The Eighth Day

Written by Dianne K. Salerni

Narrated by Christopher Carley

WHEN NEWLY ORPHANED JAX AUBREY awakes to a world without people the day after his thirteenth
birthday, he thinks it’s the apocalypse. But then the next day is a regular old Thursday. Has Jax gone crazy? What’s
going on?

Riley Pendare, Jax’s sort of clueless eighteen-year-old guardian, breaks the news: Jax just experienced the Eighth
Day, an extra twenty-four-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday. Some people, like Jax and Riley, have the
ability to live in all eight days. But others, like Evangeline, the teenage girl who’s been hiding in the house next door
for years, exist only on this special day.

At first it’s awesome to have a secret day. But as Jax gets to know the very guarded Evangeline, he discovers that
she is the sought-after key to an ancient spell rooted in Arthurian legend. And Riley—who forgets to pay bills and
buy groceries!—is sworn to keep her safe from those who want to use her to eliminate the seven-day world and all
who live there.

Jax tries to protect Evangeline, but with his new friend’s life on the line, as well as the threat of human destruction,
he is faced with an impossible choice: trigger a real apocalypse or sacrifice Evangeline.

WITH A WHOLE EXTRA DAY TO FIGURE THINGS OUT, IT COULDN’T BE TOO
HARD . . . RIGHT?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781980081692

Dianne K. Salerni

Dianne K. Salerni attended the University of Delaware, where she earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education, and then went on to earn a master's in language arts education at the University of Pennsylvania. She was an elementary school teacher for over twenty years and has also written several books, including We Hear the Dead and The Caged Graves. The Inquisitor's Mark is the second book in the Eighth Day series. Although Dianne knows there's not really such a thing as a secret Eighth Day, discovering one would explain all the food that disappears in her house. Until then, she'll continue to blame her husband, Bob, her two teenage daughters, Gabrielle and Gina, and her dog, Sorcia. Dianne lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Reviews for The Eighth Day

[clairefun-979518 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was better than I expected, and if I'd read this as a teenager, I'd have completely adored it. Well, to be honest, I did, even at 37, but I'm sure you know what I mean. Interesting ideas (seriously - an eighth day of the week that only certain people know about! lovely!), likable characters and an exciting adventure. Great stuff all round!

[robinsonstef · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jax Aubrey can't stand living with his guardian, Riley. What does Riley know about being in charge of someone? He's barely 18 years old himself. When Jax’s father died he wanted to live with his aunt, but because his dad had made arrangements with Riley, that couldn’t happen. Everything is different now. Thank goodness for his best friend, Billy. Without him, Jax couldn’t get through the day. Little does Jax know that his 13th birthday is going to be the start of something new. When he wakes up he can’t figure out where all the people are and why the electricity doesn’t work. He begins to worry that this is the apocalypse. When Riley does explain it all, Jax learns that there's an eighth day of the week sandwiched in between Wednesday and Thursday. Only certain people can experience the eighth day, and there are all kinds of rules about it. There are also some people who only experience Grundsday (the nickname for the eighth day). There’s a prisoner next door who Riley is supposed to be watching, but there are some bad people who are trying to find her so that they can control things. Will Jack be able to keep the bad guys away? Why is the prisoner wanted by so many people? You will be turning the pages to find out what happens next!

I have wanted to read The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni since I first heard about it. Maybe it's because I've thought a lot about having an extra day in the week. That would be excellent! I could get so much done on that day and even catch up on sleep! But that doesn't seem like what most people use the eighth day for in this book. I liked Jax and thought he was easy to relate to, even if I worried about some of the choices he was making. It was fun learning about a different world and type of people. And I like the references to Merlin and King Arthur. Of course, now I really need to do more research into those stories. This is a great book for kids in fifth grade and up. There is a little violence towards the end of the book, but nothing too overly descriptive. I have already started book two and hope to get the third book soon!

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read The Eighth Day and thought the concept of a select few people who can experience an additional day between Wednesday and Thursday. They call it Grunsday. It's pretty cool, but it also affords opportunity for crime. I loved the book until about halfway through when the plot turns to magic. I felt very bogged down and wanted the story to end. This is probably because I don't like the fantasy genre very much.

[jadedog13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The eighth day was filled with horrible people who blew up entire families during engagement parties, used blood for magic, and imprisoned a teenage girl just because her ten-times-great-grandfather had been a legendary wizard.
-- Chapter 17


This book. Wow. I really enjoyed it and I'm excited to read book 2. In fact, I'll be checking the library for it as soon as I'm done here. I knew the story was going to involve some magic, but I had no idea. This book takes the legend of King Arthur, Merlin, and the Lady of the Lake and uses it to create a brand new story.

Jax is a great character. He is dealing with the loss of his parents and living with a new guardian that he doesn't like and isn't even family. One day, everyone has disappeared and Jax has no idea what is happening. For all he knows, he is the last person left alive. Turns out he is a transitioner - a person who can live in both the normal seven days and in the eighth day. He gradually learns the secrets of the 8th day and more about who his father was. He makes some naive mistakes that I knew were going to be a problem, but they fit in well with his character.

The last third of this book had me on the edge of my seat and I could not put it down.

This book is a fun, quick read; like a fairy tale retelling (which I love), but with the legend of King Arthur as inspiration. It is an original idea and the author did a great job with it.

Recommended to:
Grades 5 - 8. A fabulous fun story that kids will enjoy. Takes the excitement of the King Arthur legend and brings the magic into the current day.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

THE EIGHTH DAY was a very engaging fantasy adventure. Thirteen-year-old Jax Aubrey is recently orphaned and living with a guardian who isn't much older than he is. He is having a hard time adjusting. It gets even harder when he wakes up one morning to find an empty world. He is frightened and confused. There are no people; there is no electricity; the sky looks weird.When he is awakened by his guardian Riley the next morning, it is as if nothing happened. When it happens again the next week, Riley is there too. Jax soon learns that only certain people are able to live on the eighth day. Transitioners like him and like Riley who are descendants of King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round table live all eight days. The Kin are trapped there and live only on that eighth day.Jax meets and befriends a girl who is living next door and who only lives on the eighth day. Evangeline is a descendant of Merlin. Riley is either her protector or jailer depending on your point of view. Jax feels sorry for her and decides to make her his friend. But evil forces among the Kin want to find Evangeline and use her to free themselves from being imprisoned on the eighth day.This story was a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down. I really liked Jax and Evangeline and got to like Riley more when he started to open up to Jax about what was going on. I can't wait to read the sequel.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This would be a great book to read if you loved the concept from the Midnighters series. Instead of having an extra hour, like in the Midnighters series, now there's an entire extra day. It isn't available to "normals" however - just to Transitioners like Jax, who doesn't know anything about the extra day until after his thirteenth birthday when he suddenly wakes, one day, to find the world empty except for himself, his guardian Riley, and Evangeline who lives across the street, but only on the extra day. The other seven days of the week Evangeline doesn't exist. Jax later finds out that as incredible as she is, she is still a prisoner and that Riley of all people is her jailer. He however, claims to just be trying to keep her safe and to preserve the status quo. This is book one of what promises to be an interesting and original series.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A highly enjoyable, action packed story about Jax discovering his identity. After the death of his father, Jaxs is stunned when he is given to Riley, a guy barely out of his teens to be his guardian. However, when he finds himself on a weird day when no one else is around, Jax discovers he is part of a world he never even knew existed, one where there is an extra day between Wednesday and Thursday where only certain people have the ability to exist. Those people all have ties to Arthur, Merlin, and the period of the Knights of the Round Table. When Jax meets Evangeline, a neighbor who only exists on the eighth day, he is drawn to become her friend and find out as much as possible about this world. As Jax discovers this world and its ancient grudges, he is drawn in to an action packed adventure where his very life is in the balance, and the lives of all those he cares about.

[darkfaerietales_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: The fact that the novel was middle grade had me wary when I started, but I can say having finished it that I enjoyed the book nonetheless.Opening Sentence: Jax pedaled home from the store and muttered in cadence with the rhythm of his bike wheels: This sucks. This sucks. This sucks.The Review:Jax is an orphan. After being sent to live with a friend of his fathers he had never met before, he is plunged into a life full of fantasies straight out of King Arthur and his round table and he learns that there is more than seven days of the week. In between Wednesday and Thursday, Merlin and two others created a day that only Transitioners and Kin can exist in, a day where Normals simply are not there. Jax learns he is a Transitioner when he visits the eight day for the first time and meets Evangeline, a Kin that is stuck in the eighth day and doesn’t exist in the rest. When the seven days are threatened and billions of Normals put at risk, can Jax and his friends stand up to the challenge?The Eighth Day is a middle grade book, which at first was worrying to me. After all, I haven’t read many of them since fourth grade, when I bridged over to the YA genres. And this novel is clearly a middle grade novel, with easier language and larger font size, the biggest difference being that character’s thoughts are written instead of described. However, there was no need for me to worry, because The Eighth Day was enjoyable nonetheless. The unique plot and way that it molds into old legends reminds me much of Percy Jackson and the Olympians as well as Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow, both of which I have very fond memories of. The main character and the writing style was simple, but it did not detract from the main scheme of things.There isn’t really a romance in this novel, so if you are hoping for gooey kisses and cute conversations this isn’t for you. There is an unexpected twist at the end, but the main character does not get together with anyone, and mostly just forms friendships. This didn’t matter to me as the action and constant excitement kept me on the edge of my seat. Really, there wasn’t room for a love story anyway — but still, I thought that Evangeline and Jax were destined to be when I started the book, so a fair warning to all those sappy readers out there.I didn’t get confused in the book even with all the Merlin/Arthur/Nivianne mythology mixed in, so kudos to the author for that. I really did love the way the legends mixed seemlessly into the modern world, with lots of wonderful world-building just like the examples above. The whole concept of the eighth day was new and refreshing and just the thing that saved me from a recent book-hopping marathon, keeping me hooked all the way through. I think if this had been written into the YA genre I would have enjoyed it more, because I’m used to YA, so probably it would have been knocked up one star, but honestly I loved it anyway!If you love the PJO series than you will enjoy this book. It’s not as hilarious as the Riordan books were but the mythology and world-building aspects were just as strong, and the plot just as unique as those were when they first came out. (Now Greek mythology books are all the rage!) I hope you try it out especially if you are closer to the middle grade age group, but even if you aren’t I think teenagers will enjoy it just as much. Maybe not adults, but if this novel sounds good than try it out!Notable Scene:But Jax was already there. “Mrs. Unger’s ghost . . . ““Yeah,” Riley said. “She’s real.” Then he looked at the second floor of Mrs. Unger’s house and made a thumbs-up sign.Jax lifted his head.A girl with long, ghostly pale hair was watching them from the upstairs window.FTC Advisory: HarperCollins provided me with a copy of The Eighth Day. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. In addition, I don’t receive affiliate fees for anything purchased via links from my site.