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.