When I first started reading this book, I kept drawing similarities between the Aliens and Zombies, they are mindless flesh craving beasts. I nearly stopped reading because I kept thinking how did these stupid creatures manage to fly space ships into earth and take over a world? It was really starting to get on my nerves, until the Protagonist asked the same questions. Then I was gripped because obviously this was part of the plot.

I have mentioned before I am not a fan of Sci-fi and I am thinking now after adding two Sci-fi books to my favourite list, I have to change my position on this. I was stuck on the edge of my seat not wanting to put this novel down. It was absolutely amazing, It was not at all predictable, I had no clue what the creatures were, where they came from and how they managed to take over the world.

Now to the plot, Amy is watching T.v on her own when the world is taken over by Aliens, It happens quickly and horribly, most of the human race is wiped out in hours. Lucky for Amy her father is an eco warrior who insisted on a garden and solar panels and her mother was a government worker that insisted on an electric fence to keep her family safe.

While the world ends Amy crawls up in her room and reads trying to escape her new world, behind the safety of her electric fence. Which I could relate to, since I probably would do the same thing.

After a while her food starts to run out and Amy needs to leave the sanctuary of her house and start scavenging, she learns quickly that the creatures have hyper sensitive hearing and will stop at nothing to gain fresh meat as soon as they hear you. On one trip she runs into a little girl who is bleeding and scared she is only about three years old, Amy takes her home and calls her baby.

Three years later, Amy and Baby are still battling to survive in the After, (The story is split up into three parts, the Before, The After (surviving with the creatures) and the now (living in the safety of the compound).) They have not spoken in three years and they live a life of silence.

When Things start to get worse after a marauding Gang take over the safety of their house, Amy and Baby are forced to leave, when they are captured by a military ship and sent to a survivor compound, but is it really safer than in the After?.

I was drawn to this book by Its cover, It looked Creepy and just the type of dystopian I love. Harpercollins Australia were kind enough to send me a copy for review. In the After really makes you think, about how children can survive on their own in terrible conditions, how Humanity as a whole would react in such destruction, (will the survivors stick together to try to make the most out of life, or will they turn on each other and try to take what they can?) This is what I love about dystopias, how people will react at the end of the world and what will happen after?

This was a brilliant novel by Demitria Lunetta and I cannot wait to read what she writes next. If you loved across the universe, this book is for you.

fast-paced and enjoyable. life after an "alien" invasion seems believable and terrifying. characters were easy to connect with.

A whole new take on the apocalypse comes your way in IN THE AFTER!

You’re expecting me to tell you this book is about zombies, aren’t you? I said “apocalypse” and the first thing that springs to mind are brain hungry, used-to-be, move at the pace of a shuffle, people. It’s not about zombies. [insert my wicked, wicked smile here]....

To see the whole review, click here: http://www.memyshelfandi.com/2013/12/book-review-in-after-by-demitira-lunetta.html

I didn't expect the ending. Totally surprise. I do wonder how Baby ending up in the grocery store.

FINALLY.
Finally a series opener that has me excited and practically salivating for the following books.
Demitria Lunetta has a new fan in me and I am ready to bring a horde of teens (and adults) with me.

Amy Harris is alone in her parent's upscale Lincoln Park home Before, watching television and eating a snack. She's mildly annoyed when the television goes out, switching to an emergency statement about some "alien attack". As the day progresses, and she can't contact her friends or parents, she suddenly realizes that it could very well be that they're all dead. She's alone. Safe, protected by her eco-friendly father's solar-powered home, and her mother's government-minded electrified fence; but alone.

She hides from reality behind the walls of protection built by her parents, but eventually there is no food, and she must find a way to venture out beyond the safety of her home. She learns that They do not like noise, and cannot see very well at night, and soon she has scavenged successfully from the nearby homes and stores. It's on one such trip that she finds a small toddler, no older than three, who is alone and hungry in a grocery store. Children are loud, and if this one makes a sound, Amy will leave her in an instant, but she quickly finds that Baby is a silent and welcome companion for the end of the world.

They live successfully for three years, growing to communicate and love one another as sisters, and sometimes as a parent would a child. They can live like this forever. Or so she thought. Soon, they find that they are not the only humans to survive in The After, but also that it may have been better to remain living as though they were.

Oh my goshness.
First of all, I want Amy Harris to meet Katniss Everdeen and have a party together with super-slick combat clothing and whatnot. Then I'd want them to stumble upon Michael from The End Games by T.Michael Martin, and then just rule the world. I need that to happen.

Okay, so yeah, Amy is amazing. Her view of the post-apocalyptic world was so honest and raw that I felt heavy with her worry and grief. I loved her thought processes, and her ability to rationalize her actions, even when they were clearly something she would have frowned upon in the Before. I understand why the author made her repeatedly define her relationship with Baby as a sister, but she was clearly parental with her. I LOVED them together.

Amy's memories of her friends, her constant but relevant Shakespeare references inspired by the memory of her father, and her kick-ass survival instincts were captivating. If They came today, I'd want to trek over to Lincoln Park looking for her. But make no mistake, while the book is pegged as a "Chicago" novel, reminiscent of Divergent, it isn't. Chicago is not as much of an organism as I thought it would have been, or even could have been.

And to just be plain, the book was written well. Demitria Lunetta was able to write out times of mundane fear and apprehension with just as much passion as those times of action. The second half of the book jumps back and forth between what Amy knows and what she remembers, and it gently nudged readers towards the end, without letting too much out at first. After reading a few books recently that seemed to be so excited about their endings that they wanted to give them to me early, I appreciated that.

Fans of Across the Universe by Beth Revis would adore this Amy. I certainly did.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book!

fast paced, good characters, intriguing plot. great story.

This is YA fiction which means that readers get right into the thick of the story, she may not be Cormac McCarthy in literation, but she his style. Do we get a book 2?

I read In the After in 5 hours. It was glorious! Plainly put, In the After is the best YA alien/post apocalyptic book I have ever read! Everything about this story, these characters, this world is fascinating and the execution of all of the above is outstanding! Where do I even begin? I am so in love with this book and I am on such a high after reading it that I don't even know if anything I say right now will do this book justice because it's left me almost speechless.

These characters were so rich and so full of life and the will to survive and that fight... watching that fight is always disturbing and heartbreaking but the will to survive... it's something one, I at least cannot turn away from. It fascinates me to no end and in every sentence, I was physically immovable but internally moved beyond the measures of the typical good read. This was so much more than just a good read. This was exceptional.

Following Amy on this journey, this scary journey and watching her face life or death decisions like picking up a baby in an empty supermarket and taking her under her wing and welcoming a seemingly helpless girl named Amber into her safe haven... it was nerve wrecking. It was thrilling and terrifying and so incredibly engulfing. I felt like I was right by her side at every step and these are just the first of many life or death decisions Amy is faced with and at every turn, I was rooting for Amy. At every turn, I was rooting for quiet. At every turn, I was rooting for humanity. But humanity is hard to hold onto before and after they begin, before and after the world ends.

The relationships that were formed in this book, be it with Amy and her loved ones or Amy and the survivors she meets along the way, these relationships bring us to a very alarming truth that when pushed, people will do anything for the greater good. And that anything often times means sacrifice and lies, as you can probably guess but also detachment and denial among so many other things. Watching all of this play out on top of Amy's survivor skills being tested, underestimated, and scrutinized made for one of the most heart pounding few hours of my life.

Even when she is integrated with other survivors and is much safer than she was before, her freedom is essentially revoked. There's a great price to pay for living in the post apocalyptic world and it doesn't make it right and certainly doesn't sit well with Amy, so what is she going to do about that? What are the others around her who feel the same way to do? The others who may not be torn to shreds by the creatures outside of the safe zone of New Hope but are suffocating inside this safe haven too. Amy questions who decides what's right and wrong, what's best for the future of humanity, as she should. New Hope may give the survivors hope but under what conditions and why, especially in the end, is hope conditional?

I absolutely loved the revelations and twists throughout the book. The action never subsided. The knowledge of danger was ever present. I was hooked on every word of every page. This story was so fluid, written at the perfect pace and with just the right amount of all of the right elements making this story captivating from the first line with the momentum kept up on every single page, every single paragraph, every single line after. I have nothing but good things to say about this book. In fact, I am mad it took me so long to read it. It's been on my radar for some time now and I bought the book in December but am just now getting to it. On the plus side, the sequel, In the End released last week so I don't have to wait too long to read that! I know what I'll be reading this upcoming weekend! In the After is creepy and intense and all consuming so when you sit down to read, make sure you've put aside time to finish it in one sitting. I am truly in awe of Demitria Lunetta and I cannot wait to see what she writes next because I will be reading everything of hers. In the After is brilliant so don't say I never told you!

Review originally posted on my blog, Hollywood the Write Way.

Fairly good book. Found it a bit draggy to be honest but I loved the plot anyway. It reminded me of The Fifth Wave but it was still as interesting to read. I found New Hope's concept and all intriguing to read about, especially when she talks about the Ward. Enjoyable book overall :)

Holy crap! This book was really good; I can't wait for In the End!