Book Review : Delirium #1

      Lena Haloway, who is almost eighteen years old, preparing herself to get the procedure to be cured from the disease that everybody in her world feared, amor deliria nervosa aka love. It's a society where love is forbidden and scientists found a cure to eradicate it. Lena was always an obedient girl, can't wait to get her procedure done but just then with few weeks left, everything changes and she is the one who changes it. But what kind of change could that be in a cruel world like hers?

      I was hypnotized by Lauren Oliver's style of writing and her creativity in forming Lena's world. A superb prose, leaving the boring details, yet I was able to picture it all.

     Oliver's world-building and perspective of the story which I thought was overstated turned out to be something that I fantasize and I feel it's something that exists in our real world, not to the point of course but just the concept of it.  

    Lena's character transition was fantastic, she was torn, almost through the whole story, between what's right and wrong, seeing Alex, continuing with procedure, I mean she was confused and I don't blame her. She started off as a true believer in the whole cure thing, but not until she meets Alex. 

    Alex was an Invalid, a perfect guy and just lovable, she falls in love with him, and gets infected by the end. Regarding how she first met Alex on her evaluation day, I think was admirable and we witnessed it from the very beginning.

   The friendship relation between Lena and Hana was rather convincing and touching, I saw in Hana a tough girl yet I really wanted to know more about her. Oliver just lightened up in her innovation of the characters. Despite being annoyed by the fact that it reminds me of the Uglies series at the beginning, especially in the part of Hana's influence on Lena, I really liked it. A cliff-hanger ending, it was intense and left me startled. Even in the middle of the story where things were starting to get even more suspense, I was like " Oh my God, no way " for the rest of it. I just can't wait to start reading the second book Pandemonium which I'm super excited about. I'd recommend this book, one of my favourites.

Author : Lauren Oliver
Grade Rating : A
Followed by : Pandemonium
Pages : 441

Book Review : Where She Went #2

       Three years ago, the accident that altered Mia's life and separated her from Adam, affecting their lives and destroying their love. With  her moving to NewYork at Julliard and Adam in Oregeon, playing with his band. After Mia's sudden cut off with Adam, his strong stream of depression resulted in his band's breakout records. Yet Adam couldn't just forget her, let her go as he promised without a goodbye at least and without knowing the reason for leaving him. Now Adam is a popular rock-star and Mia is a professional cellist, living across the country from each other. Luckily, Adam by chance went to one of her concerts in NewYork and met her, spend a night roaming in NewYork. But will Adam be able to handle Mia's answer to his question? And will they rekindle their love or ever be together again?   
      
      Where She Went is the sequel to Forman's If I Stay which i have a review on. However, being one of the few readers who weren't wowed by If I Stay, I should say that I enjoyed this book and I was eager to finish it. Yet this isn't one of my top favourites, I mean there are lots of books out there and this was just a fun read.
      Nonetheless, the fact that this book was written from the point of view of Adam was tremendous actually. The book was well written and to some point unpredictable.    

" If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I’ll do that, too. Maybe coming back to your old life would just be too painful, maybe it’d be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I’d do it. I can lose you like that if I don’t lose you today. I’ll let you go. If you stay. "
     
      This was the vow that Adam gave to Mia during her coma three years ago which sort of touched me but now they have a new vow, but can you guess what it could be?
      Forman was able to take this tagic story to a whole another level in this book, once from Mia's POV and now from Adam's, totally different and emphatic to get in his mind. Although I saw that Adam sometimes overreacted, I liked him as a person and as for Mia, I can see how vulnarable she is and its totally okay after what she had been through, yet she did make wrong decisions.
      Overall, I liked this book much more and if you're like me and didn't enjoy the first book, you'll enjoy this one. I'd recommend it.

Author : Gayle Forman
Grade Rating : B+
If I Stay : Review

Book Review : If I Stay #1

   The 17 years old Mia once had  a traditional teenage life with a lovely family. She was a passionate cellist with big dreams and a chance to be at Julliard. But in a single moment, everything changes. On a snowy day, school is off as well as her parents' work. Mia couldn't remember except that she was riding along a snow, wet road with her family to visit her grandparents and winds up in a coma and wakes up to see that she had lost her parents and her brother, Teddy in an accident. This accident which has changed her life abruptly and forever. Yet, Mia finds herself between life and death, watching her shattered body in a ghost like state. What will she choose, to stay and fight for what she has left or to give up and follow her family and leave her life, present and future ?
        
       If I Stay is a heartbreaking story but honestly not to the point that could make you cry. Yet it makes you see what's worth it around you, and that life can be full of choices. Nonetheless, everything can be gone in a blink. 

    So I first heard of this book's sequel which is Where She Went and it was raved about, and so I knew that I had to read this book first which I honestly didn't enjoy that much at the beginning. Yet this book is a book where you can only either like or dislike. Forman did write this book well, and through out the story, Mia tells it in an out-of-body experience which is an catchy idea and interesting.

    After seeing herself in the hospital and during the 24 hour course after that horrific accident, Mia starts remembering her past and her memories with her family and how it would be if she is back to life without them, not in chapters but in different times during that 24 hours  and it's cool how everything and everybody she sees in her ghost state brings us a memory, showing us her past. Ultimately,  she was desperate, seemed to be realizing whats happening and that this choice might the most difficult choice she will ever have to take. She even once said: 

    " Its possible that her funeral will also be mine. There's something comforting in that. To go down as a family. No one left behind. "

which sort of struck me. As for her romance with her boyfriend, Adam. I needed more about it but still, the fact that they knew each other before the accident, something we didn't witness through reading, made it more real than a typical teenager love story.

    I do like this book, it exposes simple feelings of a teenager in our real world and the uncertainty and fragility against the world, and I recommend it, it's a good YA novel but I feel that I can't completely judge until reading it's sequel Where She Went which I'm looking forward to.


Author : Gayle Forman
Grade Rating : C
Followed by : Where She Went
Pages : 234

The Multiethnic Society : Brazil

       The sights and sounds were once drawn to the diverse of the Brazilian culture which reflects an ethnic and culture mixing due to the occurrence of colonization, involving mostly Native Americans, Portuguese, Africans, Spanish and Japanese and Arab immigrants, creating a multiethnic society.                                 
        After three hundred years of colonization by the Portuguese and as a consequence, the framework of the Brazilian culture was derived from the culture of Portugal, was then influenced by the Native Americans and Africans traditions and others. This diverse culture has helped boast many celebrations that have become known all around the world, such as the Brazilian Carnival and the Bumba Meu Boi, making it a destination for many tourists every year.
       The official language in Brazil is Portuguese spoken by 99% of the population making it a national identity. Minority languages are spoken throughout the nation, one hundred and eighty Amerindian languages spoken in some remote areas, also significant German and Italian speakers in the south. Catholicism was introduced and spread by the Portuguese Jesuits, which identified the religion of the Brazilian culture, was also recently introduced to Protestantism, which became the second religion right after Catholicism.

      The Amazon Jungle, a tropical forest which covers most of the Amazon River, which is the second longest river in the world. The Victoria Amazonica water lilies which is found in the Amazon River, is a species of flowering plants. A long time ago, the indigenous people from Northern Brazil, they had a legend that said that every night, when the moon hid behind the hills far off on the horizon, it was going to live together with its favorite young ladies, if it could like one single girl, it would transform her into a star of the sky.

      Once, a princess was impressed with that story. So, at night, when everybody was sleeping and the moon was traveling across the sky, the princess wanted to be a star, so she walked up to the hills and chased the moon, hoping the moon could see her up in the hills. And so she did, every night, for a very long time. But the moon didn't seem to notice her .One night, the princess saw, in the clear waters of a lake, the image of the moon. The innocent girl wondered if the moon had come down to take her away, so she jumped in the deep waters to join the moon. She was never seen again. The moon, in return for the beautiful princess's sacrifice, transformed her into a different star, the moon transformed her into a "Star of the Waters", whose flower is the "Vitória Régia".

   

     At that moment, a new plant was born, whose scented white flowers blossom and unfurl only at night. And, when the sun appears in the early morning, the flowers change their colo to soft pink.
                                       

Capital : Brasília
Population : 192 Millions
Currency : Real     

       
        So this post is just for fun. I hope you guys liked it, and my upcoming book review will be about If I Stay by Gayle Forman, so stay tuned.

Book Review : Forever - The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3

       With Grace turning into a wolf, things got even harder. She and Sam, couldn't see each other for months. Yet trying to handle things, another problem popped up, the pack's safety and so Sam lodged Grace with him. And with her and Cole, they tried to figure things out while it was getting intense between him and Isabel and with him doing science experiments, trying to find a cure for the whole werewolf thing. Will they really ever find a cure? And if not how could Sam and Grace find a way to be in the same form at the same time? and which form should it be?
       In the last book of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater, things are finally coming to an end. Forever is written from the point of view of Sam, Grace, Isabel, Cole and Shelby and reading from different aspects really helps in getting into the story way more better. This trilogy centers around the whole-hearted love between Sam and Grace and how they seem to complete each other, their love story was spellbinding, Sam and Beck, a father and a son relationship and Cole and Isabel, all weaved with paranormal events.
       Cole and Isabel, their humor, wrangle, dark twists and their affection toward each other. Cole stealing the show with his science experiments and his mature personality. I, at first, thought of him as a careless cute guy, with his rock star grin but his personality develops, also Isabel, I loved her in this book, she cared about her friends which I didn't think she was capable of. They both shone as a highlight through out the pages of the book. I really hope for a spin off novel for them.
      Stiefvater is a fantastic writer. She is able to capture the scenes quite well and deliver it to the reader. Out of the three books Forever is definitely my favourite. In this book i was always dying to know what will happen next, thrilled and anxious. Although I didn't like the ending, it didn't clarify much, leaving me guessing, which I'm not a fan of. You'll be like " No, no, no this can't be it " searching through the last pages seeing if you missed one or something.
       However, I really do recommend this series, you may not be as excited when reading the 1st book but as you go on, you will like it. Recommended if you like romantic paranormal young adult type of stories.

Author : Maggie Stiefvater
Grade Rating : A+
First 2 books review :
     Shiver : Review
     Linger : Review
Pages : 390

Book Review : Linger - The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2

      Grace and Sam were eager to finally stay together for good, as the problem of Sam's turning to a wolf was solved. Yet leaving a bigger problem, her parents. Until Grace started having headache, almost all the time and fever, thinking it was just a virus, Grace knew that there was more to it than a normal illness. But are they to lose each other again yet after struggling to be together ?
     Linger is the second book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy and the sequel to Shiver, which if you haven't read already, you can check my review on it http://booka-holic.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-review-shiver-maggie-stiefvater.html. As i didn't enjoy Shiver as this one, i felt that it was sort of setting up the story for Linger. Linger was written from the point of view of Grace, Sam, Isabel and Cole. Cole is the newest member of the pack, whose own past was a double-edged weapon as it might expose the whole pack but at the same time he was a hero. The storyline of him and Isabel, who was nonetheless drawn to him, gave the story a whole another dimension although it wasn't much, I'm looking forward for more in the next book
      Grace's absent minded parents came into the light in this book, making it harder for both Sam and Grace, seeing Sam as a bad influence on their daughter, more likely acting like parents and grounding her. They were separated, making their relationship appear more realistic, doing different stuff separately although it seemed hard for both of them, feeling torn. It was an enchanting love story, in a way that you'll not be able to forget. While Sam was still grappling between his past as a werewolf and trying to figure how to deal with his future and his dreams which was once impossible and Grace lost and torn, but again was what happened to her what she once really wanted? How will she deal with it? I guess we'll know in the next book which I can't wait to read and I highly recommend this book, which I absolutely enjoyed reading.

Author : Maggie Stiefvater
Grade Rating : A
Followed by :
      3rd book : Forever
Pages : 368