Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Title: Article 5

Author: Kristen Simmons

Pages: 364

Release: January 31^st, 2012

Synopsis:

(from Goodreads)New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.
The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.
There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.
Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.
Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.
That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

My Thoughts:

Article 5 is a book that I probably would not have picked up on my own. I was not a big fan of the cover, but one day I turned on my nook to find it was in the library. Only to find out later that my dad thought it looked good and bought it.(Yeah, my Dad reads YA books! He’s just that awesome!) It turned out that my dad had the better judgement this time around because Article 5 was great!

Article 5 is a dystopian set in several different states in the US. One thing I immediately loved was that the main character Ember was from Louisville, KY, so she’s from the same state as me. I don’t know why but I always feel very proud when books are set in my state because we are generally not a popular setting for a book. Speaking of Ember, she is a really interesting character. Half of the time I really love her but most of the time I am saying “EMBER! Y U NO LISTEN?!?!” because she NEVER listens and makes very impulsive decisions. That also makes her character very realistic in my opinion. There’s also Chase who I won’t say much about cause I feel like he’s one of the best aspects of the book, but he is the kind of character that breaks your heart and then re-mends it several times throughout the book.

I was a little slow to warm up to Article 5 but once I got past the first 50 pages I was hooked. It’s a great story that kept me wanting more and was very hard to put down. It also appears that it will be a series, although it could totally be a standalone book and is summed up in the end very nicely.

In Short:

Rating: 4/5

Purchase or Check Out?: Purchase

Would I read it again?: Yes