Review: Seed

Seed by Lisa Heathfield
Grade: D
Release date: March 10, 2015
This e-galley was provided by Running Press Kids via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: All that Pearl knows can be encapsulated in one word: Seed. It is the isolated community that she was born into. It is the land that she sows and reaps. It is the center of her family and everything that means home. And it is all kept under the watchful eye of Papa S.

At fifteen years old, Pearl is finally old enough to be chosen as Papa S’s companion. She feels excitement... and surprising trepidation that she cannot explain. The arrival of a new family into the Seed community — particularly the teenage son, Ellis — only complicates the life and lifestyle that Pearl has depended upon as safe and constant. 

Ellis is compelling, charming, and worldly, and he seems to have a lot of answers to questions Pearl has never thought to ask. But as Pearl digs to the roots of the truth, only she can decide what she will allow to come to the surface.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: I have come to the conclusion that most cult books are the same. Let me set the stage for you.
There's a teenage girl. She's about fifteen or sixteen. She loves her world and doesn't mind the isolation and is happy with her family/friends/whatever the people in the cult are called. Then, somehow, she meets a boy from the outside who makes her question the morality and kindness of such a situation. Someone usually dies in the meantime. Then she escapes the cult.
Seed follows this model very well. Pearl doesn't question anything about her life at Seed... until Ellis arrives and opens her eyes. Elizabeth was the stereotypical currently pregnant mother figure to the protagonist. The one difference with this book, particularly from the last cult story I read, was that Seed worshiped the land and Mother Nature instead of some warped version of God. But I didn't find this to be an interesting, entertaining, or thought-provoking book. I'm pretty sure everything that was said in Seed has been done before in another book.
Finally, there were a couple instances of foul language, talk of sexual things, and some violence.

The Verdict: Not worth your time.

Buy: Read Between the Lynes  Barnes & Noble

Will I be adding this book to my library?: No.