Amy Engel

The Book of Ivy

arwen

Monicap

Very quick read. Got it done in less than 6 hours.

Loved the characters and the storyline, though cliche, is just the sort of thing I enjoy.

VERY MUCH looking forward to The Revolution of Ivy.

Melissa Palmer

Book #103 Read in 2015
The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel (YA)

This was a great dystopian read and a great series starter. Ivy is arranged to marry Bishop, the President's son. Her father has hated the President for years and wants Ivy to work against her in-laws, getting secrets for him and eventually killing Bishop. What he hadn't factored into his plans was that Ivy would fall in love with her new husband. She struggles to find a way of saving his life without betraying her family, even if it is at a huge cost for her. 

This book was a great read and the characters were interesting and complex. It had elements of mystery and romance in it. High school students would enjoy this book, as well as adults. I hope to start #2 today.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Audrey Lord

Née pour trahir et faite pour tuer... Sera-t-elle à la hauteur ? Voilà cinquante ans qu'une guerre nucléaire a décimé la population mondiale. Un groupe de survivants d'une dizaine de milliers de personnes a fini par se former, et ce qui reste des États-Unis d'Amérique s'est choisi un président. Mais des deux familles qui se sont affrontées pour obtenir le pouvoir, la mienne a perdu. Aujourd'hui, les fils et les filles des adversaires d'autrefois sont contraints de s'épouser, chaque année, lors d'une cérémonie censée assurer l'unité du peuple. J'ai seize ans cette année, et mon tour est venu. Je m'appelle Ivy Westfall, et je n'ai qu'une seule et unique mission dans la vie : tuer le garçon qu'on me destine, Bishop, le fils du président. Depuis ma plus tendre enfance, je me prépare pour ce moment. Peu importent mes sentiments, mes désirs, mes doutes. Les espoirs de toute une communauté reposent sur moi. Le temps de la rébellion approche... Bishop doit mourir. Et je serai celle qui le tuera. Née pour trahir et faite pour tuer... Sera-t-elle à la hauteur ? À la fois histoire d'amour torturée, thriller psychologique et dystopie cruelle, The Book of Ivy vous entraîne dans un compte à rebours haletant dont vous ne sortirez pas indemnes.

ce livre était vraiment bonnn, mélange d’amour/action comme j’aime. la fin m’a beaucoup surprise, je ne m’attendais pas à ca💔💔 par exemple il y a des moments ou il se passait pas grand chose, tout est arrivé dans les derniers chapitres. overall j’ai beaucoup aimé mais je pense pas lire le deuxième 

elyse

Ivy, l'héroïne fascinante de la duologie phare de Lumen, née pour trahir et faite pour tuer... Sera-t-elle à la hauteur ? Une version dystopique de Roméo et Juliette

Courtney Gendreau

Original Review at: www.literarychaos.com

Finally, a dystopian novel that hasn't let me down! I have always loved dystopian novels, but I have been in a bit of a slump with them lately. All of the recent dystopian books I have read lately have started to feel too similar and have left me feeling unimpressed, until this book...

Due to this slump, I really did not have high expectations for this novel but Amy Engal managed to blow me away. The book was beautifully written with amazing characters and an even better plot. Amy Engal paced the book beautifully, the book does not drag nor did it feel rushed. It was just perfect, the plot itself has many twists and turns and a killer cliffhanger. For those of you who hate cliffhangers, I recommend having the sequel on hand so you are not left in suspense as I currently am.

Overall the best part is definitely the characters. The main character Ivy is torn; on one end there is her family, the mission she must finish; on the other is Bishop, the man she is meant to kill but instead finds herself loving. Yet in spite of this, she manages to be a strong and brave and to think for herself. Ivy was so multidimensional and realistic; I found her to be the kind of character that I as a reader could connect with. For me, she was a refreshing break from the usual wishy-washy love-struck YA main character that is so common in recent literature. Besides from Ivy I really loved Bishop. He is everything that a romantic interest should be compassionate, respectful, and patient. His character was a nice change from the cold, aloof, and emotionally stunted love interest that is all too common in young adult literature. 

Overall, this book was amazing. It really has it all, an interesting world, a great plot, amazing characters, and a beautiful romance. I am so excited to pick up the sequel and see what happens next for Ivy and Bishop.

Voilà cinquante ans qu'une guerre nucléaire a décimé la population mondiale. Un groupe de survivants d'une dizaine de milliers de personnes a fini par se former, et ce qui reste des Etats-Unis d'Amérique s'est choisi un président. Mais des deux familles qui se sont affrontées pour obtenir le pouvoir, la mienne a perdu. Aujourd'hui, les fils et les filles des adversaires d'autrefois sont contraints de s'épouser, chaque année, lors d'une cérémonie censée assurer l'unité du peuple. J'ai seize ans cette année, et mon tour est venu. Je m'appelle Ivy Westfall, et je n'ai qu'une seule et unique mission dans la vie : tuer le garçon qu'on me destine, Bishop, le fils du président. Depuis ma plus tendre enfance, je me prépare pour ce moment. Peu importent mes sentiments, mes désirs, mes doutes. Les espoirs de toute une communauté reposent sur moi. Le temps de la rébellion approche... Bishop doit mourir. Et je serai celle qui le tuera. Née pour trahir et faite pour tuer... Sera-t-elle à la hauteur ? A la fois histoire d'amour torturée, thriller psychologique et dystopie cruelle, The Book of Ivy vous entraîne dans un compte à rebours haletant dont vous ne sortirez pas indemnes.

Marine Pilate

C'est avec 7 ans de retard que je me suis lancée dans la lecture de cette duologie et je ne regrette pas.

🔥Ivy est un personnage qui semble si réel, on s'identifie facilement à elle et cela rend la lecture parfois difficile, dans le sens où les choix de la jeune fille nous pèse également dessus. Tiraillée entre sa famille qui compte sur elle pour assassiner Bishop et son tout nouveau mari qui se révèle bien différent de ce qu'elle pensait, elle ne sait plus vers quel camp va sa loyauté.

Bishop lui est un book boyfriend au top. Il est prévenant, bienveillant, drôle et bien différent de son père, le président Lattimer. 

(sans vouloir spoiler , le personnage que j'ai détesté est Callie 🤢) 

💭Lors de toute ma lecture, je n'avais aucune idée des choix qu'Ivy allait faire. J'ai dévoré le roman, je ne pouvais plus le lâcher. Je me suis retrouvée à bout de souffle à la fin de ce premier tome. Choquée et soulagée à la fois... Avec une seule hâte : commencer le deuxième tome dès le lendemain.

Pour plus de chroniques, suivez-moi sur Instagram 👉 @Reading_Ririne

What would you kill for? After a brutal nuclear war, our country was decimated. A new nation of survivors lives within a fenced community. No one knows what lies beyond the fence; only that to be cast outside it is a fate worse than death. Two families fought to govern our new society. Now, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing faction to the sons of the winning side in a yearly ceremony. This year, it's my turn. My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill Bishop Lattimer, the president's son and my soon-to-be husband, and return the Westfall family to power. I never expected that my new husband would be the one person in the world to truly understand me. But I can't falter now - I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy. Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him... The Book of Ivy is the first novel in a thrilling dystopian young adult duology from the author of The Roanoke Girls, perfect for fans of the Delirium series.

Finja T

I like the concert of how kt was weitten if that makes sense I usually reason in german and this was my first book in english. The storyline was rather intresting to me and I might have a crush on bishop :D

Elif Gültekin

Kurucunun Kızı dün bitti ama ben üşendiğimden yorum atmadım. 
Dehşet verici bir nükleer savaş sonrası ABD büyük ölçüde yok edilmiş, sadece küçük bir grup hayatta kalmıştı. Geriye kalanları kimin yöneteceği konusunda Lattimer'lar ve Westfall'lar arasında çıkan savaşı Westfall ailesi kaybetmişti. Ve beş yıl sonra barış ve kontrol, her yıl yapılan bir törenle, kaybeden tarafın kızları ile kazanan tarafın erkeklerinin evlendirilmesiyle sağlanmaktaydı.
Bu yıl sıra Ivy Westfall'da.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••
Kurucunun Kızı distopya bir kitap fakat ben distopya okuyormuş gibi hissetmedim. Kitap güzel ve bir solukta okunuyor fakat distopik yanları eksikti. Distopya başlığı altında yetersiz olmasına rağmen yazarın kalemi çok akıcı ve kendini okutturan bir türdeydi. Kitapta Bishop biraz geri planda kalmıştı bana göre. Ama kitabın ismini de ele alırsak böyle olması normal. Sonu bıçakla kesilmiş gibi biten kitaplara özel bir nefret besliyorum. Ama bu kitabın sonu beni rahatsız etmedi. Şunu da söyleyip bitiriyim. Ivy'nin sonda yaptığı fedakarlık bana göre çook gereksizdi. Puanım 4/5 oldu. Eğer okumak isterseniz kafa dağıtmak için kısa ve akıcı bir kitap.

Micol Scalabrino

I’ve been waiting to read this book since it came out in Italy in 2016. I have yet to understand why I didn’t read it right away, but here I am, four years later, wondering how I lived these past years without this level of trash. 

This book is very short, in fact I read it in less than half a day. Even if it’s that short, I think it is a really good book, with a right level of trash with an addition of serious concepts. Bishop, with all his comments about human rights, women rights, stole my heart. Ivy was a good lead character, innocent and strong. 

My only complaint is that the first part is a bit null, while the final chapters are were all the action take part and where I felt like I was finally reading the main part.

Final vote: 4/5

Wow, I hate Ivy's family so much. Like I actually loathe them.

ashley hopkins

not a fan of the ending and now I have to wait until November of 2015. -sigh-

Book of Ivy

my_bookalicious

I don't have a clear opinion about this book. On one hand the writing is fluid so reading is easy, but on another, plot is slow/dull. It felt like extremely long introduction and only last few chapitres had something kinda interesting.

Original review posted on Caity Reads.

“For the first time, it sinks in that the horrors beyond the fence are the same as those inside it. People. And the brutal things we do to one another.”

Trigger warnings for mentions of rape, murder, and suicide. If this triggers you in any way, I do not recommend picking this book up. Please beware and take care of yourselves. ❤

This is one of my favorite books of all time (series too, since I read both books in a week). It certainly reminded me of what I love about dystopian novels. The questions they can bring to my mind about our society and what could cause these things to happen.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that’s made me think as much as this one did. It was such a thought provoking book, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I finished. It brought to mind questions about what is right and what is wrong. But also how life is too messy for things to be one way or the other. Sometimes there is this messy gray area that no one really wants to actually talk about. It was refreshing to have a light shown on it.

The Book of Ivy is about two teens on opposite sides of a political war. While I think that it would have been nice to get a little more world building, I think it had a fairly nice set up at the beginning of the book. There was a nuclear war that left most of the United States in ruin. A small group came together, and then there was an internal war over who would be in power over the people.

Sixteen year old Ivy, is the from the founding family. The daughter of the man who’s father founded Westfall. She’s raised into this household, made to believe that the Lattimer’s are bad and that they don’t care about the people in their community. Bishop, is the seemingly spoiled son of President Lattimer, the leader of their town. A man who believes in the rules and regulations put in place in their community. Both are not exactly who they appear to be.

The romance in this book is slow burning, and in my opinion, was perfect for this story. I absolutely loved Amy Engel’s writing, and the way that she chose to tell this story. It’s definitely more of a character driven plot, than an action driven plot. But I think that worked really well for this particular book.

Overall, I would definitely recommend picking this up. I need more books by Amy Engel now.

Stephanie Haynes

Hannah

oh my god I didn't think I would get this emotionally invested

Kaele Perkins 

Such a fun and fast read! Dystopian with not too much world building so it was super easy to follow. I really liked the plot and character development. Ivy was an interesting main character and I absolutely love Bishop. He’s so sweet 🥺

Natalie

I liked this book. It is a great dystopian world and gave me Hunger Games meets The Selection vibes. I liked the slow build romance between Ivy and Bishop.

Émilie 

Une lecture intéressante sur la construction de son identité et d'une opinion propre. L'histoire est plutôt lente mais les pages s'écoulent rapidement et le désir de voir l'aboutissement est fort.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

Let me start by saying The Book of Ivy is a dystopian YA, yes, but it reads much more as a contemporary story with dystopian elements, in my opinion. I’m not a huge dystopian fan, so I was hesitant to read this when I saw it’s genre categorization. After a few bloggy friends (mostly Nereyda and Nick) convinced me it was something I would like as the contemporary feel was pretty strong, I dove in head first. I received both books for review and I marathoned them. Oh, man, this was sooooo the way to go!! If I had read The Book of Ivy first and then had to wait for book 2, it would have been pretty torturous. I was so happy that when it ended, I could immediately jump straight into Ivy’s world again.

Ivy is the type of heroine I absolutely adore. She’s dealt a pretty crappy hand, but doesn’t let it get the better of her. She’s ambitious, spunky, and intelligent. She’s given the horrible order to kill her soon-to-be husband, Bishop, who also happens to be the president’s son. At first she doesn’t think twice about it. Kill him? No problem. But she soon realizes that it may be harder than she first imagined for a few different reasons… an important one being that she realizes, after spending only a short time with him, that’s he’s not the evil and manipulative person that her family led her to believe he is. This fact alone makes her mission quite a bit harder to accomplish.

The Book of Ivy was intense at times, horrible and sad at others, and even romantic and sweet here and there. It had a whole mix of good and bad moments, and I loved how it completely ran the spectrum. It also ended in a way that begged for book 2, though I wouldn’t consider it to be a total “cliffhanger”, pers say. Needless to say, this is a book that I’ve been pushing in others’ faces since I finished it. It definitely needs more attention than its been getting so far, and I’m doing my best to fix that. ;)

(Thanks to Listening Library for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

 Bruna Acioly Leão

*4.5*

This book was so, so, so good. I really loved the characters, mainly Ivy and the romance as well. 
Every character felt very well developed for me (or as well developed as they needed to be). 
I also liked that we got to uncover everyone's personalities little by little as Ivy learns new things about them.
Ivy was my favorite and I certainly sympathized with her inner conflicts and doubts about which side was right - her families beliefs, or the current president's way of running things. Politics are complicated and not everything is black and white, so I like the way this book is different from other dystopians because it doesn't try to tell you which side is certainly right, but rather leaves things sort of open for debate. 
Obviously the society is very oppressive, but given the alternatives, maybe Ivy's father's idea of a democracy isn't necessarily the best thing for the people.
Especially considering the fact that his motives seem pretty selfish.

I also really enjoyed this audiobook and the narration. I couldn't stop listening!

The only criticism I have is that the world felt sort of generic, cookie-cutter dystopia. That didn't bother me too much, as I still had a lot of fun with it, and since it's only the first book, maybe there are more things out there that we don't know.

All I know is that I need the sequel now!

Kate

4.5* 

With politics, assassination plots, secrets and romance, The Book of Ivy is without a doubt one of the most enjoyable dystopians I have read in years. 

I had no idea what to expect going in to this but I definitely don't expect to love it so much. It had me totally engrossed from the first page until the last. I adored the characters, (Bishop officially has a place in my heart) and the relationship dynamics were addictive and layered. I absolutely fell in love with the romance. Oh the romance. It was gorgeously addictive, heartbreaking and eurgh, just played with my heart in all the right ways. The fast paced plot had my full attention throughout and I honestly can't remember enjoying a dystopian quite as much as this since The Hunger Games years. It was addictive, gritty, heart pounding and impossible to put down. 

TW: Rape. Suicide.

The Book of Ivy

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