You Had Me at Delirious

I just finished Lauren Oliver’s Delirium trilogy! I love dystopian fiction and this trilogy has dystopian written all over it. I was definitely interested in this strange society where love is forbidden and teens grow up knowing that they will hae a medical procedure that will cut the capability to love out of their brains.

Lena, the main character, is actually looking forward to her procedure. She has always been afraid that the Delirium Nervosa would take a hold of her just like it did to her own mother. Upon a chance she meets a young man named Alex. She thinks Alex says he has been cured of the love disease and even has the scar to prove it. Suddenly Lena and Alex are spending all of their time together and feeling that woozy sweet feeling that comes with love. Lena finds herself caught between knowing what the laws says about love and how she feels internally.

This book is amazing! When I picked it up I had no idea it was the first in a series. Let’s just say that when I got to the end of the book I couldn't believe it! I couldn’t believe the ending it was heartbreaking and insane. Then I calmed down when I found out that there was a second book called Pandemonium and I was able to pick back up where Lena left off. This book is interesting because it alternates from Lena’s point of view of THEN, which is how she survives the past and NOW, which is how she is living each day just trying to survive in a world gone mad against love.

Pandemonium picks up right where Delirium left off. Although, Lena has a different set of problems, is living in New York and she can't seem to concentrate on the present. In Pandemonium we meet the young and handsome Julian. Lena’s feelings for Alex will always stay with her no matter what. But understandably she finds herself attracted to Julian because he is HOT! I too have a bit of a crush on Julian now. And then it happened again the ending floored me totally! I think I whipped my head around and said what?!?! at the ending of Pandemonium!

In the last novel in this trilogy I found myself not wanting to say goodbye to Lena and her friends. I did really like Requiem because it brings together all of the characters that I had grown so fond of during this trilogy. Requiem had a different point of view shift that goes back and forth between Lena fighting out in The Wilds, and Hana, her best friend from book 1 who has had the procedure and is about to get married to a psycho dude. In a lot of ways, this book just didn’t go exactly where I wanted it to go. At the end it had that Gone with the Wind feeling of "tomorrow is another day" I was disappointed because I really wanted more answers to many questions I had and I really wanted more Delirium - all together more!

”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 - Delirium

Against All Odds Apocalyptic Kids Rock!

Monument 14: Sky on Fire: Emmy Laybourne



Book: Monument 14: Sky on Fire
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Pages: 224
Age Range: 13 and up

Monument 14: Sky on Fire is the sequel to Monument 14 in which a group of 14 kids end up trying to survive in large store complex after a chemical plant causes a catastrophic event to happen in their town.

Sky on Fire begins right where Monument 14 left off and alternates between perspectives of sixteen-year-old Dean and his thirteen-year-old brother Alex.

Alex, Nico, Josie and three younger kids are on the school bus that brought the kids to safety in the store in the first book. They're on a quest to travel 67 miles to Denver International Airport because their friend Brayden was injured and they have heard that are medical facilities in Denver and evacuations to Alaska as well. This trip turns out to be incredibly dangerous for the kids because they do not realize that there are awful people out just waiting to hurt them. Also, if they are exposed to the toxins in the air each one will have a side effect according to what their blood type is. The kids do have gas masks and several layers of clothing, but in times of despair this may not be enough to get them through their sixty mile trek.

Meanwhile, back in Monument at the store Dean has stayed behind with the girl of his dreams Astrid and three of the littler kids. Still missing in action is the all star football player Jake. Jake went off in search for help and did not return after several days and everyone fears he is dead. Right away, Dean and Astrid have to deal with outsiders trying to get into the store because there is food shelter there. Dean begins to pull together all of the potential weapons that he can find to secure their safety. His number one weapon is a chainsaw.

Although, it seems that bad things just keep on happening to these kids they just keep on going and never give up and I totally admire that. As Alex states in his letter to Dean, "things get really bad" These poor kids have to travel through a hostile post-apocalyptic landscape with creepy people lurking in the shadows. Some of these people are horrible and violent and some are not. There are some violent scenes in the book that could be considered somewhat disturbing.

Sky on Fire is compelling to read though and I actually couldn't put it down and read the entire book in one day! Laybourne uses the alternating narration to ratchet up the suspense. The kids on the bus receive information suggesting that there is nowhere safe to go now, and no one knows who to trust or what to believe. There are relationship tensions, between several characters, and strength and courage are highlighted throughout each characters personality.

There's also growth in the relationships between the kids. It becomes clear in Sky on Fire how much these kids have bonded and become a family. Maybe a strange family strung together with misfits and outcasts, but a family nevertheless that will fight for each other and always loyal to each other until the end.

Alex's voice is witty and intelligent with fun quips that make you want to laugh in the face of a world gone mad

"If we two were the two last people on earth--not, by the way, as statistically implausible as it was a month ago--she would still be rude to me and I would still pretend that it didn't bother me."

Dean has a more thoughtful voice

"Was it wrong to feel a heart-spike of happiness in the middle of the Apocalypse?" and "We deserve a happy ending. All of us do."

I'm not usually a fan of alternating point of views in a book, but this one totally works. I would have not wanted it any other way. It was really awesome at the end when both Alex and Dean's stories were almost weaving together!

My only complaint about this book is that it was too short. But then I always want to read more and more. However, it's suspenseful with an emotional impact and many loose ends are tied up. I am eager for the next book in the series! I'd say this book is totally LEGIT.

Happy Reading to You!

17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

Seventeen-year-old Lauren is having visions of girls who have gone missing. And all these girls have just one thing in common—they are 17 and
gone without a trace. As Lauren struggles to shake these waking nightmares, impossible questions demand urgent answers: Why are the
girls speaking to Lauren? How can she help them? And… is she next? As Lauren searches for clues, everything begins to unravel, and when a brush with death lands her in the hospital, a shocking truth emerges, changing everything.


I LOVED this book! The writing reminded me a lot of Nova’s other book, Imaginary Girls. Mysterious, beautiful, lyrical writing that sometimes seems more like poetry than what you would find in a young adult novel, and
honestly the writing itself is much more mature than you will find in many YA novels these days. The main character in the story is Lauren a teen
who is seemingly normal on the outside. However, she has some serious issues brewing within her. She doesn’t really know if she likes her friends, and she has a boyfriend but she keeps a lot from him because she doesn’t think that he will understand what she is going
through, which of course causes him to pull away.

The biggest issue that Lauren deals with in this book is that she sees girls that other people don’t see – she sees the lost girls, girls who have
disappeared without a trace, all at the age of 17. She sees them in her house, in her car, and even meets them in her dreams in a strange and creepy house filled with smoke.

As you are reading, the stories of many missing girls are told. The missing
person’s notices are listed in the book and as you read them you realize that there are so many young people out there on the streets missing just like these characters that Suma has made up. Lauren is especially trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to one of the missing girls named Abby Sinclair. Lauren does some investigation on her own, breaking into the summer camp where Abby worked where she disappeared, visiting Abby's old boyfriend and even her grandparents who are states away. Lauren gets into quite a bit of trouble from doing all of this investigating, but really it’s what’s going on inside Lauren’s head that
is giving her the most trouble.

In 17 & Gone, nothing is as it seems. The book is filled to the brim with mystery – not just about the lost girls, but about Lauren herself, and through reading the book we get to know Lauren just as she grows into
knowing herself, and it is a wild, surprising, and totally unpredictable story about growing up, and growing into who you are when you turn out to be something completely different from what you ever expected.

I don’t want to say anything else and spoil the book for you, but I will say this is the best YA novel I have read so far this year.

Happy Reading to You!!

The Hunt is On!

This book is totally amazing! You can't help but love Jasper Dent in his plight to not become a serial killer just like his father. Jasper or Jazz as his friends call him has a keen sense of what makes a serial killer tick because his father taught him everything he knows. However, Jazz likes to mix things up by instead trying to catch a serial killer in his own home town. As things heat up, Jazz realizes that this sneaky new serial killer is actually copying his own father's nasty work. Jazz and his friend Howie work together as a well oiled machine to try and stop the horrible chain of events from unfolding. Barry Lyga has created a whole world that I never even thought existed in this incredibly exciting story of a young man struggling to find his self and break free from his father's cruel hold on him. You must read this book to find out what happens!

What I Just Finished Reading!

Pure is Sci-fi fantasy, Dystopian, and Poetic Post-Apocalyptic

"Pure" is an engaging and exciting post-apocalyptic saga. The main characters are young enough that this could have been categorized as a young adult novel. First we have Pressia who is a deep thinking risk taking sixteen year old girl who has lived with the outcome of the Detonations that went off when she was a little girl. She has witnessed horrors upon horrors and has somehow still survived. The worst part of the world she lives in is that the Detonations didn't actually kill everyone, they either burned them or fused them to other beings, animals, and/or even structures and the earth. There was a dome built that housed many people and when the bombs went off those in the dome survived with no harm. Because of this, those in the dome are called Pure. Pressia comes in contact with Bradwell, who is a renegade young man trying to start a revolution, but not having much luck on his own. Partridge lives in the dome but he is seeking something else in his life. His overbearing and sadistic father keeps a tight rule over those in the dome. This story comes to life as Partridege finds a way out of the dome and these three young people come together. The three have to come up with a plan to stay alive in a world where you don't really know who your enemies are. And you never know what dark horror might be lurking around the corner. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was happy to find that there were additional characters that turned out to be heroes too.