Book Review: The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel

Title: The Book of Ivy

Author: Amy Engel

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: November 11^th, 2014

ISBN: 9781622664658

Rating: 5/5

Cover Impressions: She is wearing a wedding dress holding a knife, doesn't that say it all?

I received a digital copy of The Book of Ivy from Entangled Teen in exchange for an honest review and was so excited because I love dystopian fiction so much and this one did not disappoint at all.

Synopsis: What would you kill for? 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 return 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…

Review:  Dystopia has hands down got to be my favourite genre of YA and having read The Book of Ivy three times now (yes I loved it that much), I think I can safely say that it is on par with the Hunger Games and Divergent, it is one of the best books I have ever read (or in my case re-read).

The way that Ivy’s society functioned was so complex and interesting, addressing questions such as, what to do for the greater good? And also making it difficult to keep secrets. I loved the world that Engel set up. Is it just me who thought that this book was a better executed version of Romeo and Juliet, except without the instant love and untimely deaths? Anyway, I loved the idea of two warring families and all that jazz.

Ivy was certainly a character that I could relate to. While she wasn't always completely likable, she made sense. She'd certainly been through a lot during her life, and didn't really have a lot of support. Her family was quite focused on their mission and preparing Ivy for it, and weren't really focused on building Ivy up as a person her Father and sister were cold and distant to Ivy, but in a way I felt that this enabled Ivy to be a stronger, more rounded person because she was not sheltered and knew what hardships her world had to off. Bishop was insanely likable, just a normal boy who dreamed of going to the ocean, who cared for anyone and everyone.

Thankfully there was no love triangle of any kind in this book, just a slow, well-paced build up between Ivy and Bishop. I loved the fact that Engel didn't make Ivy and Bishop’s romance instant, instead they became friends slowly, began to trust each other and fall in love within a realistic time frame and I felt that this made the book all the more enjoyable.

The writing was to die for… enough said.

The Book of Ivy raises all kinds of questions for Ivy, Bishop, and the reader. There were political issues, and familial issues, and the biggest of them all, morality issues. Questions about allegiance, sacrifice and loyalty. Overall, I give this book five out of five stars, it was perfect.

*Spoilers beyond this point*.

In the words of Zoe Marriott, I would chew of my right arm to have it the sequel (Revolution of Ivy) now *sighs*. Unfortunately we have to wait till November 2015.

In the meantime read this beautiful synopsis; Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty—forced marriages and murder plots—for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall’s borders. But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy’s life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she’s fought for.

There is hope yet.