Book number 55 in my Goodreads Reading Challenge is Holy Crap! The World is Ending by Anna-Marie Abell.

End Times Are Here!
Now you can eat whatever you want and not care if you gain weight.

The president has announced that Earth is going to collide with a rogue moon, and in the process, our entire planet is going to be smashed to bits. As one would expect, upon hearing this news, humans went ballistic. It was as if every sports team in the world lost their championship game at the same time. No car was left unrolled—but oddly enough, Taco Bell remained open and made unfathomable profits in the last days. Apparently, Doritos Locos® Tacos were a popular last meal.

Autumn (who for the purpose of this retelling asked to be portrayed as drool-inducing hot with kick-ass ninja skills) has just been handed the task of saving all of humanity. With the help of her unbelievably sexy alien boyfriend and her kleptomaniac friend with fire-retardant hair, Autumn takes a spaceship and races to save her fellow humans by using the Ark of the Covenant. Along the way, she discovers how sheltered people are from the truth of extraterrestrials and their power to either protect us or destroy us.

Stupid government. (Thanks Netgalley)

So, firstly I need to give you all a little context.  I. Love. Disaster. Movies.  This is a fact.  The cheesier the better to be quite honest.  2012 is probably my all time favourite, but I also love The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon and Independence Day.  Great films.  I also have a love for the Syfy channel.  Some of the films on there are so terrible they are amazing!  Anyway, I digress.  Back to the book.

Naturally I chose this book based entirely on its title.  What is not to love about this amazing title: Holy Crap! The World is Ending.  How a Trip to the Bookstore Led to Sex With an Alien and the Destruction of Earth.  Amazing book title, and it definitely does what it says on the tin!

So this novel revolves around Autumn, a young women who is suddenly forced to address the fact that the Earth is about to be destroyed by a rogue moon.  Autumn is just a normal girl trying to find her place in the world.  What she actually finds is a super hot, sexy alien who may just be able to help her save humanity.

My first thoughts when I started reading this book were about the similarities with The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  I love Douglas Adams novels (not the film though, sorry Martin Freeman.  Although Alan Rickman was the perfect casting for Marvin!). However, the more I read the more I realised that despite the light-hearted parts of this novel, the dark sections were far darker than I was expecting.  There was rape, murder and pillage rife in society following the announcement that humanity was over.  Mistrust of the aliens who were offering to save them caused so many people to give in to their primal urges of violence and ultimately, fear.

Once I’d finished the novel, I discovered that Anna-Marie Abell has a significant interest in learning about the Anunnaki and her research is very evident throughout this novel.  I found myself looking up some of the historical references to the Anunnaki myself (how did we survive before Google?!).  I was also interested to discover that this novel is intended to be the first in a series, and I will definitely be reading the next one.

This is a novel all about aliens, the history of Earth and ultimately the destruction of Earth.  It definitely falls within the sci-fi category, and so was out of my comfort zone, having only previously read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Fade Out by Patrick Tilley (FYI: I loved both) within this genre.  I now plan on exploring more sci-fi novels, so all recommendations are very welcome.

So if you like sci-fi, or would just like to try reading something a little different then I highly recommend that you pick up this novel.  It really highlighted the potential breakdown of society in light of devastating news, whilst also raising the question; How much do we really know about what is beyond our planet, and what information do our Governments really keep from us?

Thank you to Netgalley, Anna-Marie Abell and Alien Abduction Press for providing me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 📖 📖 📖 📖