Last Girls

By: Demetra Brodsky

Narrated by: Dan Bittner, Khristine Hvam

Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Demetra Brodsky's Last Girls is a twisting, suspenseful YA thriller about sisterhood, survival, and family secrets set in the world of doomsday prepping

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Teen

©2020 Demetra Brodsky (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

The gritty strength of the girls is inspiring.

This was a barn burner I found hard to put down. I only wish we could read more of the girls stories going forward.

Preppers and more

I saw this audiobook mentioned on Twitter before its release. The premise sounded interesting, and I was already a fan of Khristine Hvam, so I pre-ordered it.

That was easily my best decision of the week.

The story centers around three teenage preppers, but quickly goes deeper. Once I started listening, I didn't want to stop - in fact, I did almost all of my housework with my earbuds in, sneaking in a few more chapters here and there.

We're not preppers, but we are homesteaders. We have a small farm, and we value the level of self-sufficiency that gives us, incomplete though that is. Like the Juniper girls, we have goats, chickens, and rabbits; we garden, fish, make soap, and try to develop useful skills. (See, I told you I wasn't a prepper - if I were, I would never admit all this stuff publicly.) Many of the descriptions of the girls' prepping activities had me nodding my head in recognition. I don't know whether the author has ever felt a goat's ear, but she writes as if she has, and it rings true.

The bond between the sisters was wonderfully portrayed. They loved each other more than anything, and Demetra showed that without letting it become syrupy-sweet. The sisters argued, made up, got irritated, made plans - just like real-life siblings. In fact, I enjoyed all the relationships in the story. They all had such great nuances and depth.

I don't want to risk giving spoilers, so I won't say more about the plot, except that I loved it - it was complex enough to keep me fascinated, but logical enough to flow. By the end, there was a lot going on, but everything fit together well and made sense.

Khristine and Dan both swept me away with their narration. I think this is my first time hearing Dan, and he was perfect for this book. His voice has a nice balance of clarity and smoothness, and he made it fit every character he voiced. When he reached a character with a Greek accent, I actually rewound that section to listen to it again, then I played it for my husband, whose family was Greek. (We both loved it!) Khristine was awesome, as always. Her pacing carried the story along seamlessly. Each character's attitude came through clearly; her voice is astoundingly versatile and easy to listen to. Even just looking at the book cover now, I hear her voice in my head.

Thank you to everyone involved in this book! You gave me hours of entertainment, enjoyment, and emotions.

Fantastic!!

Such a great story with characters you fall in love with. The narration was fantastic. My teenager kept telling me "It is SO good!!" and I agree.