It’s the last Friday of the August, which means it’s time for another Favorite Book Feature! This year I’ve been featuring one of my favorite books on the last Friday of every month, telling you why it’s one of my favorites. You can find the full list of my favorite books here. August’s featured book is Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis.

McGinnis’s debut novel is an eerie dystopia set in Ohio after a water shortage and contamination left many without water. Lynn was taught how to survive by her mother, and together they have protected their pond from every threat: drought, water contamination, coyotes, and people looking for a drink. Out of desperation, Lynn’s mother taught her to survive—how to shoot a rifle, purify water, hunt, and protect the house—but not much more than that. Not how to live.

But when her mother dies in an accident and when smoke on the horizon means a new threat, Lynn must reach out to others for the first time in her life. As she develops relationships with her neighbors and takes in a young girl who’s mother can’t care for her, Lynn slowly learns how to really live, not just survive in a dangerous world.

The main reason I love this book is because of the lean language McGinnis uses. The book has spare language, which reflects the barrenness of the environment. The book is easy to read, and does a beautiful job conveying all of the danger, emotions, and romance of the story.

I think McGinnis does a fantastic job creating her characters. Each of them is unique, from rough Mother and sensitive Stebbs to devastated Neva and hopeful Lucy. And I loved watching all of the relationships change and grow over the course of the book. My favorite of these relationships was that between Lynn and Lucy, whom Lynn takes in after her mother can’t care for her anymore. Lynn starts off treating Lucy the way her mother treated her—with a cold distance and a focus on survival. But Lucy’s youth brings so much life and hope to the house, and Lucy helps Lynn grow.

I also love this book because of how it’s a post-apocalyptic survival story. I’ve really been into reading survival stories like this lately, and Not a Drop to Drink does not disappoint. This book is definitely one of the more plausible dystopian stories out there, and it’s interesting to watch how someone survives in that world. It makes you really think about what you would do in the same situation. And I’m glad that Lynn moves beyond just surviving and learns how to really live.

I can’t wait to read the companion novel, In a Handful of Dust, set a decade after Not a Drop to Drink and told from now-teenage Lucy’s perspective.