I give this a solid 4.5.
I was looking for something fun to read to brighten my spirits and I got it in Holy Crap! The World is Ending! Fun but deeply researched, this fun novel also makes you think about ancient history.
Autumn has an interested in sci-fi and new agey topics. After listening to a pod cast that discusses aliens, Autumn is after a book on Light Beings. She doesn't realize that her life is about to change. Not only does she meet her soulmate, she finds out that the world will end in a week and she is the key to survival. What's a girl to do? Lots of wine and Twinkies of course!
Anna-Marie Abell has researched the ancient Sumerian culture and the ideas that Earth life started from aliens. Being into sci-fi, I was aware of this theory but I was very interested in what the ancient texts and theories. Abbell discusses in her acknowledgements that what she is written is not written to persuade or be indicative or her beliefs; she was creating a fun way to learn about these idea. And she accomplished it that very well. I learned and laughed a lot.
I deducted half a star for two reasons. The first is that, though Autumn loves food, she still skinny and gorgeous. But I can over look it because of the summary that includes "who for the purpose of this retelling asked to be portrayed as drool-inducing hot with kick-ass ninja skills." I mean who is to argue with how she wants to be seen? lol
The other reason is that this is meant as a trilogy so it leaves story left to be told. But very few authors can walk the line of finishing one full story and still set up for the sequel. I was left feeling I hadn't had an emotionally satisfying conclusion. But I do look forward to reading the next one. Reminiscent of Sookie Stackhouse but more realistic (Autumn thinks she should run over the weird alien which is exactly my first thought). Autumn will take your blues away!

4.5 stars

Dang! There was not a dull moment anywhere between the covers of this book. From the very first chapter the high octane excitement propelled me forward at breakneck speed. It’s somewhat sacrilegious, full of ridiculous puns, romantic, sexy, crazy out of this world, hilarious, and fun as all heck to boot. This is the kind of book that even if you need to set it down to engage in real life it won’t allow you.

Autumn is your average every day human. Her hobbies include ufo research, reading, and eating all the foods. It’s a chance, late night encounter with a super tall, sexy dude at her local Barnes and Noble that sets Autumn off on a journey of self discovery and otherworldly adventure like no other. Little does she know just how complicated and completely wonderful terrible her life is about to get.

What I really liked about this book is that Abell managed to pack so much into such a small space. And how she managed to incorporate so many pop culture elements into a story so full of historical lore and research. The humor struck me as reminiscent of that written by Douglas Adams in his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Aside from that I, having a difficult time putting in to words my thoughts and feelings on this one. Unlike anything else I’ve ever read, this was a blast to read and kept me on my toes from start to finish.

This is not a book for everyone, note that there is a violent near rape scene midway in and there are a few sex scenes. If you are able to deal with these and enjoy a solid storyline, give this book a go. It was a quick read, and as an added bonus it happens to be the first in a new trilogy. Yay! I can’t hardly wait for the next book.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced review opportunity.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't even finish the book. Whilst the writing style was witty and had some nice one liners I felt like I was reading a fanfiction version of a supernatural Mills and Boon book. Amber the scatty, accident prone heroine, finds herself the soulmate of a tall dark and handsome alien/god who is partly responsible for the meteroite heading towards Earth on a collision course.
Luckily our heroine has the power to stop it, after she's finished flirting, eating and falling over.
I was cringing a little at her 'meet cute' and the very convenient plot devices. I enjoyed the characterization of her best friend who was zany enough to be interesting but the rest of it left me pretty bored.

This was a most bizarre book - I am not sure how tongue in cheek it was meant to be, but parts of it were fairly bonkers! Read it and make your own judgement.

It doesn't often happen that a book makes me visibly react. This was my morning bus commute book over a work week. It made me giggle and snort out loud (not terribly professional) as well as sigh and cry just a little bit.

There are back to back genuinely funny bits, liberally peppered with cultural and nerdy references, then * ka-bam* crap gets real. There are a fair few scenes which come on suddenly without preamble and which will offend some readers (concerning rape/murder/etc).

The writing is masterful and rapid fire. It reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams, or Grant/Naylor at the top of their games. Another reviewer was reminded of Shawn of the Dead. That's a fairly apt comparison.

The chapter headings and illustrations are perfectly hilarious and really add to the story.

This was a five star book for me right up until the last chapter. It ended so abruptly, I got reader's whiplash. Yes, I understand that it's the first in a series and the unresolved plot lines will be revisited later, but criminy, it just left me thinking "wait, what"?!

Interestingly enough, there's an afterword with enough conspiracy theory & alien/UFO info to keep the reader bemused for ages. I did not take the afterword info into consideration when tallying up stars and writing this review. A lot of readers will see the inclusion as an important part of the book and a positive thing.

For readers who are offended by fairly explicit sex or rough language, this book has both.

Altogether, a well written very funny book.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was funny and with characters I've never imagined. I'm good that there is a second book.

This story doesn't know what it wants to be

I didn't like this book. The story started out trying to be humorous but not really succeeding. Then at almost halfway through, the story suddenly changed tone and became graphically violent. After that, the story turned cliche and I stopped reading it. There is a lot of humorous fantasy out there, for example Terry Pratchett's Discworld series or Wilkie Martin's Inspector Hobbes series for readers who prefer lighter fare.

Handsome Greek Gods, binge eating, Humor, and more... What is there not to enjoy about this book?! Okay, the title alone tells us that the world is ending and yeah, that is a very good possibility. Unless our heroine Autumn, her Greek God lover Rigel, her BFF Emma, and the hair guy can save us! There are more characters, but we will focus on those who are actively trying to save the world. I am not even going to go into details about Wal-Mart. I do not want to spoil that fun for you! There are a lot of laughs in this book. Many of them are sarcastic, which is probably why I totally appreciated them! The author tells us at the end of the book about her research into many of the situations and characters in the story. That reading was interesting also, but not required for enjoying this book! The ending was a bit abrupt and I guess I would have preferred it ending a bit differently. I would have liked it different and I would have liked more about what happens next. But the story was funny, and if you like hot steamy romance, there is a bit of that also. Not too much, but yeah it is there. Edit: After I posted my review, I received an email from the author letting me know that this is book one of a trilogy. WOOHOO!! Totally changes the end of the world for me and for Autumn and her friends also.
4.5 rounded to 5 for this funny, sarcastic, and sexy look at the apocalypse.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2107852388

I don't understand how a author can write about something so scary (the apocalypse) and have it come out funny and interesting. I love the Zecharia Sitchin references, reading about the anunnaki and our creator was so compelling.The book kept me reading and captivated from page 1 thru to the end. Highly recommend this!!!

You are probably gonna see the biggest list of pro's you have ever seen. I think I can even come up with more than I'm going to give you right now. This book has it all. Science Fiction, Romance, Humour and a great set of characters. I think this is maybe my favorite book that I've read this summer!
Trigger warning: There is an almost rape scene in this book.

Pros
Chapter titles: I LOVE the chapter titles. It tells you what you can expect this next chapter, but these chapter titles are so weird, that you can't even believe you're going to read it. I was skipping back and forth to see if I actually did read the things that were in the chapter titles, and I did every time...
Laughing/Crying: I have been laughing out loud while reading this book. I hate the experience, don't get me wrong. Me laughing like a maniac towards my Kindle and the people around me grabbing their phone to get me admitted to the psychic ward. They think I'm a crazy person! But I love it so much. There is a lot of humour in this book, but I have been crying as well.
Harry Potter references: HELL YEAH! The Harry Potter references are so dayum accurate. I love it. Anything Harry Potter-ish is great, but the characters in these books have so much Harry Potter love, just like me. Yay!
Rich history: The book starts of like something light, with the humor and all, but there is actually a lot of rich history when the story gets going. I was surprised by this. The title of this book made me think that it was mainly comedy, humour stuff and didn't really involve a big plot/rich story, but it did and I was surprised by it! It's one of the main reasons I give this book 5 stars.
FOOOODDDDD: Okay, food lover over here. I love how the main character is thinking about food a lot and talking about food a lot and she also thinks food is pretty important... High five! I totally agree and I love the fact that she is a food lover as well, because main characters often have a special meal or treat they like, but this girl is just a binge-eater!
This ending: 2 words: Holy Crap!

Cons
Illustrations: I don't like the little inbetween illustrations in this book. It feels like the author is trying hard to be funny this way and I believe the story doesn't need these illustrations. I have nothing with cows either, so maybe I would've liked it if it were kittens? I just didn't really get it, but loved the book nonetheless!

Overall
HOLY CRAP. Give me book number 2. I'm so ready for it! I loved the book. Here you have a girl that is sarcastic, loves food, goes to Barnes and Nobles.. This is about me! Except my world isn't ending, luckily. This book starts with a lot of humour, but quickly gets a very rich storyline with great characters and seriously... This ending? If you like to be blown away, you should read this!

Unique, bizarre, interesting, funny, outlandish. Non-spoiler alert: the Earth is going to be destroyed.

I was angry when I originally finished Holy Crap!, but at the time it was unclear on Netgalley that it was book one of a trilogy. The author reached out and explained this, and with that understanding the unresolved ending makes sense. However, consider that a warning if you’re someone who doesn’t like diving into a series before it’s completed.

Our leading lady, Autumn, is (mostly) just an average girl who loves to have the occasional binge-eating session with her best friend. She is also really into aliens and conspiracies, and when she meets a mysterious man at a bookstore, she’s hooked.

Rigel, our mysterious alien-man, is (mostly) just an average Anunnaki. Well… maybe? One of the detractors of this book is that while we find out a lot about Autumn, we don’t discover much about Rigel personally (aside from who he is among the Anunnaki). Several times something is alluded to, only to not be explained or answered. While it’s safe to assume that future books will delve into these topics, it’s frustrating to encounter pointless information and feel like Rigel is still such an unknown factor.

There is thorough immersion into who the Anunnaki are, where they come from, and their relationship with the Earth. The book gives an alternate look at humans, their origins, and their purpose. More is left to be discovered, but for the purposes of this part of the story, a lot of information is revealed.

Holy Crap! is humorous yet dark in places. Humanity loses their minds and does both imaginable and unimaginable things. The jokes bring some much-needed levity into a dark situation. Expect the first half of the book to be mostly humorous, while the second half is nearly bogged with craziness, revelations, and events.

Absolutely loved this book!! It was the perfect blend of snark and hilarity. Was such a fun read and I can't wait till there's another!

I received an ARC from NetGalley.
What a title and sub-title! I could not resist it.
This is a wonderful mish-mash of alien conspiracy theories. Genetic mods, stone circles, Wally-world, spaceships, and more are included. Autumn is a snarky, funny heroine. I was a bit unimpressed with Rigel at first, and with the rest of the Anunnaki. They are amazingly human when it comes to their attitude toward humans, instead of these advanced aliens. Devon is a most interesting character and I think there is more to him than we are made aware.
The main quibble I have is that the blurb does not indicate that this is part of a trilogy, according to the author bio. The book ends in a cliffhanger.

*4 Stars*

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I spent a long time trying to come up with the right words to describe this book. I came to the conclusion that perhaps, there are none. It's a roller coaster ride from start to finish, with mentions of tons of conspiracy theories, pop culture references, nerdy jokes, and last but not least, romance with an alien. If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be hilarious.

Autumn meets a man in a bookstore and has an instant connection. As it turns out, he is an alien. There's some bad news though, it's the end times, and it's up to Autumn to save the human race. Her alien boyfriend and her kleptomaniac friend race to find a race to save humanity, fighting through obstacles and other, more evil, aliens along the way.

This was a fun and crazy ride. I do want to let people know, however, that there is a rape scene in this book. It kind of came out the blue for me, and I know some people are traumatized by these events and do not want to read about them in otherwise lighthearted fiction.

This book was one of the funniest that I have ever read. I was not sure of what to expect from this book and I am happy with what we got from it. When I had first heard of it, I thought it sounded a bit like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (one of my all time favorite books) and I became very interested in reading this book. I'm not someone who really loves books about aliens unless they are really good.

This book was great. The humor was balanced throughout the book with heartwarming scenes. The references to pop culture were a joy to read and the friendships/ relationships that our main character Autumn has throughout are great. There were times that I was pulled out of the story by something going on but then there would be a humorous scene that brought me back. I am glad that this was so much more than I expected but it all had the humor that I wanted.

It's not a perfect book but it is one that I really enjoyed and I cannot wait for the others in this series.

<i>I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Alien Abduction Press in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I could easily imagine Simon Pegg making this into a movie, though back around 2005 or so, before he made 2013's 'The World's End' since you can only make so many end of the world type films. This has a kind of 'Shaun of the Dead' kind of vibe. Without zombies. And with a little more dumb jokes. But still - serious situation mixed with humor is what I'm going for here.

I saw something recently that talked about the humor of Mel Brooks that turned up in his films - the kind of humor that was rapid fire, and if a joke fell flat, it didn't matter because 12 more are on the way. Well, that's kind of what a reader faces in this book.

Though there was a moment when everything kind of turned on me. I knew there was a serious edge to things, but the constant 'funny chapter headings' and pictures of cows in space somewhat blocked the serious nature for a longish time. That is until, well I only mention this because there are those that <i>need</i> to know this type of thing before they decide to read the book or not, so I'll put it behind a spoiler tag. <spoiler>I was having fun with the humor and all up to the point when rape and death occurred. </spoiler>

Just looking at the title reminds how this book started, which I mention so I can very briefly note what the book is about. 'How a Trip to the bookstore . . .' The lead character, a woman named Autumn, is on the way to her 'pig out' with her friend (they, apparently, starve themselves for something like two days then eat massive quantities of food) when the podcast she was listening to lead her to decide to stop by the bookstore to look up books. Whereupon she meets two other relatively main characters in this book. Devon, the person who works there and has very tall hair, and Rigel, the 7 foot blonde haired blue eyed Greek god looking fella who was browsing a book in the New Age section when Autumn stumbled in.

You can tell the book is 'wacky' and 'different' by the fact that Autumn keeps stumbling around like she does at the opening, knocking things over, hearing voices, drooling over well built men, etc. Oh, and having literal out of body experiences.

So, that's what the book is about, boiled down - a woman stumbling around doing weird stuff, and drooling over very tall people. Well, mostly drooling over Rigel. Finding out things like aliens exist, and the world is about to end. You know, normal stuff.

Rating: 3.58

August 3 2017

If you want a fun, page-turning, what-will-happen-next kind of novel with excellent patter between characters, you'll enjoy this novel. If you don't like that kind of stuff, you probably shouldn't read it.

Genre-bending sci-fi mythological humorous apocalyptical romance.

Holy Crap! The World is Ending! has something for everyone. A woman meets her soulmate in a Barnes & Noble just as an asteroid is about to collide with Earth. There is something otherworldly about his looks but little does our heroine know. He is actually an alien sent to Earth to determine whether humankind can stop battling each other long enough to be moved to another planet.

Okay, the plot I just described seems lame but the book is actually fascinating and humorous. The author throws in hundreds of pop culture references (i.e., Harry Potter, Duck Dodgers, the illuminati, Bigfoot). There are many similarities between the alien names and Sumerian mythology. To say any more would be a spoiler. The romance is heartfelt and believable. The interactions between the heroine's friends are hilarious. Which would you say is more likely to float-a raft made of Twinkies or Ding Dongs? I have to side with the Ding Dongs personally.

Even though this book is hard to categorize to recommend it for a particular type of reader, that is also its charm. I would highly recommend it to anyone bored of formulaic stories. It would also be a good choice for fans of The Simpsons for its humor and free use of decades of pop culture references. It has some R-rated sex scenes so it wouldn't be appropriate for readers under 16.

Thanks to the publisher, Alien Abduction Press, and netgalley for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on September 21, 2017.

This wasn't a bad read but it's definitely not for me.

I did enjoy all the characters and the humor added to it. All the sci-fi sides of the book was interesting and amusing that I was rarely bored but I did find certain parts weird. . . but maybe that's just me.

The chapter title were so amusing. It reminded me of my PJO days with the very long but very humorous chapter titles. The mix of humans and aliens here was very different to the sci-fi that is usually published and what we, as readers, usually get so it's nice to see a different face added there int the pile.

The cartoon images, the cover, and everything is so decaying and could actually be mistaken for a children's book and so now, it just makes me laugh whenever I see the cover and the images added into the book.

This is definitely something sci-fi and romance book overs will enjoy.