Review: Life As We Knew It! Susan Beth Pfeffer

 

Life As We Knew It

Last Survivors #1

Susan Beth Pfeffer

Goodreads Page

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My Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Synopsis: 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.

My Review!

Characters: 

    Miranda (main character: 

        A 16yr old high schooler, living in urban Pennsylvania, obsessed with a figure skater who trained in town has to grow up real quick when a meteor hits the moon. Miranda is legit obsessed with this figure skater, like talks about it a lot, stalks him online, is on forums for stalking him further, etc, which i get, i love ice skating, but only to the point that i'll watch it whenever it's on. Miranda spends a good 75% of this book just outright BITCHING about everything; "why can't i go swim knowing that west nile is killing everyone" "why can't i go ice skate on the frozen pond knowing it's below zero out and can turn into a blizzard in mins" "why can't i eat more than a can of food for dinner knowing there is NO OTHER food in the damn world" "why do i have to share a room with everyone knowing i would literally FREEZE TO DEATH if i slept alone". last time i read this (in 2014), i didn't notice or at least i don't remember her bitching as much but damn girl i just can't with you. THE FREAKING MOON IS FUCKING SHIT UP, GROW THE FUCK UP. *pretty sure i have a tumor after dealing with her shit*

    Jonny (Miranda's younger brother)

        I have no issues with Jonny, thou i really thought it was weird they still sent him to baseball camp with all this shit going on, i wouldn't be ok if it was my kid, i would worry so freaking much. 

    Matt (Miranda's older brother)

        Matt really took charge, became the man of the house real quick once he got home from school. I did worry a lot about him health wise since he was taking on so much with so little food, but he knew it was in everyone's best interest if at least someone in their family survived so he rather his younger siblings have that food. 

    Mom (i'm sure they said her name a few times, but i didn't catch it)

    MY FREAKING ROLE MODEL 100% legit i inspire to be this woman, she took charge, got them all the food and things they would need to be better off, took care of her elderly neighborhood, knew it's family first when shit goes down, freaking didn't eat most days so her kids would be good, knew never to take anything for granted. just i am in awe of her, and i took notes, and i just hope i can be like her if something major went down in the real world. 

Plot:

    The synopsis pretty much tells you the whole plot! the only slight issues i had was towards the beginning when this is said: They had charts and computer projections and graphics, but basically they looked like big kids at Christmas. when they talk about the scientist, how can they have all this shit, yet fuck up so badly. you're telling me they didn't have enough photos and graphs of this thing to not get a more correct estimate of how big this was and how bad it would be?! maybe it's only movie science that i've seen, but i think they really should have had a better idea of the outcome. 

Misc:

    Trigger Warnings: Eating disorders; suicide

    Tropes: none that i can think of. 

    Format I read: Kindle; 353pgs; English

    Tagged/Shelved As: Young Adult; Dystopia; Science Fiction; Apocalyptic; Survival

    

Library Hauls! (June 5th and June 9th)

 

Review: Tokyo Ever After!

 

Tokyo Ever After 

Tokyo Ever After #1

Emiko Jean

Goodreads Page

Purchase on Amazon

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars. 

Synopsis: Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”—and her mom against the world. But then Izumi discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity…and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess.

In a whirlwind, Izumi travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of. But being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.

Izumi soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of the crown, or will she live out her fairy tale, happily ever after?

My Review!

Characters: 

    Izumi (Izzy) Tanaka (Main Character)

        Izzy Izzy Izzy, i really liked Izzy, for one she references the Avengers! She has the major issues of being an "outsider" in her town, she's Japanese in a white town, she wants to find herself and her identity. She grew up with only her mom, ask about her dad a few times, but otherwise felt like her childhood with just her mom was enough, til one day she and her BF finds a poem from her dad to her mom (which is hecka romantic that her mom was using it as a bookmark 18 ish years later). Izzy of course finds out she's a freaking princess, which knowing that she was already having issues finding herself just because she was Asian in a white area, she wasn't going to have the best time trying to be a princess among all these royals who have grown up living their royal life and knowing all they know. She was crazy impulsive, didn't think twice about how her dumb shit would reflect on others, didn't think about how a royal should react to shit, nah, she just did what she wanted. She was all into finding herself but didn't put really any effort into learning how to be a royal, like that could have very well been your "true" you and you just didn't even try, ugh. 

     Akio (body guard/love interest)

        Royal body guard, tall, handsome, can kill you easily, fades into background easily as well, what's not to love. Akio is 100% devoted to his family and to his pride of being a royal guard which as been passed down in his family. he wants to be in the Japanese version of the air force, but when his mom gets sick and his dad has to step down as a royal guard, Akio steps up and becomes the guard instead, so again, very devoted to his family and understanding that you have to make some sacrifices for your family. but then in walks Izzy and this dude's poor world is flipped. 

    Asian Girl Gang (Izzy's friends from home)

        You don't see too much of them, mainly just texts, but Izzy does do a fair amount of talking about them or flashbacking to stuff involving them so you get a few looks into their world. Its really nice that Izzy could find some other Asian friends in her small "white" town, but it does make me wonder why she was freaking out so much about being a "minority" in that town if she can find 3 other Asian girls to be around, like what? 

Plot:

        Hidden princess plots always come across weird to me, especially in this day in age with all the 23 and Me shit, and all the social media out there to expose this kind of stuff, like look at TMZ, then can find anything and dig for any kind of story, granted i don't know much about Japanese media, but i feel like there was no way the royal family never looked into what had gone on with Izzy's mom when she spent so much time with the prince, you're telling me they didn't follow up with her at any point after he came back home, didn't notice her pregnant ass a few months after he left?! they mentioned how he had guard with him while in college, so they had to notice his interest in her and like i said, DO A FOLLOW UP. also seeing as he hadn't provided an heir 17yrs later, you would think that the royal people would have started digging?! but i digress. 

    the whole princess falling in love with her guard thing, hate it, it's almost Stockholm Syndrome in my mind, you're spending all your time with this dude, you rely on him tons, it's his freaking job, he literally has to jump in front of a bullet for you because again IT'S HIS JOB, and the freaking princess always takes that as like him falling for you, but dude, he has to be nice to you, has to be right by you all the time, has to have your best interest in mind, like you're almost taking advantage of him. i just don't like it. 

    small thing that annoyed me so much, so when their affair is outed, Izzy is told that Akio is at home, and his house is SURROUNDED by the press, so Izzy writes him a letter to have him meet her somewhere, and is upset when he doesn't show.... HOW WOULD HE GET OUT OF HIS HOUSE WITHOUT BEING FOLLOWED?!  and she takes that as him breaking up with her and just freaking leaves the country, like overreacted much. UGH. 

Misc: 

    Tropes: Hidden princess, insta-love ish, enemies to lovers 

    Trigger warnings: racism 

    Format I read: Kindle, 336pgs, English 

    Tagged/Shelved As: Young Adult; Contemporary; Romance; Cultural/Japan

Review: Arsenic and Adobo! (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #1)

 

Arsenic and Adobo 

Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #1

Mia P. Manansala 

Goodreads Page

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YouTube review

Synopsis: When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…

My Review!

Characters: 

    Lila (main character) 

            What can i say about Lila? well she comes across like any normal mid 20's first  generation immigrant girl. grew up in a small town, Shady Palms (which is that a Golden Girl's reference?!), orphaned and was raised by her aunts, she feels a strong sense of duty to her family which she actually throws to the side to pursue her dream of going to culinary school. Lila moves to Chicago, goes to college, and of course falls in love, what could go wrong.... boy cheats, she drops out, moves back home to help with the restaurant. overall i didn't mind Lila, she had some real annoying moments of selfishness, held some major resentment against having to be in this small town, was still in love with her high school sweetheart Derek, ignored her best friend's dream of opening a café together. She was a bit on the slow side when it came to figuring out this damn crime. she literally forgets the name of the Mexican restaurant in this small ass town, yet referred to it a good 4 times before and then just be like "what's the name of it again?". Also the damn girl talked way too much about food, i get it you, you love food, you want to be a baker, cool girl but damn, talk about something else. 

    Adeena (MC's best friend)

            we don't get much on the best friend other than she is vegetarian and is a Muslim so can't have pork, thou she has a brother and it seemed like he was eating whatever was handed to him by Lila without caring if it had pork or not. i liked Adeena, she was smarter than Lila, always reminding her to not go investigate by her self, which of course Lila did. i also very much supported Adeena when she got super shitty that Lila was deflecting EVERY SINGLE TIME Adeena brought up opening a café with her, dude she's your best friend, you have been complaining non stop about wanting to bake your shit and all that, but when Adeena askes her to do it, Lila is like "nah dude i don't want to stay in this small town", so you rather try to open a small café in a BIG town and get fucked by the Starbucks down the street, idiot. 

    Derek (love interest #1/formal lover of the MC/"bad guy")

        From what we learn of Derek, he had some major issues in college, which no one seemed to notice or were too busy living up their lives to give a shit about Derek's issues *cough cough* Armin *cough*. He got caught up in drugs, which is typical in a small town, tried to make ends meet, tried to do the good thing, was killed anyway. Poor Derek. Lila was very much still in love with him, they had the whole 1st grade bullshit going on, pulling pigtails and calling each other names. At least Lila was invested enough to solve his murder, thou it was 100% only because she didn't want her family to lose their restaurant.

    Armir and Dr Jae (other love interest/lawyer/dentist/not too important to the plot)

        Not much to say about either of them, they're just here to be the love triangle we needed? wanted? how lucky of Lila thou to have a lawyer and a dentist vying for her heart. 

    Aunt Rosie and the Calendar Crew

        I liked them, they were cute, they poked fun at Lila, but it was in a loving way, they had their connections and helped Lila throughout the investigation even if Lila didn't see it nor thanked them for it. 

Plot:

    i was crazy bored in the middle of this book, you get the murder pretty close to the opening of the book, and the vast majority of the middle is literally just Lila going to random restaurants and eating their food, then going into SO MUCH FREAKING DETAIL about the food she ate. sure the plot kinda moved after she visited these places, not in Lila's mind thou, just in the readers mind because i quickly caught on to the shit going in, whereas Lila was just like "oh good food......... oh right the murder". you do have a few suspects lined up and some of them make perfect sense, yet the actual killer *sigh* i just didn't like it, you only really get a few "clues" along the way to who it is, which i will admit i didn't notice til after it was revealed but i would think there would be more early on considering how much Lila and this person interacted. if Lila said "ube crinkles" one more time thou, i was going to lose my damn mind. 

Ending:

    Because this is only book 1, and in my experience with cozy mysteries, they will never end on a cliff hanger, the crime will always be solved in that book, which here it was, so the ending was just meh. just a feel good ending since Lila is finally going to have her café/bakery with Adeena (will you never know, they just got the deed to the place so they might never do it). the next book in the series is already listed on Goodreads, and has a title: Homicide and Halo-Halo; and had a release date of February 8th 2022. will i read it? eh, we'll see. 

Misc:

    Tropes: 

        Love Triangle between Lila, Amir, and Dr. Jae (thou you can say Derek is in there too, if he hadn't died). 

        Second Chance Romance with Amir, Lila had feelings for him in high school but felt weird since it was her BFF's brother. 

    Format I Read: Kindle; 336pgs; published May 4th 2021; English 

    Tagged/Shelved As: Mystery; Fiction; Mystery Thriller; Cozy Mystery; Contemporary

    Trigger Warnings:  Verbal Abuse; Death; Drugs; Violence; Kidnapping/Hostage Situation 

May 25th 2021 Releases!

 

Pumpkin'

(Dumplin' #3)

by Julie Murphy 

Goodreads Link

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOK(S)

Waylon Russell Brewer is a fat, openly gay boy stuck in the small West Texas town of Clover City. His plan is to bide his time until he can graduate, move to Austin with his twin sister, Clementine, and finally go Full Waylon, so that he can live his Julie-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music-Andrews truth.

So when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favorite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape accidentally getting shared with the entire school. . . . As a result, Waylon is nominated for prom queen as a joke. Clem’s girlfriend, Hannah Perez, also receives a joke nomination for prom king.

Waylon and Hannah decide there’s only one thing to do: run—and leave high school with a bang. A very glittery bang. Along the way, Waylon discovers that there is a lot more to running for prom court than campaign posters and plastic crowns, especially when he has to spend so much time with the very cute and infuriating prom king nominee Tucker Watson.

Spells Trouble

Sisters of Salem #1

by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Goodreads Link

Hunter and Mercy Goode are twin witches, direct descendants of the founder of their town of Goodeville. As their ancestors have done before them, it is now time for the twins to learn what it means to be Gatekeepers–the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds, ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and nightmares come to life.

When their mother becomes the first victim in a string of murders, the devastated sisters vow to avenge her death. But it will take more than magic to rein in the ancient mythological monsters who’ve infected their peaceful town.

Now Hunter and Mercy must come together and accept their destiny or risk being separated for good.

Sixteen Scandals 

By Sophie Jordan 

Goodreads Link

The youngest of four daughters, Primrose Ainsworth is used to getting lost in the shuffle. But when her parents decide to delay her debut into English society, Prim hatches a plan to go rogue on the night of her sixteenth birthday.

Donning a mask, Prim escapes to the infamous Vauxhall Gardens for one wild night. When her cover is nearly blown, a mysterious stranger intercedes, and Prim finds an unexpected partner in mischief . . . and romance. But when it’s revealed her new ally isn’t who he says he is, her one night of fun may last past dawn.

In this frothy regency romp perfect for fans of Austen-esque flirtation and Shakespearean hijinks, sometimes a little scandal can be a good thing.

Feed by Mira Grant!

At A Glance

Genre: YA; Horror; Zombies; Dystopian
Love Triangle/Insta Love?: none
Cliff Hanger: nah
Rating: 4 Stars

Score Sheet
All out of ten

Cover: 8
Plot: 8
Characters: 7
World Building: 8
Flow: 8
Series Congruity: n/a
Writing: 7
Ending: 7

Total: 7

In Dept

Best Part: All the tech!
Worst Part: so much death!
Thoughts Had: Starbucks thrives!

Conclusion

Continuing the Series: eh
Recommending: yes

Short Review: So usually you read any zombie book and they're stuck back in the 1990's with no internet/phones/ cool tech, but this zombie book said eff that, have way better tech than we do now, but somehow RadioShack is still in business..... I really liked Georgia, she was a straight shooter and was in the news to report the actual news which especially with what is going on in the world as the time i'm writing my review (covid-19), really hits home about how the news can make or break things. SPOILER: i think it's 100% fucked up that Georgia was killed, i really didn't like Shawn too much, he's a typical boy that really does just go poking shit with sticks for fun, so i doubt i'll read book 2 any time soon

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson!

At A Glance

Genre: YA; Science Fiction; Dystopian
Love Triangle/Insta Love?: nope.
Cliff Hanger: kind of but not like super annoying.
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Score Sheet
All out of ten

Cover: 7
Plot: 7
Characters: 6
World Building: 8
Flow: 8
Series Congruity: n/a
Writing: 7
Ending: 5

Total: 6

In Dept

Best Part: SHIPS!
Worst Part: "romance" with Jerkface...
Thoughts Had: Please shut up or own it!

Conclusion

Continuing the Series: yes
Recommending: yes

Short Review: I love funny AIs or just AIs that are crazy/funny. M-bot was a hoot, he better be in the next book. The main character was okay, she whined a bit too much, and she flipped flopped so much, like act like a bitch and own it or just shut the fuck up, you can't just keep doing/saying dumb/bitchy shit and then taking it back right away or feeling bad about it. SPOILER: I didn't really like the ending, for one, they barely explain the damn defect, and what the fuck are the Krell, like i'm still so confused. and how the fuck did they just switch someone in her dad's brain to fuck shit up. like how does that work!