How The Book of Ivy became my booklover

I'm totally into these post-apocalypse-still-standing-on-the-edge-of-war society. It's just who I am ;)

“You’re easy to read, Ivy, but the whole book of you is complicated.”

Being an all-time feminist, I highly disapprove arranged marriages (who doesn't?), let alone sneaky manipulative families who always know what's the best before you had the chance to figure it out on your own. Free will is the most powerful force you possess, people! Make the best of it.

“Because everyone needs someone to put their faith in. Life’s too lonely otherwise. And I’m putting mine in you.”

Bishop put too much faith in Ivy, to say the least . He did it all wrong. But the beauty of their story is how they get to know and trust each other. They're adorable and I keep sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for their epic kiss. They are adept at keeping me in suspense. Well done guys!

It's one in a million that a pre-planned wedlock works out well. Too well, actually. Now the meticulously detailed plain of murdering the president's son and takeover of power don't go down the river smoothly. It's Ivy who chickened out and convicted herself to go into exile. I scream in frustration at her lack of self-preservation and naivety. What kind of domineering family she has anyway? I'd rather be one of the Adams family than one of them. Bustards.

"I’ve learned the hard way, we can’t choose who we love. Love chooses us. Love doesn’t care about what’s convenient or easy or planned. Love has its own agenda and all we can do is get out of its way."

All in all, the cliffhanger is great at the end but I am not quite sure where the plot is going. I don't expect epic battles between good and bad or life changing new government that saves humanity. So I am hanging in the air watching what's more it has to tell. Till then I'm waving from top of a drift and I get down to The Book of Revolution. Good for me ;)

“He didn’t save me, though. He allowed me the freedom to save myself, which is the very best type of rescue."

Rating

3 out of 5

"I don’t let myself dwell on what, and who, I’ve lost. I don’t hope for things that aren’t meant to be mine."

How I got a grip on The Book of Revolution

The Book of Ivy left such a cliffhanger I had to keep strolling on the bumpy ride of Ivy.

Let's pick up the thread...

Ivy has gone through more in one week outside Westfall than during her entire lifetime. The Book of Revolution is a mixture of Hunger Games, Divergent and Romeo&Juliet. Yet it can't be as epic as it should be, I'm afraid. Despite the lack of action and thrill I should have felt, several conceptions pop up, which leave you pondering on in the darkness of the night before you fall into a slumber. Such as you can choose your family regardless of DNA and make your own decisions without allowing someone to force them upon you. And remember not getting married against your will! Oh my! These people are cavemen...

But the universally accepted truth of love conquers all is still in force. Surprise, surprise...same old, same old!

“What are you doing here with me, Bishop?” I ask. “You should be with some other girl. Some girl who makes you happy.”
“I don’t want a girl who makes me happy,” he says. “I want you.”

Bishop is such a cupcake. I gobble him crumb by crumb as he's following Ivy leaving his loving family and convenient home into a dreary waste land. A bit of crazy when you think about it. But I love crazy ;)
That's why he's the perfect book-boyfriend material. *staring dreamily at the wall*

"I don’t really believe in fate or destiny. Or at least I don’t believe that fate can’t be altered. I’m living proof. I altered my own."

I suppose some people believe that checking characters out is the best way to solve problems. But it's not like cutting the rotten part out of the apple so you can eat it because now it's picture perfect. Death is not the best way of making justice in most cases. Though it's the easiest way...

"Because with each other, we were always our better, stronger selves."

Impression post-reading

Slightly disappointed.

Rating

3 out of 5