Wednesday Wishlist #1

So I am trying something new starting this week. In an attempt to make my blog a bit more consistent, from now on I'll be writing this little post. Every Wednesday (hopefully) I'm going to outline things that I've discovered recently (or ages ago, there's a lot of catching up to do) and tell you lot why I need them in my life.

This week's Wishlist is all the YA series that I feel I must read;

The One - Kiera Cass

Every time I glimpse the beautiful cover on my Amazon wishlist I always think about America and the competition to win Maxon's heart. This finale is going to be brilliant, and just look at that stunning dress on the cover.. wow.

Sever - Lauren DeStefano

Again, another beautiful cover and another compelling story. Maybe I need to re-read the first two though, because my mind is coming up blank as for the end of the second. What I do remember is that the first one was beautifully told and emotionally tangible, and the last will probably, hopefully, be no different.

Insurgent and Allegiant - Veronica Roth

With the film of Divergent out right now, I should be brushing up on Tris and Four's story by reading the next two. I'm feeling rather guilty that I haven't at least read Insurgent yet, as the ending of Divergent was so sad and so shocking that at the time I immediately wanted to read on. I'm looking forward to what Roth has in store for me.

Requiem - Lauren Oliver

My fellow YA readers must all be shocked and appalled at me by now, and I wouldn't blame you. I'm not as enthralled with the Delirium series as I am by the others, but nevertheless it's on the wishlist. Sometimes you just want to know how these messed up scenarios turn out in the end.

Crossed - Ally Condie

WARNING: This is the second novel in this series. Please don't read on unless you've read the first one because I guarantee this content will ruin the first one for you.

I tried reading this after I'd read Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. It was the second in that series too and it totally put me off of this book because they are so different. My advice to you is to read the books in the same series one after the other, and to read them with different books and genres in between to differentiate better.

So anyway, the point is that I may be a little prejudiced because I was so into the other story that I wasn't ready for this one. The plot is good, but in my opinion it is a little too slow going. The first book was great, but you can definitely tell that this is the middle book - often the most difficult to write. Here, Ky and Cassia have been separated by the Society and are desperate to find each-other again.

The plus side is that we find out so much more about Ky. In this book, he has a voice and along with it comes a lot of extra information to process. We understand him so much better, and I think this is a good thing. Sometimes, though, I found that the voices got confused. I flicked back through to the beginning of each chapter a few times just to check who was speaking.

We also have a few new and exciting characters who are quite likeable, as well as some information about the Rising... and not forgetting a very interesting secret.

So overall this book wasn't particularly enthralling, and nor was it awful. Until the third book comes out, I think I'll reserve judgement on the series as a whole; the end seems promising though.

As for this book, I think it's a 5/10.

Reached is out in November 2012

Delirium - Lauren Oliver

'What if Love was a Disease?'

Lena has always lived in fear of the disease called 'Deliria Amor Nervosa'. The scientists have developed a way to eradicate it entirely, and now each person has the procedure after their 18th Birthday. She is looking forward to it; she doesn't want to end up like her mother. Everything was going smoothly.. that is, until she fell in love.

This dystopian novel by Lauren Oliver is by far, much better than her previous effort. It subtly shows a delicate relationship forming as well as making a believable narrative on what seems like a not-so-different world from our own. We soon find out differently - that uncureds have curfews, are separated from the opposite sex. These people are fenced in to their own city with fear of the one thing that our society seems to hold the most dear; Love.

Like her other novel, Before I Fall, this is also a teen fiction and therefore may not suit adult readers. However, it is a good read and has a couple of surprises up its sleeve. Despite the beginning, where the reader sees simply our world without love in it, the novel deepens into something much more meaningful. It peels back the veneer to reveal a society that keeps all its inhabitants in place with an electric fence and mountains of lies.

Prepare to be hooked, teen fiction lovers.

I give this book an 8 out of 10.