State of Chaos - Review

State of Chaos (Collapse Series #2) 

By: Summer Lane

Published: June 28, 2013 by Writing Belle

332 pages

Source: Personal Kindle Library

(Goodreads /Amazon $3.99)

Summary:

Cassidy Hart has had better days. 
Her dad is missing. Her friends have been captured. And modern society is pretty much gone, thanks to an EMP that destroyed the technological infrastructure of the United States. 
Surviving in the foothills of California is a challenge, but with the help of former Navy SEAL Chris Young, Cassidy's been able to stay alive. 
Until now. Omega, the shadow army arisen from the chaos, won't stop until every single survivor is either under their control or dead. Taken by soldiers and forced into a labor camp, Cassidy must turn the tables on her captors. Escape means everything. Unfortunately, staying out of Omega's crosshairs is easier said than done. 
You can run. 
But you can't hide. 
Cassidy's about to learn that the hard way. 


State of Chaos is the sequel to the national bestseller State of Emergency, a YA/NA Contemporary Romantic Adventure.

MY REVIEW:
Book two picks up 2 months after the EMP hit the United States, specifically the Los Angeles area that the characters know of for sure. Chris and Cassidy are still staying under the radar of Omega, living as nomad's, constantly on the move to avoid being detected by them. Where book one, State of Emergency, was filled with constant action, book two has sporadic action, slowing down in the middle a bit and then picks back up.

We are introduced to a few new characters in this book, some we like and some we really hate and some are mysterious and we aren't sure how to feel about them.

Cassidy depends heavily on Chris. For safety. For warmth. For companionship. She trusts him implicitly - both for her life and her heart. But as far as New Adult books typically go, this one really is tame. Maybe that's why it's listed in Goodreads as both NA/YA? There is little to no language and so far no mature situations have arisen. Chris is 28, 9 years older than Cassidy and she, being 19 when the series starts and still 19 in book two, is not ready to push their relationship any farther physically. But her affection for him grows deeper as they only have each other to depend on. She feels he is so far out of her league that if they had run into each other in any other setting than an apocalypse that he never would've given her the time of day. Since the story is only told from the POV of Cassidy, the reader is left to wonder how Chris really feels about her. His actions sure say he cares deeply for her - but that's all we have to go on.

I really like how nothing is predictable about this story. Just who Omega is, and what countries are a part of the takeover of the United States is still very much in question.

Fans of movies and shows like Red Dawn and Revolution will enjoy this series!

Favorite Quotes:
It's kind of a summary of who Chris is as a person: Steady. Reliable. Confident. Logical.

I was probably the only person in Los Angeles with an emergency go-bag, a getaway car and a preplanned emergency rendezvous point when the EMP hit.

"He's got it bad for you," Sophia grins. I feel myself blushing. "The feeling's mutual."

If anybody would have told me seven months ago that I would be spending my college years as a guerilla warfighter with freaking Rambo as my boyfriend, I would have said they were crazy. But life is weird like that.

We can't give up. We have something worth fighting for. Our families, our homes, our freedom. Normalcy. Those things are precious. Priceless.

Final Rating - 4 stars