Pandemic

By: Yvonne Ventresca

Narrated by: Monika Smith

Even under the most normal circumstances, high school can be a painful and confusing time. Unfortunately, Lilianna’s circumstances are anything but normal. Only a few people know what caused her sudden change from model student to the withdrawn pessimist she has become, but her situation isn’t about to get any better. When people begin coming down with a quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat, Lil’s worst fears are realized. With her parents called away on business before the contagious outbreak - her father in Delaware covering the early stages of the disease and her mother in Hong Kong and unable to get a flight back to New Jersey - Lil’s town is hit by what soon becomes a widespread illness and fatal disaster. Now, she’s more alone than she’s been since the incident” at her school months ago.

With friends and neighbors dying all around her, Lil does everything she can just to survive. But as the disease rages on, so does an unexpected tension as Lil is torn between an old ex and a new romantic interest. Just when it all seems too much, the cause of her original trauma shows up at her door. In this thrilling debut from author Yvonne Ventresca, Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.

©2014 Yvonne Ventresca (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Narration was great!

The intro to each chapter was a bit confusing in an audible format. Thought the narration was great though!

Perfect for YA Dystopian lovers!

My experience is based on the audiobook.

I found out about this book through a Facebook group. I was intrigued by the synopsis and wanted to give it a try. When I found out that I could upgrade to audio I knew I had to do. I was blown away by the narrator. She did such a fantastic job and was the perfect voice. She had that sweet young sounding voice that was necessary for this story. It was perfect casting.

My favorite character is Lilanna of course. She is a great protagonist because she is well balanced. She has her quirks and flaws but overcomes them to become a better person. I found that to be refreshing that despite her misfortunes she raises above them. It was a joy to read and felt like pure honesty. I also loved the character of Jay. He was always pushing Lilanna to open up and was quite a force during the book.

I usually tell my part of the story at this point but I really can't do that because it would be a spoiler so I'm just going to drop a vague hint. Lilanna made a big decision about medication towards the end. I loved that moment because she shown how much she had grown from the beginning. She became selfless instead of selfish which is a common teenage problem.

There were some tough topics in this book which is nice to see some other issues that are being brought to life. It also showed all the different consequences that come from being honest with adults. I liked to read that and felt it was realistic.

I appreciated all aspects of this book and definitely will be recommending it to all my dystopian loving friends. This is the first book I have read from this author and I plan on reading more of her work.

Pandemic

As the world is in the middle of a pandemic due to Covid-19, I found this book and decided to give it a listen. To say that it was eerie to be reading a book written in 2014 that closely mirrors what is going on in 2020 is an understatement! The descriptions of the illness and the events surrounding it were nearly too close to what is currently happening.

The book is told from the viewpoint of 16 year old Lilianna "Lili" Snyder, who has become paranoid and withdrawn due to an unnamed event in her life. When the pandemic hits, she must learn to cope with her phobias and fears in order to survive. As her friends and family start dying around her, she must pull herself together and decide whether she will succumb to her fears or become the person she used to be.

My only complaint with this book is that it is written for a younger audience than I have come to expect from a YA book. If not for the subject matter and a few things that happen, I would say that it was appropriate for a middle grade group. But, the story was still interesting and moved at a fast enough pace to keep my interest.

The narrator did a good job and had a voice that fit the characters, even those of a very young age.

Absolutely appropriate for the time!

Such a great read! Be ready for all the feelings! Too good to miss!

Maybe too close to now

But I could not put it down! It was predictable young adult fiction but it was also compelling and terrifying and satisfying. Reading during to CoronaVirus pandemic was a strange thing.

great read

I had heard about this book on the podcast The library at the end of the world hosted by Jim cobb. this is a wonderful book for budding preppers since it gives a more realistic view of a disaster. normally I need guns and fighting in my SHTF novels but this one really surprised me. I plan on buying the physical book.

perfect

too interesting story and writing style is too realistic so my concentration perfectly sucked. really recommend not skip my review.

narrator issue for me....

Narrator makes such a difference for me....

I understand the choice of a youthful sounding narrator to match MC's age -- still never my first choice, but understood...

more problematic were the frequent oddly placed pauses and "upspeak"/“downspeak” (high rising terminal/falling intonation) and pauses which kept pulling me out of the story.

Interestingly, the narrator was spot on with upspeak/downspeak during dialogue, but way off/weird during narration...
Pauses were weird throughout...