Ruby Prosser has a dream of leaving the Congregation and their early-nineteenth century way of life, practices ever since the beginning of the enslavement of the community.

Her plot is to escape the vicious Darwin West and his cruel Overseers along with the daily struggle to collect the life-prolong Water needed to keep each member of the Congregation alive and give power as well as wealth to Darwin.  However, if Ruby is successful at leaving, the rest of the Congregation is sure to die without the source of the one secret ingredient needed to make the Water special, her own blood.

Therefore she stays.

However, when she meets Ford, a new Overseer who appears to be barely older than she, Ruby’s desire for freedom grows too strong.  He is sympathetic and irresistible, but also forbidden and her only link to the modern world.  Escaping with Ford would be very simple, but is Ruby willing to risk the high cost of freedom by dooming the only world she has ever known.

A review of the book leaves one unsure of where to start.  This is another book that cannot be judged by its cover.  The story is incestuously cynical.  Ford turns out to be a douche and Ruby is not as smart or strong as readers will want her to be.

A reader will need to invest a chapter or two just to get the bearings of the book.  The group is a cult that worships a non-standard God by the name of Otto with blood that brings healing and allows members to live for an indefinite lifetime and age at a very slow rate as long as they continue to drink the special Water.  The original Water was spiked with Otto’s blood, but when it ran out, Ruby’s mom, Joan Crawford Sula discovered that Ruby’s blood had the same power as her daddy, so the cycle is continued.

This means the plot of the story is a heinous one of child abuse in order to satisfy a god who never comes.  Someone should teach this group about Jesus.  His followers have waited for over 2000 years for his return and continue to wait with anticipation, but this group is ready to give up after a mere 200 years.

Ruby has been indoctrinated to believe that she must sacrifice her own freedom and chance at life for the other Congregants.  Once she starts to punch holes in the logic, the standard hypocritical religious nuts enter the picture, standing on a soap box of “you give everything while I give nothing.”  The book becomes predictable.  Sula is a reincarnation of Jim Jones, but instead or murdering her people so they can meet their god, she keeps them alive, waiting for the return of their god an inhuman length of time.  The waiting is far from nice.  The Congregants are enslaved.  When they finally have a chance at freedom, she actually enslaves them a second time, but with better terms.

Ruby becomes a leader simply because of her blood.  She has never exhibited extraordinary qualities expected of leaders.  She has not stood up to Darwin West.  She becomes the leader just because of her blood.  Surely there is another option.  Of course, this will lead to several shenanigans, due to the fact that an incompetent teen is now leading the entire community.

Careful readers may ask why Ruby, who is now well over 200 years of age, continues to have the brain of a teen.  She should be more like Claudia from INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, an adult mind trapped in a child’s body.  This would make much more sense to readers.  Even though she was born into the cult and has never experienced love, it was happening around her.  She should have more developed thought processes and should be beyond thinking like a teen.

Next, consider Ford.  Ford cannot be with Ruby as she does not believe in Jesus, but they share a mutual love for one another.  When Ruby refuses to go all the way with Ford, he becomes cranky.  In all seriousness, the story should be over this.  Ford is nothing more than a local looser who has likely already burned his way through the remaining village girls and has no other options becomes fixated on the girl who is brainwashed by the cult so that she has no clue about life.  She would make a perfect life mate victim.  Oh, and by the way, Ford is also forceful and unwilling to hear about any religious views other than his own.  He is such a real trophy for no one.

Readers will find some redemption in the end, but it is likely too late.  In fact, man will give up half way through the book due to the tendency of the story to return to the same day like the movie Groundhog Day, without the humor of Bill Murray.  While there is a lot of talk, there is little action.  Any chance of action is very short lived and quickly abandoned.  Then the cycle begins all over again.  Finally there is a heinous event that lights a fire to get Ruby moving, but this too cycles back to her lack of brain power.  Regardless of who a person is, she cannot live for over 200 years as a slave without developing needed survival skills and the ability to see the forest for the trees when standing in the middle of it.

A story concerning Ruby and the Visitor would have had a far greater potential for development.  The story would not have had to develop romantically, but he seems to be far more dynamic than any other character in the book.  Darwin is the typical villain with nothing special other than his meanness.  The visitor shows much more, while definitely creepier than Darwin he at least exhibits levels of kindness at the same time.  His complexity could have elevated the story far beyond the typical bust from slavery and let the slave master get his just reward type of story.  Had the author allowed Ruby to escape early on, this story could have centered around her running from the visitor.

However, this is not what the writer gives the reader.  Instead, the reader finds almost 300 pages of not a lot that is followed by another hundred pages of something that does not quite meet his expectations.  If Ruby had escaped the stock characters, there was much more potential for this story.  It leaves one hoping that Ruby will react more to the modern world but forced to see a tease clouded by Ford.  The story is disappointing for what it could have been instead.

The voice is probably okay, but dull.  It is assumed that it is intended to show the time the characters come from; however, considering they have been exposed to the outside world for the length of time, it seems they should be more enlightened, about language as well as many other things.  In particular, the children should have been more influenced by outside language, however it does not happen.

The story is all around disappointing.  It has far more potential, but never reaches it.  One would be hard pressed to find someone to whom he or she would recommend DROUGHT.   It is neither dystopian nor post-apocalyptic, but it is certainly not contemporary.  Neither is it paranormal.  Some might say it to be about a young female overcoming odds; however, even that is a stretch.  Another possibility is breaking out of slavery, but Ruby is not smart enough to make it work.  The work leaves readers at a loss.

I absolutely loved this book, so perhaps I am a just a little bit biased in my review. In my opinion, the new title of this book seems to obscure and even “water down” the impact of the events that actually take place within the book. Additionally, I feel as though this book’s new title doesn’t have the “oomph” and overall appeal that the original book title had. Adding to this problem is the fact that the original title had a large and growing fan base. I feel that this growing fan base is going to be negatively impacted by the fact that the book’s title has been changed. After all, there are currently a great number of fans talking about the general awesomeness of The Babysitter Murders. After the paper back version hits the bookstore racks with its new title, people will continue to search for The Babysitter Murders book that received such rave reviews. However, now they will not be able to easily find the book, because of its new title. The original title of the book seems to speak to the absolute horror that Dani thought could actually occur, as well as to how she was treated after she confessed. I feel that the new title of the book does not have the same effect. In fact, I feel that the new title actually seems to “dumb down” the story, since the title simply does not do the book justice. Overall, I think that the decision to change the book’s name will end up being detrimental to the book and its success. What is your opinion? Do you agree with my review? Do you agree with me that changing the book’s title was not a good decision? How do you feel about the fact that the original hardback book format has been changed so that it is now a paperback? I feel as though these changes are simply strange – do you agree with me? Do you feel as though the changes that have been made will help the book – or hurt it? I’d love to hear your thoughts – please share.

The internet is a wonderful place where the sky is the limit regardless of how small your business may be. In fact, it is possible for you to take your business from nothing more than an idea to an operation that enjoys millions of dollars in revenue each year by simply creating a great product and using the reach of a website to reach a larger audience than you would have otherwise had access to. When you have such a large potential pool of customers, you need to realize that they also have options in terms of where they choose to spend their money. If you want to compete in the market, you will need to make customers interested in seeing what you have to offer. Internet marketing can be a great way to generate initial interest that is simply about getting eyes on your page that may lead to purchases in the future.

New York City is the primary location of major add agencies, but in the new search engine age, and new location has sprung up in for Utah for SEO companies, like a silicon valley 2.0 this makes branding yourself online easier and cheaper then ever before.

When you use effective internet marketing on your page, you are going to have a much easier time getting someone to spend money with your business. If you have ever been in a retail store in the past, you know that it is very common for people to look all throughout the business and simply not spend their money on any products at all. When this happens, there are resources being wasted that would have been better take advantage of if they were placed elsewhere. When you are attempting to avoid this in an internet business, you simply want to market to people that are already looking online for the types of products that you have for sale. When someone comes to your page for a specific need, they would then make a purchase and the profits would be yours as a result of marketing that is professional and effective.