As We Know It by Carrie Butler

As We Know It Reviews

• 
  Teresa Mary Rose

  More Reviews Here:
  Readers Live A Thousand Lives
  
  Disaster and romance don’t seem like two things that should go together, but Carrie Butler combined those two elements in As We Know It and it worked. As We Know It is a unique read where we see disaster unfold first hand and then have to follow the characters through the aftermath. The book delivers a fun and sweet romance while also delving into the character’s individual journey. As We Know It is not a read to be missed.
  
  I adored Elena. She is fun and spunky and her inner thought process was hysterical. I also loved how she stepped up when confronted with life threatening situations. She was not equipped for this at all, but she is a survivor and she did what she had to do. I love how her character progressed and how strong she became.
  
  Of course I also loved Vincent. He is a bit cranky and gruff, but you can tell he is a good guy. Vincent and Elena are thrown together in crazy circumstances and end up having to rely on one another. What I found really refreshing was how fun their relationship was. It was dangerous circumstances, but they still had great banter and there was no time to be embarrassed. They had awkward moments and despite the world changing situation, it felt real.
  
  I also really liked how quick this book got going and how unique it was. This book takes off quick and the action is nonstop. It was so different reading a romance in the middle of a disaster, but it worked. I also liked that we saw the disaster occur. SO many times the book picks up after the world has changed and deals with the new world, but here we see it all unfold and I really liked that new take.
  
  All in all, As We Know It is a really good read. Carrie Butler proves herself as a versatile writer with this one and I look forward to more work from her.
• 
  Rebecca Elizabeth

  I really enjoyed this action romance! It has one of my favorite things to read about in it. I love when the two main characters are thrown into an intense situation together. There's just something about it. I love it! This book is more than just a romance. A lot happens. A lot of intense and dangerous situations that kept me on
  The edge waiting to see what would happen. I recommend to anyone who enjoys a little something extra with their romance! :)
• 
  Cary Morton

  I received a copy of this book directly from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
  
  What a fantastic read. Honestly. I’ll admit, I was a little thrown off by how this book began. I opened it up, and for a few short minutes, I sank into what felt every bit to be a contemporary romance. I forgot for a moment that the cover looked apocalyptic, and then BOOM, everything changed—much like, I imagine, it changed for Elena and Vincent.
  
  As We Know It by Carrie Butler was a gripping survival tale that I felt, portrayed a natural disaster situation in a reasonably accurate light. The situation felt not only real, but plausible every step of the way, and I was sucked into the harrowing world of Elena and Vincent for a few hours. The book was wonderfully well written. I only found a couple of typos, and nothing jarring enough to pull me out of the story. The characters were complex and imperfect, but genuine. The romance was surprisingly sweet, and the banter between the two lead characters was compelling and dynamic.
  
  I honestly don’t have anything to complain about with this book. I absolutely adored it. It was tense, gritty, believable, and heartwarming all at once. If you’re looking for a gripping adventure story, look no further.
  
• 
  Magen Corrie

  4 stars
  *ARC received in exchange for a fair and honest review.*
  My Review
  
  As We Know It was a thrilling mix of a possible reality, filled with heart-felt characters, wonderful moments of humor, and writing that instantly pulls you in. I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of the reality that Carrie paints. She also presented characters that were light-hearted, yet filled with depth and a reality that buries into your heart.
  
  Elena is feisty and though she does have a few insecurities, I enjoyed her character. She really shined when her world was turned upside-down. I felt she reacted to the situation she found herself in realistic and I loved that she kept pieces of herself and her humor through it all.
  
  Vincent, though, definitely stole my heart. He isn’t a warm character, at first, and through the book I loved getting to discover more about him. I felt that Carrie also did a great job in presenting a character with his problems. I also felt that he really came across as realistic. I loved his random knowledge and though he has a prickly personality at first, he’s lovable.
  
  The book is filled with characters that keep the darker atmosphere in the book in check yet also adds wonderful lighthearted moments. Those moments allowed for the book to keep a lighter atmosphere despite the darker theme. The pacing was fast, yet it didn’t feel rushed and I enjoyed the characters’ personal growths. It all felt natural.
  
  As We Know It was filled with characters that are believable and lovable, a daring adventure in a world struck by a devastating disaster that kept me glued to the pages, a world that was hauntingly believable, and a story I just loved.
  
  
• 
  Nick Wilford

  A thrilling and constantly engaging read, As We Know It asks a pretty searching question: how would we react if caught in a natural disaster of apocalyptic proportions? That’s just what happens to Elena, who’s in the wrong place at the wrong time when an earthquake hits the California coastal town where she’s taking a break to get over her fiancée, followed up by a tsunami. It’s a devastating event that has effects all up the coast. In fact, the aftershocks continue throughout the book, both literal and figurative. Elena’s destiny becomes bound up with Vincent, a gruff homeless veteran who, at their first meeting, pickpockets her, and Naveen, a barista in the café they’re in when the quake hits.
  
  The rest of the book then becomes about Vincent trying to get back to his estranged family and Elena trying to get back home when she doesn’t know if she still has a home to go to. Vincent has plenty of survival chops to help them endure their journey through the wild, but it’s Elena who undergoes the most interesting transformation. A bundle of neuroses with body confidence issues, as the narrator she frequently protests her ill-preparedness and ineptitude for dealing with what surrounds her but constantly surprises both us and herself with how resourceful she actually turns out to be. This inevitably leads us to wonder how we would cope in similar circumstances if it comes down to a life-or-death situation, having to rely on our wits and cut off from all the comfort and trappings of modern life. Butler keeps the pace pretty relentless throughout and I had to keep reading to find out the outcome for these very likeable characters. Recommended!
• 
  Katie Mettner

  It's not a mystery that I'm a HUGE Carrie Butler fan, not only of her writing, but of her graphic design work. When she offered me an early review copy of As We Know It, of course I snatched it up and downloaded it on my kindle. If you like an action packed book, than you'll love this one! You're into the book maybe three pages when things start to shake, the roof starts to collapse, and its the end of the world as Elena knows it. We've all heard about the 'big one' and now that this massive earthquake happened, Elena is thrown into survival mode with Vincent, a guy who stole from her, but in the next breath saved her life. They have fifteen minutes to get to higher ground before the tsunami hits and carries them out to sea. Elena finds herself with a strange gaggle of friends, the barista at the coffee bar and a guy who barks orders like a member of the military. Elena is focused on one thing, surviving the next fifteen minutes.
  
  The rest is a walk between two damaged people who given the right circumstances would never trust each other, much less find a romantic spark between them. But these aren't the right circumstances, these are life or death circumstances, something Vincent is no stranger to. Elena witnesses Vincent's PTSD when the conditions they are forced into lead his mind back to the war he survived, but his men didn't. Ms. Butler's clean, honest, and well-written scenes give the reader a peek into Vincent's mind without melodrama or unnecessary descriptions. At a time when PTSD stories abound, rarely do I find one done as well as this one.
  
  Mind you, Elena is no walk in the park either. Normally she wouldn't even be by the seashore, she'd be in Seattle, but her unfortunate choice to go on a
  'get over that jack diddly' fiance vacation is cut short by the earthquake. That doesn't mean she's over the verbal abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-fiance, but she does have to put her hatred of all men aside in an instant, which isn't easy for her to do.
  
  There are some well-written, spellbinding and thought provoking scenes throughout As We Know It and the author did an amazing job at describing the destruction that would come with an earthquake of the Pacific Northwest coastline, and the aftermath the citizens of that area will deal with.
  
  I give As We Know It five cups of forget the coffee, you'd spill it on this non-stop action ride!
  
• 
  Donna Weaver

  WHAT IT'S ABOUT
  Deep beneath the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles alongside the Pacific Northwest coastline, lies the Cascadia subduction zone—a fault on the verge of unleashing a catastrophic earthquake, thirty times more powerful than the San Andreas. Unfortunately, like most tourists, Elena Cordova is oblivious.
  
  She’s got her own pent-up stress to deal with, a humiliating breakup that’s driven her to end her tenure as a human doormat once and for all. So, when a pickpocket makes off with the last remnant of her relationship, she takes action—only to get trapped with him when disaster strikes.
  
  Now, if either one hopes to survive, they’ll have to get past their initial impressions and work together . . . because in fifteen minutes, half the town will be underwater.
  
  MY TAKE
  What an entertaining read! It takes the reader from just before the quake and then throws you right in the middle of the disaster. Elena was kind of whiny at first (but that's her story arc) and Vincent is the jerk who first picked her pocket and then saved her life. Their journey is fraught with one disaster after another, as one would expect after an event of this magnitude. It was educational and thrilling all at once. The romance was just frosting on the cake.
  
  Warning, in case this is an issue for you. I normally read clean books, and this wasn't one. There language (including a few f-bombs) and open-door (though no graphic or detailed) sex.
  
  4 1/2 stars
• 
  Elizabeth Seckman

  This is the story of a couple of broken characters battling their own inner turmoil and emotional demons amid the backdrop of a collapsing world. Elena, freshly dumped, is used to being a human doormat. A little on the plump side, she doubts her self-worth and her right to be treated like a queen in a romantic relationship. Vincent, an Iraqi war vet, suffers PTSD and insecurity. He doesn't think he's good enough to be part of life, much less a relationship. Together they try to survive the devastation that was Oregon in a story that has lots of ups and downs with a few smiles and heartfelt sighs mixed in.
• 
  Fermentum

  I liked this very much. different from the EMP books out . This is about a 8.9 earthquake and Tsunami....most of the Pacific Northwest coast is demolished.
• 
  Kelly

  As We Know It is a rollercoaster of a ride! You have no idea what will happen in the next paragraph because the scene is always changing. I mean that’s what happens when an earthquake and tsunami hits the northwest coast of the United States with a scale of 9.0. There are constant tremors and aftershocks and other things that happen after the fact! This book scans a little over a week. A lot can happen in that short span of time. Your mind can even change then too!
  
  Elena cracks me up. She has just had a breakup from a jerk of a fiancé who put Elena down for her weight. Good riddance! So she is at the coast twirling her engagement ring at a bar. She takes it off, puts it in her purse and is pickpocketed by the guy (Vincent) she saw in the bar. When she goes after him, everything changes at the blink of an eye. His friend tries to cover for him for a second and then an earthquake hits and the pickpocket guy is on top of her shielding her from the falling of the building. They get out of it and he tells her they have about 15 minutes to get to higher ground before a tsunami hits. There starts the adventure and romance. (I know how can you have time for a romance, but when you have to survive you learn to let people in because you can’t afford to play games, right?) Elena is a kick butt kind of girl. I don’t think she knew she had it in her. But she is a survivor and fights hard for both her life and for her friends. I like that the girl wasn’t already in top shape. It makes it more realistic and it makes for someone you route for! She also teaches Vincent Spanish, all while she is half speaking English and getting mad!
  
  Then Elena finds that she has some serious humor skills! The book has dry humor, wit, puns, sarcasm, and other words to make you laugh and find it hard to put down until the end. And that skill is what keeps her going with Vincent. She just keeps going and doing what is necessary to survive. She ends up saving a dog. She loses people along the way too.
  
  “I’m supposed to be Netflix-binging and eating ice cream in a hotel robe, right now-not learning how to purify water in the middle of the damn forest.”
  
  Vincent is ex-military and has nightmares and rarely sleeps. He is homeless and is a survivor although he wouldn’t mind being dead with all he saw at war. But this disaster is not unfamiliar to him. He knows how to survive without material things. That helps Elena. But he also has PTSD and Elena realizes that and tries to be there for him but doesn’t pity him either. He has more of the sarcasm going for him along with his looks and muscles.
  
  As We Know It is full of hope no matter how bad things are. It had me laughing and crying at times too! The relationship that Elena and Vincent forged out of sheer necessity was also tender at times. Their feelings for each other could be felt in Carrie Butler’s writing. It also made me realize that I don’t know how I would survive that kind of disaster but since I’m a nurse, I guess I would be stationed forever at a hospital!
  
  If you like survival skills, emergency preparedness, tsunami, earthquakes, laughter (due to and including but not limited to dry humor, pun, sarcasm, and other assorted words to make you laugh), Spanx, girls that aren’t skinny, loser of a guy, military, PTSD, and finding love at the strangest of places and times than this might be it. It was for me!
  
• 
  Lucy McCoskey

  this grabbed me & wouldn't let me go, so I finished it in one day
• 
  BlueBug

  Best come-back book I've read in a long time! It was intense and exciting and frightening and romantic with a thread of sarcastic humor holding it together. I absolutely loved it! It was phenomenal! Carrie Butler has a way with description that draws you in and makes you feel like you're a part of the story, and this one does that in such a fantastic way. Elena is a kick-ass character from the very beginning, standing on her own and sticking up for herself. But if she hadn't had Vincent, someone who is so much more than he seems, to guide her through the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake, she may have been doomed before we ever got a chance to know her. As they make their way in search of family and friends, we find two broken people who are destined to change not only their lives but those of the people with which they come in contact. We meet people that we become attached to, cry over those who are lost and wish we could dish it out to those who take advantage of the situation (And there are always those who take advantage of the pain of others.). But the adventure these two imperfect and improbable friends lead us on is filled with excitement, danger, fear and a myriad of emotions neither of them is ready to face.
  
  Since her Mark of the Nexus series, I have looked forward to Ms Butler publishing again. Her characters are witty, relatable, filled with angst and emotion and most of them have a humorous edge that makes us smile or even chuckle in the midst of the danger they take us through. This story is realistic and inevitable and definitely didn't disappoint. I laughed and cried and felt. I loved it and can't wait to see what she has in store for us next.
• 
  Lili

  Great first half
  
  Started off GREAT! The story of the quake an tsunami were fast and furious. The last part of the novel, however, fell apart. It felt like the author. Ran out of time or got tired of writing and just wrapped things up quickly leaving several things unfinished.
• 
  Beth

  I really enjoyed the Mark of Nexus series so when I received the chance to get an ARC for As We Know It, I jumped at the chance! Elena finds out her fiance is cheating on her and goes to the beach to get away. Little does she know disaster is about to strike. An earthquake hits which also means a tsunami and aftershocks are also about to hit. Luckily she is in a shop with Vincent who knows they need to get to higher ground immediately. We follow Vincent and Elena as they try to figure out what to do next. Obviously romance ensues. Elena does not have good self esteem thanks to her jerk ex-fiance and Vincent has inner demons he is battling. We see the growth of the characters throughout their journey. This is a story where you do not know how strong you are until you are put in a terrible situation. You have to be strong to survive. I liked the characters and enjoyed the story.
• 
  Tina Weiler

  I received a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
  
  First, I want to say that I really enjoy Carrie's writing style. The relationships she is able to build between her characters is authentic and very often, humorous. She is able to write characters that you really like and care about.
  
  That being said, I had to give this book 3 stars for two reasons. The first was the pacing of the book. While there is often a complaint by readers that an ending feels rushed, in this case, the beginning was too rushed. I get that Carrie was going for heart-pounding, but it just doesn't work. Secondly,*spoiler alert* there is the main character's visions of dead people. It doesn't feel authentic to the story. Instead, it feels like a short cut the author takes instead of going deeper with the character.
  
  So while I liked it, I didn't love it. I think there was a lot more potential there than what the finished product offers.
• 
  Diana Long

  As We Know It was an addicting read. It started out simple enough, then quickly threw you into the action. I loved Carrie's portrayal of Elena. She had her flaws and doubts about herself, but her strength showed through. Too often characters are either made to be overly self-concious or unsure of themselves, or the flip side and too full of themselves. Elena was a perfect combination of vulnerable and strong. Vincent's shape was equally well-rounded. Aloof and sometimes broody, but with a realistic reason. His warm heart peeked through enough to have you rooting for him. There were a few twists thrown in that made you hang on all the way to the end. Nothing overly dramatic, but enough that just when I thought I had things figured out, I couldn't convince myself that I really did. If you want a book that's full of action, sarcasm, humor, and Spanish mutterings, this is your book!
• 
  Callouppe

  This book was amazing. Fast paced, stressful and humorous all in one. While I don't typically like books about catastrophes, the author won me over with incredibly lovable characters. I am a huge fan of the first person perspective where you can be in their head, hearing their thoughts and this main character has a great mind, thinking what I would think but never say out loud. The romance in the book is believable and adorable. The story line is incredible and based on a plausible reality. It's just an all around good read...that I plowed through in two days because I couldn't put it down. Now if only I could make the characters come to life so I could invite them over for dinner!
• 
  Callouppe

  This book was amazing. Fast paced, stressful and humorous all in one. While I don't typically like books about catastrophes, the author won me over with incredibly lovable characters. I am a huge fan of the first person perspective where you can be in their head, hearing their thoughts and this main character has a great mind, thinking what I would think but never say out loud. The romance in the book is believable and adorable. The story line is incredible and based on a plausible reality. It's just an all-around good read...that I plowed through in two days because I couldn't put it down. Now if only I could make the characters come to life so I could invite them over for dinner!
• 
  Betty Gilmore

  Well written. Well developed characters. Action packed. I want to be rescued by Vincent if I am ever in a disaster. Any good disaster book should include. A really life how to save yourself in case guide and this one has a good one.. Not your typical
  
  Hero or heroine. I think she had a little trouble tying up the end. Written in a women's voice.. I hope she writes another with this disaster theme.
• 
  Michelle

  Loved the main character!
  
  Such a great book! I could totally relate to the main character. Her perseverance was inspirational and the story line was great!