Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Paperback: 480 Pages

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 978-0061726835

My Rating: 1/5

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.

I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for my rating and review of this book but, I'm sorry! I have to be honest and say how I really feel. I didn't like this book at all. And it's only because I couldn't get into it. I love to read and I found myself coming up with other things to do so I wouldn't have to read this book. I got a little over halfway and I just quit reading it because I couldn't finish. I knew if I didn't just stop reading it then I would never finish it and I wouldn't start anything else.

The characters were not relatable to me at all and I hate that. When a book is a little boring at least you can get through it if the characters are good but this book had neither for me. I didn't like any of the characters and I didn't like the plot. This book was not a good fit for me. I honestly had to go back and read parts that I had already read in the book (backtrack if you will) just so I could try to remember what I had read. When a book doesn't stick with you enough to put it down for a day and pick it back up and remember where you left off then that's not good.

I'm really sorry to have to give this one a bad review. But I really hated it. I see that a ton of people love it so maybe it was just my frame of mind when I was reading it, I'm not sure. I am planning in the future to pick it up and try reading it again but that won't be for a long time. For now, I'm moving on to better things and I've already completely forgot about this one.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Hardcover: 619 Pages

Publisher: Little Brown

ISBN: 978-0-316-06804-8

My Rating: 3/5

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed. When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

I picked up 'The Host' from Barnes and Nobles off the clearance shelf for $5. I had tried to read it a long time ago and only read the first few chapters and couldn't get into it. I decided to pick it back up and give it another shot. I did enjoy the story even though it seems like not very much stuff happened in it. There was quite a few things that I didn't like in the book. I found they just kind of irked me the wrong way. I swear I'm going to make a list of the top 10 things that drive me crazy when reading them in a book haha. Anyways, the story was good, I liked most of the characters but it definitely had its flaws. One main one for me was that I thought this was supposed to be a book for adults. Maybe with the success of Twilight, Meyer just can't pull herself away from that but nothing in this book says adult to me. It might be more suited to an older YA group because of the complexity of some of the events that take place.

'The Host' is the story of Melanie, or the Wanderer, or Wanda, they are all the same person basically....Actually, I don't want to say what this book is about. The movie just came out yesterday and I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just talk about what I didn't like about the book which is why I gave it a 3 out of 5. First thing, the hissing. For anyone who has read this book I'm sure they know exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone in this book hisses any time they are angry, upset, scared or feeling any kind of negative emotion. There is a lot of hissing that happens. This only bugs me because never in my life have I encountered a human being that hissed when they were mad. I just don't get it. The only other thing I really hated was the fact that Meyer seems to feel that woman are the weaker sex as is eminent in ALL of her books. In Twilight, we got to read about Bella who was too weak emotionally and physically to do anything for herself and she was in an abusive relationship with Edward. In 'The Host' we get to read about Wanda (Wanderer, Melanie) who is unable to even speak up for herself at any point in this entire book. It drives me crazy. There is not one point where the lead in this book says, "You know what, bunk this!" and does anything to defend herself. She spends half the book cowering in a corner somewhere and the other half crying and being beat and/or someone trying to kill her. INSANE!

Anyways, with all that being said I will say I did like this book. It was engaging and I enjoyed reading it. I think if Meyer comes out with another book and is has a female lead and she doesn't stand up for herself I will boycott Stephenie Meyer forever haha. There is definitely no comparison to Twilight with this book but I will say that Meyer failed to make a transition from YA books to Adult books, this is definitely a YA book parading around as an adult book. Read it, or don't, it doesn't really matter but you won't be missing out on much.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Paperback: 182 Pages

Publisher: Dalmatian Press

ISBN: 1-4037-6498-0

My Rating: 4/5

Poor Oliver...Starved and mistreated as a workhouse orphan, he runs away to London, hoping to find a better life. But twists and turns-and some rather odd characters-await him in his tale. Oliver's fate is in the hands of villains and thieves, one kind old gentleman, one woman with a change of heart, and a twisted man who follows his every move.

Everyone knows the story of Oliver Twist so I'm not really going to go into any detail here. I will say that I liked it, just like before even though it's a little deranged haha. I guess I didn't really realize (or maybe I didn't remember) just how sad little Oliver Twist's story is. I don't really feel like I should say much haha. It's a classic story, I'm sure everyone has read it so I'll just say that I liked it and if you haven't read it you should. The version of the book I got would be good for kids because there are lots of pictures in it. I didn't realize that these little $1 books were going to essentially be picture books but they are good little quick reads either way.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Paperback: 336 Pages

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 978-1-59514-188-0

My Rating: 3.5/5

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her. Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes-and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death. All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

I really really struggled with what to rate this book. I did really like it. It kept me interested and I enjoyed reading it. But after finishing the book and reading the ending I was a little disappointed. I actually explained the book in great detail to a friend that's a male and he just looked at me and said "Was this book written by a guy?" Why yes, yes it was. I want to give you fair warning that my review may contain spoilers. I might need to vent about my frustrations and reveal key points in this novel. So just a heads up. With that being said, I think Asher is a good author and I would definitely like to read something else from him so long as it's not a similar style of book.

One of the things I really enjoyed about 'Thirteen Reasons Why' was the dual narration. There are two main voices. Although it's Clay Jensen's POV, Hannah Baker has an equal amount of narrating if not more. I've never read a book with a simultaneous narration from two distinctly different characters. It was great and Asher did amazing in that aspect. Now on to what I didn't like. I didn't like her 13 reasons for why she killed herself. I know that we all handle stress differently and stuff but to me, she faced nothing different than any other teenage girl or (in some cases) boy. I read this book in a very small amount of time, it was an easy read but I honestly kept holding out hope that something would happen. Something besides rumors and other peoples flaws as characters. I was waiting for it to come out that she was raped, not that someone else was. And how can she sit there and berate people for not reaching out to help her when she couldn't reach out and help the girl being raped? She's a walking contradiction. I won't say more about the book then that but I have something to say about all 13 reasons.

Overall, I did like reading this novel. It was interesting and it kept me engaged; however, I'd never read another one like it. I was really disappointed and I feel like it gives an extremely negative message. She justifies killing herself for rumors and things that she let happen? If we all reacted the same way I think the world would be a very small place. I struggled with whether to give this book a 3 or a 4 so it is officially my first book that I've given a half a point to. I do fully encourage everyone to read this book and see what you think yourself. Very few people dislike it from what I've seen so give it a shot.