All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin - Review and Giveaway!

In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family. 

A dystopian/futuristic novel about chocolate?  Yum!


In May, I received this surprise package from Macmillan:

SO fun.  Cute red raffia filler, cool looking book, a letter with info about the book, and a package of dark chocolate covered espresso beans labeled "Balanchine Chocolate." Probably the best book related package I've been sent yet and my interest was definitely piqued for this book that I hadn't even heard of before.  Unfortunately, I don't eat/drink coffee, but it smelled really good!  I brought the contents to BEA to share with my roommates.

I heard a little more about the book while I was in NY and finally was able to read it last week.  The start of the book did not immediately grab me but, after about 60 pages, the story picked up for me - the addition of a love interest helped :) - and I was pleasantly surprised by my first exposure to Gabrielle Zevin's writing.

All These Things I've Done is not a true dystopian, though many may call it such, but is set in a future where chocolate and caffeine are illegal in the United States. The protagonist, Anya, is likeable - though perhaps not particularly warm - with a kind and loyal heart. I loved Goodwin (Win), the son of the new District Attorney, and occasionally felt that Anya almost didn't deserve him, but I loved the way he was with Anya and saw through her hard shell to the girl she was inside. Anya's immediate family members and her best friend, Scarlet, are immediately likeable as well.

I enjoyed the look at a possible future New York with water and paper shortages and organized crime surrounding the trade of chocolate and coffee.  It is also fairly clean - Anya is a "good catholic girl" who doesn't want to have sex before marriage....though she does occasionally come close.

 I thought the ending was perfectly done and I've been very pleasantly surprised by the start of this clever new series, Birthright.  The next book, Birthright #2 will be out in September of 2012.

Book Trailer 
Gabrielle Zevin's website

Gabrielle Zevin facebook page
Author twitter feed: @gabriellezevin

And now I get to offer you a giveaway, sponsored by the good people at Macmillan, so one of you can read it yourself for free!  :)  If you don't win, you can find it at an indie bookstore near you or order it from Amazon here.

A cool extra touch from Macmillan - the final, hard cover copy of the book looks like a candy bar beneath its shiny cover!

If the government were to choose one substance to randomly prohibit, what's one thing you think you'd be okay living without?