This Little Light takes place in a very near future, in the year 2024, where women's rights are all but banned. Abortions are illegal, birth control is hard to access and the religious right is in control.

The book is written in the form of a blog by a wealthy teenager and the language used is the one of a teenager, it puts me off.

It could have been a very good book but the style of it didn't completely work for me.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

‘This Little Light’ by Lori Lansens is a fascinating dystopian YA novel set in 2024, where the Christian far right has gained much more power and influence and abortion has been banned. The story is told in a rambling blog format over 48 hours, written by Rory, while she and a friend are on the run accused of bombing their Christian school. 16 year old Rory and her friends are wealthy and live in Calabassas, California, near Los Angeles and famously home to the Kardashian family. The format was pretty interesting but didn’t always work for me as some parts seem a bit long-winded and some parts didn’t seem realistic. (How was the battery of an old laptop so endless?) Nevertheless, Lansens is a talented writer and kept me hooked. I was so curious to learn the background as to what lead Rory and Fee to being on the run from Christian zealots. The story was fascinating and I liked that Rory’s voice was that of an “outsider” perspective, her being a liberal Jewish atheist in a now extremist Christian country.

Thank you NetGalley and Abrams / The Overlook Press for providing this ARC.

"Taking place over the course of 48 hours in 2024, This Little Light draws readers into a universe of born-again Christians and celebrity worship where abortion is once again illegal and both religion and surveillance run amok. Heroine Rory Miller and her best friend, Fee, are on the run after a bomb explodes at their elite Christian private school in their triple-gated California community during their American Chastity Ball, where girls in white gowns pledge to their fathers that they will remain virgins until marriage. As the girls struggle to survive while following their own attempted capture on social media and cable news—crowdsourced by Christian zealots and bounty hunters—Rory blogs their story in real time, determined to leave behind a record in their own words in case they don’t make it out alive."

It's truly scary how believable this narrative is. I don't think I expected this book to be what it is. I really expected a interesting YA read and that's not what this is. At all. The overall societal commentary is on point and I recommend this book strongly to those who consider not voting or think that major social revolution doesn't affect them. A couple other reviewers comment on "voice," however I think it's pretty realistic for a teen blogger who's writing, basically, for her life in what is, potentially, her last words. I wish we had more context from her "friends", maybe through other social media posts of blogs, but Rory shows real, and, more importantly, believable, growth over the course of 48 hours. Some sections were a little less clear than others (the first major death scene comes to mind), but again, this is a terrified teen writing literally on the run.

Great concept, less than stellar execution. Practically every piece of exposition is just told to the reader, and the protagonist is incredibly annoying. She's like what adults believe teenagers act like. It had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it did not meet up to it.

I read and absolutely loved her earlier book The Girls, so I was excited to see this one, too. As you know, feminist novels are some of my favorite things, and I loved this one so much!

It's set in the not-too-distant future and it feels very plausible that abortion could be made illegal again. And not surprisingly, things don't go that well once that happens. (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that it doesn't stop anyone from getting them. It just makes it dangerous and unsafe.) We also see a resurgence in purity ball events, which is so, so creepy and gross.

I love Rory and I was really rooting for her and for Fee to stay safe. Because there's such a huge bounty out for them ($2 million!), I knew that it was very unlikely that they could stay safe and hidden, but there was such a level of tenseness as I read the book. I was so curious about exactly what happened at the purity ball and I wasn't disappointed by any revelation. It all made perfect sense.

This is such a fantastic book and it's sure to start some excellent conversations. I love everything about it. Highly recommended.

3.5 stars. Wow! This book was very exciting. From the start I couldn’t wait to see what happened. Twists and turns throughout. And I didn’t expect the ending at all. I knew something wasn’t sitting right so I was expecting a twist. What a surprise.

Rory and Fee run off after a bomb explodes and a series of other events. They are hiding out in a shed. End up meeting a little girl named Paula who they immediately bond with. She brings light to the story. The book goes from present to past as Rory blogs the whole events and what happened leading up to their hiding.
For those that like dark ya this is a good one. I don’t know if I’d call it dystopian but it definitely has that vibe.

Thank you for netgalley and Abrams and the author Lori Lansens for a copy of the book for my honest review.

I actually whispered "wow" out loud, in bed late at night as I read the last few lines of this futuristic, political drama. [book:This Little Light|37654677] captures the voice of 16 year-old Kardashian-wannabe Rory over the course of 48 hours while she and her best friend are being (mistakenly) hunted as "terrorists." This is set in an all-too near future of 2024 where the extreme, Christian right has gripped ahold of America and won the abortion war. There are so many high-emotion subjects addressed in this novel (women's rights, abortion, homelessness and immigration to name a few), so I was questionable upon starting what the author would say and do with this.

I went back and forth on whether this was a 3 star or 4 star read for me. You immediately get a crystal clear character voice upon starting the book, since Rory is writing her experience down in blog format the entire time. There are an abundance of teenage slangs and references (some that I didn't get as a 30 year-old) so you really can hear a 16 year old girl speaking right into your ear. This impressed me that the author took that on and succeeded; however, this caused the book to skew a bit YA for me, and I know it's not promoted as such. For about half of the book I had a hard time taking things seriously because of this voice; however (another however) when I finished, I realized there was an importance and beauty about seeing these pinpoint issues through the eyes of a somewhat innocent, very emotional and extremely spoiled teenager. She is learning to shed her misconceptions and seeing what her privilege means. You get to sit back and watch as a young mind suddenly becomes aware of the injustices in the world, and even though she struggles to eloquently put them into words, it's a very real voice to take the time listen to, especially in our society today.

All in all, this was an engaging and fast read that gave me all the emotions at the end. There are layers of secrets that have you racing through the pages, dying to know. I'm excited to see the response on this once it releases!

An interesting premise and point of view. While some found the narrator's voice to be distracting, I wasn't bothered by it. The storyline pulled me in, and I finished the book quickly because I wanted to know what happened. However, nothing was really surprising, although I felt like the author was trying very hard to make it so. While I'm okay with an ending that doesn't tie up in a pretty bow, I felt like it was abrupt and mildly unsatisfying. I have mixed feelings about this book, but do see where it would make for a very interesting book club discussion.

I could not put this book down because it was so good. I never knew what would happen next. Two teenage girls, Rory and Fee are hiding after a bomb explodes. Rory is blogging what is happening and what led them to this point. It keeps going back between the past in the blog and the present in a way that keeps you at the edge of your seat. This book was intense and brought up important issues from the eyes of a teenage girl.

Some of my favorite parts include Rory discovering Fee's secrets in the present day while blogging in a shed. I enjoyed the interactions with Paula, a 10 year old girl that ends up hiding with them. Fee is very closed off from her best friend Rory, but she bonded with Paula and was able to focus on something other than what she was dealing with personally.

This Little light is an intense read. This Little Light takes place over 48 hours in the year 2023. It was such an interesting discussion on religion, women, rape culture, almost cult like situations, and the state of things as they are now.

Thank you to NetGalley, ABRAMS, and author Lori Lansens for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

This beautiful cover drew me in, and the synopsis did not disappoint! This Little Light follows Rory Miller as she blogs her story in real time over the course of 48 hours in 2024. Abortion is once again illegal and religion and surveillance run amok. This novel highlights the super important issue of women’s rights, religion, politics, immigration… So many important topics! This is an intense and urgent read, and sadly all too believable about the not too far off future. It may be “dystopian,” but it is also incredibly believable. I was so drawn into the life of Rory, and I became attached to her character. You will not be prepared for the ending!! An incredible read that made me think of The Handmaid’s Tale at a few spots. Definitely recommend!

Thank you to those named above for the opportunity to read and review this novel!

Sorry but I was unable to download this to my kindle. I didn’t realize it was dystopian which I don’t enjoy. I will give it a neutral 3 stars and not post to Goodreads. I apologize for my error.

I enjoyed this book by Lori Lansens; This Little Light tells an intense story of terrorism in the not too distant future. The cover is gorgeous!