Don't Let the Pink Fool You

When I finished this book I had no words.

I made the following face for about 90% of the book.

If you liked Lord of the Flies, The Handmaid's Tale or even The Crucible then you might enjoy The Grace Year.

Recap:

In this speculative fiction novel Tierney is about to enter "The Grace Year". Tierney lives in a community where it is believed that women have magic, and because of this when a girl turns 17 she is entering her "grace year". This community believes that these teens must leave for an entire year to get rid of their magic. No one knows what goes on in the grace year, but everyone knows they come back different.

Before Tierney is sent off for the grace year she participates in an engagement ceremony. The eligible men in the community go to a place with the father's of the girls participating in the grace year. The young men will barter with the father's to determine who will veil (claim) which girl. There are often more young women than men so not everyone will receive a veil (which means they will not be married). If a young women does not receive a veil she is sent to work in a field, for a home or in some other job around the community.

Tierney feels that she isn't going to be veiled. She doesn't like these traditions and she wishes to be far from the idea of marriage. To her surprise she receives a veil from her best friend Michael. This upsets because she thought he was the ONLY one to know the real her, and understand that she didn't want to be someone's wife. Because of this she also gained an enemy from one of the other girls who thought would be veiled by Michael.

The young women then embark on the grace year. They are escorted by guards, but they will be left alone for the remainder of the year. The girls have to find a way to survive nature and each other on their own.

So who will survive the grace year? Do the girls really have magic? Will Tierney marry Michael in the end? What other secrets will be discovered?

Thoughts:

• Like I said, this was a book I could not put down! It was fast paced and all the elements were intriguing. I was never quite sure where Kim Liggett was going with the story and I found that exciting.

• The book starts off with two quotes, one from The Lord of the Flies and the other from the The Handmaid's Tale. So the references to these books were obvious. I also got some Hunger Games and The Crucible vibes as well. If you have read a lot of these types of books then you will be familiar with the various tropes used throughout the story.

• Even though I enjoyed this story, this was a messy book. There was a lot going on and it happened quickly. Some of the elements I didn't even get to address in the recap are apothecaries that veered towards cannibals, poison, hangings, and poachers.

• SPOILER ALERT: One of the main plot points is that Tierney gets saved by one of the poachers. She was near death and he helps to keep her alive. Even though poachers are supposed to sell the grace year girls for parts he made a deal with Tierney's dad that he would keep her save life (if given the chance) in return of her dad saving his friend's life the previous year. During the time the poacher was keeping her with him they fall in love, which to be honest, feels a little like Stockholm Syndrome. This was my biggest issue with the book. Even though he technically wasn't keeping her against her will he has killed other grace year girls! I just don't see how you can see past that.

• SPOILER ALERT: While Tierney is with Ryker (the poacher) they discuss running away together and starting over somewhere new. Even though throughout the whole book she is adamantly against marriage and the traditions of the community, she decides that she is willing to change her mind for a poacher that she knew for a few weeks to months. I wish this book didn't contain a version of a love triangle, because I feel like it completely undermines her character. I think this book could have been if one of two things happened:

1.) Because of the circumstances of the grace year she only thinks she was in love with Ryker, but realizes at the end that it wasn't real and that she was only manipulated.

2.) Ryker was trying to manipulate her but she catches on and uses his feelings against him so that she can escape.

• The ending is unclear, but you can make an educated guess of what happens. The ending gave me a lot of feelings because of reasons...if you read the book I am sure you can guess.

Overall, I do think this is a good book and I think anyone that enjoys speculative fiction or feminist literature would enjoy this story. I gave this book 4/5 stars.