Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver

Delirium is set in a post modern society where love is seen as a disease and even speaking the word is blasphemous. The only way around not contracting it is to get the cure, something which, by legal rights, every 16 year old must get. The authorities even lock away uncured people who show symptoms of the deliria, symptoms such as sweaty palms and a racing heart, wild excitement and ecstasy, intoxication or a disturbed state of mind, caused by heart break. 

1) The Concept

I tend to avoid reading Dystopias now as I can only take in so many of these genre/themed prose before they all morph together in my mind and I forget about them, simply because they have become tedious,unoriginal and therefor unmemorable. However, Delirium is completely unique to the others. It's obvious that Lauren Oliver has taken a lot of time into planning everything, as the concept is thoroughly detailed, deep and meaningful so much so that it could actually be believable. 

2) The Writing

 Lauren Oliver depicts a scene perfectly, catering to all of the senses: sight, sound and touch. Her sentences and descriptions are elegantly strung together providing us with beautifully vivid prose. Vivid in a way that I feel as though I have experienced a Portland sunset or being in the Wilds all by myself. Every aspect of the society has been covered and every bit of Oliver's writing is thorough.

The characters in the book are fully rounded, each with their individual back story to furthermore support the development of them as people, and their personality traits. Nothing is rushed, the pace is slow and deliberate and while I did find myself scanning through some of the pages hungry for a bit of action and character dialogue, I appraise Oliver for not packing in too much repetitive and typical YA character encounters. I think the pace of the book is actually part of what made it feel real to me. Nothing was rushed. 

3) The Characters and Plot.

I could connect emotionally with the characters. I identified with Lena on many levels and enjoyed reading the book from her perspective. She was definitely a reliable source of information that was vital for the readers understanding, yet she was still identifiable with her thoughts and feelings. And ALex? Well. I fell in love with Alex, just as much as Lena did. He was sweet and brave and also a believable character. I don't know what it is about Oliver's depiction of this character because despite how perfect and admirable he is, he is still to me, realistic. Other secondary characters such as Hana, Carol, Gracie and Jenny also reminded me of people I know in real life. Especially Gracie. She was so cute and completely reminds me of my cousin Megan, while Jenny resembled my neighbour's daughter in character and antics.

Conclusively, I am definitely impressed with this series. It stands out among it's kind. Oliver's writing is incredible and I was completely addicted to this book, so much so that I played up my "winter flu" to give myself a day off from college to read it. Addictive is not the word. The ending definitely leaves you craving for more. Pandemonium, the sequencing book in the series gives you that. 

Dirty Red (Love Me With Lies #2) by Tarryn Fisher

Holy Cow, I could eat this shit up! Marry me Tarryn?  With a busy college/work schedule I've allowed myself a good couple of month to mull over the occurring events in Dirty Red before giving you my take on it.

As always, I love Tarryn Fisher's writing and character portrayal and development. Seeing things from Leah's point of view and being inside her head was exactly how I imagined it and hoped for. I'm glad that Tarryn came at us full force with Leah's villainy and that we got the full extent of it. When it comes to Leah, she certainly doesn't hold back on basic human morals or lack thereof, which makes Dirty Red that more honest and believable. 

I really hated Leah in TO and prayed that the purpose of Dirty Red was not to soften us to her and make us feel at least a little empathy because i'm really a stubborn and unsympathetic bitch when I want to be. 

I'm stingy with my compassions; a person or character has to be extra deserving for me to feel any traces of sympathy for them, and I certainly didn't feel it for Leah, not once. Even when her life began to fall apart, I craved Karma, more and more, to come and slap Leah in the face with a fish before I jumped in the book and did so myself. 

Speaking of bitches however, Leah is the perfect poisonous woman. She has definitely met her match with Olivia. On the contrary to all of my hate fueled Leah rantings, I have to admit that if it wasn't for her being such a horrid and selfish evil minded woman, the only reason for my disliking of her would be because I kind of love Olivia. #TeamBrunette

Another thing I loved seeing in Dirty Red was that Caleb finally stopped pussy footing around Leah and her never ending demands for his constant attention. With Caleb, I feel like his life is a constant battle of decision making. For this guy, it's always been Rationality Vs Emotions. Or what he thought was rational. However I think he has finally found the balance between the two- especially towards the ending of Dirty Red. 

One thing I will say is that I had withdrawal symptoms for Olivia. I missed her as she was too absent from this book for me, but I suppose it's part of the build up to the conclusion of the series. It all makes for an exciting third and final book of the Love Me With Lies trilogy. 

Caleb, Caleb, CALEBBBB!!! Arhhhh I can't wait to get inside his mind. He holds all of the answers to my questions!

Click here for The Opportunist (Love Me With Lies #1) Review

New!: Click here for Thief (Love Me With Lies #3) Review

The Girl Of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

I really enjoyed reading this. It was a nice treat for me reading something outside of my usual preferred genres so when I read this historical/fantasy/dystopian based fiction, I was completely taken with the land, the characters and the culture of the time period and the people. The whole setting is described in all it's richness which makes the imagery so captivating and visually vivid.

Call me crazy but it reminds me of an exotic Arabian/middle eastern version of the third Hunger Games book, Mockingjay in the ways which we follow the protagonist develop into a leading figure of inspiration and power.

It was an adventure following Elisa grow up and mature into a young woman. We are introduced to the unconfident, naive little girl who we watch develop into a strong and independent-thinking young woman. It's a coming of age experience.

Sempre (Forever) by J.M. Darhower

This review will be brief as to not give anything away. I don't think there needs to be too many teasers in order to entice anyone to read this without hesitation as it's such a dense book with a intriguing content and story line.

Sempre gives us an insight into the cruel and shocking reality of issues that still (surprisingly) take place within our global community and modern society. Things such as secret organisations (Mafia's), slavery and human trafficking, physical and emotional abuse and crime.

There are twists, revelations and mysteries revealed throughout the unraveling of the plot as two fates: those of Carmine DeMarco and Haven Antonelli (our male and female protagonist duo) intermingle until the romance between them blossoms into an intense relationship with both heart breaking and beautiful moments. 

It truly is an astonishingly realistic portrayal of what could be; what really goes on behind closed doors. Cathartic and touching.

Personal comment: My god this book is amazing, one of my all time favorites. I love romance based mafia shit. I urge anyone who is reading this review right now, to not hesitate picking this book up. You certainly won't regret it. 

Cazzo, io amo questo libro!

The Opportunist (Love Me With Lies #1) by Tarryn Fisher

Wow! Where do I even begin with this book? I am obsessed with the series and the characters and the author and the plot and the whole story and everything about this! Gaaah. I need help, yes but what I really need is Thief (book 3 which is yet to be released).

The Opportunist is a book about fate, manipulation, jealousy, lies, love, luck, honesty,  betrayal and everything in between. It's so juicy like a medium-rare beef fillet steak- and we all love steak right? ;)

What I appraise the author for more than anything else is for her characters. Tarryn Fisher depicts them so that they are so phenomenally realistic that the story is believable. Half the time, when I'm discussing this in a topic with fellow Opportunist lovers on Goodreads, I find myself speaking as if they are real life and I know them personally, then forgetting that this is fiction prose. Now that's how much of an awesome writer and caricaturist Tarryn Fisher is. I imagine myself window shopping one day and spotting Leah on the other side of the pane buying the most expensive piece of jewelry or spotting Olivia sitting in Starbucks grimacing at the floor. When I read this, visually speaking, the characters and images in my mind produced by Tarryns writing are clear as day, definitive.

I read a few (a very select few) negative reviews where readers ranted and gave low ratings all based on the fact that they despised the characters. While this may be true to them, I think the characters are aboslutely perfect. Perfectly written, portrayed and summarized. It's the main thing that hooked me the most- that because the character's are so relatable and flawed, I feel like I know them and see these qualities in other people. They are individual and unique yet realistic and identifiable which is so very important to me when reading a book- especially anything that is a contemporary YA/NA novel because a lot of the character's for me all seem to morph together within the same expected personality and traits. So reading The Opportunist was so refreshing. The characters stand out and now have a lodged holding in my mind along with other incredibly developed all time memorable characters.

The next best thing about this is the lies and manipulation. There are so many mysteries and loose ends that do eventually tie up nicely throughout the plot and it's subtle revelations, if ever a revelation could be subtle. A lot of my questions remain unanswered which makes me absolutely skitzy for the conclusions and answers which I presume will be revealed in book 3.  The unsolved mysteries are revealed throughout the following book Dirty Red and also Thief, the third and last book of the series. 

A seriously addictive, emotive and effective read. If you love anything like a fiction that reflects and relates to real life situations, people and themes, then pick this up NOW. Go go go!! 5*  <3

Click here for Dirty Red (Love Me With Lies #2) Review.

New!: Caleb's book, Thief (Love Me With Lies #3) Review

March 2013: Update

It's been a while since I have posted any reviews on here solely because of my hectic schedule and a need for sharing and balancing out my time between A level coursework and reading as well as being in London so here's a brief update on all of the books I've read since the last time I posted a review. 

• Sphinx's Queen by Esther Freisner
• Girl Of Fire And Thorns by Rae Carson
• Crown Of Embers by Rae Carson
• Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Destory Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Unravel Me by Taherer Mafi
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
• Requiem by Lauren Oliver
• Fally guy by Liz Reinhardt
• Sempre by J.M. Darhower
• The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher
• Dirty Red by Tarryn Fisher
• Reason To Breathe by Rebecca Donovan
• Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan
• Brenna Brixen: Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt
• Slammed by Colleen Hoover
• Point Of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
• Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
• The Boy Who Sneaks In My Bedroom Window by Kirsty Moseley
• Beautiful Disaster by Jamie Mcguire
• The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
• It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
• We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

Reviews for the above will be done within the next couple of weeks! :)