The United States of America has been divided in two - the God Fearing States (GFS) and United Progressive Regions (UPR). Judith and her good friend Jeffery are both Orthodox Jews who live in the GFS, but when Jeffery realizes his sexuality, his only hope is to leave the GFS. He becomes pen pals with Dani in the UPR, who is also queer, which becomes a beacon of hope as it becomes dangerous to be Jewish in the GFS, even more so if you're queer. Judith uses her talents papercutting in order to pass secret messages and although there is pressure mounting against their safety, still finds herself inexplicably drawn to Dani.

I'm glad it's taken me so long to read this because now I won't have to wait as long for the next one (Hopefully)! I loved this beginning of this new series, it was very unique, although a touch too realistic in this political climate. The world created here was just enough of a mix of reality and futuristic dystopia with solid and endearing characters tying it all together. I think the world building took a little long but its understandable for setting up the series, but the second half of the book really picked up and gosh I'm invested in the characters and I'm looking forward to the continuation. This book will appeal to all ages, sucking you in with beautiful writing and fascinating characters.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

𝗨𝗦𝗔 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲.

This was intriguing. I rarely go for speculative fiction and was half wondering why I requested for this ARC in the first place, but I'm actually glad I didn't miss out.

The universe that this story is built on seems like it can be real but it obviously isn't. In an alternate universe, USA is split into two nations - the God Fearing States (GFS) and the United Progressive Regions (UPR) - in North / South Korea fashion. Their ideologies are extreme opposites, one is ultra-conservative and backward whereas the other is extremely advanced and liberal. And in this polarized universe, the Jewish community finds themselves unwelcomed. It took me a while to understand what kind of world this is, from GFS' strict laws to UPR's futuristic technology to some form of supernatural element but once I got the hang of it, it was easy to read and follow and I was fascinated.

We have three main characters - two of them, i.e. Jeffrey (GFS) and Dani (UPR) are on a pen-pal programme for selected Jewish students to interact through state-monitored emails. Judith is a tag-along, after making friends with Jeffrey. The characters exchange emails to learn about each other's cultures across the border and sometimes have to use codes to get sensitive messages across. And while there isn't room for a romance in this one but there is a hint of something that feels like it may develop in the coming book(s).

The Papercutter is an interesting dystopian novel. You can imagine it happening. Although some of the world-building feels a little flat at times and could do with more description. Has a great mix of characters which really help make the plot more believable.

Solid start to a new series. I wasn't sure what I expected, but it was enjoyable. An interesting concept, but not one I'm sure I'd continue on with the series with.
All in all, a solid read. Just not sure it's one I'd recommend.

This book takes place after "The Split". When tensions between the "two" sides of the United States become too much, the country decides to peacefully split into two different countries. The "God Fearing States" and the "United Progressive Regions" . The story follows the journey of two groups of teens on opposite sides of the divide.

I think this idea had a lot of potential, but somehow managed to be too realistic to the point where it went to far and became no longer realistic. You gotta pick a struggle when it comes to YA dystopia.

Do I think based on our countries current political climate that some of the events in this book could actually happen? Yes. Do the names of the two new countries make me laugh? Also yes.

I liked the characters, they were diverse with a range of personalities.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

This book was complex yet relaxing at the same time I really enjoyed it.

3.5 stars. This was a good start to a new series, it’s a YA spec-fic novel and the politics and events that are described make this book more than a coming of age novel that I’m so used to of YA novels. The book has a “first book in a series“ feeling to it, meaning that it took me quite some time to get to know the characters and to get a grasp on the worldbuilding, but once this was out of the way I couldn’t stop reading and I hope I won’t have to wait long for the second book.

The USA is split into two nations, the God Fearing States (GFS) and the United Progressive Regions (UPR). The GFS are strictly controlled by their governing body, whereas anarchy thrives in the UPR (but they do have a government). Furthermore, the GFS population is mainly white, since POC have been driven out of the nation during the split, and one of the main pillars of the GFS is freedom of religion, but you quickly learn it is not at all that free. The main part of the story is set in a small community of Orthodox Jews in the GFS who chose to live there to practice their religion with more freedom than in the UPR, but the environment is changing and their freedom becomes more and more restricted. The main characters are several teenagers living in this community who come into contact with teenagers from the UPR through a pen-pal program and together they rise against the system.

The world that is created feels very realistic, with all that is going on nowadays, it is not that hard to imagine something like this happening. Perhaps not to the extremes described in this book, but the foundation of the story is believable, as are the events that are happening as the story progresses. The parallels between what is happening and what has happened in history are even highlighted and it is absolutely chilling to read.

This book was not the easiest to get into. There was a lot of info on the split and its two resulting nations and on Judaism and its cultural aspects. Furthermore, it took some time for all the characters to be introduced and to lay out their intricate connections and communication, which was really nicely done by the way. Finally, there is also a very light paranormal touch to the book, so you get it, there is a lot is going on. Considering all this information you’d think this is a very long book, but it is not, it was just under 200 pages on my e-reader, so by the time I was really invested in the story I was about halfway to two-thirds of the book. I flew through the last part of the book, whishing there was more. I hope this pace will continue throughout the rest of the series.

I liked the characters and look forward to reading more about them, their friendship is touching and there is even a start of a f/f romance. For the latter, I have to give a warning though, because this happened so fast I couldn’t even blink my eyes, but I feel there is much more to come. The book is written in first person and each chapter is from the POV of Dani, Jeffrey or Judith. While this division is very clear I did notice that their voices were often quite similar, so I sometimes forgot whose POV I was in and I hope this will be more distinctive in the following books.

The ending of the book has no cliffy, but it is an open ending prepping the story for the next book, so this book can’t be read as a standalone. I find the rating a bit tricky as for a large part I’m inclined to rate it down since it’s a bit slow with not too much happening and perhaps it is also a bit short as a whole, but the story buildup and its promise for books to come and the last part of the book make me rate it up. There are so many options to build onto, so many people and things I want to know more about, so I’m curious how it will continue!

<i>I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Papercutter in exchange for an honest review.

This is such an interesting concept and while I'm always a sucker for queer kids becoming penpals only to find out both them and their penpal are secretly queer, I think a lot of the pacing here was really off. A lot of key moments and scenes in the Papercutter are both not shown to us and not mentioned within any of our 3 perspectives' heads until someone else abruptly brings it up in conversation and it made it feel like I was consistently forgetting seemingly important plot threads. I'm not Jewish though and a lot of this book revolves around Jewish characters and their relationship with Judaism so you should probably also try and get an opinion from a Jewish reviewer if you're reading this right now to try and decide whether to purchase the book.

Book Review for The Papercutter

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I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.


I really enjoy this story and normally I don’t like religious in book because the author preach it so much that it’s takes me out of the story but this book didn’t it was written very well while getting it’s message across.

I love the three characters Judith Dani and Jeffery and how they were there for each other and how they help see who they were meant to be and it’s ok to be yourself.