Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

First time reading an Anna Bailey book and I was not disappointed. Her storytelling drew me in and I couldn’t get out till the end. Loved the unexpected twists and turns that kept me guessing till the end. I want to read Anna’s previous book and jump into that world. This book has definitely stuck with me long after reading it. Thank you Anna Bailey, NetGalley and Atria Books for this digital arc.

Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey is a beautifully written novel set in rural Louisiana. The story follows Loyal May, a woman who’s just returned to her hometown and is immediately pulled back into the past. When her childhood friend is found dead in the swamp, the town is ready to shrug it off as a suicide. The guilt and redemption themes allow the tension to stay high from beginning to end. If you like slow burn thrillers, this one will pull you in. It’s sad, yet powerful!

Our Last Wild Days is a beautiful, atmospheric Southern Gothic that I couldn’t put down. The novel follows Loyal May, a young journalist who has returned to her hometown to tend to her ailing mother. Shortly after their arrival, her estranged childhood best friend, Cutter, is found dead, and Loyal believes it wasn’t an accident. She tries to solve the mystery of Cutter’s death and to make amends for her own past mistakes, but quickly realizes that she may have uncovered more danger than she bargained for.

I was surprised to learn that Anna Bailey isn’t a native Southerner because their depiction of Louisiana was so detailed—I could have sworn this book was written by someone born and raised in the South. I loved the vividly described setting and the varied cast of characters. Bailey portrays the denizens of Jacknife, LA with compassion and nuance. The mystery plot had a satisfying and realistic conclusion, though I’d love to revisit Loyal, Sasha, and the other characters if Bailey ever decides to write another book set in this locale. I loved this book and recommend it to anyone whose a fan of well-written thrillers or the Southern Gothic. In fact, I liked it so much that I immediately went and bought Bailey’s first book as well.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

📚 E-ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

Our Last Wild Days By Anna Bailey
Publication Date: May 20, 2025
Publisher: Atria Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this #gifted e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

Our Last Wild Days is a slow-burning Southern Gothic read filled with small town mysteries and atmospheric vibes that will have you captivated until the end.

Our female MC, Loyal, returns to her rural Louisiana hometown, after years of living in Houston, to care for her mom who is showing concerning early signs of dementia. She quit her job at a big city newspaper and was hired by her hometown paper, and after being away for years, she dreads having to face all her old friends and deal with their past relationships. Shortly after she arrives, her estranged friend Cutter is found dead. Since Loyal will now never be able to repair their friendship, she commits herself to solving the mystery about what happened to her. But as she and her new colleagues begin digging, they uncover much more than they expected.

This is a SERIOUSLY slow burn, with mysteries that became more and more layered with every page I turned. I will admit, I struggled a little bit to keep up with each new layer in the story. There were so many characters, there were times it was tough to remember how everybody connected to the plotlines. And some of the characters' storylines just kinda disappeared without resolution, which left a couple unanswered questions for me. However, Bailey's writing is so wonderfully descriptive that you can practically feel the swampy and humid air surrounding you as you read. That atmospheric Southern Gothic vibe never faded and the creepiness of the Louisiana swamps remained palpable throughout the entire book.

This one is for you if you're a fan of Southern Gothic thrillers with atmospheric vibes, small town mysteries, and characters with complex histories. If you love those creepy slow burn thrillers that keep you wondering til the very end, I think you'll love Our Last Wild Days!

#OurLastWildDays #AnnaBailey #AtriaBooks #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARCs #thrillerreads #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #southerngothicthriller #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Just wow, what an adventure! My first Anna Bailey book but definitely not my last. Filled with secrets, lies and family ties. Excellent setting and storytelling. Dark and creepy.
Thank you NetGalley, Anna Bailey and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this book

I really enjoyed how this story unfolded. I liked the alternating points of view and time. The tapestry of the town, on the bayou in Louisiana, was vivid. Bailey perfectly captures small town life. You come to know the characters, the lore, and their way of life so intimately. I appreciate the inclusion of addiction and poverty into the storyline. It made the characters that much more real.

This was a fun and addicting mystery from start to finish.

Our Last Wild Days shines with its vivid Bayou setting, rich Cajun folklore, and a believable yet surprising twist. Though the pacing and style didn’t fully connect with me and some transitions felt jarring, it’s still a strong, atmospheric thriller many readers will enjoy and appreciate.

The first half of the book was very interesting and kept me engaged the whole time. I would give that four stars, but the second half dragged on and was a little different feeling than the first half. I would give the second half two and a half to three stars.

I really liked the setting of this book. It was very interesting and different than the typical settings. It made the mystery that much better.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

The setting of the swamps of Louisiana is one of the best! It's beautiful and eerie- and full of alligators. The author really does well setting the scene both atmospherically and with the characters. However, this is where one of my issues with the books lie- the amount of side characters. Typically these types of stories make it harder for me to connect and follow. Also, the writing style was a bit difficult for me to fully focus on the story. I know many will love this thriller and if you like the perfect atmospheric setting- this is the one!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Can someone please explain what makes the bayous of Louisiana such a perfect setting for a murder mystery? I have admittedly never been to Louisiana -- and live in an urban city, which is probably the furthest thing from a bayou -- and yet I was able to picture this setting perfectly thanks to Anna Bailey's exceptional writing. Our Last Wild Days was a quintessential "atmospheric novel" and certainly not one to sleep on this summer!

With Our Last Wild Days, Anna Bailey confirms her place as one of the most compelling contemporary voices in literary fiction. Following the critical acclaim of her debut novel Tall Bones, Bailey returns with a haunting, richly atmospheric tale set in the sweltering isolation of Jacknife, a fictional town nestled deep within the Louisiana bayou. Her sophomore effort is a piercing, multifaceted exploration of grief, estrangement, and the corrosive weight of collective silence.

At the heart of the novel lies the death of Cutter Labasque, a member of a reclusive family of alligator hunters who eke out a precarious living at the edge of society. When Cutter is found dead under suspicious circumstances, her estranged friend Loyal—a journalist recently returned to Jacknife to care for her ailing mother—feels compelled to seek answers. As Loyal navigates the community’s indifference and unspoken hostilities, Bailey peels back the layers of a town poisoned not just by the runoff of a local chemical plant, but by generations of trauma and neglect.

Bailey’s prose is both lyrical and unrelenting. Her descriptive abilities evoke the oppressive beauty of the bayou with cinematic clarity, drawing readers into a place that feels both timeless and forsaken. Yet, the novel’s power lies not only in its setting, but in Bailey’s skillful interweaving of broader social issues—reproductive rights, addiction, environmental degradation, domestic violence—into the narrative fabric. These themes emerge not as overt commentary but as organic extensions of her characters’ lived realities.

The Labasque siblings, orphaned and bound by a fragile network of shared history and unspoken pain, form the emotional nucleus of the story. Bailey renders their lives with empathy and nuance, avoiding melodrama in favor of subtle, character-driven tension. Their marginalization by the town mirrors the ways in which rural, working-class communities are often ignored—by institutions, by neighbors, even by literature itself.

Despite the bleakness of its subject matter, Our Last Wild Days is anything but ponderous. The plot moves with a quiet urgency, its emotional stakes intensifying with each chapter. Bailey’s pacing is deft, and her dialogue sharp, making for a novel that is as gripping as it is thoughtful.

Ultimately, Our Last Wild Days is an unflinching study of human endurance and the ways communities fracture—and occasionally heal—in the wake of tragedy. Bailey has not only met the high expectations set by her debut, she has surpassed them, delivering a work of deep resonance and remarkable literary maturity.

Our Last Wild Days takes place in the Louisiana bayou. Loyal and Cutter grew up as childhood friends until they had a falling out and Loyal moves away. But, when Loyal comes back to visit her mother, she arrives just as Cutter is found dead in the swamp.
The storytelling is incredible. I got completely drawn into this world. If you loved Where The Crawdads Sing, you'll absolutely love this book. It gave me similar vibes.

📖 Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve realized lately that I’m weirdly drawn to books set in rural Louisiana. Especially if there’s a hint of magic or folklore involved. This one did the trick with a setting of a dead body found in the small town swamps, and everyone has a theory about what happened.

The characters in this story were so well done, with the author giving us enough back story to understand why some acted the way they did. There was a lot of back and forth of who to trust, leading to a pretty good twist. I felt so much sadness for Cutter and her brothers, who were orphaned and treated as outcasts in the community. It takes tragedy for people to understand them, only after assuming the worst for most of the story.

They also did a great job of writing the this rural area and helping you picture the town of Jacknife. From the woods that feel haunted to the swamps filled with gators, I could sense the unease of the surroundings throughout the story.

If you want an atmospheric small town mystery, give this one a try when it releases on May 20,2025!

Thank you to @atriabooks for the advanced copy on @netgalley in exchange for my thoughts!

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of OUR LAST WILD DAYS by Anna Bailey in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and try to stay safe, sane and happy out there.

This book had amazing descriptions which transported me out of my comfort zone visualizing the large alligators and creepy bugs in the swampy lands of Southern Louisiana. It made me nervous, giving me the heebie-jeebies. You really felt like you were there.

That’s not all. Many of the characters were sketchy and I wanted to read this quickly just to get away from feeling of being immersed in the hot, sweaty town of Jacknife.

The story was a complete adventure with Loyal May trying to solve a murder. She had returned from her job in Houston as a reporter to take care of her mother who had early signs of dementia. And now she was working at the local newspaper digging up clues of how her childhood friend died. They said it was a suicide.

This story was beautifully written yet it made me apprehensive – people living on the edge with illegal drugs, beatings like it was an everyday thing and a plastics plant with less than desirable conditions. It wasn’t a place where I would want to spend time but a perfect place to try to hide a crime.

My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of May 20, 2025.

This was really atmospheric. I didn’t really buy that Loyal would come back and do this all for Cutter, especially after the article, but it’s fiction I guess. The book kind of made me curious about alligator meat???

Thank you, Atria Books, and NetGalley for letting me review this book.

This book was full of twists, suspense, and thrill, that you can feel and envision.

I love the author’s writing style. Very descriptive, where I could visualize as if I was in the book myself. You come to know the characters so well, creating an immersive reading experience.

This book was so easy to get lost in for hours, with its fast-paced tension, making the plot unfold that much easier.

Arc review • pub date 05.20.25

My first Anna Bailey book and I enjoyed it!
A woman is searching for answers after her friend is found dead in a Louisiana bayou.
Nobody seems to care, not even her family, and her childhood friend Loyal is desperate to uncover the truth.

This was the most atmospheric book I have read in quite sometime. Incredibly vivid details make you feel like you’re right there in Louisiana.

The story is deep and will pull you in immediately. I think this one will be an instant hit!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for my ARC

I enjoyed this one immensely it was well written with an evocative setting and characters that pull you in and keep you engaged throughout
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review book