Review: Survivors by Sophie Littlefield

Survivors (goodreads.com)

Sophie Littlefield (website)

eBook

Published July 2011 by Harlequin

ISBN13: 978459207769

Source: Purchased for self

Genre: Zombie/Dystopian

Series: Aftertime 1.5

Stars: 4

                Life in the Box is about the safest place one can go in this Aftertime world. The guards constantly patrol to keep the Beaters away and the residents safe no matter how temporary their stay may be. Raiders bring in new and various supplies nightly. Dor sets the rules and people survive due to them. One of his rules is no children. He has made an exception with Cass’s daughter Ruthie. They’re with Smoke, and Smoke is his right hand man. One of the nightly raids brings a child and his dying grandmother into the box. The child is scared, starved, dehydrated and filthy. The grandmother is not long for the world. Cass and Smoke do what they can to find out as much information they can. The child is so traumatized that isn’t too sharing. They don’t want to see him turned out into the world, but there is the no child rule lingering in the background constantly.

                I love this series. The characters are real. The day to day life of survival is real. I think what I enjoy most about this series is the fact that it is survival with a side of zombie. Life is tough, it is even tougher in a new world with very limited resources. Cass is doing what she can with what little she has. She has her daughter back, she has her tent, with her guy, in the tent city inside the Box. This novella is part of a series and to completely understand how these survivors got to the Box and why they ended up at the Box you really have to read Aftertime

Amazon.com buy link

Rebith the 2nd full length novel in this series goes on sale tomorrow!

ARC Review: Rebirth by Sophie Littlefield



Rebirth (goodreads.com)

By: Sophie Littlefield

Paperback, 384 pages

Expected publication: July 19th 2011 by Luna Books

ISBN 13: 9780373803392

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Zombie

Source: Netgalley.com

Series: Aftertime #2

Stars: 4

Flames: 1

               

I love Cass Dollar. She is not a heroine I envy or want to be, but I love her strengths. She has will power, drive and a desire to see her daughter live and thrive in a world where that no longer seems like a possibility. Cass has been down many difficult roads in life, she has filled her life with numerous poor decisions and yet she still goes on. Rebirth picks up shortly after the end of Aftertime. Cass has her daughter Ruthie back. She is living at the Box with her lover Smoke, life is going extremely well considering all of the circumstances. All is well until the school where Cass initially met Smoke, was attacked and burned by the Rebuilders. The women and children are taken to Colima, the Rebuilder’s central command compound. Sammi, Dor's daughter is among the survivors that have been taken away.

This is a series that must be read in order. There was little to no rehashing in these pages. Rebirth is a whole new adventure. Smoke leaves Cass at the Box to go on a vengeance mission. Feeling betrayed she leaves the Box with Dor on the quest to rescue his daughter. After reading Aftertime I was left with a feeling that the Rebuilders most likely had their own agenda in the scheme of things in this After World. These people are beyond twisted. The atrocities that they are putting humans through for their own maniacal narcissistic reasons are pure craziness. The readers are given much more Dor in this book. He is a fascinating character. Just when you think that Dor does the things he does for his own advancement and purposes he shows a different side of himself. He is a very caring man and a loving father. I enjoyed getting to know his character better.

I will continue reading this series. I’m very eager to see where the author takes Cass and the other passengers she has in the van at the end of the book. My complaints for this book are weak and personal whiney complaints. Rebirth moved at a much slower pace than Aftertime. The action scenes are fast paced and intense, but some of the in between time dragged. There is a cliffhanger ending. I hate these. This is why I like to read series that have been out for some time and there are numerous books to answer all of my unanswered questions. My other complaint was the sex. I know this is Cass and her behavior towards men due to her past. It just felt like raw, dirty sex to me. The romance aspect was missing. I don’t want to give away a spoiler, but considering the sex scenes of the book there should have been a lack of romance. (no rape was involved, very willing participants) This book is not a romance, thus this is really just a whiney complaint on my part.

Aftertime by: Sophie Littlefield



Aftertime (goodreads.com)

Sophie Littlefield (homepage)



Paperback, 384 pages

Published February 22nd 2011 by Luna

ISBN13: 9780373803361

Series: Aftertime Book 1 of a trilogy

5 Stars

3 Flames (can’t define this book as a romance, but wow hot nights with a hottie in these pages a pretty intense)

               

This was an amazing book. The post-apocalyptic California that Littlefield has created is extremely realistic. All of the events that lead up to the chaotic destruction are once again so realistic that you can easily picture this world in your mind. The manner in which the surviving humans are trying to survive while banding together is completely plausible. The journey and events that the readers follow Cass on are very emotional and keep the reader eager to turn the page. The book gets graphic in some of the Beater (zombie) descriptions.  

Cass is a single mother who is a recovering alcoholic and a recovering Beater. Her one and only goal is to get her daughter back in her arms. Having had her child ripped from her life not once but twice is a horror I do not wish to imagine. Cass’s life is full of horrors. The events in her young life that lead her to become the rebellious alcoholic, losing her child due to her addictions, losing a world to bioterrorists’ acts, losing a child she just got back to a zombie attack, and yet she still goes forward. I love to read the flawed heroines. The course of Cass’s journey takes the readers into her past. We learn about her and why she is the way she is. We also learn about how the world has come to what it is through her memories. Her travels also take her to a survivor settlement where she meets Smoke. Through Smoke the readers learn that there is more to the apocalyptic events than the public knows about.

                I cannot wait to get my hands on book #2, Rebirth that is expected to be in stores in August. It will be followed by the 3^rd book in the trilogy Horizon which is expected to be in stores in February.