Series Review: In The After and In The End ARC

A Series Review

In The After Duology

Titles: In The End, In The After (ARC)

Author: Demitria Lunetta

Release date of last book: July 24, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Source: HarperCollins

Synopsis:

Amy is watching TV when it happens, when the world is attacked by Them. These vile creatures are rapidly devouring mankind. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to escape—and even rescue “Baby,” a toddler left behind in the chaos. Marooned in Amy’s house, the girls do everything they can to survive—and avoid Them at all costs.

After years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she’ll lose Baby—and much more.

I received a copy of the second book from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. No compensation of any kind have been received for this review and all of the opinions in this review are solely my own.

First Sentence (First book): I only go out at night.

First Sentence (Last book): I long for the comfort of night.

My thoughts:

Thank you HarperCollins for the ARC of In The End.

I really like reading Post-Apolyptic dystopian books. Why? Because of course, it gives me an idea of what I may or may not encounter one of these days. These books are better than any survival guide you can even get at those stupid bookstores out there. Post-apocalypic books gives a lot of possibilities of what might happen in the future but all their theme is survival to the fittest and staying sane and human.

The world is ending and the cause of it are green, ugly, and slimy creatures. My first thought was that I was reading an apocalypse book with aliens. But of course, I'm wrong. They're not aliens. They're some kind of mutated things that is caused by some biological warfare. These creatures feeds on protein and they are most potent during daytime. Yeah, weird right? Daytime? Shouldn't they be like afraid of the sun or something? (Read this book and you'll eventually know why). Amy calls the creatures “Them” and “They”.

Amy is left there alone in her house when the end of the world started. You could've thought she died then eventually but she manages to survive. Her mom and dad is nowhere and didn't came back for her. But at least they left her a house that could stand against these greenie monsters. After surviving a few weeks, months maybe, she now calls the world, Before and After. Before the creatures and After the creatures. She learned how to adapt. Most importantly she learned how to survive. She goes out of her house to scavenge food, clothing and books. (I really love the scavenging books though, I'd love to do that too) Then she meets Baby.

Baby is what Amy named the little 4 year old girl she saw and picked-up at a grocery store. Just wow right? A 4 year-old little girl surviving on her own against Them. When Amy took the little kid home, she easily got attached to her. Of course she would, she'd been starving to have human contact for months and she found someone. Baby and Amy grew nearer to each other like sisters. They learned how to live in the After. They even made a silent way of communication through a modified sign-language. (Which is very awesome, I'd like to learn it too.)

Within three years surviving in the After, they soon find out they weren't the only surviving humans here on earth. They learned about a society. A new society in the After that in first sight you can tell it's the best after the end, but every society has it's flaws. Amy could not keep up with that so she leaves to find someplace safer for a new home.

In 'In The End', the last book of the duology, Baby is in danger. Amy is willing to give everything, even her life to Baby. And only someone from another colony/society in the After could help her to get her back. In here she deals with the rough way of people living in the After. She battled with what the After had made of the people to put it simply. She cannot trust anyone and she meets new people. She fought off many more monsters—the green ones and monsters with human faces.

Wait is there no romance in this series? Of course it does. In “In the End” Amy is torn between Rice – the handsome geek scientist guy and Jacks – the rough and rugged gorgeous boy in another place. (By the way I'm Team Rice) This is what I like with Amy, she easily makes decisions, not like any other girls that loves to run around the circle. If you read the last book, you'll know who she is really into. Even in post-apocalyptic times, love prevails. There is always hope and there is no place like home.

In the After is fast-paced and a very easy read. (I finished up the 2 books in just 1 day) That's how good this series is. This series is best recommended to those who have read The Maze Runner, Across The Universe and Warm Bodies. These books are a mixed of those books, or at least you can associate it to. The main character is fearless, and brave. Even a lot braver than the guys here. That's what I love about girl protagonists. We girls don't need your saving, we can survive and adapt like you guys could. This series is a must read. It teaches us that not because a person is not of your blood it doesn't mean you can't consider them as family, you can't love them even more than yourself. That is what love does. You just cannot give up love, not even for the whole world itself.

I don't know about you but if I can't talk you into reading this, I'm not sure you're in your right mind. This is an underrated and unmainstream series that you readers can get your hands on. These books are so good, I can assure you that. So if you haven't read In The After, do something and read it now. And well, wait for the conclusion In The End, once it'll be out on July, you guys run over to the bookstore and read onwards!

Favorite book in the Series: In The After

2 Books. 2 Phrases. 2 Words.

Read now. Survive after.

Rate

In The After : 5/5 stars

In The End : 4.75/5 stars

PS:

I've never read a duology. And wow, I think I like duologies now. Thank you for the tweets Demitria Lunetta!

Add InThe After and In The End on your to read.

ARC Review: (Don't You) Forget About Me

A Stand-Alone Review

Title: Don't You Forget About Me

Author: Kate Karyus Quinn

Release Date: June 14 , 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Source: HarperCollins (ARC)

I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. No compensation of any kind have been received for this review and all of the opinions in this review are solely my own.

Synopsis:

Welcome to Gardnerville.

A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.

Except...
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.

First sentence: It was a bizarre May day parade at midnight instead of midday.

My thoughts:

I just want to thank HarperCollins again for their generous hearts in providing this book. I just cannot thank them enough. This is my third official ARC Review. I might not be as good as the long time reviewers yet but I will be better in time.

Another suspense book. I'm mostly into dystopian but it seems I've been reading a lot of paranormal books lately. Since I needed to finish reading and reviewing all the ARCs before the next semester starts, I decided to read Don't You Forget Me. “Pairing the otherworldly touch of Tuck Everlasting and the eerie suspense of Stephen King (Don't You) Forget About Me is perfect for fans of Maggie Stifvater's The Raven Boys.”

I have read or encountered neither of Tuck Everlasting, The Raven Boys and any Stephen King's books. I really have no idea what this book would be like. I thought it would have creepy and disturbing things like the last suspense book I've read but I'm not so sure. Before reading I thought it would be something like the Beautiful Creatures by Kamie Garcia and Margaret Stohl. But it isn't. I haven't read anything like it yet. The style of writing of this book is nearly poetic. Just like Tahereh's writing style of Shatter Me but without the numbers. I liked the writing style of this book, it's beautiful.

“Those secrets run through me like cotton candy, sweet and airy and insubstantial. The others are like sticky spiderwebs – they cling no matter how you try to pull them away.” - (pg. 37)

It was slow paced but it doesn't make you stop to read it. It's a bizarre read. Everything about this book is weird. The good kind of weird. Gardnerville is Bizzaroville. Gardnerville is a town where all kind of otherwordly things happen and it just leaves you there like, “whaaaaaat?” People with otherwordly abilities like read secrets like it's nothing but something being handed to you as nothing. Making people bend to your will. Charming people to love you with no boundaries. Absorbing pain and death for other people. Making people blink out of existence. Willing people into existing. Those kinds of things.

When you live in Gardenville, the kind of paradise most people dream in this wicked, sickly world. You would never get sick, you never get old. But nothing good comes with a great cost. Every fourth year in Gardenville, something, (okay the most bizzare of the bizzarest things) happens in the place. Where teens die and not survive puberty. That is the cost of living in Gardenville, your life is in the brink of danger every other four years.

It was just a bit hard to follow the story because the chapters of the book is alternating from the past and the present. Sky has lost her sister and cannot bear her lost. She cannot unforget her. Normally, if you've lost a love one you'll eventually forget about them but not Sky. She cannot let her go. She clings to her even more. She refuses to believe she's gone and does everything to bring her back. So she drinks these pills to make her forget even just for some hours.

“They take away the sorrow, they take away the pain, and they leave the great gaping holes in my life. “You'll only remember the good times.”” - Sky (pg 55)

(I'd like to have some of the pills of my own sometime.) But her mind commits her to memory again, the things she wants to forget the most, are the ones that she really cannot forget no matter how many pills she take. Even if this book is a thriller, suspense, it has a slight touch of sweet romance. A different kind of love in the shortest of times.

“So, was it worth? What I mean is...Is it worth having something good when it's gonna be taken away? When it's only temporary and later you're left wondering if you imagined it anyway?” - Sky (pg 273)

If you have issues on memories that you couldn't let go or memories you would want to let go, this book might be seeking for you. You need to read this so that you'll know how important and essential our experiences and memories to our existence. They define us.

“Remember Me. But do it the right way. Remember it all. The good, the bad and the ugly. I'd rather be forgotten than remembered the right way.” - Piper (pg 281)

Sky is someone who I can compare myself to. I let go of the past that easily not really caring what had happened and what will happen tomorrow. All we do is believe to this: “It's okay, don't worry.” But little do we know that our past makes the most of us and our homes made us to what we really are to this day. Read this book, it's raw of emotion and feelings. It may not be the book you'd scream about, but it's the kind of book that will leave a mark in your mind and heart.

“Forgetting the past doesn't change it, and if we want a better ending we'll have to go out and create it for ourselves somewhere on the other side of the mountain” (pg 309)

Rate: 4/5 stars

ARC Review: Sleep No More

A Stand-Alone Review

Title: Sleep No More

Author: Aprilynne Pike

Release Date: May 14 , 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Source: HarperCollins (ARC)

I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. No compensation of any kind have been received for this review and all of the opinions in this review are solely my own.

Synopsis:

Oracles see the future. But they are never supposed to interfere. Charlotte learned that the hard way. If she hadn't tried to change one of her childhood visions, her mother wouldn't be in a wheelchair—and her father would still be alive.

Since that fateful accident, Charlotte has tried to suppress her visions. But when she receives a premonition of a classmate's murder, she knows she can no longer sit idly by.

Then she meets Smith, a man who not only knows Charlotte's secret but who also claims to have a way for her to manipulate her visions to change the future. But doing this means Charlotte must put herself in the path of the murderer.

First sentence: I sit on the itchy couch and stare at Mommy's eyes, wishing for them to open.

My thoughts:

Okay, so it's my first time to receive Advance Review Copies and I just want to thank HarperCollins again for their generous hearts in providing this book. I just cannot thank them enough. This is my second official ARC Review so allow me to start again and try. I'll get better in this, I promise that.

At first, I really didn't know that this book is somewhat paranormal, suspense, thriller type.

I only realized it when I was almost halfway of the book. This book says that “Lisa McMann's wake trilogy meets the blockbuster film Inception”. I didn't really know what to make of this book since I haven't read the wake trilogy or watched Inception yet (since I'm not really a big fan of suspense and horror movies, so I had no idea.

This book is about seeing the future and what it's like to be an oracle. We've read through history that oracles were once real. Back in those grecian and roman times, Oracles used to help heroes in their quests by giving them an idea or glimpses of the future. This book now tells us how and what oracles do if they still exist these days. First thing I asked myself when I learned that Charlotte can do is “If I we're in her place would I want to see the future?” I said I'll answer this when I finish reading this book.

Forget the past. Change the Present. Fight the Future. A dark, exhilarating, blood-pumping read which will put you at the edge of your seats and will plant a lot of questions in your minds. This is what this book will do. Like what would you do if you really have premonitions or visions that does really happen? What if you see a bad premonition, would you dare to right it? Would you dare to go against fate against nature to change the future? Would you dare to trip the balance for the sake of making things right and face the consequences of it? Charlotte will help you answer this questions. It maybe a little disturbing for other people, this story but it will open your mind more to violence, revenge, trust and the truth.

Charlotte is someone who you would call a hero, in times of horror. She was brave enough to discover by herself her abilities and her responsibilities by her own though it led to danger and safety as well. She was reckless and to trustful which made her weak but she made herself strong enough to face the mistakes that had lead to other people's deaths and right everything. The past might not be changed but she knows she can do something about the future and does a huge leap of faith to do what she thinks is right. She may fight what she is, but finally she will understand that she cannot fight her nature and continue living her life.

Heartbreaking as it is, You will like this book because it will make you question all the characters's motives and guess who's involved in the evil ploys. I wasn't smart enough to figure out who really was the killer here. I wasn't shocked but I wasn't expecting it either. It was like I've always known who the killer is on my mind all along but I just refused to believe it. This book made “Trust No One” the understatement of the millenia. If you have trust issues I suggest you read this book, pun intended.

I may not love paranormal books but this made me finish it, even a little later than I expect but I've read it until the last page, didn't I? A page-turner, a remarkable book for those who are seeking for thrill and suspense. If you loved The Lovely Bones or Mara Dyer, you would want to read this. You would want to go to the bookstore now and grab a copy if you love paranormal books. You must read this if you are a Newtown survivor, this book is dedicated to you.

Rate: 4/5 stars