When a devastating earthquake--the Big One--hits Los Angeles, two strangers are brought together by an act of violence and must help each other survive the wrecked city. Beegie is riding the bus when the quake hits. The teenager was heading back to her unhappy foster home, but then she's thrown into a broken world. Roads crumble, storefronts shatter, and people run wild. Dessa, a single mom, is enjoying a rare night out when it strikes. Cell towers are down, so without even knowing if her three-year-old daughter is dead ...
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When a devastating earthquake--the Big One--hits Los Angeles, two strangers are brought together by an act of violence and must help each other survive the wrecked city. Beegie is riding the bus when the quake hits. The teenager was heading back to her unhappy foster home, but then she's thrown into a broken world. Roads crumble, storefronts shatter, and people run wild. Dessa, a single mom, is enjoying a rare night out when it strikes. Cell towers are down, so without even knowing if her three-year-old daughter is dead or alive, she races to get back across town. As danger escalates in the chaotic streets, Beegie and Dessa meet, by a twist of fate. The two form a fragile partnership, relying on each other in ways they never thought possible and learn who they really are when there's only one goal: just get home.
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Add this copy of Just Get Home to cart. $47.53, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Harlequin Audio and Blackstone.
Add this copy of Just Get Home to cart. $69.83, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Harlequin Audio and Blackstone.
Just Get Home is one step down from an apocalyptic dystopian novel = a disaster survival story set in LA. We meet mother Dessa who is trying to get home to her daughter from a night out downtown and Beegie who was riding a bus when the world turned upside down. I really liked the partnership between the two female characters; their backgrounds and way of seeing the world are so different and it really felt like they learned something from each other in the end. I also enjoyed how their stories were interwoven at the beginning without you really realising it at first. Also please note that there should be a trigger warning for sexual abuse and rape in this book.
My main criticism of the book was something that I had to check with other people before I wrote in this review! The earthquake itself happens in a place that usually gets small scale earthquakes a few times a year (although nothing on this scale). Although the earthquake is very bad, it is not a global catastrophe and even suburbs around the city are unaffected. It therefore seemed very unrealistic that in the 5 minutes after the earthquake hit people were raping, pillaging and looting places and everything had turned into an 'only out for yourself' scenario with added American terror of guns. I would have understood if this had been a global event where everywhere was affected or if this event had been a few months in the past and we were in the middle of a dystopian society but it just seemed bizarre at how quickly human levels of depravity were raised. Usually when an earthquake hits other parts of the world there are stories of people coming together to help and care for their fellow humans which did not seem to be happening here.
It also felt like the story was trying to point out how evil men can be; and as a woman I totally get that, but I found it a little unfair. The only men we meet in the book are terrible; either wielding guns, raping the women or manipulating the world around them which felt unbalanced. I also thought that although the ending had a nice climax to the events, it seemed a little too wrapped up and 'happy ever after'.
Overall, Just Get Home is a simple story of survival, but hyperboles events to get its point across. Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin Mira for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
