This book didn't work for me. I was surprised because I enjoyed Life As We Knew It, the first book in the series. At first I thought I was judging it unfairly because I wasn't in the mood for a novel set in a dystopian future, but I also had the third book on hand (This World We Live In) and immediately became engrossed in it. So what was the issue with this book?

I think that the the point of view was the problem for me. Unlike the other two books, the story in this one is told in the third person. That made the book depressing but still removed from my real life. However, when reading Life As We Knew It, the first-person diary point of view made me feel like the events were happening in my world NOW. My teenage daughter had to put the book down because it affected her so strongly. I didn't get any of that with this installment of the series.

Although I am generally not a proponent of skipping books in a series, I would recommend that readers skip this one and head straight for the third book.