Feel Me Fall

If Lord of the Flies and Hatchet had a literary love child, this would be their baby. Gripping from page one, this book is impossible to put down and I easily had it finished in two sittings. A plane full of students and teachers on their way to a field trip in South America goes down over the Amazon and there is only one survivor. Emily Duran is wrecked with guilt and haunted by what went on in the jungle. In between nightmares and exhaustion she slowly starts to recount her harrowing trek to recovery, how the group of six survivors slowly narrows down until she's all that's left. Teamwork didn't come naturally to the ragtag team of survivors, especially since they are all from different social high school "orders." There is the jock, the stoner, the mean fat girl, the two best friends (Emily and her best mate Viv), and the weirdo who just so happens to be a survivalist. Instead of working with each other to survive, they start to turn on each other with disastrous results. Not only are the animals, rivers, and food potentially deadly, but now they practically need to sleep with one eye open. A heart pounding thriller that doesn't ease up until the astonishing conclusion. A wonderful read with a great twist!

The Living

A little slow to start but endlessly absorbing once you get into it! Shy thought it would be an easy summer working on a cruise ship, anything to get his mind of his grandmother who recently passed away from Romero's disease, but things are about to get a lot more complicated. Things are all fun and games on the ship, until they're not. When a huge earthquake takes out the west coast, massive tsunamis are headed towards the cruise liner and Shy is in for the ride of his life. He's worried about his safety, his crush Carmen, and of course the safety of his crew mates and the passengers, it's going to take everything in him to survive. It's an emotional roller coaster and an excellent survival story. There are also political and ethical quandaries for teens to ponder. An excellent read, I can't wait for the next in the series. For fans of Ashfall and other natural disaster survival books!

Ashfall

This is my THIRD time reading this book and I still couldn't put it down. This young adult novel is so intense and gripping because it's totally plausible. This could absolutely happen. Yellowstone is due to erupt anytime. Mike Mullin enters the young adult dystopian/apocalyptic genre with originality and managed to create one of the most realistic and haunting trilogies of them all.

Fifteen year old Alex is scared, bleeding to death, and lost when he winds up in Darla's barn. He's been journeying through ash and violent weather for days trying to make his way to Illinois where his family is. Ever since the volcano erupted and the world changed it's each man for himself. Alex has to find food and water, learn to trek through the deep ash without breathing it in, and defend himself from dangerous starving people. Will Darla be able to accompany him on this hellish journey? Can they make it?

For fans of the Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent. I will admit, this book is a great "how to" for whenever Yellowstone does erupt. It's full of practical advice and survival skills. Mullin really did his research! The other two books in the trilogy are just as good!

The Martian

READ THIS BOOK! I've read some pretty amazing shit this year, but this one takes the cake. It is hands down the best book I've read in 2014. Simply... mind blowing! It's Macgyver meets Castaway... but on Mars.

It's labeled as science fiction but it seems so stunningly real that it could happen some day. Like in the not to distant future. Author, Andy Weir puts his nerdy engineering and space skills to the test in this book by brilliantly bringing to life an unimaginable scenario. Astronaut Mark Watney is mistakenly left on Mars after a mission goes wrong. His crew thinks him dead and are ordered to abort the mission and go home. Mark has to use all his skills and resolve to stay alive on this desolate planet. All he has is a small base, 2 rovers, and enough food to last 300 days. Can he re-establish contact with earth? Can he make the food stretch? Can he find the will to survive? It sounds serious and depressing, but it's anything but. It's witty, informative, and damn smart. Mark tries to make the best of his shitty situation and his daily logs contain dark humor and an amazing strength to believe.

You have to read it! Simply amaze-balls. I can hardly believe this is Andy Weir's first book, it's genius, well-researched, and has qualities to draw readers of all genres in. I cannot wait to see the movie version coming out next winter!

For fans of... anyone that has a brain. READ IT!

I Received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.

Sunrise

LOVED IT!! This may be my favorite in the trilogy. Things really started to come together and I loved the character development. It was thrilling, ingenious, and well researched. If Yellowstone erupts in my lifetime, this will most definitely be my go to manual.

The first two books were composed of a lot of short term missions, scuffles, fights, survival, but this book really set the stage for how Alex, Darla and their family is going to be able to live long term in their apocalyptic new world. I enjoyed their town building, technical details and strategies for solving common problems. It's very intriguing and suffice it to say, if I were in their shoes I wouldn't last too long.

An exciting and impeccable conclusion to the "Ashfall" trilogy, I can't wait to see what author, Mike Mullin, has in store for us next!

For fans of survival literature, end of the world scenarios, and dystopias.

Ashen Winter

I thought the first book in the trilogy was fast paced, boy was I wrong! The action in "Ashen Winter" never lets up. Just when you think they've finally made it, something insane and awful happens and you have to keep reading!  There is no break! Which is fine by me because this makes the story whiz by.

Almost half a year after Yellowstone erupted and pretty much destroyed North America, Alex and Dara decide to leave the relative safety of his Uncle's farm to try and find Alex's parents. The second they hit the road, all hell breaks loose. There's bandits, flensers (cannibals), horrible FEMA officers, and gangs of desperate starving people who will stop at nothing to survive. Alex and Dara have to not only fight and outsmart these people, but survive the hellish winter they're in. Is it even worth surviving in this world? And if so who is worth dying for?

Another fantastic addition to Mike Mullin's work. I cannot wait to read the conclusion!

For fans of dystopias, fight for survivals, and young adult literature.

Unbroken

Holy crap batman, this was one hell of a biography! Seriously, so good. This is hands down the best biography of a WWII soldier I have ever read. This heartbreaking and powerful odyssey will have turning pages faster than a torpedo. I dare you not to be completely hooked after page one!

This biography of Louis Zamperini is almost unbelievable. How a man could survive against such odds is astounding. Zamperini, a star athlete and Olympic runner, was flying in a B-24 when it crashed in the ocean and and killed all but three men. They starved, fried and languished in two lifeboats for a month and a half (a record at that time) eventually losing one man and finally getting rescued... by the Japanese. They thought starving on the sea was bad, but they soon learned that what the Japanese soldiers had in store for them was much worse. For years they suffered in horrific POW camps; getting beaten, degraded, starved, and killed. Louis and the surviving pilot were both declared dead by the US government after being missing for thirteen months. Their story of survival against such odds is truly inspiring.

I learned soo much about aircraft, the Pacific theater, the Japanese, POW camps, the US Air Force, and the end of the war through this biography. It was truly a fantastic read. It didn't even read like non-fiction; it was fluid and soo fantastic that I had to keep reminding myself that this all really happened.

An excellent read, recommended for everyone!

Also, Louis is still alive and well in his 90s.How amazing. I can't wait to see the movie version written by the Cohen brothers and directed by Angelina Jolie.