Life As We Knew It ★★

Life As We Knew It is written in a journal entry format from the perspective of a teenage girl named Miranda. In the beginning she's just a normal teenage girl but her life gets turned upside down when an asteroid hits the moon and knocks it closer to the Earth.

From that point everything is thrown into chaos; there's tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, viruses, power outages, etc. After the initial shock of the moons change in orbit Miranda's mom makes her and her brothers go to the store and they stock up on as much nonperishable foods as possible.

The story follows Miranda as her and her family struggle to survive. It's an interesting story however there's not much of an actual plot beyond the moon getting hit into a closer orbit with the Earth and a bunch of natural disasters occur.

Beyond that, there's some confusing inconsistencies that don't quite add up. For one, it is stressed how dangerous the streets are and Miranda even encounters a few people raiding an abandoned house, yet she herself is never once attacked. Secondly it is made out to be like there is very little food yet at the end of the book Miranda finds out that the city hall is giving out food.

Another big issue is the science behind the book. The moon controls the tides but it is not explained nor likely that the moon could create earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Also it is stated that the scientists didn't know that the asteroid would hit the moon yet the power and trajectory needed to hit the moon into a closer orbit would be glaringly obvious to any competent scientist.

A smaller issue that bothered me was Miranda's friend, Megan, who is religious; however, she twists religion into something that it isn't. Megan stops eating because she believes that God will provide for her and most people who know anything about religion know that God will provide what you need, but food will not just fall from the sky and Megan would not suddenly need to stop eating. She eventually dies of starvation and her mother hangs herself due to the loss.

The idea behind the story sounds interesting, but it does not sound like there was any research or realism to the book. The concept itself could be very real, but everything afterwards is far fetched and unlikely.

Putting all the logistics aside, it was an enjoyable book with some interesting events (that don't really lead anywhere).

Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic ★★★★

Distant waves incorporates a lot of different ideas - psychics and mediums, ghosts and spirits, an earthquake machine and time travel - into a famous historical event.

Suzanne Weyn writes about Jane and her four sisters who grew up in a small town based around spiritualism and psychic workings. When Jane and Mimi go to meet a scientist they once encountered when they were younger, their worlds turn upside down. They both fall in love, meet famous people, and Mimi goes on the trip of a lifetime.

Eventually, as fate would have it, Mimi and Jane meet up again on the Titanic along with Tesla, the famous scientist, Thad, Jane's boyfriend, and Jane's other sisters.

As Tesla prepares to test his invention something goes horribly wrong which leads to the sinking of the ship, so in order to help prevent their deaths, Tesla sends everyone forward in time; however, Mimi and Thad end up much farther into the future than he sent them.

The title is a little misleading saying as the Titanic only comes into the story towards the end of it however a lot also happens on it. Much of the book is used to lead up to the bigger events towards the end and thus the story seems to be a bit slow; however, a lot happens in the last hundred or so pages: a wedding, a proposal, a sabotage, and the most historical sinking of a cruise liner in history.

The plot of the book is a little scattered and a bit slow, but overall I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It had some science fiction, historical fiction, and romance in it as well as some paranormal aspects to it that made it different from some of the other books I've read.

The Mockingjay Part 1 ★★★

Finally! Mockingjay Part 1! We've been waiting for what a year and a half? So I saw this the day after it came out (sorry for the long wait! Been super busy!) Anyways Mockingjay Part 1 is a continuation of the Hunger Games trilogy which is being extended into four movies, which didn't turn out to be a very good idea.

Big Propaganda Quote

The movie starts out slow and stays slow for, well, the entire movie. The movie consists mostly of Katniss being depressed and worried about Peeta as well as making propaganda to broadcast to the other districts in order to keep the fire of revolution going.

I will say that the propaganda was powerful and I especially enjoyed the portrayal of the district uprisings, but the movie became too political and honestly could have probably been combined with the second movie instead of being drawn out like it was.

The Rescue Mission

They also made the rescue mission a long and drawn out process which in fact, was not. If you didn't read the book then it's quite interesting and isn't a big deal but still feels a bit more drawn out and dramatic than it needed to be.

The length of the movie aside, it wasn't that bad of a movie. The visual and sound effects were quite impressive and the costumes were incredible.

For those of you who don't know Jennifer Lawrence stars in the movie as Katniss Everdeen while Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth play as Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorn respectively. Let's not forget Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy. They all did a wonderful job but unfortunately it wasn't enough to make the movie great.

Gale and Katniss

Haymitch

Peeta

The acting, effects, and costumes were all wonderfully done, but unfortunately the length and just the overall slowness of it made the movie not all that exciting to watch. To be honest it was a bit of a let down after Catching Fire but I do think that Mockingjay Part 2 will be something to watch so looking forward to it!