Let's Call It a Doomsday

by Katie Henry

An engrossing and thoughtful contemporary tale that tackles faith, friendship, family, anxiety, and the potential apocalypse from Katie Henry, the acclaimed author of Heretics Anonymous.

There are many ways the world could end. A fire. A catastrophic flood. A super eruption that spews lakes of lava. Ellis Kimball has made note of all possible scenarios, and she is prepared for each one.

What she doesn’t expect is meeting Hannah Marks in her therapist’s waiting room. Hannah calls their meeting fate. After all, Ellis is scared about the end of the world; Hannah knows when it’s going to happen.

Despite Ellis’s anxiety—about what others think of her, about what she’s doing wrong, about the safety of her loved ones—the two girls become friends. But time is ticking down, and as Ellis tries to help Hannah decipher the details of her doomsday premonition, their search for answers only raises more questions.

When does it happen? Who will believe them? And how do you prepare for the end of the world when it feels like your life is just getting started?

• ISBN10: 0062698907
• ISBN13: 9780062698902
• Publish Date: 19 September 2019 (first published 6 August 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 22 August 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Both Henry's books deal with the parts of your religion you love and the parts you struggle with. I think it's very realistic and I felt her exploration of this was very honest and respectful in this book. She also took on living with mental illness and loving someone with mental illness. Neither situation is easy as shown in the book, and it can lead to complications in relationships. Definitely another solid book by Henry.

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[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight .

Let's Call it a Doomsday tackled a few pretty tough topics, and overall handled it quite well. Ellis has an anxiety disorder, which she is in therapy for. She's of the Mormon faith, trying to figure out what her actual beliefs are. She has a rocky relationship with her parents, especially her mom, though they definitely love her tons. She is also a doomsday prepper, complete with supplies stocked away, emergency kits, the whole shebang.

Enter Hannah. Hannah claims to know when the world will end, and she knows this because she's dreamt it. Including Ellis's role in it. And that, in a nutshell, is how Ellis meets Hannah and her friends. What unfolds next is the fun part, the part I won't deprive you of, but it helps to have some context for when I talk about the stuff I liked!

• •Complicated family dynamics. Oh, Ellis's mom. She's kind of the bane of my existence, because frankly, my own family has acted like her a time or twenty. To be fair, not at her level, and not always, but it's still very relatable. Ellis's Mom wants to know what she talked about in therapy. If Ellis talked about her. And to be quite frank, Mom sees Ellis's anxiety as a big ol' inconvenience. Like you know what Ellis's Mom? It's a true burden for Ellis. Not you. You're the mom, the caretaker. Get over yourself. Ellis's Dad tries, but not hard enough if you ask me. There is growth throughout the book though, and I can live with it. The bottom line is, it opens the door for a lot of discussion about families of people dealing with mental illness and I am here for it. 



• •Complicated friendship dynamics. At times, I really didn't know if Hannah and Ellis's relationship was healthy? And I think we're supposed to feel that way! Hannah's other friends even bring it up. But Ellis really is good hearted, and I think Hannah needed someone like her. And through Hannah, Ellis finds a whole group of people who are in her corner, which I loved. Also, they're super fun people.



• •Awesomely diverse (and swoony, and realistic) relationships. Oh, I don't even want to tell you about this because I wasn't 100% sure who the love interest would be for awhile! So I won't. But there are a lot of characters with differing identities, and it was awesome. And also when the romance did happen, I was a very big fan.



• •Religious discussion. Mormonism seems to be a tough road for a lot of young people. In most of the stories I have read about being Mormon (both fiction and non-fiction), there's a fairly strict code of conduct. And often, a person's beliefs aren't going to fit all the categories of this (or any other, really) religion. And I think so often, this aspect of young adulthood is overlooked in books, when there are probably a lot of people questioning their beliefs and values at this time of life. So kudos to the author for taking on some of these challenging questions!



• •A few semi-ridiculous things that end up being really heartwarming. Okay some of the story is a wee bit bananas, but in such a fun and loving way that it didn't bother me one bit. But that's all I'll say on that.