Review: The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Title: The Shade of the Moon
Author: Maureen Johnson
Rating: ★ (1/5 Stars)
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published August 2013

Book #4 in The Last Survivors series

I started off thinking I was going to like this book, but I really didn't. Here's what it's about, for any who don't know: "It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave. But Jon is painfully aware that a missed goal, a careless word, even falling in love, can put his life and the lives of his mother, his sister Miranda, and her husband, Alex, in jeopardy. Can Jon risk doing what is right in a world gone so terribly wrong?" I can start by complaining that I was not able to find out what number book this was in the series (while I was standing around like an idiot in the library) until I got home and found out no, this wasn't the second book. IT WAS THE FOURTH. Yeah, I skipped an entire two books. At first, I thought that skipping two books (basically reading the first and what's hopefully the last) would be an issue, but after starting, I realized that it wasn't. I didn't miss a thing. The same plot was going on since last time. Quick note: I didn't like the first book all that much, so why in God's name did I decide to keep reading this series?! Anyway, as you can already tell, there are some things that I didn't like.*First of all, Jon meets this Sarah girl and talks to her all of three times total and then suddenly he's kissing her and telling her that he loves her. Um, excuse me, what???? They hadn't been known each other a week. Totally fake. Very disappointed. Certain authors are great at constructing love, and I guess Pfeffer just decided to throw in a love story into an apocalypse book, but it was just too much going on and didn't really work out all that well. Also, the (SPOILER ALERT) situation with Miranda and her baby. Okay, she has a baby and it's born and she's told it's deformed and dead. Sad, but kinda expected. Then Miranda comes home distraught, yadayadayada, needing weeks to recover... ...About a week later, she's chatting up Jon and hatching a plan to get her living baby back, since she was lied to (yeah, another unrealistic thing). Okay, that part DOESN'T make sense. Isn't she supposed to be crying and distraught and sad and missing her baby??? The plan for getting the baby back (i.e. WALKING INTO THE HOUSE OF THE BABY'S ADOPTIVE PARENTS DRESSED AS PRETEND, UNDERAGE DOCTORS AND THEN JUST WALKING OUT OF THE HOUSE WITH THE BABY) was not thought through. So many things could've gone wrong. Come on, Pfeffer, I sorta liked the first book in this series. The whole series is definitely really creative. But you have a problem with coming up for a successful escape plan?! As for the series in general, I liked the first book best...this one definitely wasn't good enough and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else, though. Well, that's really all I have left to say about this book, since I really didn't enjoy it and I don't want to ruin anyone else's mood besides mine today! Oh, and school finally started up again, and it'll be a bit harder for me to get reviews up, but don't worry people, they will be up! *-Although I'm not fond of giving negative reviews, I promise that I will always put up my true thoughts about a book after I read it. Unfortunately, this book didn't sit well with me, although I still respect Pfeffer for publishing it. However, I will not in any way, shape, or form hold back my true opinions of this book. If you don't like negative reviews, sorry! :-(