BOOK REVIEW: MONUMENT 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Summary:
Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.
Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Rate: 4 out of 5 stars

My thoughts:
    I loved the idea of Monument 14 - fourteen kids across a wide age range stuck in a superstore in the midst of a tsunami, earthquake, and a chemical spill . And it is a great idea that for the most part is well executed.
    I kind of a sucker for in-progress-apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books. I don't really remember from where I heard about Monument 14, but I thought I'd add it to my list of books to check out.
    A  thing I found fault with was the world building ......or, well, complete lack of it. Now and then we'd get little tidbits of information that told us the story was set in a somewhat nearby future (The Network, mini tabs, TVs being retired, etc.) but that's where it stops. The natural disasters and chemical spills give us a little bit more, but after the first few chapters, we don't get to hear much about that either. The novel goes on to highlight more of the relationships between the teens - which is one of the things I can rave about instead of whine about!
    Even though i had that problem with the book, I still got really into it. The characters where very real, and they all had there faults (Jake gets high, Brayden is a jerk for a good chunk of the story, even the main character, Dean, spies on Astrid and Jake doing.......stuff)! But they also have really awesome and lovable traits, so you sortta HAVE to forgive them for there "not so great" moments.
     I have something to confess...I wasn't sure if Dean was a boy or girl the first few pages of the story! But I really did connect with his character after the first chapter. Alot of people said that his character was boring.He wasn't BORING, just... average. He was an average kid thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Because in reality, if this were to happen to any of us, we certainly wouldn't be acting like Arnold Schwarzenegger. We would be scared! And probably peeing our pants.
 I also really loved Dean and Alex's relationship. They saw alot of things differently, yet we see underneath that nothing they do can tear apart their brotherly bond, the way they fit together so well. (Alex is analytical but frightened, but Dean is stable-minded). The two balance each other out.
    I can honestly say, that I really liked this book. I am happy looking forward to the next book coming out next year!

Quotes:

“Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not -- you vault down down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
Only if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
But the bus was barreling down our street so I ran.”
― Emmy Laybourne

“My mom believed that you make your own luck. Over the stove she had hung these old, maroon painted letters that spell out, “MANIFEST.” The idea being if you thought and dreamed about the way you wanted your life to be -- if you just envisioned it long enough, it would come into being.
But as hard as I had manifested Astrid Heyman with her hand in mine, her blue eyes gazing into mine, her lips whispering something wild and funny and outrageous in my ear, she had remained totally unaware of my existence. Truly, to even dream of dreaming about Astrid, for a guy like me, in my relatively low position on the social ladder of Cheyenne Mountain High, was idiotic. And with her a senior and me a junior? Forget it.
Astrid was just lit up with beauty: shining blonde ringlets, June sky blue eyes, slightly furrowed brow, always biting back a smile, champion diver on the swim team. Olympic level.
Hell, Astrid was Olympic level in every possible way.”
― Emmy Laybourne