Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Omg. If you love a good cult story, PLEASE read this one! It's part cult, part dystopia, and everything I've ever wanted.

The Ballad of Ami Miles follows Ami, who is part of a cult. Her great-great-grandfather started this cult in a trailer park when a virus swept the nation, rendering most females barren. Ami comes from from foraging to find a strange man standing in her yard - her new husband. Ami's aunts and uncles help her escape to a safe compound - where she's hoping to find her mom who ran away 16 years ago.

I loved the transformation Ami went through. Her character was so compelling and felt so real. She reacted to things in a very real way. Can you imagine being sheltered in a cult then thrust into a lively community with all types of people?

This was set in the south, and boy it sounded like it! The slang and annunciations were right on point for Alabama.

This is a great story of finding yourself, and finding your chosen family. Plus it's set to the backdrop of a cult, so honestly what more could you want? 5/5 stars for this amazing debut! Must read.

What first drew me to this book was the dooms day cult aspect. I quickly realized it was an post-apocalyptic novel that gave me a Handmaids Tale vibe. Which I was completely here for. It’s hard not to absolutely adored Ami, she was a likable character who learned and grew throughout the novel. I wasnt excepted the lgptq angle but it definitely added to the story. It was great that while growing up in this strict religious cult like family she was able to accept her new environment. This is definitely a book I would recommend to teens in my library.

Content: profanity, mature themes, non graphic sexual situations
14+

A fresh new approach to post apocalyptic lit in my experience. The story deals with A LOT of difficult themes, and I think it handles them well.

I wasn't really satisfied after having finished the book, though. I lacked a real connection with the story or characters. The first third of the book really drew my in, but after that it kind of lost me.

Low three stars for this one.

An insightful, post-apocalyptic story about a teen girl who escapes the isolated, sheltered compound where she was raised by her extended family, and while searching for her mother, learns to understand the world--and herself!--in much more nuanced, open-minded, and sensitive ways.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. This is a coming of age/ post apocalypse novel that is fast reading.Most appropriate for middle level..

I enjoyed this book. It seemed like it piggy backed off of handmaids tale but I was okay with that. The beginning was really interesting and engaging. I felt like the end was too picture perfect and Ami forgave her mom way too fast. This is random, but the font was weird... not a fan for some reason.

This was a good read! I rebelled, rejoiced, and ranted along with Ami, and it kept me entertained! The romance came in a little quickly, and the narrative tied up a bit too neatly, but overall a very enjoyable book.

** spoiler alert ** ***THERE ARE SPOILERS**** YOU WERE WARNED****

The Breakdown:

Cover Art: 5/10
Initial Grab: 6/10
Characters: 7.5/10
Setting: 6.5/10
Content: 8/10
Readability Factor: 6/10
Overall: 6.5/10
Likely to Recommend: 5/10

Okay, first things first, this book deals with a cult and this really, in my opinion, super sweet, brainwashed young adult having to make sense of everything. She was told her whole life that her mother had to be on the run, one of many lies told to her. The turning point for her in the novel, is in the very beginning, when her cult-like father and family are getting her ready to essentially be bred to a complete stranger and part of her family assists her with escaping.

She finds a place that her mother has been living and it's really Ami Miles journey in discovering herself and her past and the truth. She finds love along the way (LGBTQ+).

Overall, it wasn't a bad read. I like creepy stories and am overall glad I read this one, but this particular one wasn't my cup of tea. I read it fairly quickly but it was hard to keep my focus and read this whenever I was on break at work. I didn't devour this book, but I do think it is work the read.

This compelling debut novel is set in a post-apocalyptic America and centers the experiences of a teenage girl who wants to escape her repressive, cult-like family and search for the mother she never knew. The first half of the book is absolutely riveting — I could not put it down. In the second half, which focuses more on Ami’s education and psychological growth, I found that the narrative slowed down a bit and sometimes became overly didactic. Although I thought that Ami had an authentic and engaging voice, her personal transformation seemed rushed to me. (This is something I see a lot of in YA novels — characters going from zero to madly in love in a week or two; it seemed even less persuasive here because the outside world was so foreign to Ami.) Those issues aside, this is an enjoyable and thought-provoking read, with solid LGBTQ rep. I think it will appeal to its target audience and would be a good addition to any library or classroom.

This book is a great addition to the genre of post apocalyptic YA. The world Ami grew up in is different, many women are no longer fertile, and child birth is risky. One day, Ami comes homebtofind that her grandfather has found a man for her to breed with. Her aunts and uncles devise a plan to get her far away, and she embarks on a journey to find the mother she never knew.

This was Ann exciting, well written read about a young woman discovering
G her sexuality and the family she never knew.

Ami grows up in a compound following some type of end times in which women are very lucky to have children. We start with Ami coming in from the woods and finding some man in front of her house with whom she is supposed to “breed” with. Ami’s aunts and uncles then manage to get her out of that compound and send her to her mother.

Her mother is five days away living in this safe haven of shorts and Ami’s life is torn apart when she learns everything that she knew is not necessarily true. She has to come to terms with her own feelings about another girl and her feelings about the situation with her mother.

It’s honestly not a bad story- it’s a little slow in the beginning but it picks up and it’s pretty nice to figure out what the truth is...or isn’t. That being said, the ending is very rushed and I feel like I still don’t really know anything about what actually happened before. Also I feel like, despite the fact that Ami’s entire life is shattered, she’s fairly unaffected by it and even goes back to the compound to confront her grandparents. This story needed to be slightly longer so that Ami could actually deal and not just brush everything off. Also, why the insta-love?? That also would have benefited from a longer story.

I kind of thought I would enjoy this more, but I find myself struggling to finish it. I did develop any likes or dislikes for the character, Ami. The would was futuristic but did not seem as harsh as the Handmaids Tale world. People in the outer limits laughed at her, but no one seemed real concerned. I think the protagonist should have been developed a little deeper.

Thoughtfully written. Interesting glance at a future piece of America. Ami is leading a sheltered life, being raised on a family compound that holds an extremely narrow view of the world. After her grandfather introduces Ami to the man intentionally chosen to get her pregnant, Ami runs away in search of her mother, who left the compound when Ami was a young child. What Ami had predicted is not what she finds, but it is definitely a bigger view of the world.

Set far in the future, this was am interesting story of a young girl who escapes from the compound where she has been raised. In a world where the birth of babies is societal norm, Ami may be one of the only females left that can carry a child. When her grandfather decides it is time for her to "breed", Ami takes off to find out if there is more than the world she knows. This is a well written story about self discovery and society. It grabbed my interest and I was intrigued by the world the author created. Overall I enjoyed the story but I wish there had been a bit more hesitation on Ami's part to accept the new world she discovers. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

First, I really did enjoy this book. However, I felt that Ami's acceptance of the outside world happened very rapidly. Yes, she had to come to terms with things, but after her upbringing it just felt fast.

This is a compelling story about a young girl whose isolated childhood has given her family complete control over her experience and perception of the world after its apocalypse by infertility. She's been raised to believe her purpose in life is to be one of the last fertile mothers on earth, but when they bring in a stranger to mate with her, she runs away to find her own missing mother and hopefully a chance at making at least some of her own choices. What Ami finds causes her to question a lot of the beliefs and ideas her family enforced, and she has to choose between being true to the self she's discovering or the life she's been raised to accept. There is a good balance of lighter, fun moments and new love (with a gilr!) alongside this heavier subject matter, and I really enjoyed the way Ami's voice carries us through her story so we see the world through her eyes. She's a very likable, relatable protagonist.

If anyone has seen or read anything about cults, IE: Escaping Polygamy, Jeff Warrens, FLDS, etc, it’s clear that’s the type of place we are talking about. It doesn’t seem to be on that large of a scale but the same idea was still there. (I don’t see any signs of polygamy it is clearly a cult none the less). Ami is 16 years old and what seemed very suddenly to her, a stranger named Zeke came to the compound. She put two and two together and seen that they expected her to do “God’s Will” and have a child with this man who was a complete stranger.

Some of Ami’s family has an idea of where her mother is, they don’t want this life for her either so they help her leave. Ami has to learn to interact with different types of people, the difference between what she was taught on the compound and how people on the outside really live.

This is a story about finding out what you believe and how you feel. Not to take what others say for face value and to learn on your own. This is a coming of age and I would recommend it to anyone. Amazing story.

A compelling, post-apocalyptic story where the emphasis is firmly on the heroine.

Part coming of age story

A beautiful story that will make life a little better for young people finding their way in this very confusing world.

A beautiful story that will make life a little better for young people finding their way in this very confusing world.

Ami’s character development shines in this story as she sorts out

THE BALLAD OF AMI MILES by Kristy Dallas Alley examines the complicated notion of what family really means and how even in the bleakest of circumstances there is still a chance for love

An interesting take on the fertility issues surrounding our times, and future. Enjoyed the world building very much.