Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Title: Before I Fall
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: March 2nd 2010

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world’s most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

This book had been in my shelf for a long time and I had already forgotten about it, but now that the movie based on this book is about to come out, I decided to read it, because I was intrigued when I saw the trailer.

Samantha Kingston, is a popular girl and fits all stereotypes, she believes in the hierarchy of high school, there are the popular people and the rest of the world. And as a popular girl, she and her friends dominate high school and contemptuously look at the non-popular.

The story is told by Samantha and takes place on the day they celebrate Valentine's Day at her school (Friday, February 12) and we follow her from the moment she wakes up, to the time when returning from a party with her friends they have a car accident; And the next time she wakes up, its February 12 again and for the next few days she will relive the same day over and over again and every time she tries to change events to be able to leave the time loop in which she is trapped and so try to save herself.
Initially I did not like the character of Samantha, since she´s a bully and it was not until the last chapters that I started to like her.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, which deals with the consequences of bullying. And the ending.... I´m still thinking about it...... is an end that I was not expecting.
I do recommend this book.

Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Title: Vanishing Girls
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: March 10th 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident.

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.

Vanishing Girls left me with a good taste in my mouth, it captivated me from the first chapter and didn´t let me go until the mystery was solved. Although from the first quarter of the book, I had my theory of what was really happening (and I was right), but still I was very intrigued by the plot.

The main characters of the book are a 17 years old Nick (Nicole) and 16 years old Dara, two sisters, that all their life had been very close and sort of best friends, until the night they both have a car accident and while Nick was driving, she had only minor injuries, while Dara ends up with facial scars and other serious injuries, that night is their breaking point because from that day they don´t speak to each other again and Nick goes to live with their father and Dara stays with their mother.

The story is told from dual point of view, both Dara´s and Nick´s, but the latter is the main voice and through her we see memories of the months preceding the accident, plus Dara´s journal entries, we get the picture of their problems and life before the accident.

There is a subplot about a 9 year old girl, she disappeared mysteriously and is mentioned through the course of all book, but it is not until the last chapters that her disappearance has some relevance and is intertwined with the main plot.

Overall, I really enjoyed Vanishing Girls, it's a good thriller that its last chapters had me on the edge of my seat and has a very interesting twist (but it isn´t unexpected, because I saw it coming), but I didn´t lost interest in it. This books has mystery, suspense and drama surrounding the sisters, plus I get really care for what happened to them (which is important for me). I do recommended this Young Adult thriller.

Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Title: Panic
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: March 4th 2014
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 3/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

I think I should start by saying this book was not at all what I was expecting, because when I read the synopsis I thought that this one was a dystopian book and as I liked the Delirium trilogy by the same author and her writing style, that´s why I put this book as a priority on my wishlist, but Panic is NOT A DYSTOPIAN BOOK, it´s a CONTEMPORARY NOVEL.

The story unfolds in Carp, a small town in New York where most of the population have a medium-low to low socioeconomic status and where every summer for the past few years, the high school seniors/graduates play Panic, no one knows how or when it started, but most of the seniors play it, and why do they compete in the game? because the winner gets $ 67,000 Dlls (this money is collected during the school year and whether each student will participate or not they should give 1 dollar per day). What is Panic? it´s a game where contestants must undergo various extreme tests/games that can literally put their life in danger and in each test some contestants are eliminated and as the game progresses the tests get more dangerous and daring, until at the end of the game there is only one winner.

Panic is told from the point of view of Heather and Dodge, alternating between the two, Heather is a girl who starts the game for the wrong reasons, but she continues in the game due to family problems and because she needs the money. Heather spends most of his time with her best friends Natalie and Bishop, Nat also participates in the game.

Meanwhile Dodge also participates in the game Panic, not for the money, but because he wants revenge on one of the players and what better place than in a game where anything can happen and anyone can end up hurt.

Overall, I liked it but I didn´t loved it, the pacing of the story is slow (very slow), some parts of the plot were predictable, but what I liked was that the romance is not obvious, is not instant love, there isn´t a love triangle and at the end both Heather and Dodge end up with whom they expected or wanted (Although not with whom I was expecting), besides of that the romance is not the main focus of the story, the main plot is the game and the motivations of the players to be in it. And about the ending.... it felt a bit rushed for my taste, especially the last test or challenge. At the end I did liked Panic, but not as much as I was hoping.

And I repeat this is NOT A DYSTOPIAN BOOK, but it is a CONTEMPORARY REALISTIC novel and I didn´t see any resemblance at all to the Hunger Games book (I've heard that some people compared it to THG). Oh and something good about Panic is that it´s a standalone.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.

WOW (85): Panic

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The book I´m waiting this week is

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Release date:  March 4th 2014

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

Why I'm Waiting?

Because I loved her Delirium series and I can´t wait to read another book written by her.

What book are you waiting this week?

Leave your WOW links

Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:

July New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Title: Requiem (Delirium #3)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release date: March 5th 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of  Delirium - here and Pandemonium - here

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has transformed. The nascent rebellion that was underway 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 infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels.

As Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain of the Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancee of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena and Hana's points of view. They live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

With lyrical writing, Lauren Oliver seamlessly interweaves the peril that Lena faces with the inner tumult she experiences after the reappearance of her first love, Alex, the boy she thought was dead. Sophisticated and wide-ranging, Requiem brings the Delirium trilogy to a thrilling conclusion.

I was dying to read Requiem, after the major cliffhanger ending of Pandemonium, I just needed to know what would happen with Lena.

This book is told from two points of view, alternating between Lena and Hana (no! why!), Lena is back in the wilds with resistance, Julian and the rest of the gang. And while much of the plot is Lena torn between her love for two boys, not knowing what to do, how to act and struggling with her feelings for both of them. And  although the tension between the boys and Lena is strong at the beginning of the book, it dissipates later because some circumstances that I will not going to tell because I don´t wait to spoil the book. But another big part of the story is the life in the wilds and Lena being an integral part of the resistance and to some extent showing her strength and leadership.

And the part of Hana, at the beginning I did not like the fact that she was an important part of the book and there were chapters from her point of view, but as the story progressed I understood why the author was doing this, because of what is going on Portland and what we see through the eyes of Hana are an important part of the plot, although it does not seem to at the beginning of the book. And I already assumed that is what he did in Delirium Hana, but here was confirmed and somewhat Lena could redeem himself.

I really liked Requiem, it has a lot of action and there are several times where we see how much Lena has grown, that she´s no longer that insecure and frightened girl that she was at the beginning of the trilogy, now she´s a strong, courageous and a leader. At the end of the book I was biting my nails, because I did not want it to end (this happens to me always with the final book of a series .... I do not want it to end!), many things happen in the final chapters, that as soon as I finish reading the book, I had to stop and re-read some parts of the book and assimilate them. And that ending was not what I wanted to happen, I do not like open endings, I prefer the closed ending...the ending wrapped up in a box with a bow and the happily ever after, but you do not always get what you want, but I do like Requiem, it´s very well written and I love how Lauren Oliver writes. The Delirium trilogy is essential reading for fans of dystopian novels.

I want to thank HarperTeen and Edelweiss for this review copy.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Pandemonium (Delirium #2)
Author: Lauren Oliver 
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: February 28th 2012

Rating: 5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of Delirium - here.

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. 

Although I got a little confused at the beginning of this book, mainly because the book is divided into two time lines, the "now" and the "then", and because of this I didn´t keep up with the story until the second chapter of "now", but after that I couldn't put it down, this book is really good! I LOVE IT! I liked it more than Delirium. Pandemonium is really addictive.

The chapters are interspersed between now and then. The now takes place in March, Lena is living in New York, and working with resistance, there she must be a sort of undercover agent posing as a supporter in the DFA (Deliria Free America) and watch Julian Fineman. And then is in August, and begins minutes after the events at the end of Delirium until the present.

In this book we are introduced to Julian, he is the new potential love interest of Lena, he´s a super sweet, cute guy and innocent as far as love is concerned (or Deliria as they call it in the book), the way Lena was in the first book, he´s also convinced that love is a mortal disease and it must be eliminated. Julian is a character that is very easily to love and even though I tried to stay strong and don´t like him, and I kept telling myself, "you must remember Alex, remember Alex, remember everything he did for Lena" ... but it was impossible not to like him.... and now I'm torn between the two guys.

Other secondary characters are Raven and Tack, they´re the leaders of the group to which Lena joins. And Raven helps her to become stronger and taught her how to survive.

Pandemonium is an amazing book, I really liked the way the author told us the way Lena becomes a different person, she goes from being a scared and insecure girl to be a strong, confident girl and a fighter. She´s fights for what she wants.

And that ending!! I did have a heart attack with that ending, why! why! did she end the book like that! I end up with my mouth wide open in shock for a while, the good thing is that I already had Requiem waiting on my Kindle. Pandemonium is a MUST READ! I highly recommend this book!

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium (Delirium #1) 
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: February 7th, 2012 (First published February 1st, 2011)

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

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.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

I had wanted to read this book for a while, especially for all the buzz around it and also because I have read very good reviews about it; I´ve finally read it and I really liked it.

Delirium tells the story of a dystopian society that conclude that everything bad in the world is because of love: war, crime, hatred and even mental and physical illnesses all is caused by love, so the U.S. government decides that love should be destroyed, so the society is contained in walled cities for the sake of the people and every citizen is subject to an operation at their eighteen birthday to release them from the deadly disease - amor deliria nervosa.

Delirium is told from Lena´s POV, she is too scared of getting amor deliria nervosa  for various things that happened in her past, she like most of the population is sure that the disease is deadly and that if she becomes infected with the disease she will die. Lena is counting the days to her eighteenth birthday, because that day she will be cured but 95 days before her operation she meets Alex, a guy that will change her way of thinking, feeling and she will do the unthinkable .... falling in love.

My favorite character of the story is definitely Alex, he´s very real, always says what he feels and what he thinks and his romance with Lena is sweet, slow and cute. Lena on other hand bothered me more than one occasion because all her fears and insecurities. And another good character was Lena´s best friend Hana, she always supports her.

This book starts very slow because of the world building and is one of those books that I started to like it, bit by bit, especially because I felt that the beginning was Lena´s inner monologue, with almost no dialogue, but as it progressed the plot I started to like it more and the writing is beautiful a little bit poetic. It is a book that after I finish reading it got me thinking about it and assimilating the story and not to mention that ENDING! is of mayor cliffhanger and I cry like a baby.

This is a book for fans of dystopian novels.

Favorites quotes

You can´t be happy unless you´re unhappy sometimes. You know that, right?

I'd rather die my way than live yours.

Love: It will kill you and save you, both.

UK Book Trailer

Book Cover Battle #14

This section or meme is call Book Cover Battle, the first time I saw it was at Books Passion for Life as UK vs US  and  Bookaholics book club as UK vs The World but because I don´t live in the UK, I can´t name it that way, so for now is Book Cover Battle .

This week book cover battle is

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

     US (original)                                                          US (new)

            UK                                                                      German

          Croatian                                                                                 Indonesian

          Spain                                                                                   Greek

Click on the image to go to Goodreads

I like the Indonesian cover, I don´t know if it go with the theme of the book, since I have not read it, but at least this cover gets my attention, if they were all on the same shelf, the first book I would choose to read the back cover would be the Indonesian.

My second and third choice would be the German and the Croatia covers.

What do you think? Which is your favorite?