Reading Right Now! (#46)

What I'm Reading Right Now! is...

Title: The Book of Ivy (#1)

Author: Amy Engel

I am so close to being done with this. I've probably got around 20 pages left to read.

I had heard about this book sometime either early 2015 or late 2014. It was a surprise hype read. On Goodreads, it has about a 4.24 rating, which is good for any book. I knew I had to read it to see what I thought of it, and also because I'm always drawn in by the hype.

This book is a slight postapocalyptic, slight dystopian, but more romance driven read. About two generations past, the Earth and civilization was destroyed by disease and (maybe) nuclear war. Survivors found their way to Westfall, in the state formerly known as Missouri, and set up a settlement there. Then there was a little bit of a civil war between the founder of Westfall, who was named Westfall, and a man named Lattimer. Westfall wanted a democracy, but Lattimer didn't think society could handle that and wanted a certain group of people to have power and make the decisions. Lattimer won and Westfall had to grumble and accept that even though he founded the town, he wasn't in charge anymore.

Now the town of Westfall has a tradition where the girls whose families followed Westfall are arranged in marriage to the boys of the family who supported Lattimer. At 16 years old, today is the day that Ivy Westfall is set to marry Bishop Lattimer, and in three months, she's supposed to kill him.

Ivy must decide who's more important to her, her family, or Bishop Lattimer and the feelings she's starting to develop for him.

I'm definitely liking this book. I have this weird fascination with the arranged marriage concept, so I'm interested in that part. I really love post-apocalyptic/dystopian tales. And the writing in this book just has that comfort  feel to it. I start reading it and know from the first page that I'm going to enjoy it. I also like how this book has so many gray areas. Most of the characters aren't all bad and most aren't all good. Except for Ivy's sister Callie, I don't like her. I'm also really loving the relationship build up in the story. It's a relationship that's really grown throughout and it's believable because of that. I don't think this book is going to get a 5 star rating from me, but it's definitely going to get a 4. I really am enjoying it.

Since I'm so close to being finished with this book, I have some other ones on the pile to read next.

 

Title: Saga: Volume 3

Authors: Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Title: Shadowlands (#1)

Author: Kate Brian

So that's what I'm Reading Right Now! and what I hope to read next. If you've read any of these books, let me know what you thought of them.