Title: This World We Live In

Series: Last Survivors #3

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Published Date: April 1, 2010

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Format: Kindle

Page Count: 261 pages

Source: Library via OverDrive

Date Read: May 29-30, 2020

Review

Meh; it wasn't too bad and it was a quick read, but it didn't grab me the way the first two did. So we get a look at how the two families (or what remains of them) from the previous books come together a year after THE EVENT. The story tied up loose ends and gave us a couple of mini-disasters, but it didn't move the story forward. It felt like reading more of a novella with an extended epilogue. I did read the excerpt from the fourth and final book and it left me feeling like I am good ending the series here. The excerpt did answer my questions about how the camps work and that is enough for me. 

As for the romances, I didn't buy one of them. Miranda and Alex seemed to come out of nowhere- I flipped back to the last chapter and re-read the paragraphs trying to find where the spark was that started these two together. Nada. As for Miranda's older brother and his wife - yeah, the less said the better. Honestly, I was hoping the tornado would have taken care of those two. Then there is Carlos, who did nothing for the storyline and died in a fat-shaming way, so again the less said the better.

Not a lot to say other than my heart goes out to the Floyd family and the protestors in MN. Kansas' governor is sick and tired of everyone complaining about stay at home orders, so she is now leaving it up to the counties and city government to set limits for re-opening. I'm parking my ass at home for the summer regardless of how "safe" it is to venture to places that can amass a crowd. 

So for this last Friday in May, I am continuing my read stories 5-7 in Because He's Perfect, then onto my book for BL-opoly turn This World We Live In. Finally I hope to get through Sisters By Choice, which I had a hold on and it came through on Tuesday. 

COYER hosts are hosting read-a-thons within the greater COYER, and this next read-a-thon is the Diversity Read-a-thon. So for the next two weeks I will be knocking out the novellas on my summer list that fit the theme. 

I will be back on Monday. Taking a break from social media this weekend.

 I am Finished!

Nine rolls.

Eight prompts filled.

Five books off my physical reading shelf read.

No ladders, yet also no snakes. 

Previous Rolls

1. Space 1: Author is a Woman

A Distant Melody (Wings of Glory #1) by Sarah Sundin, 355 pages (worth 2 rolls) - Finished 4/9/2020

2 You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-10 00:43:11 UTC

Space 11

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-10 00:44:57 UTC

Space 19: Set in UK

The Scandalous Suffragette by Eliza Redgold, 234 pages, set in London, Manchester, and the Kent countryside (worth 2 rolls). Read April 9th-14th. 

3. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-15 13:56:05 UTC

Space 24

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-15 13:57:14 UTC

Space 28: Written between 1900 and 1999

The Final Days: The Classic, Behind-the-Scenes Account of Richard Nixon's Dramatic Last Days in the White House by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, originally published in 1976 (456 pages without the index). Worth 2 rolls when completed. Read 4/16-4/22.

 4. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-23 00:31:33 UTC

Space 32

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-23 00:32:04 UTC

Space 41 - Characters involved in politics

Eisenhower 1956: The President's Year of Crisis - Suez and the Brink of War by David A. Nichols (286 pages without notes or index). Worth 2 rolls when completed. Read 4/17-May 11.

 5. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-12 21:04:28 UTC

Space 48

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-12 21:04:48 UTC

Space 59 - Book published more than 10 years ago

I am using a book that I read during the game. The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby (285 pages without notes and index). Read 4/25-4/27. Worth two rolls.

6. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-15 01:35:41 UTC

Space 70

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-15 01:36:02 UTC

Space 73 - Categorized as YA

Another book I read during the game is Beauty Queens by Libby Bray (396 pages; I listened to the unabridged audiobook). Read 4/25-26th. Worth 2 rolls.

7. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-16 14:56:03 UTC

Space 78

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-16 14:56:24 UTC

Space 82 - Urban Fantasy

The Dead & the Gone - 309 pages.  Read 5/15-16. Worth one roll.

8. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-19 00:27:52 UTC

Space 94 - Nonfiction

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh. Read 5/13-14. Worth 2 Rolls.

9. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-19 00:41:19 UTC

Space 100 - Right on the nose, how 'bout that?

1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal (234 pages of reading material).

Title: The Dead & the Gone

Series: Life As We Knew It #2

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Publish Date: January 18, 2010

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Format: Kindle

Page Count: 341 pages

Source: Library

Date Read: May 15-16, 2020

Review

This second book in the series takes place at the same time the first book takes place, so if you want to read this book first and then the first book you can. Both books need to be read before going on to books 3 and 4.

Alex Morales has a lot on his plate as he nears the end of his junior year at Vicent de Paul Academy. He has dreams of being the first Puerto Rican POTUS; near future dreams include going to Georgetown for college. His family moved to NYC when he was five; his family includes Papi, Mami, older brother Miguel, and younger sisters Bri and Jamie. At the start of the book, Alex is working his after school job at the neighborhood's pizza place when THE EVENT happens....and he doesn't even observe it. He's working and talking to customers. As he walks home to the family's apartment, there are signs things are bad, but he also notices its NYC and these scenes happen. Once home, his sisters fill him in but Alex isn't too worried, since grown ups in the government and experts in science are probably already working on a solution. It's NBD. This will last a week at the most.

Oh Alex, have you met 2020?

THE EVENT, as I learned in book one, is that a meteor/asteroid knocked the moon out of its orbit and now the moon and the Earth are much closer to each other than is proper. The moon is responsible for a whole lot of regulating things on Earth as it turns out. 

Papi is back in his coastal hometown in PR so that he can attend his mother's funeral. He should be back on Saturday, but he never calls/writes/anything and yeah, flying back is so not an option RIGHT NOW. But the tides are out of control and so are the tsunamis, so chances are Papi didn't stand a chance. Yet the kids don't know for sure he's dead, they just don't know if he is alive. Mami got called in to work; she is a nurse at a hospital in Queens. She, too, doesn't communicate with the kids back in the apartment; she did have to take the subway to her job, and the subway was flooded. Alex goes to Yankee Stadium to see the recovered bodies in his search for Mami, but no dice. So the kids don't know for sure if she's dead, but they also don't know if she is alive. Folks, this is a case of Schrodinger's Parents! 

Miguel is a Marine stationed at Twenty-Nine Palms (dude, that sucks, sorry to hear that), but just as he is deployed he calls home to let Alex and the girls know he is okay and headed to Texas. A deployment from Twenty-Nine Palms to Texas sounds worse than my two trips to Iraq. Anyway, there is a clear sign that Miguel is okay and is being taken care of by the Marines. And then it is just a survival story of Alex and his two sisters while the world goes to hell in a handbasket. Ultimately, Alex and Jamie leave NYC on a bus headed for camp of religious survivors (nuns, priests, etc). 

There is a little violence (food riot) and innuendo regarding sex trafficking of minors/young women, but there is a lot of death as par for the course with an apocalyptic tale. There is also a lot of mutual aid and helping hands; there is class inequality and how corruption and connections help people survive. There is a lot of religion in this book, but it is woven deeply into the characters' lives and beings that it makes sense to have this much religious theme without it being overwhelming. The city itself is a character, giving flavor to scenes like the one at Yankee Stadium or when Alex goes to the more well off section and sees life around him looking more normal. Money makes not normal times seem more normal and bearable. I liked Alex and his sisters right off the bat; they're smart, hard working and most importantly city kids who rely on instincts to help them out. 

I plan on reading books three and four sometime this summer.

Goals

Read a total of 500 pages Done!

Finish Eisenhower 1956 and roll again for S&L 2020 Done!

Get to 50% of Stillhouse Lake - Done!

Make it to at least one Twitter chat Done!

Three Blog Challenges Done!

Five IG Challenges Done!

Monday, May 11th

Pages Read: 127/300 (42% complete)

Finished Reading: Eisenhower 1956

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake and Oklahoma City

Blog Challenge: #insixwords

IG Challenge: Currently Reading 

Twitter Chat: Participated

Tuesday, May 12th

Pages Read: 84 pages; 211/300 (70%)

Finished Reading: After finishing the third chapter of Oklahoma City, I DNF'ed it.

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake

Blog Challenge: If This, Then That

IG Challenge: Seasonal books

Wednesday, May 13th

Pages Read: 165 pages; 376/500 (75% percent)

Finished Reading: Nothing

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake, Heartland, The Dead & the Gone

Blog Challenge: Book to Movie

IG Challenge: Diverse Books

Thursday, May 14th

Pages Read: 126 pages; 502/500 (102%)

Finished Reading: Heartland by Sarah Smarsh

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake, The Dead & the Gone

Blog Challenge: Skipped 

IG Challenge: Color Me Happy

Friday, May 15th

Pages Read: 128 pages; 630 pages total

Finished Reading: Nothing

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake and The Dead & the Gone

Blog Challenge: Skipped

IG Challenge: Blown Away

Saturday, May 16th

Pages Read: 207 pages; 837 pages total

Finished Reading: The Dead & the Gone

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake

Blog Challenge: Leave a Review

IG Challenge: Beyond BoB

Twitter Chat: Participated

Sunday, May 17th

Pages Read: 34 pages; 871 pages total

Finished Reading: Nothing

Currently Reading: Stillhouse Lake

Blog Challenge: Skipped

IG Challenge: Skipped

Wrap Up

Pages Read: 871

# of Books Finished: 3, 1 DNF

Blog Challenges: 4

IG Challenges: 6

Twitter Chats: 2

Overall I am pretty happy with my showing in this cycle. There was one book I read some of but DNF it; had I not spent time on that book, I think I could have knocked out one more. At least I have half a book to read this week. I read almost 900 pages in one week - pretty damn awesome. Anyway, time to gear up for my summer reading project.