3.5 StarsThese books always make me a bit paranoid, I start hoarding tins, toilet roll, candles. I need to buy a bunker in Alaska or something.

Life on Earth changes suddenly for humanity when a large asteroid strikes the moon, knocking it closer to the planet. The tides change, weather gets more violent, and volcanoes begin erupting. One day 16-year old Miranda is a typical teenager....and the next she finds herself fighting for her life. What would happen if society ended? Miranda keeps a daily diary about what happens after the abrupt end of modern society.Life As We Knew it is the first of four books in the Last Survivors series. I

I'm all for the "survival of the fittest when tragedy strikes" novels. I normally like the hardcore kind. Given this was a young adult novel, I didn't expect it to be graphic, violent or truly horrific which is why I went into it expecting more light-hearted fiction -- and that's what I got. Nothing too clever or deep, but it did make me sad a few times. The characters are basic, the plot typical for this type of novel. The science of it all could be valid; I'm not exactly sure what I'd expect t...

For someone who doesn't always like YA, I really liked this book. It wasn't because of the writing style (which was simple), it was because the plot was so engaging. This post-apocalypic book gave me the heebie jeebies big time. I think the reason why this book really grabbed my attention was the fact that it didn’t seem so far fetched. I mean maybe the specific catastrophe of a asteroid crashing into the moon and pushing it much closer to Earth is far fetched, but any kind of disaster could hap...

I warn you, this is going to make me sound a little odd, if not insane: I read this book in bed, on the way to work, whenever I had free time. I’d be walking along the road thinking about how it’s probably good that someone shared their lunch with me today because we need to save food. And it’s really grey today. Damn those volcanic ash clouds blocking the sun. I imagined all the food we’d stock up on. What would be like to bring back cars full of tinned and jarred food? I need to remember to st...

This one has been so popular with the sixth graders I actually snagged it from the "return" box so I could finally read it! What a strange, depressing-yet-hopeful story about a family's struggle to survive after the moon is knocked out of its orbit and closer to Earth. It is definitely a page-turner, but I would also find myself kind of down after reading it. The one thing that bothers me about this book is that Christianity is portrayed in a horrible way. The main character (Miranda) has a best...

This book is was very overwhelming for me. I felt like it could really happen. After I read half the book I honestly wanted to go to the grocery store and get as much food as I possibly could. It showed me how fragile our lives really are, and I was reminded again what really is important in life. Miranda grows so much, at first I think she sounds a bit spoiled but she grows out of it. And you see what people are truly capable of. As the story progresses things get worse and worse. That is what

This is one of the most psychologically terrifying books I've ever read, and I think that's because of its hyper-realism. I don't know if I'd class this as dystopian. I think I'd class this as a survival tale. And a terrifying one at that. It's a smooth progression from a completely normal situation to a freakish horror scenario. Miranda's world progresses so slowly, so smoothly, that it's hard to even realize how nightmarish her life has become. Don't expect any jump scares, or explicitly scary...

Now I know a one star is pretty bad but when I put my cursor over the one star it says didn't like it and I did not like this book at all. I'm not going to go into full detail because it would torture me but heres the plot: You are reading about a family that lives in Pennsylvania and the character Miranda is a teenage girl living with her mom and brother. Scientists say that a meteor is going to hit the moon, and everyone doesn't really care about being a doomsday because the scientists say the...

This story gives you page after page of quietly powerful sentences... deep life lessons that will stay with you long after you've put this book down.Miranda, once a typical teenage girl, now faces the unthinkable for herself and for her family. A large meteor has collided with the moon, pushing it closer to Earth, causing tidal waves, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes. The power grid is destroyed. Volcanic ash now blocks the sun. Everywhere, people are dying from freezing temperatures and sta...

When you're reading a book about the apocalypse while living in the apocalypse:...I do not appreciate this. This book is about a girl named Miranda whose world is turned upside-down when an asteroid hits the moon and knocks it closer to Earth, causing a sudden overload of deadly natural disasters. I am confused. You need a huge asteroid to hit the moon hard enough to knock it out of orbit and bump it close to our planet. From the opposite direction. This makes absolutely no sense. It would just

 Okay, I was really looking forward to this book - I've been reading a lot of dystopias lately and they've surprised me in a positive way. Not this one.Why? SCIENCE. Listen, if you're writing fantasy or sci-fi that's not based on Earth you can go all out, like, "That asteroid knocked Zhogenaqn, our moon, out of orbit, which caused all the feueldndao plants to release zignhnwp, a deadly virus." It's cool. You can do that, and I won't even bat an eyelash at it.BUT when you say "oh all the ast

If only I could give negative ratings... *sigh*I love dystopias. Love, love, love them. But this... urgh. I literally have no words for how much I hated this. It shames all the other wonderful books that call themselves dystopias by putting this piece of junk under that same category.That's how much I hated it. H-A-T-E-D it.I literally get mad thinking about this book.

Opening Line:“Lisa is pregnant. Dad called around 11 o’clock to let us know.”I loved this, easily one of my top reads this year; although maybe love isn’t the right word because this book scared the crap out of me. It also depressed me, made me very cold and gave me OCD about stockpiling food. I mean just how long could I survive on what’s in my cupboards? Not very. Three boxes of Kraft Dinner and a jar of spaghetti sauce are hardly going to see me through a wintery apocalypse now are they? (Alt...

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.comIf you're looking for one of the best books of 2006, then look no further than Susan Beth Pfeffer's LIFE AS WE KNEW IT. A wonderful tale of family love, loss, and survival, this is one story that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. There have been lots of changes in sixteen-year-old Miranda's life recently. Her older brother, Matt, is away at college. Her mom is still adjusting to being a divorced parent. Her younger brother, Jonny, is ob...

I don't usually give 1 star unless I really hated the book. I really hated this book.I'm a sucker for dystopian/end of the world books, let me tell you. I picked this one up at Barnes And Noble last summer in the hopes of finding another book I really loved, but unfortunately that was not the case. The most important part of an end-of-the-world thriller, in my opinion, is it's ability to make you think that it could actually happen. I found Pfeffer's story of the moon being knocked out of orbit

i don't know who i am trying to kid. i keep reading these survival stories, thinking to myself, "i will know what to do if this happens - i will have tips and tricks and i will be the last one standing." that's pretty much bullshit. while its true i probably could survive, i wouldn't want to. i'm a fat lazy american - i don't want to have to scavenge. i don't want to have to hunt and skin deer or build a shelter or defend myself from others looking to eat my delicious arms. i don't want to have

Would recommend if you like post apocalyptic stories!Likes: -I love survival stories in general, and this fulfilled that.-A very realistic feeling apocalyptic event.-I loved that this showed the very beginning of the crisis and how survivors dealt with drastic changes.-The diary entry format suited this story and gave a personal touch.-I liked that the ending actually touched on a broad scale solution.Dislikes:-The writing was very simplistic.-Insensitive wording concerning mental health and dis...

Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors #1) by Susan Beth Pfeffer is a book that sounded so intriguing and it certainly was! A giant asteroid hits the moon from the dark side ( I think) and it had a greater force than expected and pushes the moon out of it's normal orbit, path, rotation, and closer to Earth!!! This book follows one family before and after as everything goes to h#ll right away as tidal waves surge again and again, then more and more disaster happen due to the different forces of the g...