LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

Okay, the first thing that struck me about this book is how normal everything starts out. Miranda's your average teenager with divorced parents, two brothers, friends who seem to get further out of reach everyday, and a tremendous amount of schoolwork. In fact, it reads like the diary of a girl living an ordinary life just about anywhere in the world.

It's not until she mentions that a meteor is supposed to hit the moon that the tone of her story changes. And when the moon does get hit by the meteor, it's knocked off its orbit and so close to the Earth that many horrible things happen--tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes...

All of a sudden, her teenage thoughts became a lot darker, the focus of her life shifts to survival, and the search for some sort of hope in this new hopeless world. Still, she keeps the journal going all the way, writing down everything that happens directly to her and her family, as well as what little they find out about what's going on elsewhere in the country, and world.

What an amazing, yet very bleak, journey. A very sad and hard story that made my heart ache for Miranda and her family, as well as cheer them on as they did everything they could to stay together. The amount of sacrifices they all have to make were harsh and raw. I couldn't help but admire them all, even during their very darkest moments. Because so many times, it feels as if Miranda is going to give up... but her fighting spirit surfaces again.

This is definitely a keeper! What an intense and suspenseful book! I loved it, even though it left me emotionally exhausted and close to tears.

PS. I've just ordered the next two books in this trilogy. Can't wait to read 'em. :)

Books Read So Far in 2011: 29/100