Requium by Lauren Oliver

I must remember in future to write a book review very soon after I reach the end of a book. I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, so although I expect this review to be very short I thought it deserved being written.

Once again, I will present to you the synopsis for this novel. Surprisingly Amazon doesn't provide this, I guess they assume, rightly so, that you would only want to read this book after reading the previous two. But still, it may be helpful in order to get an overview of the trilogy.

They 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."

Following the theme of the second book this one is written in a slightly different way. The story is told from both Lena and Hannah's point of view, alternating with each chapter. Their stories and lives seem very separate right up until the end when they ultimately converge. 

I enjoyed reading this book, and would certainly recommend it if you have read the previous two novels in the trilogy. Although I would have to say that this was my least favourite of the three. For a long period in the book the story doesn't seem to be leading anywhere, but the ending does conclude the trilogy and is worth it for that. 

What did you think of this trilogy? Do you have a similar book recommendations?  

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

After getting hooked on Delirium, I went straight on to reading the following book in the trilogy: pandemonium. I've started writing this review just minutes after reaching the end of the book.

I'm including the synopsis of this book below, but it really doesn't give anything away:

Love, the deadliest of all deadly things. It kills you when you have it. And when you don't.

I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, pushing away thoughts of Alex, pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, push, push, push, like Raven told 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.

It took me a while to get used to the way this book was written, and I never quite worked out if I liked it. The book covered two stories both running in parallel, with each chapter alternating between 'then' and 'now'.

The 'then' story follows on from where the previous book left off. It tells the story of Lena's escape into the wilds and how she fits in and adapts to a new way of life. The 'then' story never fully catches up to where the now story starts.

The 'now' story starts by introducing Lena with a new identity, living in Manhattan and working as part of the resistance. She has orders to attend a demonstration and keep watch of one of the leaders. The story takes a turn when herself and the boy she was watching get kidnapped when trying to escape after the demonstration gets boycotted.

I won't give anything away, but the ending was very unexpected. It made me think 'wow' and I instantly wanted to start reading the next book.

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it?

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

I've heard this book recommended by so many people, that it had to be the first book I brought on my Kindle Paperwhite. After just recently finishing it, I thought I would do a little reveiw.

To save from giving too much away, I decided to share with you the synopsis written on the back of the book:

"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."

 This is a dystopian novel. If you don't know what that means, a dystopia is a society that is frightening or undedesirable to live in. In this case, the society is made to believe that love is a disease and live in fear of becoming infected (falling in love).

The story starts of with the main character Lena, who has believed what she has been told her whole life and is counting down the days until her procedure. She believes that the cure will give her safety and security, stability. She doesn't know any different until her friend Hana opens her eyes to things Lena didn't know existed. And then she meets Alex, and the world she lives in is changed forever.

I really enjoyed reading this book and learning about this new society, thinking about the ideas brought up. When you're told the symptoms of disease 'amor deliria nervosa' they are all things that can happen when someone falls in love and it's easy to understand why in this society it is looked upon as a bad thing. But as you continue to read you learn that everything they know is built upon lies.

I highly recommend this book and loved it so much I started reading the second in the trilogy right away.

Book Review: Chosen (House of Night Series #3)

I started reading the House of Night series about a year a go but haven't got round to reading the 3rd book in the series until now. Yes, this is another vampire based story but as with most of them the author (or in this case authors) have their own interpretation of what a vampire is. I think to exaggerate that their definition of a vampire is quite different to some others they have spelt it differently as vampyre in these books.

The House of Night series is named after the school in which the majority of the story is set, and follows the life a a girl named Zoey Redbird who is sixteen at the beginning of the series. In this story the vampyre world is well known by the human world. In a small percentage of teenagers, adolescent hormones trigger a strand of what is otherwise junk DNA, which can eventually cause them to change into vampyres. When this happens they become 'marked' by a sapphire blue crescent-shaped outline on their foreheads. This signals the start of their change to become a vampyre and at this stage while they are changing they are called fledglings before they become an adult vampyre, although it takes four years to complete the change and not all the fledglings survive. Once they have been marked they must attend the House of Night boarding school, where they are required to take the Vampyre Sociology 101 course where they will learn the dangers of the vampyre world. If a fledgling is not in constant close proximity to adult vampyres, they will die. They will also die if their body rejects the change. Adult vampyres are super-gorgeous and super-talented and this is what a fledgling has to look forward to if they complete the change. All vampyres also follow what could be called a religion. They worship a goddess named Nyx and there is also an element of magic which gives them what could be called supernatural powers.

This novel, Chosen, is full of drama. From what could be normal teenage drama like being disappointed at getting Christmas presents on your birthday just because your birthday happened to be on the 24th of December and falling out with your parents to the complications of living in the vampyre world, but even Zoey's life is far from normal for the average fledgling. In this book she has to deal with many issues and learn from the consequences of her actions. Most of the story is set around her trying to find a way to save her best friend Stevie Rae who she saw die but is now an undead dead person. Zoey believes Stevie Rae is different from the other undead dead people as her affinity for earth has allowed her to retain some of her humanity and Zoey finds a way to 'fix' her best friend. But Zoey can't tell anyone about her best friend in case Neferet (Hight Preistess, who is seemingly wonderful to everyone else, but who Zoey knows is evil) finds out. So she keeps this a secret from her friends and boyfriend as well as the fact that she has been secretly seeing the hottest guy known in the vampyre world, Loren Blake. None of this goes well for Zoey as secrets always come out in the end. 

"Remember, darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good."

I read through this book in the last 3 days. Although it is not a book that leaves me deep in thought after I have finished reading it, it is a book that is hard to put down as you get so sucked into the story and finding out what happens next.

Finding books - goodreads.com

Recently I've started getting the books I read from my local Library. It's great because I don't have to spend lots of money buying books to be able to enjoy reading, and most often once I've read a book once I won't read it again so there's not much point owning and keeping all the books I read. The only bad thing about choosing books in a library is you don't get any ideas of what might be good to read you just walk into a room with shelves and shelves full of books and have to find something yourself. Not like in a book shop where they'll have popular/recommended books, or say the paperback charts and more books that are sorted into genres to help choose something that's good. So to find something in the library you pretty have to know what you're looking for and search for an exact book. I don't know the names of many authors and don't really know whats good and whats not, which is mainly why I've been sticking to reading Nicholas Sparks books as I know they're all highly recommended.

So I've been looking out for books that people would recommend, watching book reviews on YouTube, reading the comments on books on Amazon and then I found the website www.goodreads.com. It's kind of like a social network site for book readers. You can list all the books you've read, rate books, write and read reviews on books and use this to make a list of books you'd like to read. They also have their own charts on there as to what the most popular books are. So if you're someone you enjoys reading make an account on goodreads and add me as a friend: http://www.goodreads.com/BeanyJane Or leave a comment with any book recommendations...

Book Review: 'A Walk to Remember' by Nicholas Sparks

'A Walk to Remember' is a story of two teenagers who fall in love, despite there differences. Jamie and Landon, although knowing who each other are since they were young, live completely separate lives.
Jamie is the daughter of the town's Baptist minister. She is seen by others as someone who does no wrong, helps anyone and lives a carefree life. She lives her life apart from other teenagers, spending her time taking care of her father, volunteering at the local orphanage and rescuing hurt animals. Landon on the other hand is a typical teenage boy, spending his time hanging around with his friends and staying out too late.
It took me a while to get into this book as at the beginning its hard to see where the story is leading, but as with most of Nicholas Sparks' books it's the ending where everything comes together. There is unexpected twist at the end which completely changes their lives forever. This story shows the joy of giving, the pain of loss and how you can grow to love someone more than you ever imagined possible, so much that you would be willing to do anything for them.
Although I am not religious, the character Jamie in this book is and she carries a Bible around with here wherever she goes. There are a couple of quotes put into this book from the Bible and I particularly liked this one about love:
"Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude of selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes."



Book Review: 'At First Sight' by Nicholas Sparks

One of the most beautiful, but sad, stories I have ever read. After finishing another one of Nicholas Sparks' novels, I am reminded of how much I love them.

'At First Sight' is a story about falling in love, relationships, marriage, parenthood, trust and believing. From the very start I was captured by the story of the couple presented in the book. Although as with most of Nicholas Sparks' books the best part is the ending, the part of the book that leaves you with a lasting impression. Heart-wrenchingly sad, but simply beautiful too.

The story is about a man, Jeremy, who meets a woman, Lexie, on his travels as a writer. After spending just one week with her he falls in love and goes back to find her six weeks later to propose to her. After she accepts, he gives up his life in New York City and moves down south to be with her. Learning that Lexie is pregnant, the wedding is promptly planned for and the couple buy a new house together. From there they begin to have their ups and downs as a couple, learning that if their relationship is to last they must have trust in each other. There is also some unexpected news and a shocking tragedy that follows. But all ends well, as a new life has begun and the last image you're left with shows the unconditional love felt in this story.

I wanted to share a small section of the book that I loved reading, as I felt it was so true but something most of us don't think about. It explains the relationship between a man and woman, a couple and what each of them expects of the other, the sacrifices we make for the ones we love.

Lexie's grandmother giving her some 'words of wisdom' when the couple was going through a rough time before the wedding:

"Let me tell you, they [men] can be rip-roaring mad or frustrated or worried about work or life, but in the end, they're pretty simple to figure out once you know what makes them tick. And one of the things that make them tick is an almost desperate need to feel appreciated and admired."
"Of course they want great sex and want you to keep the house clean and neat and organised while looking beautiful and still having the energy to do fun things together, but admiration and appreciation are right up there."
"Men have to make sacrifices, too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you want Jeremy to hold your hand and snuggle as you watch a movie, you want him to share his feelings and listen, you want him to spend time with your daughter and earn enough not only to buy but renovate the house. Well, I'll tell you straight up that no man says to himself as he's walking down the aisle, Gee, I'm going to work hard and sacrifice so I can provide a good living for my family, and I'm going to spend hours with my kids even when I'm tired, all the while hugging and kissing and listening to my wife and telling her all my troubles, and meanwile, I'm not going to expect a single thing." ..." A man promises to do the things to keep you happy in the hopes that you, too, will do the things that keep him happy"
"Men have certain needs, women have different needs; that's the way it was hundreds of years ago, and the way it's going to be hundreds of years from now. If you both realise that, and you both work on meeting each others needs, you'll have a good marriage. And part of that, for both or you, is trust. In the end, it's that simple."

I would highly recommend this book, and any others by Nicholas Sparks of which I've read 'Dear John' and 'The Last Song'.

At least one book a month!

I love reading, always have. I remember starting to read the Harry Potter series about the time when I was in year 4 at primary school. I used to read a lot, and it was a great thing to do with all the time spent on the bus to and from college. Although last year coming up to my exams, when I was supposed to be revising I decided I was spending too much time reading and stopped reading hoping I would spend more time revising. After that I couldn't get back into reading, and haven't read much for almost a year. So I would definitely love to read more! And I don't really like to set this as a goal, as it's something I wish to enjoy and not something I feel I have to do. But I have started reading more lately, and hopefully plan on writing reviews on the books I've read.

I liked this picture because as it's spring time there's a lot of daffodils around at the moment, fields and fields of them in Cornwall, and when the weathers nice I also like to read outside in the sunshine.

Books I have read recently: The Choice, Stolen, Scarred, Entangled.