A review by readinggrrl
The Ballad of Ami Miles by Brittni Pope, Kristy Dallas Alley

4.0

Born into a world where bearing children is becoming rarer and rarer her family creates a compound to stay safe and to live by the rule of the Lord. Ami's mother has fled the compound and left Ami behind. When Ami is 16 her grandfather brings home a stranger who he wants to "mate" with Ami to continue their bloodline. Worried and scared Ami flees with the help of her Aunts to find her mother. What she finds is so different from her upbringing its almost a shock to her system. Ami always believed it was her destiny to marry and produce babies but that isn't the way the community her mother is a part of believes. They believe in free will and love. People pair off as they want, create families, and have children if they want. There are also gay couples and mix race couples on the compound something Ami was taught was wrong.

Ami also meets people her age for the first time and while it is overwhelming she likes that she can play and learn from people her age. However when she meets Jessie something strange takes over her body that she has never felt before. Could this be love?

This is a beautiful coming of age story, where Ami learns not just about herself but about standing up for whats right, learning about love and intolerance. A really well done dystopian story with a slightly different twist than many of the others I've read.