In the After by Demitria Lunetta

In the After by Demitria Lunetta

Publisher: HarperTeen

Released on June 25, 2013

Source: Edelweiss

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In what seems like an instant, Amy Harris's life is changed forever. They arrive and quickly begin killing off humanity one by one. No one knows how they got here—and even worse, no one knows how to stop Them.

Marooned in a high-security house, Amy manages to stay alive—and even rescues "Baby," a toddler she finds in an abandoned supermarket. For years they escape death, forging a bond as strong as sisters, until they are finally rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living on a former government research compound.

On the surface, New Hope is the happy ending Amy was looking for. She's even started falling for Rice, a handsome researcher she's become close with at the facility. But then she makes a shocking discovery. And staying in New Hope could mean losing her freedom . . . or her life.

With pulse-pounding narrow escapes and horrifying twists of fate, In the After is an action-packed dystopian page-turner that will keep fans guessing until each secret is revealed and every lie is uncovered.(from HarperTeen)

This book was exhilarating for me. From the very beginning In the After was a wild ride that never really slowed down to let me catch my breath, it’s non stop action from the start with crazy wild beings terrorizing the world and pretty much destroying humanity. We also get a kick ass main character that has to learn to grow up fast and become braver than she ever thought she could be.

I loved the relationship that she develops with baby, it was that little bit of hope in a dark apocalyptic world that made you hold your breath and root for these characters and become invested in them and the whole story. The book is cut into two separate parts, one that’s happening right after the big arrival of these beings where we get to know Amy and Baby and how they’ve been coping and living since then. Then we get a second part, that’s a bit of fast-forward where we see Amy has ended up in a not so favorable situation and we see through flashbacks and memories of why and how she ended up there. I was a bit more of a fan of the first part of the novel where it’s more of a survival situation, the second one became a little predictable and a few pages in I was able to figure out what and why these “beings” had appeared. Even though I figured out the whole thing I was still very much into this book and didn’t put it down until the end.

We do get a little bit of romance in this novel but I didn’t really care for it, it felt a little bit forced to me. I wasn’t a fan of the love interest and just felt like more of a distraction from the big plot of the novel. I just wanted Amy to get back into the whole action of it all. I loved her stubbornness and how she had become so strong and brave on her own, so protective and not only that but she was also pretty smart. The ending held the promise of a lot more of the fast pace action we get at the beginning of the novel even though it was a little heartbreaking and of course a huge cliffhanger. Still, I cannot wait for the sequel!