After the Fire by Will Hill

Amazon

Published: October 2, 2018 by Sourcebooks Fire
Genres: Fiction, YA, Contemporary

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Description:
Moonbeam lived in a cult.  She was not allowed to leave the property, nor allowed to talk to Outsiders, or to speak her mind. Father John controlled everything. He uses the Bible and twists its words to fit his own needs. Father John likes rules. Disobeying him came with terrible consequences. Then there is an outsider that comes in and stirs things up. Getting Moonbeam to see her life may not be as "true" as she has been lead to believe. She seeks courage to protect herself and the other children of the Lord's Legion. 

Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and to Sourcebooks Fire for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review. 

The cover I feel would be more fitting for a novel about a monstrous child starting a house fire. Or a father trailing his family and leaving the child orphaned. These are just thoughts that had popped into my mind when I first saw the cover. I love the cover, and I guess after reading the whole novel I can see how it fits with so many of the children becoming orphaned. 

I loved the story! Power, Corruption. Father John does such a grand job of twisting the minds and fears of the people whom he "loves" ignorer to get them to obey. I am so shocked at how many people would move to a place like this and absorb so many lies into believe the as their new truth. 

I loved watching Moombeam develop. She goes from nightmares and not really understanding who she can trust or how much she can trust to really trusting and counting on Doctor Hernandez and Agent Carlyle. She turned out to be a very strong character. You can tell as she subdues Father John's voice in her head telling her to keep her mouth shot and calling her a heretic. Eventually those voices are gone and to me this speaks to how strong of a woman she is turning into. 

The story bounces between a "before" and "after" theme. The after being the conversations she is having with those around her in the therapy and before being her recollections of what had happen. I enjoy stories that have this type of set up. It really shows how the character is able to overcome and grow after such a tragic event. 

I have never known anyone who has been in a cult. I can completely see how easy how these things could really get out of hand. Hill really brought the setting to life and made me feel like I was really there and able to picture easily. I will be excited to see if this is made into a movie.

So much of this book was great. Why only 4 Stars? For me, it was a slow read. I was fully enjoying everything about it and I really wanted to know more but it was a bit of a chore to read this through. I am glad I did. I will definitely be recommending this book!