In the After by Demitria Lunetta

Another amazing dystopian novel by a new author!I love having so much time to read great new books by the pool in the summer! Amy was 14 when her world was totally torn apart. An alien race came down to destroy the human race. Luckily Amy was able to survive the initial attack and learned how to avoid the aliens. She was lonely and constantly worried, but she was alive. Her only companion is Baby, a little girl who she found one day when she was out scavenging. Amy and Baby have a nice routine in place that keeps them safe from attacks even though they miss contact with other people. Then, Amy discovers that there are other survivors living in New Hope- a community who are trying to rebuild civilization. While at first Amy is thrilled to find others to live with, she soon discovers that all is not well at New Hope and she must figure out a way to keep both herself and Baby safe. This was a great book- a quick read and of course there will be a follow up book to this one. Of course I will have to wait for a year to read it, but it will be worth the wait.

Breaking Point by Kristen Simmons

This is the sequel to the book Article 5 that I finished yesterday. Breaking Point continues the story of Ember and Chase. At the end of Article 5 they had escaped their own deaths and were on the run from the Federal Bureau of Reformation. Now they have a choice to make. They can be removed to a safe house where they can hide away and ignore what is happening around the world. Or they can join the resistance and fight back. Complicating their decision is their friend Sean- whose only goal is to rescue his girlfriend Rebecca from the hands of the government. Ember feels very guilty about leaving Rebecca because it was through her own choices that led to Rebecca's capture. As Ember and Chase struggle to decide what to do, the government starts making things very difficult for them to be safe anywhere. I'm looking forward to the third book coming out in the winter. Check out this great YouTube clip for a book trailer!

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

I stumbled across this book last week at Chapters. The best thing is that I picked it up in paper back and the next book in the series is out as well. This is a great new dystopian series by a new author- it's funny that this one never crossed any social media sites that I normally get new book recommendations- but this is a good one. Article 5 is set after several big cities in the United States have been abandoned after the war. The Bill of Rights was removed and replaced with the Moral Statutes. The government that has been elected has the motto of One Whole Country, One Whole Family and believe in traditional lifestyles. Women are to be subservient to men, only families with a husband and wife are legally allowed to have children and everyone must live up to a high moral standard. Ember is 17 years old and remembers what it was like before the wars. She lives with her mother and has never known who her father is. One night, the soldiers come to arrest both Ember and her mother because they violated the moral statues. As if this isn't bad enough, the boy who Ember has loved her whole life is the one to arrest them. Ember is sent to a reform school and she will stop at nothing to find her mother and protect her at all costs. But it is very challenging to escape from the reform school and the guards will stop at nothing to punish these girls for breaking the new rules. I thought this was a great story. There is lots of action, romance and adventure that would keep everyone interested. Ember is a very real character and you really feel for her and the horrible conditions she is forced to adapt to. As soon as I finished reading this one I ordered the sequel on my Kindle- something I don't usually do, but I had to find out what happened next.

Monument 14 Sky On Fire by Emmy Laybourne

I saw a son's friend reading this book the other day and asked if I could borrow it- I promised it would only take me a day to read it- and I was right! This book is the sequel to Monument 14- so if you haven't read that- you might want to read it first- you can check out my review here. This book picks up right where Monument 14 left off- with half of the group travelling trying to get to Denver to get help and with the slim hope of escaping the Super Store they have been living in. The other half of the group stayed behind with the younger ones. The story is told through the perspective of both brothers, one on the bus and the other at the store. What the group on the bus quickly discovers is that life outside the Super Store is dangerous and scary. What the group inside the store quickly learn is that life inside is dangerous and scary as well. I don't like reading sequels when I can't remember everything that happened in the first book, but I quickly remembered this story. While I couldn't remember every detail, I knew enough to pick right up in the story. I enjoyed this one- it was fast paced and exciting.

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

This book has been sitting on my “What I’m reading” shelf for a few months now. I started it a while ago, and then picked something else up and yesterday I decided to go back to it. I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed reading this book. North of Beautiful tells the story of Terra Cooper- a beautiful girl who has it all- a great looking body, artistic talent, a perfect boyfriend…and a wine port stain on her face. This stain, and her father, holds Terra back from everything. She is content to just cover up any imperfections- both on her face and in her life, while at the same time she longs to escape her small town to go away for university. Terra’s father does nothing to help build her confidence in anything she is interested in. He is verbally abusive to anyone in his family, while her mother does her best to protect everyone- she ends up taking all most all of the abuse. When Terra meets Jacob, her life and her mother’s attitude starts to change. Jacob constantly challenges Terra’s definition of beauty and introduces her to many different experiences. The big question is can Terra deal with what she has been taught and break away from her father and everything else that is holding her back. There are many layers to this book. On the surface, it is a romance novel, but when you look deeper it is so much more than that. The author uses maps as a symbol for many things, this would be an interesting book to share the concepts of symbolism with kids. All in all it was a great read!