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25

Mar

Book of the Day: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

9593913They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

16

Dec

Book of the Day: Annabel by Lauren Oliver

Lena’s mother, Annabel, has always been a mystery—a ghost in Lena’s past. Until now.

Discover her secrets in Lauren Oliver’s brilliant original digital story set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Delirium and Pandemonium.

Lena Halloway’s mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That’s the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love.

But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape.

05

Dec

YA Christmas Calendar: Day Five

Click for your next treat in the 25 days of YA Christmas!

Advent calendar images courtesy: One Little Bird Studio: http://onelittlebirdstudio.blogspot.com/p/advent-calendar.html

01

Dec

Amazon’s Best Teen Books of 2012

(Organized by average rating on Amazon)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.


Art student and monster’s apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she’ll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl… . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
Son by Lois Lowry
They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. 

Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver, as well as Gathering Blue and Messengerwhere a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
One choice can transform you–or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves–and herself–while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable–and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

“New York Times” bestselling author Veronica Roth’s much-anticipated second book of the dystopian “Divergent” series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina’s tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they’ve turned the final page.
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, 
pushing aside thoughts of Alex, 
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, 
push, 
push, 
push, 
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.
 

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
It’s been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jump-starting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society… or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she’s lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s PersuasionFor Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.
Dodger by Terry Pratchet
A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he’s … Dodger.

Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London’s sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He’s not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl—not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.

From Dodger’s encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy’s rise in a complex and fascinating world.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love … or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of theShiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship–one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self–even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.
The Diviners by Libba Bray
Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City–and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult–also known as “The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies.”

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer–if he doesn’t catch her first.
Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
Reached by Ally Condie
After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising—and each other—Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.

In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times-bestselling Matched Trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without.
Every Day by David Levithan
In his New York Times bestselling novel, David Levithan introduces readers to what Entertainment Weekly calls a “wise, wildly unique” love story about A, a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. 

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

With his new novel, David Levithan, bestselling co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
I’m telling you why we broke up, Ed. I’m writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.
The Kill Order by James Dashner
The prequel to the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series.

Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.

Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.

Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive.

20

Nov

Giving Thanks: 2012 sequels that I’m thankful for

Thanks to Pitch Dark for this great idea! Check out their blog to see what books they’re thankful for this year.

And here are the sequels that I am thankful for this year:

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Insurgent (Divergent, #2)
Fever by Lauren DeStefano
Fever (The Chemical Garden, #2)
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland by Catherynne Valente
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fairyland, #2)
Fathomless by Jackson Pearce
Fathomless (Fairytale Retellings, #3)
The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns, #2)
Underworld by Meg Cabot
Underworld (Abandon Trilogy #2)

31

Jul

Requiem ARC contest

From Lauren:

“There are now officially exactly three copies of Requiem in the world. Just three. In the whole world. One is mine. One is for my dad. And the other… well the other is for one of you!

What I want to know is why YOU should get that one Requiem ARC! Send me your stories! Are you a crazy Delirium fan? Do you have a great and and funny story that occurred because of your obsession? Happy/sad/good/bad/funny/serious/long/short… I want to read them all! Convince me!

Send all your stories to laurenoliverbooks@gmail.com , and put “Requiem Giveaway” in the subject line. I’ll post my favorite stories up here on the blog, and even if you don’t get the one copy, you might get on the list for future ARCs or other Lauren Oliver swag. I can’t wait!”

I don’t have much of a story about Delirium or Pandemonium. I was heart-broken when I read the ARC of Pandemonium and then realized that I would have to wait more than a year to find out how it all ends. Then only one of my friends had read Pandemoniumso we spent weeks having secret conversations in code about what happened in the book so as not to spoil it for everyone else.

What’ your Pandy story?

10

Jul

Where has the laughter gone?

Sharon Rawlins over at the YALSA Hub wrote yesterday about how YA books are getting less and less funny. And it’s true: the last YA book I remember making me laugh is The Fault in Our Stars, and it also made me cry.

I am definitely struggling at the moment to think of anything that really made me laugh. I can remember all the books that made me cry:

  • The Book Thief
  • The Fault in Our Stars
  • Bitterblue
  • Delirium
  • Born Wicked, etc.

Not that I’ve been feeling the lack of humor though. There is definitely something about being a teenager that lends itself to the dark drama. Take a look at the popular YA titles such as Crank and Speak. Those books are so far from funny they’re not on the same bookshelf as the funny books.

Strangely enough, as I was writing this a customer at Powell’s came up to buy a copy of Good Omens, which is perhaps one of the funniest books I’ve ever read (and Sharon also mentioned Terry Pratchett). The adult world is full of doom and gloom books too, but they’ve got their fair share of the funny.

Maybe this will be the next big YA trend: books that make you laugh without also making you cry.

08

Feb

Notes on a book: Pandemonium

Rating: Must Read

Lauren Oliver proves once again that she is a master storyteller.Where Delirium was a love story, a story of awakening and discovery, Pandemonium is a story about learning who you are when your whole world is turned upside down by things you cannot control. Brilliantly written and perfectly executed, Pandemonium steps up the bar Lauren set in Delirium and promises an epic finish to the series in book three.

Warning: Spoilers ahead, do not read on if you have not read Delirium

Pandemonium picks up both immediately after Delirium ends, and six months later. Told in alternating chapters that follow Lena’s journeys both into the Wilds and back into Civilization, the story relates how she learned to survive after losing Alex and everything she knew, and Lena’s journey back into the populated areas with the resistance. Struggling with Alex’s loss in both stories, as well as finding her own identity, Pandemonium tells the story of two new Lena’s: the one who is weak and heart-broken, simply trying to survive; and the one who is hard-hearted and angry, fighting with the resistance. But the Lena we find at the end is a third one altogether. Shaped and changed by her experiences, she dares to love and hope again, though where that will lead her is not certain. Ending on an epic cliffhanger ending, with enough secrets revealed to appease and just enough held back to keep you begging for more, Pandemonium proves that second books do not have to be the weak link in the series.

There are no chapter titles or numbers in this books: there is only the alternation of the phrases “now” and “then.” In the now we see Lena in the city, masquerading as a cured girl helping fight the battle against the evil Invalids. In the then we see Lena’s escape over the fence and then her struggle to survive in the wilderness. We see her meet new friends and allies, we see her cry and grieve for Alex, and we see her slowly begin to become the strong girl she was before. But the strength Lena finds in this book is far greater than any she had before. Gone is the scared and love-sick girl who hoped for a better life. Now we see a Lena who has learned the harshness of life—of loss and death—and that harshness has become a part of her. Reading through this transformation with her was compelling and fascinating. Her story in the now was also a transformation, but of a different kind. Here we see her shed some of the rough exterior that she has built around herself, and that young hopeful girl emerges again, though just a little. By the end of Pandemonium you may not know clearly who Lena is now—there are many choices ahead of her, and many more discoveries—but the fusing of the three different girls we’ve followed has created a heroine that is certainly worth loving and cheering on.

The other characters in this story also helped shape the different tone. Instead of being surrounded by family and friends, Lena is surrounded by others like her who have been hurt and broken. The combined tones of the characters creates a mood of uncertainty and tension that propels this books forward. There are no hazy, lazy moments on the beach in Pandemonium where you can believe that everything might be okay. This is a darker, more real world, where actions have consequences and not everyone gets a happy ending, even if for just one day.

Once again proving that her grasp of language is strong and clever, the writing of Pandemonium is beautiful and provocative. We escape into Lena’s mind in ways that many other writers can only hope to achieve. Lauren’s ability to weave dialogue, description, and thought together into beautiful sentences and paragraphs and chapters makes Pandemonium one of the best books I have read in years.

If you haven’t read Delirium yet, go out and get it. Lauren Oliver is on the scene and she is making waves.

21

Jan

2011 Favorites #8: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

[caption id=”attachment_681” align=”alignnone” width=”429”] 2011 Favorites #8: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver What if you only had one day to live? What would y[/caption]

15

Jan

Notes on a book: Delirium

Rating: Must Read

Delirium is one of those books that I’ve been hearing about for months. This October I saw Lauren Oliver at Wordstock in Portland and thought she was pretty awesome. In November I read Before I Fall and loved it. But I didn’t pick up Delirium until just this last week, and I don’t know why I waited so long.

Delirium is about a world that has declared Love to be the ultimate disease—“amora deliria nervosa”. They’ve found a cure for it too, and everyone, on their eighteenth birthday, is spared the pain and anguish of living a life diseased by love. Lena has been waiting her whole life to be cured—she wants to be cured. Her mother was immune to the cure and committed suicide when she was little. Lena does not want that same fate. Then Lena meets Alex, who is supposed to be safely cured and not a threat. But Alex is not what he seems, and before she knows it Lena discovers that she is hopelessly sick: with love for Alex. And now she will do anything to not have that love taken away.

What makes this such a good book was foremost the characters. Lena was a solid, reliable narrator with a big heart and a compelling story to tell. Told in present tense, you see the world change and grow through her eyes as she learns what it means to love, and what it will mean to lose that love. The boy she falls for Alex, is a little bit perfect in Lena’s eyes, but then so is every girl’s first love. What I enjoyed about Alex was that while Lena still saw him as amazing and perfect, you as the reader were able to see his flaws even so through his actions and words. You see that Alex is just human, and that makes you like him even more than an Edward or a Jacob who are inhumanly beautiful and strong and capable. The others in Lena’s life were also well developed, from her impulsive best friend Hanna, to her “cured” aunt and sister. The whole cast made the story come alive and feel more real. There was never a moment when you doubted what anyone would do, because you knew their characters that well.

The second thing that made this book so good was the amount of world building that Lauren Oliver put into this alternate version of the US. At the beginning of each chapter is an epigraph (whether a poem or psalm or quote from a science or history textbook) further expanding the world where love is a disease. These epigraphs flesh out the history of how love was cured, how people in the world view love as a disease, how religion has been influenced by the cure, even how children’s games and chants have been altered by this disease and it’s cure. All of these things add to the story and the world and make it seem that much more real. When you read the altered Bible psalms that speak of love as a sickness, or read the PhD notes about how the world was saved by the cure, you feel tension and fear for Lena and Alex so much more. These pieces of world building emphasize the difference between our world and theirs, and makes you want to root for Lena’s and Alex’s cause that much more.

This is another of those quiter dystopias, not so action-packed as The Hunger Games, but just as powerful. Lena’s is a story that will echo with readers for years to come.