About the book: The economy crashed, the country is floundering, and Carrie Ashworth struggles to keep her brother and sister alive. She has two jobs in her newly-formed, newly-outlawed clan: grow crops to feed thirty-six people and maintain contact with Oliver Simmons, their local patrolman. Carrie's life is almost content when Greg Pierce shows up. A man with the ambition to help them survive. A man determined to hate her.
Greg sets to work devising systems to protect their clan from the new regime, but it doesn't take long to spot the real reason behind their safety. Patrolman Simmons has fallen for Carrie. When a government raid nearly wipes out the clan, Greg takes it upon himself to give the socially-awkward patrolman what he wants. Only Carrie doesn't like Greg throwing her in Simmons' path, especially when Greg's brusque exterior melts, and she catches a glimpse of the real man underneath.
But back in town, Simmons' coworkers have grown suspicious. A clan the size of Logan Pond couldn't have simply 'slipped' past his patrols all this time. When their hidden loot goes missing, they want revenge, and the one thread holding Logan Pond together is about to break. Carrie is forced to choose: follow her heart or save her clan.
Life won't let her choose both.
My review: Holy cow! This was a great book! I really enjoyed Carrie's character, such an amazing character. Her parents die pretty much at the beginning of the book and Carrie is left to raise her two younger siblings. She tries to do everything she can for them, and for the people that she lives with, the clan. She has to make sure that she always knows when the raids are coming so that she can let the rest of the group know. This kind of life would be crazy, never knowing if there will be enough food for everyone. Never knowing when the next raid will come or if everyone will survive. Never knowing which of your own group is going to stab you in the back. I thought that it was kind of funny when Greg and his mom come to live with the clan, how Greg's grandma was constantly trying to get Greg and Carrie together. But Greg wanted nothing to do with it. I thought that the plot was good, Rebecca Belliston definitely a fun plot, with creative aspects to the way the new government would be running, and treating people who refused to tow the line. I liked how there was a touch of romance with several of the characters. I can't wait to read the next installment!
I was sent an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Labels: clean fiction, Dystopian, Rebecca Belliston
