An Advanced Reader's Edition from the Amazon.com Vine program, to read and review.

From the back cover: Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters. Or at least without questioning them much--if you don't count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her sixty-year-old uncle--who already has six wives--Kyra must make a desparate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family.

This powerful novel doesn't pull many punches. The voice of the thirteen year old narrator will draw you into the insular world of "The Chosen" and make you care deeply about her and her family. This make the brutality of what happens to her all the more painful. Kyra does not want to marry her uncle, as decreed by the Prophet, and her response unleashes a torrent of violence intended to discipline her into obedience. Instead it drives her ever further away from the only world she's ever known.

This book is written for a young adult audience, which makes it a very fast read. However, the unflinching look at the darker side of polygomy might make some readers in this target audience uncomfortable. For younger readers that are just testing the waters of young adult fiction, the subject matter in this book might well be more than they are ready for. However, for readers with the appropriate levels of maturity, this is a powerful glimpse into the ways that religion and power can breed corruption and violence.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I know crrcookie enjoyed The 19th Wife, which addresses similar subject matter as this book, so I passed this along for her to read.

I was thrilled to get this book from ResQgeek even though it was a complete surprise. It is something that I think I will enjoy reading. I might offer it to the others on the 19th Wife bookring listing as they may also enjoy it.

I am very bad though ... I have challenged myself to read 100 books off of my existing TBR this year (books acquired prior to the start of 2009). To do this I know that I must read those books first but I am already drawn to this one as I started reading it on the train ride home. I got 50 pages of the book read from lunch to my home Metro stop (the trains are slow).

I am in the middle of some library books that will have to go back very soon but I hope to finish this one and move it along.

OK so after I started reading it on the Metro I couldn't get it out of my mind so I had to continue reading it.

The story is a heartbreaking one as the life that this girl is living is something that we cannot imagine. A place where polygamy is the norm is so far from the life that I lead it is hard to understand why these people live the way that they do. They are cut off from the world and taught to fear outsiders.

I didn't like the way that the story jumped around and I was often confused by all the different characters in one family. It would have been useful if the book had an index of characters because I just couldn't keep them straight.

Overall, this book gives a look into the life of a teen girl but I must say that I would not recommend this book to a young teenager due to the violence and other subject matter but this could be a valuable book for the older teen or adult that wants to learn more about the polygamist lifestyle or what life can be like in a religious community where beliefs are extreme and controlled by a select few.

I hope that I can pass this book on to other BookCrossers that may be interested in reading about this subject.

This book was read for the 2009 Pages Read Challenge from the release challenge forum.

My goal is 35,000 pages and this book has a total of 213 pages that I am counting for this challenge. I have a total of 62 books read this year with 15,436 pages read for the year and that is 44.103% of my 2009 goal.

This book was released for the 2009 Keep Them Moving Challenge from the release challenge forum.

This is release #17 for this challenge.

hummm....this was a surprise book. I have read The 19th Wife and The Stolen, so the subject matter is known. You sneaky crrcookie - thanks for the book.

Ooh! Thanks so much for sending this one along, BnB! So nice to finally meet you in person at the BC Convention. It was a fantastic time!!

This is a heart gripping story. It is quite fast paced and the writing is spare without being too sparse. Really lovely. I found myself asking if this is really happening today. With the "image" of polygamy being cleaned up in the media thanks to Sister Wives and Big Love, this is an interesting foil.

I've added this to the It's Your Turn VBB on Bookobsessed.com

ETA June 29: I mailed this one to appa who chose it from the VBB. Enjoy!

This has arrived safely. Thank you!

This is one of the best books I've read so far this year. Powerful, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once.