Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Review: The Book Of Ivy by Amy Engel

Book Blurb:

After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.

This year, it is my turn.

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.

But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.

Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…

My Review:

2.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Dystopian, Survival, Teen--

In a distant future, after the world that we know was destroyed, a group of people have made a town that seems to thrive, yet dissension exists. Each year there is an arranged marriage, where teens are forced with partners they don’t know based on a personality test. Ivy knows who her partner will be long before that day though, since he is the President’s son and she is the Founder’s daughter. Ivy also knows what is expected of her, a task only she can complete- Ivy must kill Bishop, her husband.

I was so excited to get my hands on this book to read. The cover alone drew me in and then when I read the synopsis about a dystopian world with arranged marriages and murder, I had to read it. Well, I do not agree with the mass majority of reviews I read on Goodreads. I was angry and disappointed in this book (which maybe that was what the author wanted because it did raise VERY strong feelings in me, mostly negative though). Most of the time while I was reading I had to battle my anger towards Ivy and her terrible decision making skills, and the fact that she was a stupid Pawn yet never saw it! I expected Ivy to be this awesome badass character, but instead I found her to be an emotional, needy, delicate flower who desperately strove for the love of her sister and daddy even though she already had the love of a man who was much better than both of them.

I feel a lot like I am rambling here, which I am pretty sure that I am, but when it comes to this book I feel so all over the place. I am fairly sure that I want to read the second book because I am a glutton for punishment and I would like to see more Bishop. I just need some space from this book/series for a while. I finished the book weeks ago but did not have time to write my review, yet now when thinking about the book I get irritated. There were so many opportunities for Ivy to make the right choice, not just for her but the people she wanted to save, but she never did. Also, she sacrificed herself for people who did not deserve it, even a little. When her father tried to explain his agenda/reasoning he sounded like a crazy vindictive person with no ethical concerns and full of manipulation. Callie the sister may have been the devil, in my opinion. The only redeeming part of the book was how awesome Bishop was. Arrggg. See, this book makes me crazy. Feel free to try and make sense of this review.

No comments:

Post a Comment