"Okay?" "Okay."

 Fault in our Stars by John Green

Hazel Lancaster is dying.  She’s been dying of Thyroid cancer, which has now moved to her lungs since she was thirteen.  To fight depression (which is quoted to be a side effect to dying) her mom is requiring her to go to Support Group every week.  She loathes support group, where the leader Patrick talks about his experience with testicular cancer every meeting and that they meet in the basement of a cross shaped church in the “actual heart of Jesus.”  Her only reprieve is Isaac who has eye cancer and has one false eye and one real eye that he has to wear glasses for.  They can communicate through sighs.  Of course all of her life changes when she meets Augustus Waters. 

This story is heartbreaking and amazing at the same time.  I loved the characters, I loved that this book is a book about a book.  The journey that Hazel and Augustus go on together is wonderful.  The characters are well developed and no matter what is going on with Hazel even if the audience has experienced nothing even close to the horrors she went through on a daily basis, the audience felt them with her. 

Even though I am no longer in Olive Books Book Club, this was a book club pick by Lydia (I think).  And with most of her picks, I loved it.  It was a fast read with a heartwarming yet heartbreaking story.  I would recommend it to any reader of most ages.

Well it wouldn’t be a blog of my opinions if I didn’t mention at least one complaint.  It happens to be my only complaint.  The language between Hazel and Augustus was a bit farfetched.  They not only spoke like they had their PhDs in English, they spoke way above their education.  I could have understood that they were smart kids without feeling like a dummy myself every time they had a conversation.  I should have looked up words at least 20 times, of course I didn’t because I’m lazy. 

All of that to say, I had many quotes that I highlighted because Green said some things in this book that are worth remembering.  I will leave you with a few of my favorites.  Keep Reading my Friends!

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.  And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.” Hazel’s thoughts

“The only solution was to try and unmake the world, to make it black and silent and uninhabited again, to return to the moment before the Big Bang, in the beginning when there was the Word, and to live in that vacuous uncreated space alone with the Word.” Hazel’s thoughts

“It seemed like forever ago, like we’d had this brief but still infinite forever.  Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” Hazel’s thoughts

“That’s the thing about pain.  It demands to be felt.” Augustus

“I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things.  I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.” Augustus

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace.  It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.” Augustus

Change is a Good Thing!

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

“R” is a zombie.  He has a zombie wife, 2 zombie kids, and he eats brains.  As he goes on a hunting trip with his best friend “M” something changes.  He meets Perry and Julie.  He meets Perry by eating his brain, and meets Julie through Perry’s memories.  R takes Julie back to his home at the airport, determined to keep her safe.  As Julie gets to know R, things start to change, not only with R, but the zombies around him.  Will change happen before the humans kill R and his transforming zombie friends?  You have to read to find out what happens in this shocking novel.

I enjoyed this book very much.  It was highly entertaining and there is action, romance, suspense, and of course a bunch of undead eating people.  I loved the anatomy pictures that start each chapter.  It was fun way to break up the action. 

I loved the love triangle between Perry, Julie and R.  It was interesting to get to know Perry’s story through R and to watch Julie with R and have to deal with Perry’s death along with R knowing everything that Perry knew about Julie.  It was an interesting way to have another character without having one. 

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but for anyone who has read the book, I guess I’m confused about the ending and why the change took place.  I have a few thoughts, but again I don’t want to give spoilers.  Leave a comment if you have any insight on the yellow eyes, the kiss, and Julie’s dad.  I was a little confused about all of those and why they happened or what was the significance of those items in the book.

So, any thoughts on Warm Bodies?  Are there going to be more books in this series?  I hope you enjoyed!  Keep Reading my Friends!

You will know how it feels.

You by Charles Benoit

Haunting.  This is the word that is sticking with me after finishing this book.  Kyle Chase is a fifteen year old boy that is trying to be himself but he can’t actually find out what that means.  His parents and teachers talk at him, his friends are losers that he doesn’t even like.  His grades are beyond help but there is always Ashley.  He doesn’t know what brought him to where he is and he realizes that every decision big and small change your life. 

You is written in second person and it is a fantastic example of how to use second person correctly.  To me, second person is the hardest point of view to explain and to use.  English teachers, read this book so you know where to send your teenage students!

I tried to explain the book to a co-worker and had a difficult time telling her exactly why I was enjoying it so much.  First, I think it’s interesting to be in the perspective of Kyle, a hard to get to know character.  I felt that he was a good kid at heart, but was constantly looked down upon from his folks and teachers.  It’s like everyone expected him to be a screw up, poor kid.  Second has to be the second person point of view, loved it! Third, would be Zack.  I can’t give any spoilers, but it’s just a character you would love to hate.  Very interesting.

This book took me just a few hours to read, it’s fast paced and a good read.  I recommend it to anyone that has a free weekend to read a book.  Keep Reading my Friends!

Who is without Hope?

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Sky Davis is about to start her first year of high school, as a senior.  Her adopted mother Karen has been incredibly strict with her and has kept all technology out of the house including cell phones, TVs, computers, you name it the Davis family doesn’t have it.  Sky has been ok with this, but she has begged her mother to start public school to spend as much time with her best friend Six.  Every good book needs a little twist at the beginning, therefore Six has decided to go abroad and go to school overseas for 6 months and now Sky is starting her first year by herself.  She is struggling with a reputation she didn’t earn or deserve.  She meets Breckin, who is also new to school and therefore she can bear the “slut and whore” comments behind her back with a friend.  One fated day she goes to the grocery store and meets Dean Holder.  The most gorgeous creature she has ever laid eyes on, where the other boys in her school turn her off, when she meets eyes with Holder there is a physical response to his presence.  She can’t stop thinking about her encounter with this hopeless boy so she goes for a run, she literally runs to his house without realizing it.  There is so much that takes place in this book that I can’t give you a synopsis on everything.  

This book was awesome.  I could tell some things were coming, but I was taken by surprise by more twists in the story line than I was guessing correctly.  I loved the love story between Sky and Holder.  He was the perfect guy.  I couldn’t believe the things that would come out of his mouth, he was wise beyond his years and would say things to Sky that a normal senior in high school would not say.  This could pull a person out of the story and say “Yeah right!” but Holder was nothing but genuine and perfect.  I loved Sky’s funny sense of humor and the way she would just live her life, whether it was with Six, Holder, or Breckin she was fun and a great character to read. 

I gave this book 5 stars on good reads, I finished it the day after I started it, and I’ve already recommended it to other readers.  Everyone I know that has read it loved it and I think that any reader would fall for these characters and want the book to keep going and going.  I wonder though if it was a little graphic in the love scenes for a young adult book.  It wasn’t Fifty Shades of Cray or anything, but there were some pretty hot scenes that I wouldn’t want my teenage daughters (that I don’t have) reading it.  I would say 17 and older for this one.  Read this book, you won’t be disappointed.  Keep Reading my Friends!

Fang and Angel, coming to the end of Maximum Ride

 
Fang by James Patterson and Angel by James Patterson (Both Maximum Ride Novels)

In Fang, we watch as Fang and Maximum Ride become a couple, separate from the flock and rejoin all with Angel trying to become the leader and undermining Max’s authority and telling Max and Fang that Fang will soon die and leave them forever.  We are also introduced to Dr. Hans and Dylan, a power hungry doctor and the clone that he created to be Max’s exact match. 

In Angel, Fang has left the flock and formed his own gang as Max tries to learn to live and lead the flock without her right hand man.  Angel seems to have let go of her need to lead and is submitting to Max’s authority but there is a new group out to destroy the world.  Their message is to save the world, kill all humans.  As both Max and Fang’s groups try and find the root of the world phenomenon The Dooms Day Group, they may have to form alliances to take down this seemingly evil group.  But while Fang is away, Dylan looses no time in letting Max know his true feelings about her and it quickly becomes a thing between them. 

This series is an interesting story, from the beginning we’ve watched the bird kids grow up a little and defeat all odds to not only stay alive, but to beat anyone who is trying to destroy the world.  These two books are the sixth and seventh book in the series and there is only one left.  The question of the day is, do I continue and finish this last book of the series or do I quit while I’m ahead?  I’ll probably finish it.  This series is written for a much younger audience than even I read.  It would be great for ages 12-14ish.  I of course am always behind so I’m reading it in my… well never mind.  So, if you have read the other books, go on and keep going, but if you have not started the series, then I’m not recommending this series.  Keep Reading My Friends! 

Love Cannot Be Stopped

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

This is the second book after Delirium, where the government and religious leaders have found that love is a disease.  When a person turns eighteen they are taken to a clinic to remove the section of his or her brain in order not to love.  Spoilers for Delirium from here on out, you’ve been warned!!!

Lena and Alex were caught.  The gate to their condemned hide out was found and she was taken back to her house and the procedure was scheduled for the next morning.  She ends up escaping with Alex, wild chase both Lena and Alex are hurt.  Lena makes it over the fence, Alex does not and the last we see of our hero, he is shot, bleeding and on the wrong side of the fence. When we come back to Pandemonium Lena is dying.  She is found by Raven an Invalid or otherwise known as free.  The book is a great show of what life is like on the other side of the fence.  We meet new characters and learn of a new life. 

The book is split into “now” and “then” and we switch back and forth between the past and what it currently taking place, all events are after Delirium.  Oliver did an excellent job of balancing the past and present and it makes Lena a deeper character and helps us understand her as a free person better.  In the present, Lena, Raven and Tack have joined the Resistance in New York and Lena’s job is to get close to the DFA, an organization against love and for the procedure.  She is supposed to go to all meetings and stay unseen.  This poses a problem when the leader’s son Julian is kidnapped and in order to stay close, she follows him down into the unused subway tunnels and is taken along with him.  As they are trapped for days and Lena keeps slipping about who she is and about her procedure being fake Julian learns a lot more about the resistance that he bargained for. 

The ending of this book will remain in my mind as a one of the craziest endings ever.  “Don’t believe her.” When those words were spoken, my heart leapt into my throat and I couldn’t believe what was happening.  I won’t spoil it, you just have to read it to see what happened.  I cannot wait for Requiem, the third and final book. 

If you are looking for a fresh new young adult series, look no further.  Delirium is different, outstanding and well written.  Keep reading my friends!

Love is a Battlefield

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

There is a cure for love.  The disease that can be transmitted causes horrible side effects and in some cases, even death.  Lena waits in anticipation for her procedure to be completed at the end of the summer on her eighteenth birthday, she and her best friend Hana have looked forward to their evaluations and being matched with an acceptable mate, career path and even the number of children the couple will have.  The government takes care of all of this for the citizens of the United States. But what happens when Deliria is contracted and love is caught?  This summer romance my not end exactly the way the reader anticipates.

I loved this book.  Delirium came highly recommended by my friend Traci.  She said it wouldn’t disappoint, and she was right.  It was well written with interesting characters.  I loved Lena and how she grew as a person throughout the entire story.  She kept surprising herself and doing activities that she would have never done months previous.  I also loved Alex, he was sweet and caring and had a good personality.  Hana was a little harder to understand and get to know.  She had this bad girl exterior but was contradicted with Lena’s perspective of her best friend whenever the law was supposed to come down. 

I love these young adult books that are different concepts.  I would put this book in the Hunger Games genre of a futuristic USA/North America.  I want to have creative juices flowing like this, I mean, who thinks of the concept of outlawing Love?  That’s crazy, but Oliver came up with it and sold lots of books, it will probably be a movie and make a few select people a lot of money.     

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that likes a good young adult read.  I can’t wait to start the next installment and then I will wait with crazy restraint for the third and I believe final book of the series. 

Let me know what you thought about this book!  Keep Reading my Friends!