Drought by Pam Bachorz

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

Ruby Prosser dreams of escaping the Congregation and the early-nineteenth century lifestyle that’s been practiced since the community was first enslaved.

She plots to escape the vicious Darwin West, his cruel Overseers, and the daily struggle to gather the life-prolonging Water that keeps the Congregants alive and gives Darwin his wealth and power. But if Ruby leaves, the Congregation will die without the secret ingredient that makes the Water special: her blood.

So she stays.

But when Ruby meets Ford, the new Overseer who seems barely older than herself, her desire for freedom is too strong. He’s sympathetic, irresistible, forbidden—and her only access to the modern world. Escape with Ford would be so simple, but can Ruby risk the terrible price, dooming the only world she’s ever known?

Jillian’s Review:

I’m so excited to share this book with you! It was a wonderfully written, intriguing YA fantasy novel. The characters were completely realistic and their world was easy to imagine. I loved Ruby! She was smart, strong, giving, and willing to take chances. I think even those who aren’t fans of fantasy (Misty) would appreciate this one, especially since the magical element wasn’t over-the-top.

It was a little unrealistic how quickly Ford and Ruby became interested in each other, considering how strange Ruby must have seemed to Ford and how completely untrustworthy Ford must have appeared to Ruby since he was one of her Overseers. But it worked, and I loved the passion between them… and how Bachorz kept it clean.

The one problem I had with this novel was how I couldn’t ever remember what anyone looked like. Even Ruby’s appearance wasn’t described more than once or twice. I knew she had wild hair but couldn’t for the life of me remember what color it was. And it seemed like her eyes were brown but in the cover they’re blue, so I kept going back looking for the original description of her but I never found it. Considering what a picky reader I am, it’s pretty incredible that that was the only thing that annoyed me!

I’m flabbergasted by the poor reviews of this on goodreads because this is the closest thing to perfection I’ve read in the YA fantasy genera since The Girl of Fire and Thorns.