• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 August #1
  Liggett prefaces this with quotes from The Handmaid's Tale and Lord of the Flies. Add a heaping spoon of The Hunger Games, and you've captured the essence of this provocative, sometimes disturbing story. It is Tierney's Grace Year, when the 17-year-olds are sent to the wilderness to expel the magic the men of the community fear they possess. The older women don't speak of what they've all endured, so everything comes as a shock. The scarcities, the dangers, including poachers—ready to strip them of their skin—are matched by the cruel power that group leader Kiersten wields over them. Tierney comes up against it all and emerges as a fully developed heroine whose brushes with danger, both physical and emotional, have a real impact on readers. But this also does a good job of exploring the dark undertones of relationships between women that can be as destructive as the machinations men pursue to keep women down. A dark love story adds tenderness. Although this often recalls other stories, it nevertheless grabs and holds on. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 August #1
  Liggett prefaces this with quotes from The Handmaid's Tale and Lord of the Flies. Add a heaping spoon of The Hunger Games, and you've captured the essence of this provocative, sometimes disturbing story. It is Tierney's Grace Year, when the 17-year-olds are sent to the wilderness to expel the magic the men of the community fear they possess. The older women don't speak of what they've all endured, so everything comes as a shock. The scarcities, the dangers, including poachers—ready to strip them of their skin—are matched by the cruel power that group leader Kiersten wields over them. Tierney comes up against it all and emerges as a fully developed heroine whose brushes with danger, both physical and emotional, have a real impact on readers. But this also does a good job of exploring the dark undertones of relationships between women that can be as destructive as the machinations men pursue to keep women down. A dark love story adds tenderness. Although this often recalls other stories, it nevertheless grabs and holds on. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Kim Liggett, originally from the rural Midwest, moved to New York City to pursue a career in the arts. She's the author of Blood and Salt, Heart of Ash, The Last Harvest (Bram Stoker Award Winner), The Unfortunates, and The Grace Year. Kim spends her free time studying tarot and scouring Manhattan for rare vials of perfume and the perfect egg-white cocktail.