Review: Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi

Title: Tomorrow Land
Author: Mari Mancusi
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: NLA Digital (March 8, 2012)
Source: ARC Copy from NetGalley
Genre: YA Dystopian
My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Goodreads Description:

 Can true love survive the end of the world?

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgramage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

My Review:

  The book starts off set in the future, 2030 South Carolina to be exact, at the cusp of an apocalypse. When technology is super advanced, everyone is some what fake and war and contentions are high through the world.

And Peyton's father, considered to be somewhat eccentric has predicted it all. The end of the world, technology being bad, the wars, forbidden secrets, the corrupt government, everything.

Jump forward four years. The apocalypse has happened. The bunker Peyton has been staying in has opened and she is free to finally come out and see what has become of the world.

And the world isn't at all how she imagined it would be. She is on her own and she has to find her father, the man who predicted it all.

What she doesn't know is that she isn't alone. The Others still roam freely some how they have survived the apocalypse, only they aren't the same, they are far worse than they were before.

But then again, Peyton isn't your average teenage girl either. She isn't all human herself. Her father made sure of that. He made sure that she could hold her own and take care of herself. That she wouldn't be left defenseless again the Others.

This book jumps back and forth between Peyton and Chase's POV, which I actually like, it helps to give you an idea of what each one is thinking and really lets you get inside their head and help you understand them a little better.

It also jumps back and forth from the past (2030) to the present (2034). We get to see how it all started between them and I really enjoyed that. I am glad we got to take a look into their lives and relationship before and after.

I have to say, I really liked Peyton. She was a pretty kick butt girl that had to make some pretty hard choices and do some things that weren't fun and she discovers some things along the way that she never thought we possible, about the world, her family, Chase and herself.

She really grows in this story and it is nice to see.

I really liked Chase (Chris) too, there was just something so sweet and innocent about him (from 2030) that still carried over to the “new” him in 2034. He certainly didn't have it easy and for whatever reason I found myself connecting with him more than Peyton. He was a really strong character and he overcame a lot. His past, his demons and I think he grew even more than Peyton did.

I like Mancusi's other YA series so really it shouldn't have been a surprise to me that I would like this one too, in fact I think I liked this one even more. I can't wait to read her other dystopian novel that is suppose to be out later this year.

She truly is a talented writer that has proved she can write a variety of genres and sub-genres.