A grim and frightening vision executed without pity. 4/5 stars.

The blurb: In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. At graduation, the most highly rated girls become “companions”, permitted to live with their husbands and breed sons until they are no longer useful.

For the girls left behind, the future – as a concubine or a teacher – is grim.

Best friends Freida and Isabel are sure they’ll be chosen as companions – they are among the most highly rated girls in their year.

But as the intensity of final year takes hold, Isabel does the unthinkable and starts to put on weight. And then, into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.

Freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known…

My take:

Have you ever finished a book and felt dazed? Unsure of whether you just read it or if it hit you across the face? Well that was my experiencing upon reaching the final page of Only Ever Yours.

[SPOILER ALERT] If you want to know absolutely nothing about this book, please just skip to the bottom now. I won’t say anything specific, but my comments might give certain things about the ending away.

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