The Green Jell-O Book Club: A Goodreads Group about Fiction Written by LDS Authors discussion

What are your favorite dystopian books by LDS authors?

I can't think of many, but I've read the first two books in this series by Rebecca Belliston and I enjoyed them.

James Dashner Maze Runner series is good too.

An all-time fave of mine (that inspired me in my own dystopian novels) is Gerald Lund's classic The Alliance. . I also really enjoyed his The Freedom Factor.

Here's Stephanie Black's dystopian set:
The Believer and
The Witnesses

They're on my to-read list (along with about 400 other books--obviously I have a problem), but I haven't gotten to them yet.

Thank you for posting those! And I'm honored to be on your reading list--a long reading list is never a problem! It's a joy!)

Love this one!

LDS author Heather B. Moore also known as H.B. Moore has a new young adult dystopia out under the pen name Jane Redd titled Solstice. I have the same problem as A.L. and have this on my massive skyscraper tall to be read list. Hope to get to it sooner than later.

Until I get to it my favorite dystopia novel by a L.D.S author has to be The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

Kim wrote: "I have the same problem as A.L. and have this on my massive skyscraper tall to be read list. Hope to get to it sooner than later."

I checked out your to-read list. Yep, that qualifies as a skyscraper! But isn't it great to not have to worry about running out of books to read?

New Release:

The Pursuit by Rebecca Belliston

Six years ago, with the financial collapse of her country and the death of her parents, Carrie Ashworth swore to protect her siblings. She fought to build a life for them in her illegal clan. Now home and recovering from a government-spread virus, she's ready to pursue a little happiness of her own. With Greg.

Greg Pierce has no plan to join the growing rebellion or their "Live free or die" mentality. Even after compulsory military service deepened his hatred of President Rigsby's regime, he wants nothing more than to leave it all behind and start a quiet life with Carrie in Logan Pond. But when word reaches them that Oliver, their patrolman friend and protector, is missing, Carrie and Greg are thrown into a race for survival. Chief Jamansky has discovered Oliver's little secret and now he wants revenge, forcing their clan to consider abandoning Logan Pond forever.

In this battle for siblings and friends, for homes lost and freedoms stolen, the citizens must ask: How far would you go to pursue happiness?

The stakes are pushed to their boundaries in this highly-anticipated final book in Rebecca Belliston's Citizens of Logan Pond trilogy, bringing her epic love story to an unforgettable end.

Part of a series:

I enjoyed Dan Wells's Partial series. It's a YA Dystopian with a touch of Cybernetics/SciFi added in:

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. But sixteen-year-old Kira is determined to find a solution. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that that the survival of both humans and Partials rests in her attempts to answer questions about the war's origin that she never knew to ask.

Playing on our curiosity of and fascination with the complete collapse of civilization, Partials is, at its heart, a story of survival, one that explores the individual narratives and complex relationships of those left behind, both humans and Partials alike—and of the way in which the concept of what is right and wrong in this world is greatly dependent on one's own point of view.

Another YA Dystopian series is Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners:

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart — the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning — and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Lanette wrote: "I enjoyed Dan Wells's Partial series. It's a YA Dystopian with a touch of Cybernetics/SciFi added in:

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic..."

Maybe I should try those out. I've heard such great things about Dan Wells as a writer, but his horror novels don't really interest me. Dystopian/sci-fi is a little more my cup of tea.

I also really enjoyed Ally Condie's YA Matched trilogy:

In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

New Release:

Ascension: Chrysalis Series #1 by C Michelle Jefferies

A prophet’s redemption.

Living an unassuming life as a teacher for the Academy, the former assassin, Antony Danic, turned Speaker for the Devoted, would love to let the past stay there. However, as hard as he tries, his new identity, Noble Standing, can’t escape who Antony was. The widower, turned self-avowed bachelor doesn’t mean to fall for the red-headed sword instructor, Lyris Jaimes. Noble insists he’s better off single, but he is drawn to her in spite of his memories of Elite. Noble finds that courting her, however, isn’t easy. His interest in Lyris sets into motion a rivalry between him and a dangerous sociopath who wants her for himself.

Regardless of the vow he made to never shed human blood again, Noble must reconcile his past with his present, and use his assassin skills and knowledge to keep himself and those he loves alive.

Part of a series:

New Release:

When Darkness Builds by M.C. Sutton

They called him a hero. All Jon ever wanted was to make it home.

They called her crazy. All Emma ever wanted was to warn them.

After the war, everything changed.

It’s been nine years since Captain Jonathan Grant walked away from everything he ever knew, everything he was ever told he was supposed to be. Sheltered with his family in their small town in south Missouri, the entire world could fall apart around them and it wouldn’t faze him one bit, as long as they still had each other. But when his wife, Emma, begins seeing strange images in her sleep, Jon will find himself thrown back into a role he never wanted in the first place.

In a world still trapped in the aftermath of a devastating world war, Emergency Manager and Crisis Psychologist Dr. Emma Grant has been asked to speak at the first Constitutional Convention since the United States was founded. With the states coming together in a dangerous last-ditch effort to end a crippling energy crisis, and the Constitution hanging by a thread, the Grants must fight to keep the American government from falling apart. But when the convention takes a deadly turn, will they lose what may be their last chance to stop a man determined to sabotage everything—

Just to see them fail?

New Release:

Storm Child by Melanie Mason

16-year-old Eridale Storm must leave the only home she's ever known and brave the dangers of the unknown wilds to escape capture by Imperial soldiers. The only safe place is with her mother, who abandoned her to lead the freedom movement when Eridale was just a child. On her journey, Eridale learns that she holds a key role in the conflict between the Empire and the Freedom Fighters. Facing her heritage will define the rest of her life, but will it lead her people back to freedom or shackle them under the imperial throne forever? Book one of the Storm Child series.

New Release:

Daughter 4254 by Leigh Statham

Daughter4254 used to think life in a community where art, music and names are outlawed would suffocate her creative spirit until she is left to rot in prison and realizes there is far worse.

Then she meets Thomas, a fellow inmate, who tells stories of the mythical mountain colonies where people have names and the arts thrive, and she finds a shred of hope. Together they plot an escape, knowing they’ll die if they fail. Or worse, their consciousness will be taken by the MindWipe, leaving their bodies free for government use.

When nothing goes as planned, Daughter4254 must choose between using her mother’s secrets of the rebellion to better the world she hates and following Thomas to the quiet life of freedom she has always craved.

New Release:

The Vengeance Code by Nat McKenzie

The only thing more dangerous than the game is not playing at all.

The reality is virtual. The danger is real.

She’s a nobody in the bunker, struggling to survive.

He’s the heir to a fortune, determined to follow in mother’s fatal footsteps.

Only she knows her father was murdered, his code stolen.

His father’s virtual reality program kills people.

Linix can’t possibly trust the heir of the man who destroyed her family. And Cache can’t accept a position in an industry that kills its customers. But when the only thing more dangerous than the games is not playing them, they’ll have to figure out how to win. Together.

New Release:

Marked by Bridget E. Baker

If one touch can infect. . . then a kiss is deadly.

All Ruby Behl wants for her seventeenth birthday is a good career path match, and to kiss her best friend and long time crush, Wesley Fairchild. Unfortunately, the simplicity of teenage wishes evaporated a decade ago when the Tercera virus nearly wiped out the human race. Transmitted through touch, the slightest contact is prohibited in the safe haven community of Port Gibson.

An innocent game of Spin the Bottle, a rite of passage for Port Gibson’s teens, provides the opportunity Ruby’s been waiting for, but when Wesley winds up Marked, Ruby realizes her first kiss may also be her last. Ruby races the viral clock to uncover long buried secrets about her dead parents, and her once cloudy future becomes clear. She’s the key to finding the cure, but is she willing to pay the price?

Part of a series:

New Release:

Suppressed by Bridget E. Baker

A blood-borne virus requires a blood-born cure, but can Ruby survive saving everyone else?

The last few weeks sent Ruby Behl's world into even more of a tailspin than when the Tercera virus first broke out. Her boyfriend might be dead, her best friend isn’t dead, and the man she knew as her father may have kidnapped her at birth. Worse, the virus suppressant suddenly stopped working, accelerating the deaths of thousands. Finding a cure just went from important to critical.

Unfortunately, an essential piece of the puzzle fell into the hands of David Solomon, a zealous cult leader planning to massacre the remaining Marked—unless Ruby gives him what he wants: her blood, possibly all of it. Ruby must decide. Should she stay and help the Marked who rescued her or gamble on saving the entire world? As she grapples with the meaning of family and the value of a legacy, Ruby must decide who to trust—and who’s worth saving in the first place.

Part of a series:

New Release:

Redeemed by Bridget E. Baker

No matter what happens…the end is near.

Seventeen year old Ruby Behl never expected to be thrust into a position of power. But so much has changed in the past few months, she’s prepared to accept the responsibility. Her best friend Wesley was Marked with the Tercera virus. Her boyfriend Sam was shot to death. She found her father’s journal with the key to a cure. But the leaders of the port cities have assembled with a threat of their own: to Cleanse the world of the remaining Marked.

When a vicious attack accelerates the virus, Ruby and her friends have less than a week to find the cure, prevent the Cleanse, and rescue her aunt from execution. Ruby is convinced her father’s old partner stole the antidote, but she has no clue to his identity. Torn between saving her family or hundreds of thousands of Marked, she must figure out who he is and find him before time runs out—for everyone.

Part of a series:

New Release:

Anyone Else? by Angela Scott

Surviving an apocalypse sucks.

It totally does. Instead of counting herself lucky to be alive, Tess struggles to find the will to keep placing one foot in front of the other, especially when the most she ever had to worry about before the meteor catastrophe was whether she’d have a date to prom.

Climbing mountains—again—dealing with the lack of food, clean water, and wondering what the point of it all is doesn’t feel much like luck at all. More like punishment.

Maybe it’d be different if she had Cole by her side, as troublesome and irritating as he could be. But he doesn’t seem to be anywhere, and Tess wonders if he’d ever truly been there in the first place. Her dad and brother don’t buy her story of a lone wolf coming to her rescue, and as things become more and more difficult, she’s slowly beginning to doubt herself, too.

Real? Imaginary? A product of her delusional mind? Cole’s existence—or nonexistence—remains a mystery because this time around, there’s more than just herself and a kitten to take care of. This time, someone vulnerable depends on her strength and bravery more than ever before.

Part of a series:

New Release:

Fighting the Promise by F. Allan Roth

When the Chinese conquered America, the government gave up without a fight—but the people didn’t.

Church leaders had cautioned the people that the collapse of their nation was the fulfillment of an ancient prophetic promise from the Book of Mormon. Fighting against the occupation, they warned, would be the same as fighting against God’s righteous judgment on a nation ripened in iniquity.

But when war came to their town, Bishop Stuart Holliwell and his family found themselves Fighting the Promise.

New Release:

Shatter the Suns by Caitlin Sangster

Sev must decode her mother’s last words to find the cure to Sleeping Sickness before her enemies find it first. No one is safe, not with a horrifying new strain of Sleeping Sickness tearing through the population. After fleeing the City with her friends, Sev has one goal: to find the cure her mother developed and put an end to the epidemic once and for all.

But decoding her mother’s last words—to seek out “Port North”—is easier said than done.

Nobody she talks to has heard of Port North, and with only Tai-ge and June on her side, Sev fears Dr. Yang will find the cure first, and that he’ll use it to start a new world order under his rule.

With no leads, Sev is running out of options—until she discovers someone hiding in the cargo hold of her heli plane. Someone she thought was dead. Someone with maps that could point the way to Port North, if only she could read them.

Unfortunately, the one person Sev never wants to see again might be the one person who can help her find the cure.

Part of a series:

New Release:

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

Who do you become when you have nothing left to lose?

There is something Poe Blythe, the seventeen-year-old captain of the Outpost’s last mining ship, wants far more than the gold they tear from the Serpentine River.

Revenge.

Poe has vowed to annihilate the river raiders who robbed her of everything two years ago. But as she navigates the treacherous waters of the Serpentine and realizes there might be a traitor among her crew, she must also reckon with who she has become, who she wants to be, and the ways love can change and shape you. Even—and especially—when you think all is lost.

A young woman’s journey to move beyond the grief and anger that control her and find the inner strength to chart her own course.

New Release:

Pandemic: The Beginning by Christine Kersey

When a deadly flu sweeps the globe, the Bronson family hunkers down to wait it out. It doesn’t take long for society to collapse, but when surviving neighbors band together, hope is restored.

That hope is swiftly shattered when a rogue element forms, requiring food in exchange for security and medical services. The Bronsons refuse, but when the group takes over the neighborhood, they demand the Bronsons join or face deadly consequences. With their lives at stake, they must make a decision: give in or take a stand.

New Release:

Offender by Michael Brooks

I’m a true citizen. She’s a defector. To love her is a crime. It’s a law I’m willing to break.

In a distant future, all criminals of violent crimes are sentenced to life in the Arena where they must battle against both man and beast in a fight to the death.

When sixteen-year-old Calvin Sawyer is wrongly convicted of his father’s murder, his charmed life as the son of a senator is changed forever. He’s stripped of his rights, his humanity, even his name. Now as the property of the Arena, offender CS4521 must learn to fight in the colosseum. It’s kill or be killed.

New Release:

Forced Exodus by Christine Kersey

The road to their safe haven is paved with danger.

With their house burned to the ground, the Bronsons accept Jeff and Emily’s invitation to travel to a farm in Central California where they can start over and make a life for themselves. Joining them on the seven hundred mile journey are Jeff and Emily, Chris and his family, as well as Derrick. But the journey won’t be easy—not with survivors of the pandemic starving and desperate.

With danger lurking around every bend, the Bronsons and the rest of their group will have to dig deep to find a way to make it to their destination unscathed. Good thing they are willing to do whatever it takes to survive.