Title: All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publication Date: September 2011
Pages: 351
Format: Paperback
Genre: Dystopia / YA
Source: Won in a Giveaway
Sixteen year-old Anya becomes the head of a mafia family after her parents are both murdered by rival gangs. Although Anya is embrolied in the criminal world, she is determined to keep her brother and sister out of the mafia family, but her father's relatives aren't so keen to let them go. When Anya's violent ex-boyfriend is poisoned with contaminated chocolate – chocolate that is produced illegally by Anya's mafia family – she is arrested for attempted murder and sent to the notorious jail on Manhattan Island.
Eventually she is freed by the new D.A. in town, who believs she has been framed. But this D.A. is the father of Win, a boy at school to whom Anya feels irresistibly drawn, and her freedom comes with conditions. Win's father wants to be mayor, and he can't risk having his ambition jeopardised by rumours spreading that his son is seeing a member of a notorious crime family. Anya knows she risks the safety of her family by seeing Win again, but the feeling between them may be too strong to resist... (Goodreads Synopsis)
I was lucky enough to win this book in a giveaway recently. I didn't have much prior knowledge of it and at first I was uncertain about it. But, after a few chapters, I found myself completely sucked into the story.
I really enjoyed the premise and the dystopian future, which came across as very real and possible. Anya is an engaging character and I felt she really did grow within the piece. At times I felt a couple of the other major players could have been fleshed out a little more, but it is very much Anya's story and I didn't feel it was too big an issue.
I understand that this is the first book in a trilogy and certainly I am keen to read on and see what the future has in store for Anya and her family.
A nicely written piece of YA fiction that should appeal to most YA fans.
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