Review: Pandemonium

PANDEMONIUM
by Lauren Oliver

GOODREADS BLURB
"So what was your name before?" I say, and she freezes, her back to me. "Before you came to the Wilds, I mean."


For a moment, she stands there.

Then she turns around.

"You might as well get used to it now," she says with quiet intensity.

"Everything you were, the life you had, the people you knew... dust."

She shakes her head and says, a little more firmly, "There is no before. There is only now, and what comes next."

After falling in love, Lena and Alex flee their oppressive society where love is outlawed and everyone must receive the "cure" -- an operation that makes them immune to the delirium of love -- but Lena alone manages to find her way to a community of resistance fighters. Although she is bereft without the boy she loves, her struggles seem to be leading her toward a new love.



MY THOUGHTS
Well written and intense, but oh so painful! Alex has to still be alive, and instead we’re watching Lena fall in love with someone else. No, no, no!



Months together with Alex, building a relationship, and in just a couple days, Julian takes his place. Well, it’s been 6 months since Alex got taken by the police. So in Lena’s defense, she didn’t just jump into someone else’s arms as soon as she escaped Portland, Maine.


She grieved for him. She kept living for him. And she chose to love again because he taught her about living to the fullest, loving with all your heart.


As much as I hated reading Pandemonium and watching this disaster ensue, I admired the author’s ability to tie me into knots and yearn for good things for her characters. I’m soooo hoping for a happy ending with the third and last installment of this series.

Review: Delirium

DELIRIUM
by Lauren Oliver

GOODREADS BLURB
They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.


And I've always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed.

Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.
    MY THOUGHTS
Savory, beautiful, delicious.

One of the best dystopian books I’ve read. Dare I say better than Hunger Games? Yes, probably. Though unlike Hunger Games, I wouldn’t recommend this one to my husband. Too much teenage romance.



Scientists discovered that this thing we call LOVE is a disease which eats us apart, and many of the social problems we have (bipolar disorder, OCD, depression, etc) are all symptoms of this disease. But thank goodness, they found a cure! A little brain surgery and we will all be free of this horrendous disease. Mandated by the United States government.


But the problem: this procedure is not safe to perform on anyone under the age of 18.


Strict rules keep girls and boys separated, until they are paired and cured. These rules control what they read, the music they listen to, their curfews. And there are enforcers roaming the streets as they watch for any undesirable activities.


Cities are fenced off, and the Invalids who live out in the Wilds were purged (bombed) many years ago. Thank goodness! We’re safe from them.


Lena is 17 and she can’t wait to finally have her procedure. She wants to be cured of this dirty disease. She wants to be like everybody else.


Until she meets Alex.


What I loved about this book:


#1. Of all the dystopians, this book reminded the most of 1984 by George Orwell: love being an evil thing


#2. Great care was taken in tying the two love birds together


#3. The language was beautiful and poetic (sometimes too much so, but I still enjoyed it)


Not much traumatic or intense happens throughout the story, but you can feel it coming, and the ending doesn’t disappoint on the intensity level.

Review: Shatter Me

SHATTER ME
by Tahereh Mafi

GOODREADS BLURB
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.


OPENING LINES
I’ve been locked up for 264 days.

I have nothing but a small notebook and a broken pen and the numbers in my head to keep me company. 1 window. 4 walls. 144 square feet of space. 26 letters in an alphabet I haven’t spoken in 264 days of isolation.

6,336 hours since I’ve touched another human being.

“You’re getting a cellmate roommate,” they said to me.

“We hope you rot to death in this placeFor good behavior,” they said to me.



MY THOUGHTS

A dystopian X-men kind of story! Loved it.

And the main character has Rogue’s power—she leeches life energy off of anybody she touches. When she accidentally kills a small boy who she was trying to soothe because he was crying, Juliette is thrown into an asylum and put in solitary confinement.

I absolutely loved the language of the opening chapters. Poetic insanity. What would our minds think about if we had 264 days of solitary confinement?

New cellmate is a boy from her past, but he’s there under orders of the military regime to spy on her. She’s a valuable tool, and the local general wants to user her.

This story did not go where I expected, though I’m not upset about it. I thought this would be your usual dystopian, and instead it turned out to be more of a superhero story. A unique twist on the whole dystopian idea.


Not my favorite book, but I’m looking forward to reading more in this series. I think it is only going to get better.

Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop

One WINNER will receive an eBook copy of Playing Hooky!

Valentine’s Day.


And my 21st birthday.

Whoop-de-doo.

Just another college day full of classes and more homework than is humanly possible.

…until Jason, my best-friend-since-kindergarten, shows up to take me out for the day.

Like old times: the two of us on a wacky adventure, playing hooky from real life. With his lopsided grin and tickets to a circus full of misfits and monsters, he introduces me to a whole new world—one full of magic and mystery—and turns my reality upside down.

Except nothing goes as planned, and we end up running through the city to find a missing siren before someone brews a love potion with her blood.

Sirens and love potions, witches and elves, and Valentine kisses. Nothing will be the same for me again.

One WINNER will receive an eBook copy of Daughter of the Goddess!

The Heart.

The God of Love seeks a bride who is pure in heart and full of life—full of soul. Instead of a woman, he finds a child with laughter in her heart. Waiting for her to grow up, he befriends her, pretending to be nothing more than a blue-eyed boy with wild, tangled hair.

The Soul.
Left on the temple doorstep, a young girl turns the lives of the priestesses upside down . . . until one summer day before her eighteenth birthday, a traveling oracle tells her she is to marry a stranger in a foreign land.

The Nightmare.
An ancient demon—half-man, half-snake—wants to destroy anything the gods love. When she was a child, he haunted her dreams, but now he stalks her across the countryside. If he catches her, he’ll devour her.

One WINNER will receive an eBook copy of Transcendent: Tales of the Paranormal!!!

Discover the secrets of a siren, fly with a hawk girl over the mountains of Montana, and flee supernatural party-crashers as the décor comes to life in this magical journey through paranormal stories.

Along the way, watch for ghosts in a haunted house, or ride through the moonlight with a stranger. Save a comatose boy who has lost his soul, and don’t forget to bring your garlic and wolfsbane—you never know when the shadows will snag you.

Transcendent includes eight stories of magic, love, death, and choice by some of the newest names in young adult fiction.



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Wishful Wednesday 3.13.13

This is where I share books I really, REALLY want to read...

...if only I had enough time!!!

HIDDEN WINGS

by Cameo Renae

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB
Seventeen is a life changing age for Emma Wise.




As her family's sole survivor in a car crash, she is left with a broken arm and a few scrapes and bruises. But these are only outward marks; inside, her heart is broken and the pieces scattered.



Whisked away to Alaska, to an aunt she’s never met, Emma starts over. Secrets unveil themselves and now…she doesn't even know who or what she is.



A centuries old prophecy places Emma in the heart of danger. Creatures of horrifying and evil proportions are after her, and it will take Emma, her aunt, and six, gorgeously captivating Guardians to keep her safe. But, if she can survive until her eighteenth birthday... things will change.

Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

The Evolution of Mara Dyer
by Michelle Hodkin

Blurb from Goodreads:
Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.

She can’t.

She used to think her problems were all in her head.

They aren’t.

She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.

She’s wrong.

In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?


   
Favorite Quote (one of many):

Reflexively, I checked my reflection in the side mirror.

My hair was plastered to my face, and I was pale. But I looked okay. Maybe a little thin. A little tired. But normal.

Then my reflection winked. Even though I hadn’t.

My Thoughts:

I’m a sucker for insane characters!


Fast paced! This story is a roller coaster ride of an amazing story. You don’t know how much is in her head and how much is real—the dead cat in her backyard, the writing in blood on her mirror, and her grandmother’s doll staring at her. The strange dreams and the sightings of her dead ex-boyfriend.


I loved how Mara changed through this story. She finds some of the answers she desperately needs (yay!), and most importantly, I love how she came to accept herself and her strange powers.


Noah is awesome, the way he supports her and fights for her and helps her every step of the way. One of the best supporting male roles in YA books today. Up there with Alex from Delirium and Peeta from Hunger Games.


Highly, highly recommend this series!