Book Review - Going Home (#1), Surviving Home (#2), Escaping Home (#3) by A. American

 

From Goodreads:

Going Home (#1) by A. American

When Morgan Carter’s car breaks down 250 miles from his home, he figures his weekend plans are ruined. But things are about to get much, much worse: the country’s power grid has collapsed. There is no electricity, no running water, no Internet, and no way to know when normalcy will be restored—if it ever will be. An avid survivalist, Morgan takes to the road with his prepper pack on his back.

During the grueling trek from Tallahassee to his home in Lake County, chaos threatens his every step but Morgan is hell-bent on getting home to his wife and daughters—and he’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Surviving Home (#2) by A. American

No electricity. No running water. No food. No end in sight. If life as you knew it changed in an instant, would you be prepared?
(note - I shortened the description as not to reveal any spoilers.)

Escaping Home (#3) by A. American

The author of Going Home and Surviving Home continues his riveting and action-packed survivalist series featuring Morgan Carter

(note - I shortened the description as not to reveal any spoilers.)



When TLC Book Tours asked if I was interested in reviewing a survivalist series, I was curious. I have enjoyed dystopian novels, but the setting of this series is more real - like it could happen today, right now, rather than in some distant future. I am not by any means a "prepper" but it is a topic that interests me. Since this is a series, I thought I may as well read all 3 books to get a better feel of the whole story.

The first book, Going Home, actually started out a bit confusing as the main character, Carter, was introduced (more to do with the sequence of events). It was also a bit tedious as a big list of survival items, including brand names and all that, that Carter counted out what to bring with him when "the thing" happened and he had to walk home (he was driving at the time). For someone not familiar with all the equipment, it almost made me put the book down since it was more telling, than showing. Now, don't get me wrong, I love all the details, but wish the first few chapters were rewritten a bit so that instead of listing out everything, we'd just come to know what is in his pack as the story unfolds, rather than read a gear catalog. While the list is handy, it may be better suited as a resource at the end of the book. Especially for those of us who haven't prepared, but got paranoid after reading this series, so that we have a list of things to consider to buy all in one place :)

Anyway, I am glad I didn't give up on the book, as the story picked up soon after. It was quite fast paced, and kept you engaged. You wanted to know if Carter made it home to his wife and three daughters. The characters he met along the journey home also added to the story. You felt like you get to know them.

Book 2 focused on what happened after he reached his home town, and Book 3, as the title suggested, talked about having to leave his home town.

When I was near the end of Book 3, I kept wondering how the story would end, especially since I only had a few pages left. I mean, it couldn't just go, Bang!  and the whole world went exploding right?! Now, I don't know why I assumed this was a trilogy (probably because trilogies are so popular nowadays - or are they still popular this year? Well they were last year...) but yeah, this is a more-than-3-books series, so there was no ending to the story yet. Sigh. I see that there 4th book on Goodreads, Forsaking Home. But I have no idea if it is the last book or not.

Overall, I enjoyed the series so far, though I think the story probably could be shortened a bit (first book was around 450 pages, second book was around 500 pages, and the 3rd one was just over 300 pages). I actually liked the first two books more (3.5 Stars) more than the 3rd (3 Stars), as the third book went into more of a conspiracy mode. Perhaps I was just disappointed that I didn't get to find out why it was all happening... maybe if I hadn't assumed this was a trilogy, I would have felt differently.

The author definitely have put some thoughts into this "what if" scenario (see bio below - I wouldn't be surprised if the author actually has all the equipment he mentioned in the books). Now I just feel like I need to go and buy a bunch of survival gear and food, and modify my house in preparation of "the thing"...

A. American has been involved in prepping and survival communities since the early 1990’s. An avid outdoorsman, he has a spent considerable time learning edible and medicinal plants and their uses as well as primitive survival skills. He currently resides in North Carolina on the edge of the Pisgah National Forest with his wife of more than twenty years and his three daughters.

Don't forget to check out reviews from the blog tours!

A. American’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, December 2nd:  She Treads Softly – Escaping Home

Tuesday, December 3rd:  The Blue Collar Prepper

Wednesday, December 4th:  The Apartment Prepper’s Blog

Friday, December 6th:  The Prepper Journal

Saturday, December 7th:  Back Door Survival

Monday, December 9th:  Florida Hillbilly

Monday, December 9th:   Being 5

Tuesday, December 10th:  Reviews from the Heart  - Going Home

Wednesday, December 11th:  The Weekend Prepper – Going Home

Thursday, December 12th:  Cheryl’s Book Nook

Friday, December 13th:  Reviews from the Heart - Surviving Home

Monday, December 16th:  The Prepared Ninja

Wednesday, December 18th:  The Weekend Prepper – Surviving Home

Thursday, December 19th:  Reviews from the Heart – Escaping Home

Friday, December 20th:  Sweet Southern Home

Monday, December 23rd:  The Weekend Prepper - Escaping Home

Thursday, December 26th:  Cerebral Girl in a Redneck Girl

Monday, December 30th:  Mental Foodie

Note - Receive all 3 books for free as part of the TLC tour in exchange for an unbiased review.



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