Annotation: In the not-too-distant future, the United States is governed by the Moral Statutes: laws created following a catastrophic world war. One of the newest laws is Article 5 which states that only children conceived by a married man and woman are valid citizens. Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller has always tried to abide by the Moral Statutes, but after Article 5 is enacted, she and her single mother can no longer hide.      

I love myself a good dystopian future with a bit of love peppered in between. I loved the Divergent series, the The Hunger Games trilogy, even that weird The Host book that Stephanie Meyer brought out after her vampires made her rich and famous. And what I really liked was Tahereh Mafi * Destroy Me (“Shatter Me” Series 1.5)

This one reminded me of the writing from Tahereh so much. Written in first person POV, the story follows a teen girl as she has her mother abducted from her house and she herself imprisoned in a reform camp after the state randomly decides that with Article 5 – women who had children outside of marriage should be sent to jail. Morality is strong in this new society – much like in the very religious community in The Handmaid’s tale

This book focuses more on the teen romance between this girl and her once-lover-friend who is now working for the new militia, the MM. He helps her escape the institute where she was imprisoned and takes care of her through the wastelands, trying to avoid people, robbers, turncoats and many more. She falls for him (obviously).

The intensity in his gaze took my breath away.

What’s there not to love about a dark, handsome, intense guy?

I could feel him. Every part of him. His soul was sewn to mine. His heated blood flowed through my veins. I’d thought that I had been close to my mother, and I was, but not like this. Chase and I barely touched—our hands, mouths, knees—but there was no part of me that was not his.

Yep, I wish I were 15 again to feel this level of attraction to anyone!

I couldn’t speak, but if I could, I would have told him I’d missed him. That I accepted who he had become, with his guilt and his fears. That I would stay beside him as he healed.

He does have a secret though. He was present in the night her mother was taken away as a passing ritual into the hard manhood of the MM – he was tasked to killing the moral absconder and when he refused, he was dishonoured and the girl’s mother was killed either way.

Having found of this betrayal of the man she loves, the girl has to deal with some conflicting emotions – love and loss and sadness and anger. She goes through the 5 stages of grief in her own pace – interrupted shortly by another twist of fate which has her imprisoned again and under the torturous gaze of a guy who in another life probably peeled wings from butterflies.

Chase – her dark, mysterious, ex militia boyfriend – finds her and saves her – thus redeeming himself in her eyes as a worthy man to love. Book 1 ends in quite a happy tone and I can’t wait to read the installments.

He held me as our heartbeats slowed and joined into one single pulse. And my mind went completely and blissfully silent.

While we waited, I caught Chase watching me. His gaze held no more secrets but was clear and honest and deep as a lake. I traced my fingertips over his high cheekbones and saw how the lines between his brows melted as the pounding in his head subsided. Finally finding peace, he closed his eyes.

Totally a good YA book and will surely wait for the next few to follow!

Only bad point was some repetitive scenes towards the end – but hey, there’s more ways than one to raise a point!