Life As We Knew It

 

Title: Life As We Knew It

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Released: October 1, 2006

 Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. - Goodreads

After reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I was looking for another post-apocalyptic read, so I picked this up. I sadly did not enjoy it. I'm just going to go straight to the positives and negatives.

Positives:

• I really enjoyed the idea and story the author had for this book. It really will make readers think: what would you do in this situation? I am very interested in this type of story, so naturally I found the concept really intriguing. 

Negatives:

• The characters! What makes a book enjoyable, for me, are the characters and this book really fell short in this area. I had a hard time connecting for any of the characters and as the book went on, my dislike just grew. Just a side note: about half way through the book the author stops calling the main character's younger brother Jonny and starts referring to him as Jon. There is no explanation given and this just really bothered me.
• I really disliked the way it was written. It was written in journal format, but came across as very unbelievable. I don't know any teenage girl who would write a journal that in depth. It really lacked emotion from the main character and maybe if there was more emotion I would have connected with her character more.
• As I stated before, I had just finished The Road before starting this, so some aspects of this book were really unbelievable for a post-apocalyptic novel. One aspect is the fact that everything/everyone was so civilized. In The Road, you see cases of cannibalism and many more cases of death. In this book, the author made it seem so much more civil. When I think of the end of the world, I don't see everyone sharing and being so civil about everything. I see people doing what they can to survive.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I would only recommend this if you are a huge post-apocalyptic fan and can look over my negatives.

Rating: 2/5 stars
 

Dollhouse

 

Title: Dollhouse

Author: Anya Allyn

Publisher: CreateSpace 

Published in: 2012

Fifteen year old Aisha disappears in the forests on a school hiking trip. She's the latest in a string of children to vanish there over the past five years. The towns surrounding the forests are on edge and they demand answers. And wildboy Ethan—Aisha's boyfriend—is on the run after he and his grandfather are blamed for Aisha's disappearance.

Cassie is just about the only friend Ethan has left. She's been secretly in love with him ever since her mother dragged her to the wilds of Australia from Florida six months ago.

Desperate to prove Ethan's innocence, Cassie searches the forests with Ethan to find out what really happened to Aisha. But Ethan's growing strangely silent, and Cassie's left questioning if her feelings for him are clouding her judgment.

Cassie discovers a dark secret lurking in the heart of the forests; a secret world of nightmarish horrors—where nothing is as it seems, where the supernatural invades your soul, where the people she trusted most might be the people she can trust the least, and where escape exists only in dreams. -Goodreads

I would have never heard of Dollhouse unless I hadn't been browsing the free section of the Amazon Kindle store. I read a few reviews on there and decided that I should give it a try. (I believe it is still free if anyone is interested)

Towards the beginning of the book, we get the story of how Aisha goes missing from the main character. From this point, I didn't think I would like her (Cassie) very much. She whined a lot about how Ethan was with Aisha and tried to put herself in the middle of their arguments. I read on because other than that, the story was pretty interesting.

I really liked the creepiness of the book. I don't want to spoil anything, but it does involve a human dollhouse (hence the name). As the book went on, Cassie became more likable and I really enjoyed her perspective of things. The only problem was that it took a while for things to get interesting.

I would recommend this book to people who like creepy stories. If you can get past a slow beginning and a slightly annoying main character, then I would recommend this book to you!

Rating: 3 stars

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Title: Hex Hall
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: Hyperion

   Sophie Mercer, who found out she was a witch three years ago, has been sentenced to go to Hectate Hall because of a love spell that went wrong. She was sent there by her father, who she was never met. By the end of her first day, she is already off on the wrong foot. Three of the most powerful witches don't like her and her roommate is a vampire, who no one seems to like. When is seems like things couldn't get worse, she finds out that someone has been murdering young witches at her school.
     After reading and hearing so many good things about this book, I finally decided to give it a try. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. There was never a point is the book where I wanted to put it down.
    This series contains many types of magical people. The characters consist of witches, warlocks, faeries, shapeshifters, and even a vampire. The protagonist, Sophie, is an extremely likable character. She has a strong personality that you seem to root for even when she makes a stupid decision. The plot was very interesting. You never have to wait long for something interesting to happen. Once the author pulls you in, you don't want to put it down.
    Overall, I'm glad I listened to the hype surrounding this book. It was very enjoyable and it left me wanting to dive right into the next one.

Rating: 4.5 stars