Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

• Pub. Date:February 1, 2011
• Publisher:Harper Teen
• Pages:480
• Series:Delirium #1
• Amazon/Goodreads

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

First Line: "It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure."


Review: This book was good, it didn't live up to all the hype for me but I still liked it and am interested enough in the characters and their world to go out and pick up Pandemonium the second book in the series. The beginning started off a little slow for me mainly because Oliver obviously took her time building up the society they live in and letting us in on every detail so we can understand it fully. Now the second half was much more fast paced and really grabbed my attention, especially those last few chapters, so much happened that I have to pick up the next book to see what happens next.

I really loved the concept of the book. The fact that they used love and made it to be a disease and then manipulated the people in their society with it in order to have control over them was pretty original. I did find the romance predictable but at the same time I expected it going in so that wasn't much of a disappointment. 

As for the main characters, Lena didn't grow on me until the ending. For majority of the book I didn't really find her interesting at all but with the way the book ended I have a feeling I'm going to love the hell out of her character in the next book. As for Alex I really liked his character especially when we learned more about him and then that ending ... I need to know what happened to him, I don't think I realized how into his character I was until the end of the book.

 If you haven't figured it out by my review the book ends with a heart-rending cliffhanger and I am so glad I waited to read this because there is no way I would have been able to wait a year to see what happens next. If you love Dystopian pick Delirium up, it was well worth the read. 

Early Review: The Glimpse by Claire Merle

The Glimpse by Claire Merle

• Pub. Date: June 7, 2012
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Pages: 432

http://www.clairemerle.com

Once you've seen into the future, can you change your destiny?


"In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.
Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.
Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not interfere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society and into the pits of the human soul. And as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper's abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe, but she also learns to love as she has never loved before."

Review: Wow this book was intense. The world which was created was disturbingly scary, imagine a world where little kids as young as four commit suicide, believing in religion or a higher power is considered a form of psychosis and then of course there is the Big 3 - schizophrenia, depression and anxiety. I finished reading The Glimpse about a week ago and I usually write the reviews a day or so after but with this one I had to wait and get my feelings in order. Did I love it..did I like it, in the end I decided I really did like it. But I do have a feeling that this is going to be one of those controversial books.


Ana is a Pure ( people who don't have the genes to ever develop a mental health illness ) or at least she thought she was until she learned her father who is a Pure geneticist altered her test results. Now she must be joined with Jasper before she turns 18 to remain in the pure society or be kicked out and have to live with the Crazies ( people who tested positive to have or to eventually develop a mental illness. ) Long story short Jasper disappears and Ana sets off to find him but in the process discovers truths that she never would have accepted true, learns about the lies being fed by the government and she meets Cole.

I struggled with the first half of the book, not that I didn't find it interesting with all the world building that was going on but it just dragged. The second half is when things picked up and it had the total opposite affect on me then the first, I wasn't able to put it down.

 I really liked Cole he is actually seven years older then Ana which came a surprise since I rarely see such huge age gaps in the YA genre but nonetheless he was a character I really enjoyed. Seriously if it wasn't for Ana being seventeen I wouldn't even put this under YA there was so many events that took place that is definitely for a more mature reader.

The book ended with nothing really being solved, a lot of secrets are revealed but only for more questions to arise by the end of it. The Glimpse leaves you hanging and wanting for more. I'm really curious to see what happens in the next book.

Buy on

Amazon

Review: Starters by Lissa Price

Starters by Lissa Price

• Pub. Date: March 13, 2012
• Publisher:Random House Children's Books
• Pages: 352
• Series: Starters #1

http://www.lissaprice.com/

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER 


"Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. 


He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . ."

Review:  One thing is for sure Starters was a pretty amazing read. The concept of Enders being able to rent out the Starters bodies was creepy and a little disturbing, yet I was totally blown away by it.  Not to mention that cover, it is definitely eye catching.

The main character Callie was very well developed. The love for her brother and the ends she was willing to go for him was very touching. She was brave and selfless and I couldn't ask to read about a better female lead character then her. Then there are all the other characters and believe me there are quite a few and none of them are who you think they are.

Did I read this book in a matter of hours? Not really, as much as I loved it there were parts of the plot that dragged and I was able to walk away from it with no urge to hurry back to it and read it. Another thing I was hoping for was to learn more about the Spore Wars and there were a few terms that were used that I wish was explained instead of me sitting there trying to figure it out on my own.

The ending was a major shocker....like seriously!

Overall this book was different and interesting. I can't wait to dive into the second in the series. If you love dystopians I highly recommend it.

Buy on 

Amazon / B&N

Book Trailer

Review: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

• Pub. Date:November 2011
• Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Pages: 336
• Series: The Pledge #1

http://www.kimberlyderting.com/

"In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed. 


Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime"

First Sentence: The air crackled like a gathering thunderstorm the moment the girl entered the chamber.


Review: I was thrown  into a world full of danger and dark secrets.  I loved The Pledge and couldn't tear myself away from it. I literally finished it in one sitting. Derting is an amazing writer and the characters, the world building, the alternating point of views everything was pulled off very well.

Charlaina ( Charlie ) can understand all languages which is pretty awesome except for the fact she lives in a world in which it is against the law to know a language above your class and if you do you get executed. Charlie was as real as they can get, she was a believable character with fears and faults. I also adored her relationship with her little sister, who also like our protagonist had secrets which needed to be hidden.

Then there was Max he was full of surprises and very swoon worthy. I didn't know what to make of him in the beginning but I enjoyed learning more about him side by side with Charlie.

One thing I have to admit as much as I loved pretty much all of the characters including the evil queen, I fell more in love with the world Derting created. It was interesting to read about a place in which women are the rulers while the men are on the sidelines, then there was the fact that you are only allowed to speak the language of your class and you can never escape it. I would personally never want to live in a world like that but it was the world in which they lived that really engrossed me to the point where I did not want to put the book down.

Overall this is a must read if you love Dystopian novels, although it does dip a little into the fantasy genre as well.

Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

• Pub. Date: November 2011
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: ARC, PP 342

http://www.taherehmafi.com/

"Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. 


The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. 


The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now. 


Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. ."

First Sentence: I've been locked up for 264 days."

Review: Wow...just Wow! A five star rating wont even do Shatter Me any justice. It deserves so much more than that.

Captivating, seductive, beautiful and the list goes on and on and on when it comes to describing Tahereh Mafi's writing. Shatter Me was original and just breathtaking. All the hype around it is so very well deserved.

We are hurled into Juliette's world from the beginning. There is no slow build up on how her world has come to be...we are literally thrown into the mix of things. Starting with Juliette being locked up for 264 days because to the world she is a monster. One single touch from her can kill. I'm not going to say much more about her situation because I refuse to give up any spoilers for such a phenomenal book.

Juliette's character was fascinating. I've never met a character like her. She made my heartbreak within the first few chapters. I felt for her. I felt her pain.

Now as far as the love interest - Adam Kent...talk about major swoon. Adam is protective, strong, loyal, caring. Sexy is the word that comes to mind when describing Adam and Juliette's relationship. I also like the fact that Adam is actually from Juliette's childhood and has been searching for her since she was taken away and locked up.

As far as all the other characters go, major and minor they all had a purpose. We are introduced to a handful of characters in the last few chapters as well, but it's obvious they were a set up for the next book in the series.

Overall: Amazing, Amazing, Amazing. This is a must read. Do not pass this up this is by far one of the best novels I've read all year.

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

• Pub. Date: May 2011
• Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Book
• Format: Hardcover 487 pages

"Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances. "

First Sentence: "There is one mirror in my house"

Review: Divergent was breathtakingly amazing. It was downright perfection in my opinion. I don't even know what else to say, it was just that good. If your like me and have let it sit on your bookshelf month after month afraid to pick it up because you are afraid it wont live up to the hype...pick it up now and read it. I regret taking so long  to read Divergent. Five stars doesn't even do it any justice. Okay let me stop gushing over it and get on with the review.

Sixteen year old Beatrice Prior lives in a time where society is divided into five factions. Abnegation-the selfless, Candor-the honest, Dauntless-the brave,Erudite-the intelligent, and Amity-the peaceful. Then there is another group of people, one that if your are found out by others what you are will get you killed - Divergent.

I finished Veronica Roth's debut novel in a matter of hours. If you want an intense and compelling read Divergent is it. There was betrayal, corruption, and not to mention romance that developed realistically between Four (Tobias) and Tris (Beatrice).

The world building and plot was immaculately done. Then there were the plot twists that had me to the point where I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. And of course the fact that even all the secondary characters were all very well fleshed out which helped me fall in love with Divergent that much more.

Overall this was a fascinating read and I looking forward to picking up Insurgent when it releases.