The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Lately, even though I've enjoyed the books I have been reading, none (well, save for Living Dead Girl) have been as intense as The Chosen One. Set in a polygamist community, 13-year old Kyra Carlson has been breaking the rules. Once a week she goes out of her community to see her friend Patrick who owns a bookmobile service. Reading anything other than scripture is strictly prohibited. Kyra also sneaks off in the night to meet a boy named Joshua. They fall in love. Later, when the leader of their community, Prophet Childs, decrees he received a message from God saying that Kyra must marry Brother Hyrum, a man who is not only in his sixties, but Kyra's uncle, Kyra vows to run away. But can she bear to leave her family behind?

This novel reminded me of the news story that broke a couple years ago about the Fundamentalist community where the babies were being taken away from their mothers and all of this scandalous behavior was brought to light. It's a short read, but I was hooked from the beginning and I agree wholly with the quote on the cover: "The Chosen One makes the heart race, the teeth grind, and the brow bead up in sweat."

-Sam.