Book Review: Drought

Title: Drought.
Author: Pam Bachorz.
Format: Paperback.
Pages: 400.
Series: No.
Source: Purchased.
Publisher: EgmontUSA.
Published Date: January 25, 2011.
Links:
Goodreads
Barnes and Noble

Summary:

"A young girl thirsts for love and freedom, but at what cost? Ruby dreams of escaping the Congregation. Escape from slaver Darwin West and his cruel Overseers. Escape from the backbreaking work of gathering Water. Escape from living as if it is still 1812, the year they were all enslaved. When Ruby meets Ford—an irresistible, kind, forbidden new Overseer—she longs to run away with him to the modern world where she could live a normal teenage life. Escape with Ford would be so simple. But if Ruby leaves, her community is condemned to certain death. She, alone, possesses the secret ingredient that makes the Water so special—her blood—and it’s the one thing that the Congregation cannot live without. Drought is the haunting story of one community’s thirst for life, and the dangerous struggle of the only girl who can grant it."

First & Last Line:

"I wish it would rain."
"Then I set my boot on that beautiful terrifying hard black road.'

Cover:

Drought was definitively an impulse buy. Never even have heard of Drought or Pam Bachorz, I saw it at my local used bookstore, and simply loved the cover! It caught my eye and pulled me in!

My Thoughts:

What really pulled me in was this synopsis and the cover, it was just something I haven't read before!

Having been a slave for almost 200 hundreds of years now to Darwin, Ruby has spent everyone of those days, of everyone of those years, collecting water everyday with a cup and spoon. If someone in the congregation doesn't meet the required amount of water for the day, Darwin or one of his men, will pull that person aside and beat them. Darwin is a cruel man, treating Ruby's friends and family like dogs, hitting them for not collecting enough water, not feeding them, and not providing the right shelter for them.

Having always being reminded by her mother, Ruby focuses on collecting water, praying to Otto, and taking lead of the congregation, and never really having time to do or think anything else....until, that is, when she meets Ford (one of Darwin's Overseers). After avoiding Ford, and her own feelings, Ruby soon has to decide between her mother (and the congregation) and Ford (and leaving everything she's ever known behind).

Im happy to say that in Drought I loved and enjoyed every single character! I loved that Ruby was a strong female character, who wants nothing but to kick butt and love a boy. Ford is the good guy just stuck in a bad situation. Ruby's mother is doing what is best for the congregation instead of her own daughter. And Darwin, who is cruel, even to Ruby's mother who he claims to still love.

Drought was an amazing read, and I loved Ruby and Ford! If you're looking for some adventure and a little bit of romance, this is the book.