As a prepper, Grayson Rowan was prepared for almost anything.…anything other than being totally alone when the sh*t hits the fan.While he sat back and watched the United States rattle swords with Korea, play chicken with Russia, and strong-arm China, he felt sure if the lights went out, that he and his family would be ready and safe—whether it was due to a natural disaster or a man-made event. … disaster or a man-made event. They had everything they needed at their homestead.
What he wasn’t prepared for, was his family not being home if it ever happened.
Olivia Rowan is with her sisters, Gabby and Emma, on a girls-only trip to Myrtle Beach. When chaos erupts and there’s no gas, their journey home is a nightmare, filled with predators and danger—and apparently, Olivia hadn’t learned a thing her husband tried to teach her.
When your neighbors run out of water and turn on each other, what will you do?
Jake, a country boy mechanic, never believed in TEOTWAWKI, but he’d heard his brother-in-law preach about it many times. He knew what to do; but he didn’t prepare. He lazily left it all up to Grayson—he was the prepper after all. When catastrophe strikes, will he continue to keep his head stuck in the sand while his clueless neighbors destroy each other, and his wife is stuck out on the road; or will he stand up and fight like a man?
And if you’re alone? Bug in or Bug out?
Graysie Rowan, a freshman at University, just wants to go home. When no word comes from the government, and the state capital is overrun with looters, chaos and mayhem, the college administration puts the students on lock-down. But her dad, Grayson, had prepared her for this. Now, if she can only remember what it was he said to do…
If they want to survive this post-apocalyptic event, they’ll all have to learn to fight like a man.
The end came not with boots on the ground, nuclear weapons or an EMP. It snuck in with a quiet clatter at the back door and flipped the switch, covering the states in darkness and sending this family on three divergent paths that ultimately lead home. When they collide in this surreal and gripping family drama, it won’t be without bullets and bloodshed.
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Great series. Have you read this one yet? Book three just came out and I can’t wait to read it.
3,5 stars, verging on 4.
Many female post-apocalyptic authors describe stuff in great detail. That’s fine, I like to read about the prepper lifestyle and how the end of the world came to be. But blaming Trump or any real historical figure about it isn’t cool in my opinion. I know the dangers of today’s world and many of those could cause Armageddon single-handedly.
Also, the characters- I couldn’t find a surface to attach to. I can’t pinpoint exactly why. There’s nothing wrong with the writing, it’s excellent.
I read the book and enjoyed some of it. If you like a deeper cause-effect ratio and want your characters with a solid backstory, this book is right up your lane.
I however value action, a plot that moves fast and a tough grip. Reading this book and some others like SHTF, helped me understand that my preferences lean toward military scifi.
SHTF is a good post-apocalyptic story but I doubt I’ll read another book from this series.
However, I’m delighted to find how diverse the sub-category of post-apocalyptic is. It accommodates so many different takes on the familiar tropes of falling governments, survival, and violence.
Fight Like a Man written by L.L. Akers is book one of the SHTF series of books. When a family of “Preppers” are forced to put into practice what they have been preparing for, the end of life as they know it and how well did all the preparation that they did, actually work?
I absolutely loved this book, it was well written, gritty and took me to a place I had never considered ever being. The difference between this book and other of post-apocalyptic books that I have read is that it took me to the very beginning of an event, and lead me through the difficulties, the thoughts, the denial that “this is it, the event that we have been training for”, the difference between thinking you are prepared and the reality of just how committed were you in believing an event might happen and being able to deal with what is happening.
Fight like a man tells the story of a close knit family led by the eldest Grayson who taught each member to fire a weapon, how to collect water, ensured they had petrol for vehicles stored, food canned and preserved, to always carry …….. and so it goes on. Now the reality is Olivia his wife was pretty much not committed to the cause, she was not a fan of guns, and was pretty much clueless about what to do when the Shit Hits The Fan. There was no power, no internet and no phones. It doesn’t really get any worse than this.
This family are separated, Grayson’s wife and his two sisters in law are on vacation at the beach 2 hours drive away, his daughter is at college an hours drive away, and she has to find her way home, which was the first rule …. Get Home! Grayson is at the home farm all alone with no way of knowing where his family are and how they were getting home. His brother and brother-in-law he had no idea why they have not made it back to the home farm.
LL Ackers drew me into this world which was lowered into a state of chaos in a very short period of time, with no power there was no fuel pumps, no money, no refrigeration, … no sanitation …. Well this author took me through this world as it deteriorated into a world I would not want to live in.
The author had a writing style that was gritty and held my attention, I couldn’t wait to turn the page to find out what was going to happen next.
The one criticism I have was the use of Trump in this book, I am not an American citizen and using real people, particularly politicians in this fictitious book I found difficult and unsettling. If you want to use politicians, then create a fictitious character to fill that role.
I am looking forward to following this book up with the second in the series Shoot Like A Girl.
I was gifted a copy of this book by the author via Voracious Reader Only.
I enjoyed this book, although it had me a bit confused, this seemed to the worst ever prepared family of ‘preppers’ no-one seemed to listen to patriarch Grayson, and Olivia was clueless, Gabby seemed to be the only other serious member of the family. I can’t wait to see where the series will go, Kevin Piercer’s narration was flawless. I received this book in exchange for my honest review.