Review of Let’s Call It A Doomsday by Katie Henry (digital arc)

 

 

Let’s Call It A Doomsday by Katie Henry

 

There are so many ways the world could end. There could be a fire. A catastrophic flood. A super eruption that spews lakes of lava. Ellis Kimball has made note of all possible scenarios, and she is prepared for each one. What she doesn’t expect is meeting Hannah Marks in her therapist’s waiting room. Hannah calls their meeting fate. After all, Ellis is scared about the end of the world; Hannah knows when it’s going to happen.

Despite Ellis’s anxiety — about what others think of her, about what she’s doing wrong, about the safety of her loved ones — the two girls become fast friends. As Ellis tries to help Hannah decipher the details of her doomsday premonition, she learns there are secrets Hannah isn’t telling her. But with time ticking down, the search for answers only raises more questions. When does it happen? Who will believe them? How do you prepare for the end of the world when it feels like your life is just getting started?

Katie Henry, the author of Heretics Anonymous, delivers an engrossing and thoughtful tale about how people survive — with some faith in family, friends, and maybe a few prepper forums.

 

Expected publication: August 6th 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books

 

 

There is something about Katie Henry’s writing that is so funny, but yet she covers serious topics and I always learn something from her.

 

Ellis lives with her parents and sister in Berkeley, California.  They are a Mormon family and their faith is very important to them.  Ellis adores her younger sister and has a great relationship with her father.  But her mother is super critical to the point of being mean.  Ellis has anxiety.  Her biggest fear is doomsday, the end of the world.  She’s a prepper and takes things way further than the average person would.  No one really understands it, but her mom makes her feel worse all the time.  Her mom doesn’t think anxiety is a mental illness.

 

I wonder what her friends would think, if they saw her like this.  My mom is such a smiler at church, at dinner parties, at parent-teacher conferences.  She’s almost aggressive in her cheerfulness.  I’m the only one she gets this angry at.  I’m the only person she can get this angry at.

 

Ellis is going to therapy and meets a girl, Hannah, in the waiting room.  Hannah tells Ellis that “it’s you”.  Like she met her before.  It turns out that Hannah goes to school with Ellis.  Once they finally talk, Hannah tells Ellis that she’s seen her in her dreams.  That she dreams about things that are going to happen.  Ellis tells her about how she is terrified that the world could end tomorrow.  Hannah says her dream is about the end of the world and it’s coming soon.  In December.  There will be snow, San Francisco will disappear, and the sky will be red.  Ellis decides that the key to figuring everything out is Hannah’s dreams.  But Hannah wants to find Prophet Dan to help.

 

Hannah also introduces Ellis to a group of three boys.  Tal stands out and she remembers him from church when they were younger.  But Tal is bisexual.  His mom and her new family (or the church) don’t agree with that, so Tal lives with his dad.  Ellis and Tal spend a lot of time together, slowly starting to fall for each other.  Tal warns Ellis that Hannah isn’t all she says she is, but Ellis is full in.  Having someone who believes her pushes her for prepping even more.  If possible, she becomes more obsessed with it.

 

I loved how Katie dealt with anxiety, sexual identity, and religious topics.  My only small issue is that I felt things wrapped up too easily at the end.  Even though I did like the ending.  It just felt a bit too easy.

 

I gave this book 4 stars.  Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for my copy for review.  Quote taken from an arc and may change before final publication.

 

Warnings for anxiety and mental issues, questions on faith, drugs, minors drinking, homeless problems, an a mentally abusive parent.

 

 

Have you read Let’s Call It A Doomsday?  Did you read Heretics Anonymous last year?