Kayleigh {K-Books}

"Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in."- Michael Corleone, "The Godfather"
 
Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It's a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.

"No, you speak the truth. Love isn't right. It isn't right for me either. Sometimes I hate cacao. You don't love Balanchine chocolate. You are Balanchine chocolate."

I read the first installment of the Birthright series what feels like forever ago. I got an ARC from Macmillan of All These Things I've Done and devoured it in one sitting. Sucked into a dystopic world where Coffee and Chocolate were illegal I just couldn't put it down. It was so unique and I just couldn't fathom a world without coffee and chocolate. It completely captured me and I couldn't put it down. I loved every moment of it.

I have to admit I was a little bit nervous about Because It Is My Blood. The Birthright series is a trilogy and I often find with trilogies we sometimes get 'Middle Book Syndrome' where the second book doesn't live up to the first one and feels like a stepping stone just leading up to the final book. I feared that this would happen with this one... I needn't have feared. Because It Is My Blood completely drew me back into this world and I couldn't stop reading. This is fast becoming one of my favourite dystopia series of all time.

I was drawn back into this dystopic world and Anya's world. I feel so sorry for Anya. She really has been dealt a horrible hand in her life and unfortunately things are not getting much better. After leaving Liberty she is forced to flee the country for Mexico. Here she learns to accept her family business and she learns that chocolate isn't the enemy as she had recently concluded.

What I loved about this book is that we not only get to catch up with our favourite characters but we get to know some new ones too and I love the new characters, especially Theo. He is such fun and I just loved every moment that he was in the book. Anya really goes through a lot in this book and you see her really grow as a character and I loved her even more in this book. She accepts her destiny and she does it in such a noble and amazing way. I adore how independent she is and that even though the romance is there she doesn't let it define her. She makes her own decisions and does what is best for her and her family.

Because It Is My Blood is a heart-stopping race and there are so many shocks and twists and turns that I never saw coming. Gabrielle Zevin most definitely had me staring, jaw slacked at the book many times. I loved every single second of this book and I am dying to get my hands on the final book in the Birthright series. One of my favourite dystopia series of all time. A must read.

"Because there's never been anyone else for me but you. There will never be anyone else for me but you."