Book Review: The Book of Ivy (bk1) by Amy Engle

Goodreads Summary: After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.

This year, it is my turn.

My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.

But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.

Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…

I don't know why in the world did I ever over look reading this book. Sometimes I am very guilty of judging a book by its cover and I literally thought that this book would not be this good. I always find that when I overlook a book it turns out to be really good.

This story is about a girl named Ivy who instead of her sister has to marry Bishop Lattimer. He is the president's son of the winning side that won the battle between the Westfalls and Lattimers. Although Ivy's grandfather founded Westfall the Lattimers took control after the war. Ivy is the key to her family gaining the power once more but she has to kill Bishop in order to do that.

I loved Ivy. She was meek and small but her heart was big. All her life her hatred for the Lattimers was fueled by her father and sister. Her mother was played into her feelings as well. Decisions were made for her and her voice alone was dully noted. Until she met Bishop she realized that she did have a voice and he was helping her to discover that. She was slowly coming out of her shell that her family created but the whole time she was torn between loyalty and her heart.

Bishop was definitely different from what Ivy thought. He was patient, kind, helped support Ivy in whatever she wanted. He always made her make the choice first because to him it was her right.

The writing of this story was so good. I listened to it and the narrator did a good job narrating the book. This was definitely a story of following your heart and what is right. I loved all of it.

Rating 4 Stars
Recommend? Yes

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