To Keep This? Or Pitch It?!?!?! The Things That Keep Us Here-Carla Buckley......

The prologue in this book was so intensely emotional that I felt paranoid. I was the woman who was losing my husband. I was the one whose heart was beating so rapidly out of panic. I was the one feeling the love of my life slip away. I was left feeling empty and void of happiness. How is it that such great authors have a way of manipulating our very feelings? As I sat thinking about what I read I wondered if maybe it'd be a story similar to the writing of Nicholas Sparks....
Hmph! WRONGO!!!! Carla Buckley draws you into a real life possibility. A virus turned lethal. I love watching movies that are like this however it always scares me how possible it really is. How quickly  a virus could mutate; an evil host sucking all we know and love away. It's a scary, ominous, real nightmare. 
She plays on real possibilities: power outages, food shortages, sickness, death.... This book will make you more aware of your surroundings, that is a guarantee! It makes you think, "Could I survive something like this? Would I be able to make it through or would I just be another casualty???" It's a sobering and terrifying thought to think about. 

That being said it was a great thriller. I was rooting and scared for all the characters from the very beginning. I was scared that if I stopped reading I'd miss it all in the, literal, blink of an eye. I wouldn't say that this is anywhere close to being kid friendly but it's a great mature read. Carla isn't afraid to not sugar coat things.... and honestly I can appreciate it in this book, it's real. I think that's why I felt every emotion that Ann did. How heart wrenching! The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the epilogue... I didn't need to know what happened with everyone. I skimmed through it but I'm just not that big on the whole epilogue extravaganza unless there's a book two or it's a must to the ending... sometimes it's nice to come up with your own ending or even left hanging (even though I mostly yell at the book when that happens because I waaaant to know). 

A must read if you're into thrillers and/or prepping for world disasters. 

kiss approved 

-D- :***** 5/5