facebook or Twitter to plot your every move and photograph your every meal. The alcohol and drugs is someone hoping they’ll wake up and it will all have been a dream or just putting off taking responsibility for herself. She even considers taking the suicide pill created by the government. However, eventually she has to pull it together and form a plan, if she’s going to continue living in this world. So she takes the dog and a vehicle, travelling to Scotland to see if anyone is alive in the more remote areas of the U.K.

I found this character’s behaviour quite realistic. I’ve often wondered how I would respond to a situation like this and knowing I’d be without the people I love, I would stay alive for my pets and the once my drugs ran out (I have a health condition) I would probably take the government pill! Once we hear what her life was like before the virus. with a career that doesn’t really take off and controlling men in her life. The virus allows her to find out who she is and gain some strengths, I found this funny, but also eerie and moving.

This was an interesting read. I liked how it was told and some of the characters in this. The secondary characters were interesting to see in flashbacks. There were some sections that were a bit difficult to read but they were handled well enough.

Although I found parts of this book difficult to take (if you’ve suffered at all or been affected by the current pandemic, this might not be for you), I did still enjoy it. The main character, whose name we never learn, is fairly unlikeable at times, but you do root for her throughout. The flashbacks to her life before the 6DM virus really develop her character, and once Lucky was introduced and there was someone for her to interact with I got into it much more. I found this really original, and some of the details the author thought of were really in-depth and made the story so real.

The ending was somewhat abrupt and vague, I really would’ve liked to have known what happened to her in the future, but that’s just me, I’ve never been keen on open ended stories! I’d definitely still recommend this to people for a good absorbing read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

28 Days Later by way of Bridget Jones - like nothing you've ever read before, with a loveable but imperfect narrator and a great mix of humour, thrills, and genuine heart.

I've read a lot of apocalyptic fiction, but never when we've been in our own version. Knowing that this book was begun before the advent of Covid caused was strange and the author's decision to add Covid into the plot as the virus before "the Big One" was chilling and reassuring at the same time. But aside from the context of reading there wasn't much here to set Last One at the Party apart from the rest in the genre. The majority of time you are with the unnamed narrator and while her spiraling and self-destruction is realistic, it also felt like her life would have had a similar theme even without a deadly virus on the scene. I was left feeling that there was little in the book that I haven't read before when a character learns to survive in a totally transformed world. It was an enjoyable enough read but nothing groundbreaking.

What a brilliant book!

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book, given the subject matter but - it's a masterstroke - gripping and brilliant.

It switches between the present and the past, it really makes you wonder how you would cope in this situation.

A book I will remember for a long time and will recommend to everyone.

This is a classic case of don’t judge the book by the cover ! The cover makes it look like a romcom / chick lit silly read ( which I’m not a fan of !) but this it isn’t!
Dystopian novels never really interest me but one about a pandemic just had me intrigued . The base of the novel might feel too close to home for some but if you can distinguish between fact and fiction then what you will find is such a great read which will leave you thinking and questioning what you would have done .
Our protagonist finds herself the sole survivor of a deadly virus and we follow her journey of survival . It sounds a bit far fetched in theory but after the past 14 months it’s actually very relatable and with references to coronavirus ( which were added in.by the author) and only being set a couple of years in the future it really does get you thinking ...

It’s such an original novel with great writing and a dark witty humour to lighten the subject matter .
Fab debut and I can’t wait to read more in the future .

The first words of this book are “Fuck You” and honestly I knew from that moment I would like this book. The story is brilliantly devastating with a dark sense of humour, although I do have to point out the similarities to the Covid pandemic with a virus called 6DM (6 days maximum… left to live). The author does apologise for this as the book was written before but unfortunately the release date was set during lockdown.

I found the book to be a realistic portrayal of how many people who would act in the end of the world. Our main character is completely useless at survival, and seems to survive mainly by pure luck. But she’s endearing in a way and you want to root for her even when she’s being selfish or naive. Also let’s face it, I probably would be pretty similar if I was her position.

The story jumps from the present around how she’s surviving post-6DM to her life before it to show off her development over time. It also reads a bit like grief, as she starts off being in denial of how sad she was in her normal life and only focuses on the best bits such as her loving husband. As she grows throughout the story, learns how to survive, her stories of before start getting bleeker and more realistic. Despite her life being blown up around her, and being alone in the world it’s taken the pressures of the world and society off her so she can be more of herself than she’s ever been before.

The writing is brilliant. There’s very few books about a pandemic that I think I could have read during the pandemic, but this kept me so intrigued throughout.

Last One at the Party is a standalone book, however the story leaves everything very open ended. Despite missing the endorphins of having closure, it does encourage you to fill in the blanks based on your perceptions of the character. Something I loved was that you never know the name of the character, and you don’t even realise (or at least I didn’t) until quite far into the book. This seems purposeful because she doesn’t know herself really, and now no one will but it really shows off the quality of writing as you feel attached to a person whose name you don’t even know.

It’s a book I’ll be thinking about for a while because it felt different to many other dystopian stories I’ve read. The focus was character driven, but focused all about her including her life before this story. It shows we can grow on our own, and it shows that sometimes we grow better without outside intervention which I loved. I also enjoyed that whilst at times she probably did need saving, she ended up surviving by herself and the book didn’t need to end with someone finding and saving her.

Positives of Last One at the Party
Covers topics that really make you think
Dark sense of humour and wit
Negatives of Last One at the Party
So close to the current pandemic that it could be uncomfortable

I enjoyed this story so much I read it within 24 hours.
One woman, somehow, manages not to die when the whole of the world falls to a deadly disease that kills every single person it infects within 6 days. This is written as her journal.
So what would you do if you were absolutely alone in the world?
I loved that she was very flawed and bumbled her way through everything.
I wondered if I would like the ending and I did.

I cannot stop thinking about this book nor the unnamed main character.
After finding herself the last known survivor of a deadly disease we follow her as she tries to deal with her future, her life and her survival.
I have read alot of dystopian fiction and this is by far the most realistic. I found myself knowing that I would have done everything exactly as she did. I became so connected to her and supported and understood every decision she made.
I cannot fault this read - the writing the pacing, the character, the storyline was faultless.
It's only now reflecting upon the story that I realise this book is essentially following a lone survivor just trying to live..

There's an author's note at the start of this book, explaining that she wrote her story before the 2020 pandemic hit and she didn't want to profit from it. So to then see COVID inserted into the narrative was really something. I understand it was done for effect, to make her fictional pandemic seem more real by referring to "the previous one". But it still left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since the protagonist is incredibly dismissive of Covid, since the disease they're dealing with kills every infected person within 6 days. It felt very "pfft, Covid-shmovid, I'll show you what a real pandemic looks like".

The story is told in diary form. The unnamed female protagonist chronicles the start of the pandemic (in a small town in Kansas), the reaction across the world, and the reaction in Britain. Everyone gets sick, experiences gruesome symptoms and excruciating pain, and then they die. No exception. Well, not exactly. Because while her husband is dying, she starts to realise that she isn't sick. Soon, everyone is dead except for her. So naturally she does what we would all do: she goes on a massive drug-and-booze binge. Which is where this story lost me. No introspection, no real grappling with the fact that she's the last human in existence. Just drugs and booze.

Although, to be honest, it nearly lost me earlier, with the amount of body horror that is described in excessive detail. At times it was obvious the author tried to inject humour into the story, trying to turn it into an apocalyptic comedy of sorts. But the disgust was too great to overcome.

Unfortunately, the main character was also an element that needed to be overcome. Holy unlikeable character, Batman! I have no issue with "hot mess" characters, I have no issue with prickly characters. But this character, again and again, acted like she was trying her best to alienate the reader. And that image isn't helped by the flashbacks we get from the before-times, nor by the fact that she never seemed to learn from her mistakes.

Maybe this book would've landed differently if Covid19 had been "over". Or if it had been set a bit further in the future, instead of 2023/2024. Because it, combined with news articles warning that the next pandemic is right around the corner thanks to climate change, makes for some incredibly depressing reading.

This on one of those rare treats that you can see as a film, even from the first few pages. I loved the adventure of our flawed but loveable heroine and was entertained by the situations she found herself in and the characters she met.

The book is billed as the survival story of an ordinary woman who seems to be the last human left alive after a horrific apocalypse. Except she's not ordinary, she's a complete selfish, clueless and ignorant mess with absolutely no survival skills, a history of mental illness and is used to being looked after by other people her whole life.

Sorry if that sounds negative because there's plenty to like about this book. She (we never discover her name) probably represents us all in some ways - perhaps we would also stare at the empty newscaster's chair on the TV, desperately hoping for someone in authority to appear when we should have made our way to the studio to actively seek others. She made stupid impulsive decisions and didn't act on common sense or even take basic safety precautions, such as not driving up the M1 in a Porsche at top speed.

The book certainly provoked a reaction in me - I was at times annoyed, angry, frustrated and chuckling with laughter. It's written in journal style, and much of the book is devoted to self-aware flashbacks, in which we learn how she became the not-so-nice middle class woman with few friends and many hang-ups. As the story progresses, we see her gradually become less weak, more able to cope and become self-reliant of necessity. I even ended up liking her, a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-copy of this book.

There were so many things about Last One at the Party that I loved. Firstly, I loved all the references to Coronavirus. I presume, knowing how long things take in publishing, that this book was written before the pandemic, but that Bethany Clift went and added in little details to link to lockdown, social distancing, wearing masks, etc. And I really think it added to the story. Set in 2023-2024, this is not too far in the future, and so all of the shit that went on in 2020 and that is still going on now would be so fresh in everyone’s minds, especially if another pandemic came along. The fact that Coronavirus was so recent meant that the decisions characters made were believable and rooted in real life experience, bringing the book to life.

Our main character remains nameless throughout the whole book, because there is no one else to speak her name. Does she need a name anymore if there is no one to call her by it? This was just one instance of showing how lonely and deserted she was. Sometimes the book dragged a little, and sometimes it was a little repetetive, or list-like. It’s very hard to write a book with a sole character for the majority of it. Think of The Martian, which I think was incredibly well done with only one man for so long, and Piranesi, which features one character with only glimpses of another. It’s very hard to do this, and at times it feels like we were struggling here slightly. But looking back, it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the book, and if anything, it added to the monotonous and isolated world this character was now living in.

And I have to say, I found her reaction very relatable. If I thought I was the only one left alive, I too would probably just get shit faced for a good few weeks, rescue all the animals I could, eat my heart out and break into all of my favourite shops.

I also loved that for what seems like once in a blue moon, we got to see the UK after the end of the world, and that this wasn’t a US centric apocalyse.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read, though I would see why many wouldn’t want to pick it up during a pandemic! Nonetheless, it was so interesting to see this take on a pandemic so closely following the one we’re in, and if you’re up for reading pandemic fiction right now, I highly recommend! It was a really interesting portrayal at the fallout from the end of the world and the more human side that we don’t tend to see in those type of books.

I was really looking forward to reading this one but after the events of the pandemic and my mental headspace right now I think I'm going to have to try and pick this one up another time!

This just hits too close to home for me at the moment! I've heard amazing things about this one so please go pick it up!